How Much Should I Pay For Cleaning In NYC?

Considering hiring a cleaner for your NYC business but not sure how much you should be paying? We’ve broken down the types of cleaning services in NYC and what you can expect to pay based on your needs and requirements!

Types Of Cleaning Services in NYC

The price you pay for commercial cleaning services in NYC depends on the type of cleaning service you use. The two main types of cleaning services are cleaning companies and cleaners you can hire directly. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of hiring cleaners directly versus working with a cleaning company in NYC:

Hiring A Cleaner Directly

In general, hiring a cleaner directly is a great option if you have the time to vet and manage the cleaners yourself and your cleaning needs are simple. For example, if you need a cleaner to come to your business once a week and have some flexibility on times that your cleaner comes or amount of time they stay for, hiring an individual cleaner may be a great fit. The reason flexibility is so important when hiring a cleaner directly is because if they call off sick or are on vacation, they may not have a back-up cleaner lined up to come clean for you. Also, when hiring a cleaner directly make sure you take the time to properly vet them first. Unlike cleaners who work for cleaning services, cleaners you hire directly won’t have gone through background checks or had their references checked yet— that’s up to you. However, while hiring a cleaner directly may take more up-front work and overall flexibility, it will likely be cheaper than hiring a cleaning company in NYC.  

Working With a NYC Cleaning Company

For reputable and reliable commercial cleaning services in NYC–  ideal for busy business owners and facility managers — hiring a cleaning company is the way to go. Cleaning companies have larger infrastructure, more support, vet their cleaners, and have insurance. For example, Slate NYC conducts identification and background checks on all their cleaners (known as Keepers). In addition, each Keeper has general liability insurance and is trained by Slate NYC. While one of the major downsides of hiring a cleaning company is that instead of having one cleaner, many companies send in a rotating cast of strangers— Slate NYC is different. You’ll be linked with one, specific Keeper or a team of repeat cleaners who understand your specific preferences and gain your trust. However, if your Keeper isn’t available for a day or two, Slate NYC will make sure you keep receiving services in the meantime from another friendly, insured, and trained Keeper! While hiring a cleaner from Slate NYC or from other cleaning services in NYC may be slightly more expensive than hiring a cleaner directly, your cleaning services will come with invaluable peace of mind, knowing you are receiving reputable and reliable services from the get go!

Flat Rate Vs Hourly Cleaning Services

The cost for commercial cleaning services in NYC are usually priced at an hourly rate or a flat rate. Here are a few things you should know about each option and how to compare quotes between flat rate and hourly rate cleaning services:

Flat Rate Cleaning Services

Flat rates are generally based on the number of rooms, offices  and possibly square footage of the space that needs cleaning. However, you can still calculate the hourly rate for these flat rate services to compare them to other quotes. These flat rate quotes generally include a “maximum” number of hours they are willing to work for that flat rate. Just divide the cost by the maximum number of hours and that’s the lowest your hourly rate can possibly be with that cleaning service. For example, a one bedroom one bathroom apartment under 1,000 square feet would be $149 with a company like myclean.com

Hourly Cleaning Services

The main issue that can arise with hiring cleaners in NYC at a flat rate is that they may rush to finish, in order to make more money in less time. However, when you hire a cleaning service like Slate NYC, you won’t face this issue. All Slate NYC cleaning rates are hourly and come with total flexibility— choose as many hours as you need and spread them throughout the week! Better yet, Slate NYCs prices are generally much lower than what you’ll find from the competition. For example, while MyClean's hourly rate is about $66/hour, MaidSailor’s rate is about $80 an hour and ZenHomeCleaning’s hourly rate is about $76– you can expect to book on Slate NYC for about $50 an hour.

What Should I Expect To Pay For Commercial Cleaning Services In NYC?

We checked the rates for the top 30 cleaning companies in New York on Yelp and found the average hourly rate is about $60 an hour. While it is possible to find cleaning services for much less— keep in mind that if you find a cleaning service offering services for under $50 an hour, your cleaning service will likely be missing something. For example, that could mean that the company isn’t paying for the most professional and reliable talent or that they lack great customer support. If you hire an individual cleaner, you may find rates for individual cleaners you can hire directly for closer to $30 an hour but you should keep in mind that individual services won’t come with the same reliability and vetting that you will get with a cleaning company.  

How Commercial Cleaning Rates in NYC Are Determined

Commercial cleaning rates are about more than the hourly wage a cleaner receives— the rate is driven by the costs that go into each hour of work. For example, when you hire a reputable cleaning service like Slate NYC, costs like paying for insurance, background checks and customer support are also factored into pricing. In addition, Slate NYC understands that hiring the best cleaners costs more, that’s why we pay all of our cleaners far above NYC minimum wage. Let’s take a deeper dive into our cost breakdown.

Breaking Down Costs

Our cleaners are paid about $20 an hour. We then take the hourly wage and multiply it by 1.5. This gives us the cost of wages plus wage-related expenses like workers comp, disability and unemployment insurance, for a total of $30. Now, add another $10 an hour to cover fixed costs such as customer support, hiring expenses and cleaner support. The cost is now up to $40. Finally, add another $10 an hour for profit and revenue taxes. And that’s how Slate NYC gets its $50 base rate!

$60 is New Yorks Average Hourly Rate

We checked the rates for the top 30 cleaning companies in NY based on Yelp's results. Here's what we found

A note on the methodology:

• If a company offered hourly rates, we used that rate.
• If a company offered flat rates, we selected the standard cleaning for a 1 bed/1 bath home.
• If a company offered flat rates and they shared up to how many hours the flat rate covered, we used that time to come up with the equivalent hourly rate.
• If a company offered flat rates and did not share how many hours were included, we used 2.5 (which is the average, generously, that companies usually assign to a 1 bed/1 bath).

Start Getting Quotes For Cleaning Services

Comparing quotes for commercial cleaning service costs in NYC? Get a free quote for services at Slate NYC! Slate NYC’s cleaning services allow you to book online in 60 seconds, manage everything from your phone and computer and receive cleaning services from trustworthy, local Keepers who are all trusted, trained and insured. Click here to schedule your first cleaning.