How to price cleaning jobs for drive time and route profit

A cleaning price must cover all paid time, not only time inside the property. Add drive time and allocated admin to on-site hours, value those hours at the target rate, add supplies, overhead, and fixed fees, then divide by one minus any percentage fee. Test the resulting jobs together as a route.

Cleaning route pricing notes asking whether the next booked job is worth the drive time.

Use the formula

Paid hours: On-site hours + Drive hours + Allocated admin hours
Required price: (Target rate x Paid hours + Supplies + Overhead + Fixed fee) / (1 - Percentage fee)
Realized hourly return: Net route earnings / Total paid route hours

Worked example

For a 2.5-hour standard clean with a 20-minute drive leg, the verified model solves backward from a chosen $28 target hourly return.

Line	Result	Meaning
On-site work	2.50 hours	Standard maintenance clean in the example
Drive leg	0.33 hours	Twenty minutes
Allocated admin	0.45 hours	Per-job, daily, and weekly shares
Supplies per job	$2.27	Use-based allocation
Overhead per job	$5.09	Annual overhead divided by planned jobs
Payment fee	2.9% + $0.30	Example input to verify against the actual provider
Required price	$102.51	Returns the modeled $28 per paid hour

Repeatable method

Choose job types from observed on-site time.
Allocate recurring admin and annual overhead on a stated job-volume plan.
Estimate the drive leg for the actual service area.
Solve a standing price from the target paid-hour rate.
Build real route days and compare realized hourly return and capacity.

Questions and answers

Should drive time be billed as a visible fee?: That is a business choice. The model only requires the price to recover the time and cost somewhere, with the customer-facing method stated clearly.
Why can fewer jobs pay more per hour at the same revenue?: Fewer jobs can mean fewer payment fees, supply allocations, transitions, and admin events, as well as less driving.
Is the solved price a quote for every market?: No. It is the result of the entered target and cost model. Demand, service scope, competition, and local rules are separate constraints.

Sources

U.S. Department of Labor: Hours workedTravel from one job site to another during the workday is work time under the federal rule described here.
U.S. Small Business Administration: Break-even pointFixed costs, variable costs, and contribution in a business model.

This is general business calculation information, not tax, employment, legal, safety, insurance, or pricing advice. Confirm local requirements and actual provider fees.