You'll learn exactly where your time actually goes on cleaning jobs, how to spot the hidden hour that kills your margins, and why even business training doesn't prepare you for this specific blind spot.
I was laid off in 2023. Took Momentum's 6-month self-employment program. Learned proper business planning, cost accounting, market research. I did everything right.
First year? Profitable. I was proud. I thought I'd figured it out.
Then I built the calculator for this site and discovered I'd been miscounting my time by 47 minutes per job.
Key Takeaways
- 1
Operators count "cleaning time" but miss prep, travel, and cleanup
- 2
One hidden hour per day becomes massive revenue loss over a year
- 3
This is a mental accounting error, not a knowledge gap
The Trap I Fell Into
When I estimated job time, I thought about cleaning. That's what we all do, right? You picture yourself at the property, moving through rooms, working efficiently.
But here's what I forgot to count:
Per job:
- →Loading equipment and supplies: 5 minutes
- →Drive time (round trip): 18 minutes
- →Unloading equipment: 5 minutes
- →Post-job laundry: 14 minutes
Per day (across all jobs):
- →Invoicing and banking: 15 minutes
- →Social media and marketing: 10 minutes
Total invisible time: About 1 hour per day
I was pricing based on cleaning time only. The real time included all this operational work.
If you're not accounting for admin, marketing, travel, and operational tasks, you're working for free during those hours.
Why Even Experienced Operators Make This Mistake
It's not laziness. It's not lack of experience. It's how our brains naturally chunk work.
What We Count
The visible, billable work: cleaning the actual property
What We Miss
The invisible operational work that makes the billable work possible
When you're estimating, you think: "This house will take me 2 hours to clean." Technically true. But incomplete.
The complete question is:
"How much total time, from when I start getting ready until I'm done with all related tasks, does this job require?"
What This Actually Costs You
Let's do the math on my situation:
Job rate: $120
What I thought it took: 2 hours
What I was actually making: $60/hour
What it actually took: 2 hours 47 minutes
What I was really making: $43.24/hour
28% pay cut I gave myself
Over 200 jobs that year:
Lost revenue:
$3,352
That's what my hidden hour cost me in year one.
How I Caught This (And How You Can Too)
When I built the house cleaning calculator for this site, I forced myself to document every single minute. Not just cleaning time. Total job time.
I tracked:
- • Equipment prep and loading
- • Drive time (both directions)
- • Actual cleaning time
- • Post-job equipment cleanup
- • Laundry (towels, microfiber cloths)
- • Administrative wrap-up
That's when I saw it. 47 minutes I'd been forgetting to count, every single job.
Use the Calculator That Caught My MistakeFree. No signup. See your real job time.
What You Should Do Right Now
Track your next 5 jobs completely. Not just cleaning time, total time.
Time Tracking Template:
You can't price profitably when you're undercounting your time.
The hidden hour isn't hidden because it's small.
It's hidden because we've trained ourselves not to see it.
Track everything.
Price accordingly.
Keep more of what you earn.
Caleb Skinner
IICRC journeyman-trained with 20+ years in the cleaning industry. Completed Momentum's 6-month self-employment program. Built PriceThisJob to help operators avoid the pricing mistakes that cost me $3,352 in my first profitable year.
Try the calculator that caught my blind spot