How much does carpet cleaning cost?
Independent price guide · Ranges checked August 2026 · Nothing for sale here
Across the UK, professional carpet cleaning typically runs from about £25 for a small bedroom to £85 for a large living room, with a whole three-bed house around £210 to £260 and hourly firms charging £60 to £120 an hour. Every figure on this page is a researched range — an estimate to judge quotes against, never a quote itself.
Typical UK carpet cleaning prices
These bands are compiled from national cost guides. If a quote falls inside them, it’s in the normal market; well below them, ask what isn’t included.
| Job | Typical UK price (£) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Small bedroom | 25–50 | Single or box room, lightly furnished |
| Double bedroom | 30–60 | Standard double with typical furniture |
| Living room | 35–85 | Larger rooms and through-lounges sit at the top of the range |
| Stairs and landing | 35–85 | Some firms price per step at roughly 2 to 4 pounds |
| Hallway | 20–45 | Often bundled with stairs or a minimum-visit charge |
| Whole three-bed house | 210–260 | All carpeted rooms, stairs and landing |
| Whole four-bed house | 325–400 | All carpeted rooms, stairs and landing |
Ranges compiled from national UK cost guides (Checkatrade and MyJobQuote carpet and upholstery cleaning cost guides), checked August 2026. Treat every figure as an estimate, not a quote.
Estimate your own job
Add up your rooms and furniture and the calculator applies the same researched per-item ranges. Use the result as a sanity check against real quotes.
The three pricing models
- Per room or per area. The most common model. Each room, staircase or landing carries its own price, so the total is checkable before anyone arrives.
- By the hour. Typically £60 to £120 an hour. The rate is clear; the hours are an estimate until the job is done, so the total isn’t.
- By the square metre. Common on large and commercial jobs at around £2.50 per square metre. Accurate, but you can’t check it without a tape measure.
Most quotes also carry a minimum charge — typically £60 to £85 nationally. That isn’t padding: fuel, insurance and machine set-up cost a firm the same whether the job is one hallway or a whole house.
What moves the price up or down
- How many areas. The biggest factor everywhere — whole houses cost more in total but less per room.
- Room size. Firms that grade by size put small bedrooms at the bottom of the range and large living rooms at the top.
- Soiling and stains. Years of traffic, pet accidents and set stains take longer, and some firms surcharge for them.
- Stairs. Slow, awkward work — some cleaners price per step at £2 to £4, which adds up on a full flight.
- Wool and delicate fibres. Cooler water and gentler chemistry take longer; some firms charge more for it. (See our wool carpet care guide for why.)
- Where you live. London and big-city prices routinely sit above the national bands.
Hire machine vs professional
The honest comparison starts with the hire price, because it’s genuinely low: a Rug Doctor costs about £27.99 for 24 hours. Then come the consumables — detergent, a stain product, maybe a second bottle — and a weekend commonly passes the professional minimum visit anyway.
The difference you’d be paying a professional for is physics: a truck-mounted or industrial machine heats water far beyond what a hire machine manages and pulls it back out with several times the suction, so the carpet gets a deeper flush and dries faster. A hire machine washes the surface — run it over a stained patch and the mark often fades, then wicks back a week later from residue deep in the pile.
When is the hire machine the right call? A single lightly soiled room, no stains, no odours, and a free afternoon. Set-in stains, pet accidents or a whole house are where the professional price earns its keep — doing it twice costs more than doing it once properly.
Five questions to ask any carpet cleaner
- Is the price fixed before you arrive? If the answer involves “depends what we find”, budget above the quote.
- Is stain treatment included, or an extra? Stain surcharges of £20 to £50 are common in UK price lists.
- Is there a minimum charge or call-out fee? Most reputable firms have one — you just want it stated up front.
- How long until I can walk on it? The answer tells you how much water the machine leaves behind.
- What happens if I’m not happy? A firm that stands behind the work will say so before you book.
The classic trap is the bait price: a room price advertised so low no one could clean profitably at it, used to get a cleaner through the door — then heavy-soiling surcharges, stain fees and upsells grow the bill on the day. Per-room pricing isn’t the problem; unverifiable pricing is. A checkable price list in writing, before anyone arrives, removes the whole category.
Carpet cleaning cost FAQs
How much does carpet cleaning cost in the UK?
National cost guides put professional carpet cleaning at roughly 25 to 50 pounds for a small bedroom and 35 to 85 pounds for a living room, with a whole three-bed house typically 210 to 260 pounds. Firms that charge hourly run about 60 to 120 pounds an hour. All figures are estimates — local prices and soiling move real quotes.
How much does it cost to clean the carpets in a 3-bedroom house?
UK guides put a whole three-bed house at around 210 to 260 pounds for all carpeted rooms plus stairs and landing. Firms pricing per room may come out cheaper if you only need some rooms done.
Do carpet cleaners charge by the room or by the hour?
Both models exist, plus per-square-metre pricing at roughly 2.50 pounds for larger jobs. Per-room pricing is checkable before anyone arrives; hourly pricing (60 to 120 pounds an hour) leaves the total open until the work ends. Neither is wrong — but only one can be verified in advance.
Is it cheaper to hire a carpet cleaning machine?
The headline price is lower — a Rug Doctor is 27.99 pounds for 24 hours — but detergent and tools push a weekend past the typical 60 to 85 pound professional minimum visit, and hire machines clean with far less heat and suction. For one lightly soiled room it can be enough; for stains, odours or whole houses it usually is not.
Why do carpet cleaning quotes vary so much?
The big levers are how many areas you need cleaned, room sizes, how soiled the carpet is, stairs (slow, awkward work), delicate fibres like wool that need gentler chemistry, and where you live — big-city prices can run well above the national ranges.
Wondering whether that stain even needs a professional clean? The stain finder will tell you what’s realistic at home first.