More profit from the crews you already have
Labor is 50-60% of your revenue, and good cleaners are hard to find and keep. Level is the operating layer that makes scarce cleaner time produce more gross profit per hour: it connects scheduling, labor, and books, then surfaces the weekly actions that reprice the contracts losing money and stop cash from getting trapped before billing.
The Cleaning Problem
Most cleaning owners know their revenue. Few know their gross profit per cleaner hour.
Labor costs consume 50-60% of revenue in residential cleaning and 40-50% in commercial — it's the single biggest line item and the hardest to optimize. A 3-point swing in labor efficiency on $500K revenue is $15K straight to the bottom line. But most cleaning companies track labor as one big number instead of by contract, crew, and service type. We've seen companies where their 'best' accounts were actually losing money after accounting for drive time, callbacks, and supplies.
Commercial contracts look great on paper — recurring revenue, higher margins, predictable schedules. But the gap between bid price and actual cost compounds over time. Scope creep is silent: extra trash runs, after-hours requests, seasonal deep cleans that weren't in the original spec. One commercial cleaning company we analyzed had 30% of contracts running negative margins they didn't know about because they'd never recalculated cost-to-serve after year one.
Client concentration is the hidden risk nobody talks about until it's too late. The average cleaning company gets 20-40% of revenue from their top 3 clients. If any one of them leaves — and commercial contract retention averages 80-90% — you're scrambling to replace five or six figures of revenue with no pipeline. The companies that survive this build financial models around concentration risk before it hits.
Analyzed with the CLEAR Framework
Cash · Labor · Earnings · Accounts · Risk — the five pillars we evaluate for every company.
Cleaning Industry Benchmarks
How do the best cleaning companies perform? Data from our analysis of 2,200+ contractors.
Net Profit Margin
10-20%
Residential: 10-15%. Commercial: 15-20%. Top performers: 20-25%.
Gross Margin
40-55%
Commercial: higher end. Specialty (carpet/window): 50-65%.
Labor as % Revenue
40-60%
Residential: 50-60%. Commercial: 40-50%. Biggest lever.
Contract Retention
80-90%
Commercial benchmark. Residential: 70-80%. Each lost client costs $100-500 to replace.
Revenue per Employee
$30K-70K/yr
Wide range by service type and geography. IBISWorld data.
Customer Acquisition Cost
$100-500
Varies by channel. Referral: $100. Paid: $300-500.
What Level Does for Cleaning Companies
Contract Profitability Analysis
We break down every contract by revenue, labor hours, supply costs, drive time, and callbacks. You'll see which contracts make money, which ones lose money, and exactly where to reprice or renegotiate scope.
Labor Cost Optimization
We track labor cost by crew, route, and service type. You'll see which teams are most efficient, where overtime is eating into margins, and the dollar impact of route optimization, cross-training, and scheduling changes.
Commercial vs Residential Mix Analysis
Commercial and residential cleaning have fundamentally different economics. We model the optimal mix for your business — considering margins, cash flow timing, client acquisition cost, retention rates, and growth capacity.
Client Concentration Risk Monitoring
We track revenue concentration by client, flag when any single client exceeds 15% of revenue, and model the cash flow impact of losing your top accounts. You'll have a contingency plan before you need one.
Cash Flow Forecasting
Commercial cleaning runs on net-30 invoices with weekly payroll obligations. That timing mismatch creates cash crunches during growth. We build rolling forecasts that account for payment cycles, seasonal patterns, and planned investments.
Growth & Acquisition Readiness
Whether you're adding routes, acquiring a competitor's book, or preparing to sell, we build the financial story. Cleaning companies trade at 1-3x revenue for residential and 3-5x EBITDA for commercial — we help you maximize the multiple.
Bookkeeper, your CPA — vs. Level
| Capability | Bookkeeper | CPA | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record transactions | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| File taxes | — | ✓ | — |
| Contract profitability analysis | — | — | ✓ |
| Cash flow forecasting | — | — | ✓ |
| Benchmark against industry | — | — | ✓ |
| Monthly strategy calls | — | — | ✓ |
| Labor cost by crew & route | — | — | ✓ |
| Client concentration monitoring | — | — | ✓ |
| Growth & acquisition modeling | — | — | ✓ |
| Understands cleaning operations | Rarely | Rarely | ✓ |
Your bookkeeper records the past. Your CPA files taxes. Level is the operating layer in between — it connects the work to the money and shows you how to make more from the people you already have.
We connect to the tools you already use
15-minute setup. Read-only access. Your data stays secure.
From clients
What cleaning operators say after working with us.
“Commercial janitorial, 80+ accounts, and I had no idea which were actually profitable. Sam built a per-account P&L with loaded labor and supply allocation. 14 accounts were losing money — repriced 9, dropped 5. EBITDA up $210K the first year and I'm working with fewer headaches.”
“Specialty cleaning (post-construction punch-out) and our labor mix was killing margin — too many hourly guys doing skilled work. Sam mapped role cost vs work type and we restructured the crew. Revenue per labor hour up 22%, payroll down 11%. Same revenue, way more profitable.”
“Multi-route janitorial and our supervisors were running their sites like little kingdoms — nobody was tracking site-level P&L. Sam set up a monthly site scorecard. Two sites were eating $40K/yr in unaccounted supplies and overtime. Fixed the worst one in 60 days, the other got dropped at contract renewal.”
Simple pricing
Three tiers, one ladder.
From $99/mo
Simple Audit
Clean data plus a monthly read on margin per hour and trapped cash. Same flat rate for catch-up.
From $1,500/mo
Scale
The full operating layer — AI agents, weekly actions, and benchmarks to grow margin per hour.
Custom
Platform / Multi-Office
Multi-branch benchmarking and scorecards for PE-backed and multi-location groups.
Book a call
Book a free 15-min Cleaning audit.
We'll review your cleaning numbers, benchmark them, and tell you what to fix first. No commitment.
Or have us reach out instead.
Drop your info and Level will review your cleaning numbers within a few hours. Free audit included.
No commitment. Real numbers, not generic advice.