--- title: "How to raise your cleaning prices without losing your customers · BlastoClean" description: "When to raise rates, how much, how to word the notice, and what to do about the handful of customers who push back — with the arithmetic on what churn you can actually afford." url: "https://www.blastoclean.com/blog/raising-your-cleaning-prices-without-losing-customers" --- # How to raise your cleaning prices without losing your customers September 8, 2026 · 4 min read · The BlastoClean Team Most cleaning companies are underpriced, and they know it. What stops them isn't the arithmetic — it's the picture of the loyal customer of six years reading the email and quietly moving to someone cheaper. That fear is worth taking seriously. It's also worth running the numbers on, because they are usually much friendlier than the fear is. ## First, the arithmetic that makes this decision for you Say a recurring customer pays $150 a visit and your cost to serve is $105 — labor, payroll taxes, supplies, drive time. That's $45 of margin. Raise the price 8% to $162 and the margin goes to $57. How many of those customers can you lose before you're worse off than you started? With ten such customers you were making $450 a visit. At the new price you clear $450 with **eight** customers. Losing one of ten puts you *ahead* — with a free slot for a customer paying the new rate and one less house to clean. Run that with your own numbers before you talk yourself out of a raise. The break-even churn on a single-digit increase is nearly always higher than the churn you'll actually get. ## When you're overdue - Your costs went up — wages, insurance, fuel, supplies — and your prices didn't. - You're winning nearly every quote you send. A 90% close rate is not a sign of a great sales process; it's a sign you're cheap. - Some jobs consistently run long and you've stopped noticing because "that's just how that house is." - You have a waiting list, or you're turning work down. - It's been more than 18 months. ## How much, and how often **Annually, modestly, is better than rarely and dramatically.** A 5–8% increase once a year reads as normal business. A 25% increase after four years of nothing reads as a betrayal, even though it's the same money. Two other moves, worth more than a blanket raise: - **Fix the specific jobs that are wrong.** The house that takes 3.5 hours and was priced for 2 doesn't need 6% — it needs to be re-quoted from its actual scope. - **Raise new-customer pricing first.** New quotes go out at the new rate today. Existing customers move at the next scheduled increase. You learn what the market will bear with no churn risk at all. ## The notice Thirty days' warning, in writing, to everyone at once. Not per-customer negotiation — that turns a policy into an auction. What works: > Starting November 1, your every-other-week visit will be $162, up from $150. > > This is our first adjustment since March 2025. Wages for our cleaners went up this year, and > keeping the same team in your home — the people who know your dog, your alarm code and which > hardwood cleaner you prefer — is what that increase pays for. > > Everything else stays exactly the same: same crew, same day, same scope. Your next visit on > October 22 is at the current price. > > Thanks for six years. If you'd like to talk it through, just reply. What makes it work: - **The number is right there.** No "a modest adjustment to our pricing structure." - **One honest reason**, tied to something the customer values — their crew, not your costs. - **It says what isn't changing.** Most of the anxiety in a price letter is unspoken: *am I also losing my Tuesday slot?* - **It has a date and a last-old-price visit**, so nobody is surprised by an invoice. - **No apology.** You're not doing anything wrong. Apologizing invites a negotiation. ## When someone pushes back Expect a few. Have a plan and use it consistently: - **Hold the price, offer a different scope.** "I can keep you at $150 by moving to every three weeks, or by leaving the finished basement out." The rate stays intact; the customer gets a choice. - **Grandfather rarely, and with an end date.** "I'll hold your current rate through March" is survivable. "You're exempt forever" is a decision you'll resent for years. - **Let the wrong ones go, politely.** A customer who only ever wanted the cheapest price was always going to leave over $12. Thank them, leave the door open, and fill the slot. ## Two things to have in place first A price increase is much easier when you can answer two questions instantly: *what exactly are we doing at this property?* and *what does it actually cost us to serve?* That's the quiet argument for having the scope and the labor minutes written down rather than carried around in your head. In [BlastoClean](/), the work behind a recurring visit is a room and task list with real minutes on it, priced from your hourly rate — so when you decide to move rates, you can see which properties are underwater, re-quote the ones that need re-scoping, and send the new price as a quote the customer accepts from a link, with the whole scope attached. And on Pro, the [Profitability report](/features) names the customers running below your target hourly rate — which is the list you want in front of you when you decide who moves first, rather than what you assumed. Then raise the price. The arithmetic has been on your side the whole time.