[Steve Lowe]

Hopefully I can get a bit of advice here.
I have been running my own cleaning business for over 30 years but never taken on end of tenancy cleans but being asked more and more.
For a four bedroomed house including oven and windows inside and out and all carpets roughly what should I be charging ?

[David Deer]

Being realistic I would suggest:
Oven clean £50
fridge £10
microwave £5
Carpets £30 a room
windows inside and out £2 each
kitchen, empty all cupboards and degrease £30
bathroom de-scale, steam clean, toilet bath and shower de-scum £20
general vacuum £50
radiator steam clean and de-cobweb £2 per radiator
paintwork wipe down £20 per room
laminate floor £10 per room
stone/tile floor clean £10 per room
basement/cellar vacuum and wipe   £50
outside porch and front door  clean £20

gives about £185 per 1 bed house/flat
gives about £275 per 2 bed house
gives about £375 per 3 bed house
Add £100 per extra room.
Or ignore this and set a day rate, then quote for a one or to day clean depending on how long you want to work. Generally anything over 2 beds requires 2 days if you work alone and want to do it properly in under 12 hour shifts. Compared to a component clean the total revenue is very much lower than doing each item as a separate job. But if you're desperate for work it could be the way to go. We generally set a rate 50% higher than the above as a) we don't really like doing domestic  much and b) we like a good return for a hard days work ( out stock answer is - 'we are fully booked for the next three months' ).

When you present your quote the client will say " I can get my 9 bedroom house done for £150 cash" and two mop and bucket cleaners will   arrive with a bissel upright and some J-cloths. No tax, no insurance, no compliance, no questions asked.
Some cleaners regard end of tenancy as a quick wipe over and don't even attempt the carpets or oven. In fact on here recently one company was asking for advice on buying a carpet cleaner as they had been doing end of tenancies for years, but had now decided to add carpets as a service!   
Landlords in general don't want to pay a lot as they don't get a lot of  return on investment so their agents will get the lowest quote. Most of the time the water and electric has been turned off and it takes half a  day to get it on again.  Be prepared for the inevitable snagging because Mr Jam**l has found  dead fly in the toilet bowl and wants a re-clean and a refund (You have been warned).

p.s.  did I mention it's usually minging work but you get loads of free ironing boards and shower gels

[daniel osmore]

I've done over 1000 end of tenancy cleans, whilst they can be hard work, they can also provide your business with regular income (particularly if you work for letting agencies). People mean different things when they ask for an end of tenancy or professional standard clean, there is not a universally agreed definitive standard. I  advise anyone wanting to offer this service to specify in writing what is included and highlight the main exclusions or limitations. I offer three levels of service, Ultra, Standard and Value, most people go for the standard service (which satisfies the vast majority of landlords and agencies). For my standard service I would charge around £400 for an average 4 bedroom house (1200 -1500 sq ft), including carpets, windows and oven. I would expect it to take around 20 man hours to complete (to a high standard) by experienced cleaners. The Ultra service might be closer to £1000 and include curtains, upholstery and specialist hard floor care, but very few people will pay this much, so I do not do very many.

The money is less than I would charge for stand alone cleaning services. However you can still make a good margin by employing cleaners to do the low value cleaning, whilst you or your specialist staff complete the more lucrative parts like carpets, windows and ovens.

Also you should also expect to have to go back to a proportion of your jobs. Some of your clients and landlords will be very fussy and ask you to return to rectify even very minor oversights or deficiencies. For my business, we generally return to about 3% of EOT jobs to address issues, however for a beginner the rate might be a lot higher to begin with.

[dustee]

Not worth the hassle IMO most landlords want the cheapest quote and take an age to pay

[Craig A Moore]

honestly not worth it this days they want it all for nothing and try adding extras on when you start