How to make $2.5k/mo with a Cleaning / Handyman Service
The Goal Seek panel below is pre-filled with your target. Pick which lever to move and we’ll show exactly what needs to change. The full calculator is right below it, adjust anything, watch the numbers update in real time.
Where your money goes
- Crew wages64%$3,154
- Supplies10%$494
- Card fees5%$233
- Vehicle12%$600
- Insurance4%$180
- Software + tools1%$40
- Marketing5%$250
Profit over the first year
What would it take?
Set a target and pick which levers you’re willing to move. We’ll work out what each one needs to be.
What goes into Cleaning / Handyman Service costs
A cleaning or handyman service is essentially a labor arbitrage business. You buy crew time at one rate and sell it at another. The spread, minus fixed costs (vehicle, insurance, scheduling software, marketing), is your profit. The whole thing turns on two numbers: your hourly rate to the customer, and the share of your crew's paid hours that are actually billable. Drive time between jobs, setup, paperwork, and admin all get paid, but they're not invoiced. That's utilization.
Most new cleaning operators charge $35–55/hr in lower-cost-of-living markets and $55–85/hr in higher-cost markets. Handyman is typically $40–80/hr depending on the trade and licensing. Below $35/hr, the math basically doesn't work once you account for unbilled time, vehicle costs, and insurance. The calculator's defaults assume a solid mid-market rate ($65/hr), adjust to your area.
The hidden cost in service businesses is travel time. 20 minutes between jobs sounds small until you realize it's 1.5 hours of unbilled labor for every 4 hours of billable work, a 27% drag on utilization. The calculator builds in 15% overhead time (admin, setup, breaks) on top of travel, which is conservative. Route density is the operational lever to push utilization up.
No-shows are the other killer. A 10% no-show rate means you scheduled 40 jobs, did 36, and the 4 that flaked still cost you in committed crew time and drive-out fuel. Adding a cancellation fee or pre-paid deposit eliminates most no-show pain, the calculator's slider lets you see what the dollar impact looks like before and after such a policy.
Frequently asked
What's a healthy utilization rate for a cleaning service?
60–75% billable-to-paid is healthy. Under 50% means too much drive time, too much admin, or too many short jobs. The fix is route density (geographic batching), longer minimum job sizes, or both. The calculator surfaces your utilization explicitly and warns you if it's below 50%.
Should I hire a crew or stay solo?
Solo maxes out around 30–35 billable hours/week (~$8–12k/mo gross). Hiring a part-timer takes that to ~$15–20k/mo gross but adds payroll, training, and management overhead. The math works when repeat customers + scheduling software let you keep both of you busy. The calculator's Crew Size slider lets you see the revenue impact before you actually hire.
How important is repeat-customer share?
Huge. A first-time customer costs you marketing dollars to acquire. A repeat customer costs you nothing extra. A business with 70% repeat customers spends a fraction on marketing compared to one with 20%, same revenue, very different profit. The calculator has a Repeat Customer Share slider you can use to model the long-term lift.
What insurance do I actually need?
General liability ($1M coverage is standard, ~$50–150/mo) and bonding if you're cleaning inside customer homes (~$50–100/mo). Workers comp if you have a W-2 crew (varies by state, Connecticut, where ChapHaus is based, runs ~5–8% of payroll for cleaning). The calculator's Insurance + Bond slider lumps these together; the default of $180/mo is in the right ballpark for a small solo operator with crew.