Pay, billing and travel time all depend on knowing when a crew arrived and left each client.
A two person crew booked for four hours at a client is billed for eight person-hours. If the crew arrives late, leaves early or takes a long drive between sites, the client still pays eight and the company still pays the crew for the time they worked. The gap between billed and paid hours is your margin, and it is only visible when you record time per site.
Under the federal wage rules, travel from one job site to another during the workday is working time, and so is travel from the office to a site when the employee reports to the office first. The ordinary commute from home to the first site is generally not paid. Rules in some states are stricter. The practical consequence is that you need a clock-in at each site, not a single punch at the start and end of the day.
| Time | What happened | Paid? |
|---|---|---|
| 7:30 | Leaves home | No (commute) |
| 8:00 to 11:00 | Client A | Yes |
| 11:00 to 11:25 | Drive to client B | Yes |
| 11:25 to 1:55 | Client B | Yes |
| 1:55 to 2:15 | Drive to client C | Yes |
| 2:15 to 5:00 | Client C | Yes |
Paid time here runs from 8:00 to 5:00, or 9 hours, with 45 minutes of it being travel between clients. The 7:30 commute from home is not counted.
Many cleaners sell recurring visits at a flat price: say $140 for a two person, two hour clean. Track actual hours against the flat price. If a home that was quoted at two hours takes three, you want to see it in the third week, not at the annual review. The numbers support a price increase conversation with the client.
Collecting supplies from a warehouse, picking up keys or setting an alarm before the first visit are normal parts of the job. If they happen during the workday and are required, they count as hours worked. Add them as a task so the time is not forgotten.
Commercial and residential cleaning both run on routes. The fictional table below shows one crew of two on a weekday route. Each visit is quoted as a fixed price, so the question is whether the hours behind each visit still make money once you add the drive.
| Stop | Quoted price | Crew hours on site | Drive hours before | Labor cost at $18 per hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dental office | $140 | 2 x 1.5 = 3.0 | 0.4 x 2 = 0.8 | $68.40 |
| House, weekly | $120 | 2 x 1.75 = 3.5 | 0.3 x 2 = 0.6 | $73.80 |
| Small gym | $180 | 2 x 2.25 = 4.5 | 0.5 x 2 = 1.0 | $99.00 |
| House, deep clean | $260 | 2 x 3.5 = 7.0 | 0.4 x 2 = 0.8 | $140.40 |
The weekly house looks profitable on paper. Once drive time is added, it earns less per hour than the dental office, and the deep clean ties up the crew for almost eight paid hours. Do this for two weeks of routes, and you will know which clients to reprice and which zip codes to stop serving.
Cleaning crews are covered by the federal FLSA, so every hour, including drive time between clients during the day, counts toward minimum wage and overtime. Paying a flat rate per house is allowed, but the pay for the week divided by all hours worked has to reach at least the minimum wage, and hours over 40 need overtime on top.
OSHA’s Hazard Communication standard applies to the cleaning chemicals your staff use. That means a written program, labeled containers, safety data sheets that staff can get to, and training before someone uses a new product. Many cleaners decant concentrates into spray bottles, and every one of those bottles needs a label.
Some states and cities have specific rules for janitorial employers. California, for example, requires janitorial employers to register with the Labor Commissioner and to provide sexual harassment prevention training to janitors. Check your state labor agency before you open in a new market.
| Time | Work | Staffing note |
|---|---|---|
| Monday to Friday, evenings | Offices and clinics after closing | Night crews and split shifts for staff with day jobs |
| Tuesday to Friday, daytime | Recurring homes | Most stable hours; build routes by area |
| Friday and Saturday | Move-out and deep cleans | Longest jobs, highest overrun risk |
| Seasonal spikes | Spring cleaning, holidays, end-of-lease months | Add part-time staff early and train before the rush |
It is more accurate when each person records their own time. If a leader does it, make sure the record shows who confirmed it.
Time spent waiting at the site because the client was late is generally working time. Record it, and consider a lockout fee in your contract.
Not necessarily. If you use location checks, tell employees what is collected and why.
Yes, but for employees you still need hours. Total weekly pay divided by total hours worked, including drive time between clients, has to meet the minimum wage, and hours over 40 need overtime at one and a half times the regular rate.
Yes. OSHA’s Hazard Communication standard requires training on the hazards of the chemicals employees use, labels on every container and access to safety data sheets.
Start from the actual hours of past deep cleans of similar size, add drive time and supplies, then your margin. If you have no history, time the first ten and update your price list.
Every spray bottle you refill from a concentrate counts as a workplace container under OSHA’s hazard communication rules, so it needs a label that identifies the product and its hazards.
Estimate hours for a clean
Compare wages to revenue
What counts as paid travel
Book a demo and we will set up a few client sites and a crew so you can see hours per site.
This page is general information, not legal, payroll or tax advice. Rules differ by state, city and contract, and they change. Check with a qualified professional before you act. Numbers in examples are made up.