A two-person crew finishing in 90 minutes does not cost 90 minutes of labor. Each person’s paid time needs a place in the estimate.
Crew time is elapsed time. Person-hours add the hours worked by each person. Keeping those ideas separate helps you estimate labor, compare jobs, and review whether adding a cleaner changed the total time required.
Translate elapsed time into person-hours
If two cleaners each spend 1.5 hours on-site, the crew uses 3 person-hours. If three cleaners each spend 1 hour, that is also 3 person-hours. The appointment length differs, but the total on-site labor time is the same.
This simplified formula assumes everyone works the same duration. When shifts differ, add the actual paid hours of each person. For example, 2 hours for one cleaner plus 1.25 hours for another gives 3.25 person-hours. Record the actual total rather than forcing the work into an equal-duration estimate.
Include paid travel once
In the MaidBench quote example, two cleaners each spend 1.5 hours on-site and 0.25 hours in paid travel. The total is 2 × (1.5 + 0.25) = 3.5 paid person-hours.
| Time category | Example person-hours |
|---|---|
| Two cleaners × 1.5 on-site hours | 3.00 |
| Two cleaners × 0.25 paid travel hours | 0.50 |
| Total paid person-hours | 3.50 |
Travel-pay obligations depend on your circumstances and location; use the time your business pays for, and get appropriate professional guidance on employment rules when needed. The calculator does not determine which time legally must be paid.
Once travel is part of paid person-hours, do not add the same travel labor again as another cost. Vehicle expenses or parking can be separate costs if they are not already included elsewhere.
Apply loaded pay to the paid hours
If base pay is $25 and your additional employer-cost assumption is 15%, loaded pay is $28.75 per person-hour. Multiplying by 3.5 hours gives $100.625, rounded to a $100.63 labor cost.
Include an owner working wage when the owner cleans. That allows the model to reflect the cost of the work rather than making owner labor disappear. Keep this working wage distinct from any profit distribution or unpaid administrative time not entered in the model.
Keep the overhead basis consistent
If your overhead allocation is $4 per paid person-hour, 3.5 paid hours receive $14 of allocated overhead. The planned monthly hours used to calculate that $4 should match the basis you apply to jobs. If the denominator includes paid travel, the job-hours numerator should use the same basis.
Allocated overhead is not automatically a new cash expense caused by that visit. It is a way of distributing fixed costs across planned work. When actual hours or monthly fixed costs differ from the plan, review the allocation rather than treating it as permanently correct.
Use actual time to improve later quotes
Save the estimated person-hours before the work begins. After the visit, enter actual paid person-hours. If the estimate was 3.5 and actual time was 4, the variance is 0.5 person-hours.
A repeated positive variance may point to an optimistic estimate, changed scope, access delays, or another cause. Record a short note while the work is fresh. The time variance is a signal to investigate; it does not by itself explain why the job took longer.