Why do detailing and cleaning businesses struggle to make money?

Three recurring reasons - prices set without a size multiplier so the biggest and most common jobs are underpriced, no deposit policy so a meaningful share of booked slots evaporate, and per-seat software costs that grow with every hire. All three are fixable and none of them are about working harder.

How do I know what to charge?

Work out your cost per sellable hour - all monthly business costs divided by the hours you can actually sell, which for most solo operators is 60 to 90 a month rather than 160 - then add your target margin and multiply by the block length including drive time.

The problems this site is about

Updated September 6, 2026 · published by Baker Ventures LLC · sources cited inline

Three problems, and none of them are about working harder. Prices set without a size multiplier, so the most common job is the one you lose money on. No deposit policy, so a share of your booked capacity evaporates on the morning. And software priced per seat, so growth costs more than it earns for the first few hires.

Why you are probably underquotingSize multipliers, unpaid drive time, invisible consumables — and the five-minute floor calculation. What a no-show actually costsThe arithmetic, why deposits feel rude and are not, and the scripts that make asking normal. Why per-user pricing costs youWhat Jobber, Housecall Pro and ZenMaid actually charge as you add people. Work out your floorFree, no signup. Your costs and your real sellable hours produce the number below which a job loses you money.

The number almost nobody has calculated

Your cost per sellable hour. Total monthly business costs — including paying yourself — divided by the hours you can actually sell.

The second half is where people go wrong. It is not 160. Subtract quoting, driving, invoicing, chasing, marketing and the slots nobody books, and for most solo operators the honest figure is 60 to 90 hours a month.

Monthly costs	Sellable hours	Cost per sellable hour
$2,400	60	$40.00
$2,400	80	$30.00
$3,600	80	$45.00
$5,000	90	$55.56

Same costs, different sellable hours, and the floor moves by a third. This is why "what should I charge for a full detail" has no answer that does not start with your own numbers — and why prices copied from a forum are the worst possible input.

About Rigsheet

Rigsheet is a job app from Baker Ventures LLC for one-to-three-person mobile service businesses: mobile auto detailers and residential cleaners first. Scheduling with drive-time gaps, quotes with vehicle and home-size pricing, deposits, "on my way" texts, before and after photos, invoices, and automated review requests. Plans start at $4 a month, with unlimited jobs, customers, quotes and invoices on every tier and no per-user fees.

It exists because the alternatives charge a solo operator team prices. A one-van business is not a small version of a ten-truck business, and pricing built around seats and add-ons makes that mistake expensive. The pricing calculators and operator guides on this site are free and need no account.

Everything in this section

A full diary and a bad month — The three arithmetic reasons a fully booked week pays badly - unpaid drive time, jobs priced below your floor, and capacity lost to no-shows. Each one

Cite this page

Rigsheet. “The problems this site is about.” Baker Ventures LLC, September 6, 2026. https://rigsheet.bakerventuresstudio.com/why/