The short answer: national cost guides put professional move-out cleaning at roughly $0.15 to $0.45 per square foot. This Old House, using Fixr pricing data, quotes $0.20 to $0.45 per square foot, and HireAHelper uses $0.15 to $0.30 for a standard clean. On a 1,000 sq ft apartment that works out to somewhere between $150 and $450. Treat the per-foot figure as a first guess, though. The number of bathrooms, the state of the kitchen and a couple of add-ons move the final move out cleaning price per square foot more than a few hundred extra feet ever will.
The per-square-foot range, and where it comes from
Almost every cost guide you will find online starts from the same idea: take the size of the home, multiply it by a rate, and you have a ballpark. The rates vary because each guide is built on a different pool of quotes, but they land in the same neighborhood.
Here is how the Fixr figures published by This Old House play out by home size. These are national numbers, not Merrimack Valley quotes, so read them as a range to sanity-check against rather than a price list.
| Home size | At $0.20 per sq ft | At $0.45 per sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| 800 sq ft | $160 | $360 |
| 1,000 sq ft | $200 | $450 |
| 1,500 sq ft | $300 | $675 |
| 2,000 sq ft | $400 | $900 |
| 2,500 sq ft | $500 | $1,125 |
| 3,000 sq ft | $600 | $1,350 |
The gap between the low and the high column is wide on purpose. Two homes of exactly the same size can sit at opposite ends of it, and the reasons are almost always the same handful of things covered below.
How to do the math on your own place
You can get a useful estimate in about two minutes. Do it before you ask anyone for a quote, so you know whether the number you hear back is reasonable.
- Find the square footage. It is usually on the lease, the listing or the property tax record. Use the finished living space, not the garage or an unfinished basement.
- Multiply by the low and the high rate. Using $0.20 and $0.45, a 900 sq ft two-bedroom comes out between $180 and $405.
- Nudge it up for bathrooms. A home with more bathrooms than its size suggests will land toward the top of the range.
- Add the appliance interiors if they are not included: inside the oven and inside the fridge are the two that matter most at a walk-through.
- Be honest about condition. If nobody has cleaned professionally in a long time, expect the high end.
That gives you a range, not a price. The price comes from someone asking the right questions about the home, which is exactly what the next section is about.
Why square footage is only half the story
Square footage measures floor. Cleaning time is spent on surfaces, and those are not spread evenly through a home. A move-out also changes the job in three specific ways.
The whole floor is exposed
In a lived-in home, a cleaner works around the sofa, the bed and the rug. In an empty one, every inch of floor, every baseboard and every mark behind where the furniture stood is suddenly visible, and it all gets done. That is the main reason a move-out usually costs more than a standard visit to the same address.
Kitchens and bathrooms are dense work
A bedroom is quick: dust, wipe, vacuum, done. A kitchen means the inside of every cabinet and drawer, the range hood, the backsplash and the appliances. A bathroom means grout, glass, the toilet base and the tub or shower pan. A 1,200 sq ft home with two full bathrooms can easily take longer than a 1,500 sq ft home with one.
Condition beats size
How long it has been since the last professional clean is one of the biggest factors in what a move-out costs. Grease on a range hood, scale in a shower and dust on top of kitchen cabinets all take real time to remove, and none of it shows up in the square footage.
Add-ons that sit on top of the per-foot price
Most per-square-foot figures cover the standard clean. A few items are often priced separately, and they are worth asking about before you compare quotes, because one company’s “included” is another’s extra.
| Add-on | National range | Dyment price |
|---|---|---|
| Inside the oven | $25 to $75 (HireAHelper) | $40 |
| Inside the refrigerator | $25 to $75 (HireAHelper) | $40 |
| Windows | $1.60 to $3.20 per interior window (Fixr) | $20 |
| Carpet cleaning | $75 to $300 (Fixr) | Ask us |
If a quote looks unusually low, check this table against it first. A low base price with the oven and fridge left out is not really a low price, because those are the two things a landlord opens at a walk-through.
Why we price by the job, not by the foot or the hour
Per-square-foot math is a good way to check a quote. It is not how we quote. Our move-in and move-out clean is listed on our move out cleaning Lowell MA page at $300 as a flat price per job, never per hour, with the oven and fridge interiors at $40 each and windows at $20. Before we confirm the number, we ask about the square footage, the number of bathrooms and how long it has been since the last professional clean, because those are what actually change the work.
If you want to compare it with the guides, the arithmetic is simple: $300 on a 1,000 sq ft apartment is $0.30 per square foot, right in the middle of the national range. The difference is that you approve the price before we start, and it does not change unless you ask us to add something. There is no meter running while the oven soaks.
Why not hourly? An hourly rate puts the risk on you. If the kitchen takes longer than expected, you pay for it. A flat job price puts that risk on us, which is where it belongs, since we are the ones who know how long a move-out takes.
How to keep the price toward the low end
You cannot change the size of the home, but you can change most of what pushes a quote up.
- Get everything out first, including the last bag of trash and whatever is under the sink. Cleaning around boxes takes longer and the result is worse.
- Empty and unplug the fridge a day early so it can defrost. A frozen freezer cannot be cleaned properly.
- Tell whoever is quoting about the oven, the fridge and the number of bathrooms up front, so the price you are given is the price you pay.
- Deal with the obvious yourself if you have time: take down curtains, remove wall hooks you installed, and clear the closets.
- Book with a little notice before your handover date, so the clean happens after the movers and before the inspection, not in a rush in between.
When doing it yourself makes more sense
For a small apartment in good shape, cleaning it yourself is often the sensible call. Plan on a full day, start with the oven and the fridge because they take longest, and work through a proper list rather than from memory. Our move out cleaning list goes room by room in the order a landlord checks, and it is the same list our team works from.
Booking a professional starts to make sense when the home is larger, the kitchen has been through a few years of cooking, the lease asks for professional cleaning, or you simply do not have the day to give. If you are unsure which side of that line you are on, get in touch with the size of the home and your handover date and we will give you a straight answer.
Frequently asked questions
How much does move-out cleaning cost per square foot?
National cost guides put it at roughly $0.15 to $0.45 per square foot. This Old House, citing Fixr data, uses $0.20 to $0.45, and HireAHelper uses $0.15 to $0.30 for a standard clean. The real price depends on bathrooms, kitchen condition and add-ons as much as on size.
Is move-out cleaning more expensive than a regular cleaning?
Usually, yes. An empty home gets cleaned in places a lived-in home never does: inside every cabinet and drawer, inside and behind the appliances, and across the whole floor instead of around the furniture.
Does the square footage include the garage or basement?
Most estimates are based on finished living space. If you want a garage, an unfinished basement or a porch included, mention it when you ask for a quote so it is priced in from the start.
Are the oven and fridge included in a move-out clean?
It depends on the company, which is why it is worth asking. At Dyment, inside the oven and inside the refrigerator are listed add-ons at $40 each, so you can include them or skip them.
Do you charge by the hour or by the square foot?
Neither. We price by the job and you approve the number before we start. Square footage, bathrooms and the time since the last professional clean are what we ask about to set it.
How can I lower the cost of a move-out clean?
Empty the home completely, defrost the fridge a day early, and be clear about add-ons when you ask for the quote. Clearing curtains, hooks and closets yourself also saves time on the day.
Do you do move-out cleaning in New Hampshire?
Yes. We are based in Lowell, MA and work across the Merrimack Valley and southern New Hampshire, including Nashua and Manchester.