Every route to a new cleaning contract has a price — cash, owner hours, or both. This page breaks down cost per booked walkthrough, cost per signed account and payback period across the channels cleaning companies actually use, so you can pick on maths instead of hope.
Cost per booked walkthrough tells you how efficient your top of funnel is. Cost per signed contract tells you whether the business works. Most cleaning owners track neither, which is why channel decisions get made on feel. Cost per signed contract = total channel spend (including your own hours at a real rate) divided by contracts signed. Compare that with the gross profit of an average contract in its first year and you have your answer immediately.
- Cold calling yourself: roughly 70-75 dials per walkthrough, 3-4 owner hours. Cash cost near zero, opportunity cost $150-$300 per appointment. - Bought pay-per-lead: $25-$90 per shared lead, 3-8% close, so roughly $700-$1,500 per signed contract, usually at a discounted price. - Google Ads: $8-$25 per click, 3-6% conversion, roughly $150-$600 per enquiry, skewed towards one-off work. - Sales hire: $70,000-$100,000 loaded in year one, 60-120 days to ramp. - Done-for-you outbound: from $1,000 per month, with booked, exclusive walkthroughs and 30-45% typical close rates.
A typical mid-size office account at $1,800-$3,500 a month at 40-48% gross margin returns $720-$1,680 of gross profit every month. One signed account of that size pays back a full quarter of outbound within the first month or two, then keeps paying for the life of the contract — average retention in commercial cleaning runs 2-4 years when service holds. That is why cost per contract matters more than cost per lead. A cheap lead that closes at 4% and discounts your price is more expensive than an appointment that closes at 40% at full rate.
Three levers move the number faster than switching channel. First, tighten targeting — a narrower ideal customer profile lifts reply and close rates on the same volume. Second, quote from a fixed bid sheet so you stop discounting under pressure. Third, follow up: most cleaning companies quote once and stop, while roughly a third of wins come from contact four through eight. Fix those and the same budget produces materially more signed revenue.
| Feature | CleanReach outbound | Typical alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| Cash cost to start | from $1,000 per month | $70k+ for a hire, or ongoing ad spend |
| Owner hours per walkthrough | Attend and quote only | 3-4 hours of dialling |
| Close rate | 30-45% | 3-8% on shared leads |
| Work type | Recurring contracts | Often one-off or emergency jobs |
| Asset left behind | Your own market list | Nothing when spend stops |
Across channels, realistic all-in cost per signed contract runs roughly $500-$1,500 in 2026. Shared pay-per-lead sits at the top of that range; exclusive booked walkthroughs sit lower because they close 5-10x better.
Anything under about $250 all-in is healthy for commercial cleaning, provided the appointment is exclusive and pre-qualified on size, frequency and timing.
A mid-size office account at 40-48% gross margin usually repays its acquisition cost within the first one to two months of service.
Yes. Owner hours are the most expensive input in a small cleaning company. Price them at what an hour of operations or quoting is worth before comparing channels.
Pricing starts at $1,000 per month, with exclusive territory and booked walkthroughs on your calendar.
Book a call — we'll show you exactly how we'd fill your calendar with qualified walkthroughs.