Cleaning business KPIs: eight numbers worth tracking, with formulas
Eight KPIs that show whether a cleaning business is profitable and growing: what each one measures, how to calculate it, and what to do when it moves the wrong way.
By Primemgr TeamHow we research and check this
The KPIs that matter most for a cleaning business are revenue per labour hour, labour cost as a share of revenue, how often visits run over the time you priced, customer retention, re-cleans and complaints, quote conversion, utilisation, and days to payment. Together they show whether each hour of cleaning makes money and whether customers stay.
The eight KPIs
KPI | Formula | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
Revenue per labour hour | Revenue ÷ paid labour hours | Whether your prices cover your time |
Labour cost share | Wages and on-costs ÷ revenue | How much of each dollar goes to pay |
Time over quote | Actual hours ÷ priced hours, per visit | Which homes are underpriced |
Customer retention | Regular customers still active after 12 months ÷ regular customers at the start | Whether customers stay |
Re-clean rate | Visits needing a return ÷ total visits | Quality and training |
Quote conversion | Quotes accepted ÷ quotes sent | Pricing and follow-up |
Utilisation | Hours cleaning ÷ hours paid | Travel and gaps in the day |
Days to payment | Average days from invoice to payment | Cash flow |
Reading them together
- Revenue per labour hour falling while utilisation holds usually means prices have not kept up with longer visits: check time over quote, customer by customer.
- Utilisation falling means more of the day is travel or gaps. Group customers by area and day.
- Retention falling with rising re-cleans points at quality; retention falling with steady quality often points at price rises or reliability.
- Quote conversion falling on its own usually means slow quotes or no follow-up before it means price.
A worked example
In a month, a business earns $18,000 from 400 paid labour hours: $45 per labour hour. Wages and on-costs are $11,700, a labour cost share of 65%. Of 400 paid hours, 330 were spent cleaning: utilisation of 82.5%. If the target is $50 per labour hour, the choices are raising prices on the homes that run over, cutting travel by grouping visits, or both. The figures are an illustration; set your own targets from your costs using how to price cleaning services.
How often to look
Weekly for time over quote and re-cleans, because they are fixable in days. Monthly for revenue per labour hour, labour cost share, utilisation, conversion and days to payment. Quarterly for retention. The technician utilisation calculator and the customer lifetime value calculator help with two of them.
Where the numbers come from in Primemgr
Primemgr reports cover revenue, job profitability (what each job billed against the cost of the items billed, with hours logged), team utilisation, customer retention and lead conversion; invoices show what is owed and for how long. The numbers are only as good as the time recorded on each job, so record time on site at every visit.
Official guidance
- Janitors and building cleaners (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- Health and safety made simple (HSE (UK))