Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to have your house cleaned in San Jose, CA 2025?
A regular home cleaning in San Jose, California, and The Bay Area will cost an average of $165. For a deep cleaning the average cost is $247. The range in price for house cleaning in San Jose is from $140 to $250 and more, and, $220 to $350 or more for deep cleaning. There are many factors that will affect the cost of home cleaning for you, such as, the size of your home, how dirty it is, how many people live in your home, how many cleaning technicians your home will require to clean, and the condition of the surfaces.
The national average for hourly home cleaning is $50 per hour, per technician (Thumbtack, 2024). San Jose CA was recently named the most expensive city in the nation in which to reside (SmartAssets, 2025).
Since San Jose has such a high cost of living, hourly charges are significantly higher than the national average, about $66 per hour, per cleaning technician, plus sales tax.
However, there are house cleaning charges as high as $165 per hour or more in San Jose, so it is advised that you inquire the value of cleanings when you’re getting estimates. To receive the most accurate cleaning estimate for your home, it’s best to have the technician(s) visit your home and complete a walk-through with you. That way, you know exactly what will be included in the price for home cleaning, and you can ask any questions that you may have.
Because San Jose, CA, was recently reported as being the number one most expensive city to live in as of April 2025 (SmartAssets, 2025), you should expect home cleaning to carry a heavier price tag than you may have originally thought. Professional cleaning, being a very labor intensive job that requires skill, and plenty of knowledge to operate in a safe and effective manner, will reflect the high cost of living in San Jose, CA, and The Bay Area. Pro cleaning companies have overhead costs such as licensing, sales tax, liability insurance, property damage, & bodily injury insurance, as well as worker’s compensation insurance, unemployment, and the cost of supplies and tools.
How often should I have my home cleaned?
Frequency of home cleaning will vary according to a few factors such as the number of residents in your home, if you have pets, if you have small children, and how tidy you are in between professional whole home cleanings. Most clients opt for bi-weekly cleaning services, however, it is recommended that a whole-home cleaning be performed at least weekly. Most cleaning businesses will offer one-time cleans as well as recurring cleaning that is performed weekly, bi-weekly, and, less frequently, monthly. It is best to consider how clean you are, and then discuss your particular needs with your cleaning professional to determine frequency of house cleaning.
How much should a professional house cleaning service be able to clean in two hours? Three hours?
In two hours, a pro cleaner will be able to help you keep up with daily light housekeeping tasks, i.e., dishwasher loading and unloading, cleaning kitchen surfaces, cleaning the kitchen floors and those in the main living areas, and tidying up the main living area.
If you’re looking for bathroom and kitchen cleaning as well as the rest of your home, pro cleaners can, on average, clean two bathrooms and a kitchen in two hours, plus tidy the main living area. That is only the baths and kitchen, so, if you’re in need of whole home cleaning, two hours will not be sufficient to clean your entire home.
For the average home of 1200 sq feet, a professional maintenance cleaning will take an average of 3.25 cleaning hours. Cleaning hours means for every technician cleaning that equals one cleaning hour. So, if there are two technicians, and it takes them 2.5 hours to clean your home, that calculates to 5 cleaning hours.
It’s important to note that your home cleaners will get faster and more efficient at cleaning your home as they clean it time and time again, and not to mistake their increased speed with lower quality cleaning. Like most skills, the more you do it, the faster (and better) you become at that skill.
Deep and initial cleaning will take longer than maintenance cleans, and move-out cleans will take the most time. On average, that same 1200 sq ft home will take 5.5 cleaning hours for a deep or initial clean, and 7.5 hours for a move out cleaning, on average.
Do I need to provide cleaning supplies for my cleaners?
No, you do not have to provide the tools and solutions needed for cleaning your space, however, you may provide them if you prefer.
Most professional cleaning businesses will provide each technician with a sanitized cleaning bucket, or similar container, that contains all the supplies they may need to clean your whole home. Cleantopia offers complete supplies, so that you do not have to worry about purchasing and maintaining the proper cleaning supplies in your home for your service appointments. If you’d like our technicians to only use the supplies that you provide, please let us know when scheduling so that we can discuss what supplies Cleantopia will require you to stock for your appointments.
Vacuum cleaners are something that we prefer our clients to provide (but don’t require) for sanitary reasons, since germs and pests can be transferred from one home to another. Rest assured, we will provide a vacuum that is emptied, cleaned, and sanitized prior to being used at your home on service day.
Do I need to tip my housecleaning technicians?
Tipping shows your happiness with a given service, and while it is greatly appreciated, it is not required. Many of our clients build an automatic amount for a tip into their regularly scheduled payments, which is a convenient way to make tipping automatic.
Tipping should be based on satisfaction and should reflect your level thereof. 100% of your tips will be received by the cleaning tech(s) personally. You may choose to give a cash or check tip for your cleaners on the day of service, or, you can include it in your digital payment, and it will be cashed out by the technician(s) at the end of that day.
If I have to reschedule or cancel this week’s service, do I still have to pay for the cleaning?
If you need to reschedule your appointment for cleaning it is customary that you provide enough time for your slot to be filled by another client, and many cleaning businesses have this worked into their cancellation policy and/or service agreement. Many companies will charge an agreed upon deposit to your card on file, 24 hours prior to the scheduled service, and if you need to cancel or reschedule with less than 24 hours notice, you will be billed the deposit in full which is non-refundable.
Cleantopia requires 48 hour notice for reschedule requests to receive a full refund, and 24 hours notice for the non-refundable deposit to be applied to your re-scheduled cleaning (must be completed within 7 days of request). Companies will require a deposit and a 48-hour notice because their technicians receive their schedule a week in advance and are guaranteed the hours on that schedule.
If we need to reschedule an appointment, you will not be charged any money. Cancellations and reschedule requests made less than 48 hours in advance, often leave an opening that can not be filled in time with such short notice, therefore, we will charge the deposit and possibly the full price of the cleaning. Please plan ahead.
Is it better to hire housecleaners by the hour, or with an agreed upon flat fee per cleaning?
This is a personal preference, and the flexibility to choose between an hourly or a flat fee charge is available by some, but not all professional cleaning businesses. Hourly charges, when available, will often come with a minimum hourly charge, so you’ll want to ask about any minimum charges beforehand. Cleantopia Bay Area, offers both an hourly rate, and a flat fee charge per cleaning to our clients. You can view our hourly rates on our Services page.
What are “cleaning hours”? If I have two technicians coming to my home to clean, and I received an estimate of 6 cleaning hours, does that mean it will take them 6 hours to clean it?
No, it means that it will take those two cleaners 3 hours to clean (3 hours each cleaner = 6 total cleaning hours).
Cleaning hours mean the number of hours it’s estimated to clean your home, based on one cleaning technician. If you have a larger home, more cleaning technicians will be required, thereby reducing the actual time it will take to clean. For example, if you received an estimate of 6 cleaning hours to clean your home, and there are two technicians coming to do the job, you should plan out a 3-hour block of time for them to be there.