Price increase letter to house cleaning clients
Copy it, replace the bracketed bits, send it. Below the letter: the text-message version, how much notice to give, and what to say when they push back.
Hi [NAME], I have been cleaning for you every [FREQUENCY] since [YEAR], and in that time the price has not moved once. From [DATE], it goes from [OLD PRICE] to [NEW PRICE] a visit. I will keep this short. Almost all of what you pay is my time, and my costs of getting between houses — fuel, parking, the car — have gone up a lot. I would rather tell you than start rushing to fit it in. Nothing about the clean changes. If it is too much, tell me, and we can look at [FORTNIGHTLY instead of weekly / dropping the ironing / a shorter visit] instead. Thank you — I really do like working for you. [YOUR NAME] [BUSINESS NAME]
How many customers can this price rise lose?
10% ÷ (40% + 10%) = 20%
Open the full calculator, with your prices and customer count →two to four weeks — and tell them in person before the email or text arrives
5–10% per visit, often rounded to a clean number
The text-message version
For the customers whose entire relationship with you lives in a phone. Send it before the visit, never on the invoice.
Hi [NAME], it's [YOUR NAME]. Mentioned it last week — from [DATE] your clean will be [NEW PRICE] (first change since [YEAR]). Same day, same clean. If it's a stretch, tell me and we'll work something out.
Why it is going up, in words you can use
“Rising costs” persuades nobody because everyone says it. Name the actual driver in house cleaning instead:
- the unpaid time between homes: travel, parking and fuel all cost more, and none of it is billable
- wage floors went up, and a residential clean is almost entirely labour
- the house changed: a new baby, a dog, a home office — the same visit now takes longer
When they push back
You will hear these within a week. Having the answer ready is the difference between holding the price and folding on the phone.
- "Can you just do it in less time for the same price?"
- Say yes — and spell out what gets dropped. "I can do it in [N] hours if we leave out [THE OVEN / THE IRONING / THE INSIDE WINDOWS]." Never agree to the same scope in less time; that is a price cut you pay for with your back.
- "I'll go fortnightly then."
- Fine, but price the fortnightly clean higher than half of two weekly ones — a home cleaned every two weeks takes longer each time. Say so up front: "Fortnightly is [PRICE], because there is more to do each visit."
- "My last cleaner charged much less."
- "That is fair — and you may find someone at that price again." Then stop. Residential clients who have been with you for years almost never leave over a rise; the ones who do were going to leave over something.
Is a price rise even the right move for you?
Sometimes it is not. Sometimes the money is in a service plan for customers you already have, or in the job you are quoting below cost without realising. Describe your business in one sentence and you will get three specific moves back — priced per month, with the arithmetic written out so you can put your own numbers in.
Free, no signup, about thirty seconds. If one of them is a price rise, you will get the number to put in the brackets above.
Give me three movesMore letters: home and outdoor
Other trades
A template, not legal advice. If you have a written contract with these house cleaning clients, check what it says about notice periods and price changes before you send anything — the contract wins over any template, including this one.