How Hourly House Cleaning Is Billed, in Plain Numbers

What a labor hour means

Green House Cleaning Services charges by the labor hour, which its FAQ calls a man-hour. The hourly rate applies per cleaner, per hour. Most crews are two people, and some homes call for three or four.

The math is short. Two cleaners working for two hours is four labor hours. Three cleaners working for three hours is nine. A bigger crew finishes sooner on the clock, but the total number of labor hours for the same amount of work stays roughly the same, so adding people changes how long the crew is in your house more than it changes the size of the job.

On top of the hourly rate there is a nominal service fee per visit. It depends on location and the scope of the project, and it helps cover the crew's travel time. A home in Piney Flats and a home in Johnson City are not the same drive from the office, and the fee reflects that.

The three rates

• Regular household cleaning, weekly or bi-weekly: $40 per hour, per cleaner.
• Initial deep clean, and monthly cleaning: $45 per hour, per cleaner.
• Post-construction and particularly labor-intensive cleans: $55 per hour, per cleaner.

Every visit carries the service fee, and every visit has a two labor hour minimum. That minimum is why a single cleaner cannot be booked for one quick hour.

Monthly cleaning is billed at the deep clean rate for a practical reason. When four weeks pass between visits, soap scum, dust, and kitchen grease come back, so the crew spends more time on detail work than they would two weeks after the last visit. The higher rate pays for that extra care.

Why the first clean takes longer

Most clients start with a deep clean and then move to the regular rate. An average-sized home takes 4 to 6 hours to clean well, while an initial deep clean runs anywhere from 8 hours up to 14 or more when the buildup is heavy.

Think of the first visit as resetting the baseline. A bathroom with a season of soap scum is a different job from one that gets wiped down every two weeks. Every visit after the first is maintenance, and maintenance moves faster.

How frequency lowers the hours

The more often the crew comes, the fewer hours each visit needs. A weekly visit mostly deals with what got used since last time. Most Green House customers choose bi-weekly, which the company describes as a good balance of cost savings and keeping the home well maintained.

To be honest about the math, a shorter visit does not automatically mean a smaller monthly total, because weekly means more visits. What it does mean is that each visit has less to catch up on, and the house stays closer to clean between visits.

Estimates are ranges, and here is why

Green House does not do walk-throughs for residential cleans. Instead, the office gives you a free estimate range over the phone, and there is an estimate calculator on the website too. The company is upfront that nobody can know exactly how long a home will take until the crew starts. Clutter and frequency can push the time in either direction, and the crew will tell you during the visit if they think it will run long.

If you have a firm budget beyond the two labor hour minimum, say so. The crew will work within it, but they may not finish the entire home if the budget is low. The plan is to start with what matters most to you, usually the bathrooms, the kitchen, the primary bedroom, and the floors, and keep going until the time is up.

Paying, tipping, and cancelling

If you are home, you can pay by check or cash and your crew leader will give you a total at the end. Otherwise an invoice arrives by text or email. A credit card adds 3 percent, and a mailed check does not. Tips are appreciated and never required, and you get the same service either way. If you need to cancel a visit, give as much notice as you can.

One customer, Andrea Clement, wrote in a Google review that she likes this company because "they charge by the hour as opposed to a flat rate." If you want to see what that looks like for your house, call (423) 340-4016 and ask for an estimate range.