TallyCleanOS

Cleaning profit margin calculator

Check the amount left over from a cleaning job and compare margin with markup.

GBP. Use consistent figures that exclude any VAT collected. This tool does not calculate VAT or tax.

Cost and selling price

Enter the job

Include labour, supplies, travel and allocated overhead. Example cost shown.Use a price above £0. Include the same cost and tax basis as your estimated cost.

Estimated job profit

£23.14

Example inputs: £54 cost and £77.14 selling price.

Profit margin
30.00%
Markup on cost
42.85%

Estimated profit depends on all relevant costs being included. This is not a guarantee of profit.

What is profit margin on a cleaning job?

Profit margin is the estimated profit divided by the selling price. Profit is the selling price minus the costs you include. A job sold for £100 with £70 of total costs has £30 profit and a 30% margin. This is an example calculation, not an industry benchmark.

Margin (%) = (selling price − cost) ÷ selling price × 100

The calculator reports a job-level estimate. A job can look profitable while the business loses money if ongoing expenses are missing from the cost allocation. Record which costs your figure includes so that comparisons between jobs use the same basis.

How does markup differ from margin?

Markup divides profit by cost. Margin divides profit by selling price. Adding 30% to a £54 cost creates a £70.20 price and £16.20 profit. That is 30% markup but about 23.08% margin. A 30% margin requires a price of £77.14 after penny rounding.

30% margin versus 30% markupFor a £54 cost, a price of £77.14 targets 30% margin. A price of £70.20 applies 30% markup. The percentages use different denominators.30% marginCost £54.00Profit £23.1430% markupCost £54.00Profit £16.20
Example inputs. Margin compares profit with selling price. Markup compares profit with cost. Amounts are rounded to the penny.

Use the cleaning quote calculator to build a price from a chosen margin. Keep the words margin and markup next to every percentage in your own records. A percentage without its base can lead to a different price than intended.

What happens when the price is below cost?

A selling price below the entered cost produces a loss. The calculator shows negative profit and negative percentages. For a £60 price and £80 cost the loss is £20. Margin is −33.33% and markup is −25.00%.

A zero selling price has no defined margin because division by zero is undefined. The tool asks you to enter a positive price. A zero cost has no defined markup. Margin can still be calculated for a positive selling price with a zero entered cost. Check whether any real costs have been omitted.

Use the result to review the job

Compare expected time with the time actually used after the clean. Extra person-minutes can change profit even when the agreed price stays fixed. Include travel and supplies consistently. For employees, check the employment-cost assumptions before choosing an hourly cost. Allocate a reasonable share of overhead for planning rather than assuming each job has none.

Elapsed time and person-minutesTwo cleaners working for 90 elapsed minutes contribute 180 person-minutes in total. This equals one cleaner working for 180 minutes.Cleaner 1Cleaner 290 min90 min180person-minutes3 labour-hours in total
Example time allocation. Add each cleaner's time once. Do not multiply this total by crew size again.

Break-even analysis also considers fixed costs and contribution across the business. The US Small Business Administration's break-even explanation sets out that wider framework. This job calculator does not replace a business forecast or determine your tax position.

Keep the agreed scope and cost assumptions together in the cleaning quote template.

Written by Sunny Patel. Updated .