Kitchen Hood Cleaning profit margin benchmarks
The IRS reports what one-owner businesses filing Schedule C earn, by sector. Kitchen Hood Cleaning falls under Administrative and support services. For tax year 2023, 3,118,914 returns reported $114.4 billion in receipts, $17.9 billion in cost of sales and $24.2 billion in net income less deficit (the table gives thousands of dollars):
| Benchmark | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross margin | 84.3% |
| Net margin, owner pay included | 21.2% |
| Average receipts per return | $36,687 |
| Average net income per return | $7,769 |
The owner's own draw is not an expense on a Schedule C, so that net margin is mostly the owner's wage, not profit on top of it.
Where the money goes in hood cleaning
Hood cleaning is crew labor at night, chemicals and the trailer rig. The first cleaning of a neglected system takes far longer than the ones after it.
Where hood cleaning margin leaks, and how to win it back
- First cleanings priced like regular visits
- Kitchens on the wrong schedule for their cooking
- Wastewater handling not priced
- Long drives between restaurants
- Fan repairs done free
Ways hood cleaners raise margin: price the first cleaning from a walkthrough; match each kitchen to its cleaning schedule; charge for wastewater handling; group restaurants by area.
Check your hood cleaning prices against the costs
We do not have sourced price ranges for hood cleaning services yet, so start from your own costs with the labor rate calculator and list your prices on the services list.
Work out the margin on each line of your menu, not just the big jobs. The usual hood cleaning menu: hood, duct and fan cleaning; first cleaning of a neglected system; hood filter exchange; fan hinge kit; access panel; grease containment; exhaust fan belt; service sticker and report; before and after photos.
Overhead comes out of the margin before profit. In hood cleaning it includes general liability insurance, which Insureon's customers who are contractors as a group pay an average of $83 a month for; commercial auto at $270 a month on the same figures.
Work out your own margin
Put one recent hood cleaning job into the calculator above, or switch it to "My margin for the year" to set your year next to the IRS benchmark. A 50% markup is a 33% margin; the markup calculator shows the rest.
Sources
- IRS Statistics of Income: Nonfarm sole proprietorships, Table 2, income statements by industrial sector, tax year 2023, checked October 9, 2026
- IRS: SOI tax stats, nonfarm sole proprietorship statistics, checked October 9, 2026
- Insureon: Insurance cost for contractors as a group, checked October 9, 2026
Last checked October 9, 2026. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and differ by state and city, so confirm with the agency named before you act.