Should Cleaners Charge a Travel Fee?
Decide whether to charge travel separately, build it into the job price, use service zones or tighten the area so unpaid driving stops eating the day.
Key takeaways
- Travel has a vehicle cost and a time cost.
- The ATO cents-per-kilometre rate is a tax method, not a complete customer-pricing rule.
- A separate fee is only one way to recover travel.
- Tightening the service area can be more effective than charging every customer more.
A separate travel fee is not always necessary, but travel has to be paid for somewhere. A cleaner covering a wide area can lose several billable hours each week while still appearing fully booked. The choice is to charge travel directly, build it into a minimum price, use service-area zones or stop accepting work that sits too far outside the route.
Calculate both parts of travel
Vehicle cost
Fuel is only part of running a vehicle. Servicing, tyres, insurance, registration and depreciation all exist behind each kilometre.
From 1 July 2026, the ATO cents-per-kilometre deduction rate is 91 cents for the relevant method. That figure is useful context for tax record keeping. It is not an instruction to charge customers 91 cents per kilometre, and it may not equal the true cost of a particular vehicle.
Owner time
Forty minutes in the car is forty minutes that cannot be sold to another customer.
If the internal required rate is A$60 an hour, 40 minutes of travel time has an opportunity value of A$40 before vehicle cost is considered.
This is often the larger part of the problem.
Worked example
A one-off job requires a 30-kilometre round trip and 40 minutes of total driving.
Using 91 cents per kilometre as a rough vehicle-cost reference gives A$27.30. Valuing 40 minutes at A$60 an hour gives A$40.
The combined economic impact is about A$67.30.
Do not add fuel again if the selected vehicle-cost method already includes it. The example is designed to show why charging only A$10 for “petrol” may not solve the problem.
Four ways to recover travel
Build it into the flat quote
This keeps the customer-facing price simple. It works well for one-off jobs where each quote is already tailored.
Use a minimum charge
A minimum gives short jobs enough room to carry setup and travel without a separate line item.
Create service zones
For example:
- core area included
- outer area carries a fixed zone fee
- beyond the outer area quoted individually
This is easier to explain than calculating every kilometre from the cleaner's home.
Limit the service area
Sometimes the best travel fee is saying no. A distant A$160 job can block the space needed for two nearby recurring clients.
Parking and tolls need their own rule
Unpredictable parking is common in inner-city and apartment work. State in the quote whether paid parking and tolls are:
- included in the price
- charged at cost
- subject to customer-provided parking
Do not leave it until the invoice arrives.
Avoid turning travel into a surprise fee
Any unavoidable fee should be disclosed before the customer accepts the service. Use the booking page, quote and terms consistently.
A cleaner does not need to apologise for a clear service area. Customers usually understand distance. What frustrates them is finding out after the work has begun.
The bottom line
Travel has a vehicle cost and a time cost. The ATO cents-per-kilometre rate is a tax method, not a complete customer-pricing rule. A separate fee is only one way to recover travel. Tightening the service area can be more effective than charging every customer more.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to common questions about this topic.
Use a consistent service-zone policy rather than exposing the accidental shape of each day's route to the customer. Internally, calculate the real travel required.
Sources and further reading
We prioritise official, primary, and current sources. Links were last checked on the dates shown.
- Cents per kilometre deduction rate for car expenses — Australian Taxation Office. Checked 2 August 2026.
- Price displays — Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Checked 2 August 2026.
- Choose a pricing strategy — Australian Government business.gov.au. Checked 2 August 2026.
About the author
Tidyly Editorial Team
The Tidyly Editorial Team creates practical guidance for Australian cleaning businesses using product experience, first-party examples, and current primary sources.
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