Cleaning: the price question that kills the enquiry
Answering with a number is as bad as refusing to answer. A price question before the scope is known can only be answered with a basis, and a business that refuses any figure loses the enquiry to one that gave a range with its conditions. The total price rule points the same way.
Why both usual answers fail
The first answer is a number. It is given to be helpful, it is based on an assumption about scope, and it becomes the figure the customer remembers when the actual quote arrives higher. That is the origin of a large share of complaints in this trade.
The second answer is a refusal: we would have to see it first. Which is true, and which reads as evasion, and which loses the enquiry to the business that answered with something.
The way through is a basis. What the price depends on, what the range is for a typical case, and what would move it up or down. That is answerable in two sentences without seeing anything.
It also matches the legal frame. The total price is the price payable including VAT and other price components, and where a price is itemised the total has to be highlighted, so any figure you give should be a total rather than a component.
What a basis looks like
Three elements. The unit: per hour, per square metre, per visit. The range for a typical case, stated as a range rather than a single figure. And the two or three factors that move it: surface, frequency, access, condition.
Written out, that is around 40 words and it answers the question honestly. A customer who reads it can work out roughly where they sit, which is what they were asking, and they arrive at the site visit already knowing whether they can afford you.
Then hold the range. A basis that turns out to have been optimistic every time is a number with extra steps, and the customer who compared six sources will remember which business quoted a range it then exceeded.
A worked example makes it concrete. An office of 200 square metres cleaned 2 times a week at 0.60 to 0.90 euros per square metre and visit is 240 to 360 euros a week, so 1,040 to 1,560 euros a month. Stated that way the customer can check the arithmetic, and that is what turns a range into an answer.
| Answer | What the customer hears | Result |
|---|---|---|
| A single number | A promise | Complaint when the quote is higher |
| We must see it first | Evasion | Enquiry goes elsewhere |
| A basis with a range | An honest answer | Site visit with expectations set |
| A net figure | A total | A dispute about the total price rule |
Where the number belongs
On the page, not only in the reply. Consumers consult an average of six sources before choosing, and a page that answers the price basis is one of the few that answers anything at all before contact.
Then answer quickly. 19 percent of consumers expect a response the same day, and in a trade where several businesses will quote, the second reply is usually a formality.
Count what the basis saves. A business quoting a range answers roughly 8 of 10 price questions without a visit, so the visits that do happen are with customers who already accepted the range. At an enquiry worth 60 euros for domestic work and 4,320 euros for a contract, the saved time matters most on the domestic side and the accuracy matters most on the commercial one.
Questions and answers
Should I publish prices at all?
What if the job turns out bigger?
Can I quote net prices to consumers?
How fast should I reply?
Sources
- Section 3 Preisangabenverordnung (PAngV) The duty to state total prices and highlight the total
- BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 Response expectations and the six source average
