Improve the next quote with one completed job.
Record the actual time and costs while the details are fresh. A quote can be mathematically correct and still lose money if the cleaning takes longer than expected.
Compare like with like
Keep the original quote snapshot. Record actual total person-hours including paid travel, supplies consumed, cash travel costs, allocated overhead and other job costs. Compare pre-tax revenue with pre-tax revenue.
A worked example
Your original estimate uses $141 of job costs and a $215 pre-tax quote. With a 3% payment fee plus $0.30 and no added tax, the modeled surplus is $67.25.
If an extra hour of labor costs $23 including your entered burden, actual job costs rise to $164. At the same customer price, the modeled surplus falls to $44.25. The $23 difference points directly to the time assumption to review.
Find the cause before changing the price
- Did the first clean need more work than the recurring visits will?
- Were access, parking or setup assumptions wrong?
- Were extra rooms or tasks added after the quote?
- Were supplies or overhead counted twice, or missed?
Update future assumptions using observed jobs. Any change to an already agreed customer scope or charge should be discussed with the customer before the extra work.