How to quote a vacation-rental turnover

A clear scope is the first pricing input.

A bedroom count alone does not tell you how many beds need changing, where laundry is washed or how long the round trip takes. Confirm the work before comparing prices.

1. Count people-hours

Two cleaners for two hours is four labour-hours. Add paid travel time separately, including your own time. A loaded hourly cost can include wage, employer costs and other costs you actually bear; it is not simply the client-facing hourly rate.

2. Separate the other costs

Include round-trip vehicle cost, laundry, consumables and an allocated share of overhead. Keep all distance inputs in the same unit. If you add contingency to an estimate, do not also treat it as an incurred expense in your actual job ledger.

3. Solve for margin, not markup

If costs including contingency are 150.15, percentage fees are 3%, the fixed fee is 0.30 and your target contribution margin is 25%, the price is (150.15 + 0.30) / (1 − 0.03 − 0.25), rounded up to 208.96. These are fictional values, not a recommended rate.

A 25% markup on costs is not a 25% margin on revenue. Contribution is also not take-home pay: taxes and any unentered costs remain excluded.

4. Put boundaries in the quote

Property reference, rooms, beds and usual condition.
Laundry allowance and who supplies linen and consumables.
Scope, service window, access process and reporting requirements.
Extras requiring approval, tax treatment and your agreed payment and cancellation terms.

Do not promise a date or fixed scope you have not verified. A quote is a proposal, not a paid booking.

5. Measure the first jobs

Record actual hours, consumables and fees. Compare contribution to the original estimate. If a repeated task takes longer than assumed, discuss a measured scope or rate change with the customer rather than relying on an invented market average.

For context, Turno’s bidding guide lists distance, rooms, checklists, laundry and supplies among the details cleaners see. TurnMargin is independent of Turno.

Try the free calculator →