Free calculator
Client lifetime value calculator
What is one recurring client really worth?
The first clean is the least valuable thing a recurring client will ever buy from you. This calculator shows what the relationship is worth over its whole life, and therefore what you can afford to pay to start it.
Your numbers
How long a typical recurring client stays.
Price minus cleaner pay, supplies, and fees.
Ad spend per booked recurring client. Use the cost per lead calculator to find it.
Results
Lifetime revenue
$7,020
39 cleans over 18 months
Lifetime gross profit
$3,510
$90 per clean × 39
Profit after acquisition cost
$3,360
LTV : CAC of 23.4 : 1
Payback
2 cleans
Visits until acquisition cost is recovered
Max you should pay to acquire
$1,170
One-third of lifetime gross profit
Annual revenue per client
$4,680
26 cleans a year
Why recurring clients are the whole business
A residential cleaning company is really two businesses wearing one uniform. One sells one-time cleans: move-outs, deep cleans, the pre-party scramble. The other sells relationships that pay every two weeks for a year and a half. The first business generates activity. The second generates wealth.
Reading the results
Lifetime gross profit is the number to remember. It is what one signup contributes toward your overhead and your own pay over the life of the relationship. Payback is how many visits it takes to earn back what you spent to win the client. If payback is two or three cleans, you can afford to be aggressive about acquiring recurring clients, including a discounted first clean. If payback is eight cleans, most of those clients will churn before you break even.
The one-third rule
Spending up to a third of lifetime gross profit to acquire a client leaves two-thirds for the business. It is a conservative ceiling that survives a pessimistic retention estimate. Most cleaning companies are nowhere near it. They cut a Google Ads budget because "leads got expensive," when the leads that did close were recurring clients worth twenty times the cost.
The number you probably don't know: months retained
Owners routinely overestimate retention because the long-tenured clients are the ones they think about. The honest figure comes from the bookings themselves: of the clients who started recurring service 12 or 24 months ago, how many are still on the schedule? CleaningInsytes derives that from your BookingKoala history, shows which lead sources produce the clients who stay, and tracks the recurring base month over month so you know whether it is actually growing or just churning in place. Pair this page with the cost per lead calculator to get the acquisition side, and with the profit calculator to get the margin.
Common questions
What is the lifetime value of a recurring cleaning client?
A biweekly client paying $180 per clean who stays 18 months is worth about $7,000 in revenue. At a 50% gross margin that is $3,500 of gross profit from a single signup, which is why recurring clients are the entire economics of a residential cleaning business.
How long does the average recurring cleaning client stay?
Retention varies widely, but 12 to 24 months is a common range for residential recurring clients, with a meaningful share staying 3+ years. The first three cleans are where most churn happens; clients who make it past the third visit tend to stay far longer.
How much should I pay to acquire a recurring client?
A useful rule: spend up to one-third of lifetime gross profit to acquire a client, so you still keep two-thirds. If a client is worth $3,500 in gross profit, paying $300 or even $600 to win them is a good trade, even if the first clean itself is at a loss.
Why is a one-time clean worth so much less than the math suggests?
A one-time clean is a one-time gross profit, often $80 to $120, and you paid to acquire that customer. A recurring client pays back the acquisition cost within a few visits and then keeps paying. Two customers who look identical on the booking form can differ in value by 30×.
See your real retention, by source
CleaningInsytes turns your booking history into recurring base, churn, and lifetime value you don't have to estimate.