Here’s how a lot of first prices get made. You find out what the property pays its current provider. You knock a dollar off per door. You call it competitive, and you win.
Then you spend a year discovering what that price was really built on: somebody else’s costs, somebody else’s crew, and somebody else’s idea of how long the route takes.
This guide builds a price the other way round, starting from the work. It takes a property walk, a calculator and about twenty minutes. It’s the most valuable twenty minutes you’ll spend on any contract.
Per door is how you quote, not how you price
Valet trash is usually discussed as a monthly price per unit, often called “per door.” The arithmetic is simple: at a made-up $12 a door, a 200-unit property is $2,400 a month. Property managers like it because it’s easy to compare and easy to pass along.
Quote per door if that’s what the property expects. Just don’t build your price that way. Doors don’t cost you anything. Hours do.
Step 1: Find out how long the work really takes
This is the number that decides whether a contract makes money, and the one new operators most often guess. Walk the property before you quote and estimate, for each service night:
- Walking each building and floor, including stairs and elevator waits
- Trips to the compactor or dumpster, and how far it is from each building
- Gates, codes and parking between buildings
- Handling exceptions: overflow, untied bags, things that shouldn’t be in a bag
- Travel to and from the property, if you’re paying for that time
Better still, work the route once before you price it, on a real night, and time it. One timed night beats every rule of thumb you’ll ever hear.
Step 2: Turn hours into a monthly cost
List every cost the property creates in a month. Here’s the worked example.
| Cost | How it’s worked out | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Labor | 3.0 h × $23 × 21.7 nights | $1,495 |
| Vehicle | 15 mi × 21.7 nights × $0.70 | $228 |
| Supplies | liners, gloves, cleaning | $40 |
| Insurance | this property’s share | $150 |
| Software and phone | $40 | |
| Overhead | this property’s share | $100 |
| Total cost | $2,053 |
Notice where the money goes. Labor is nearly three-quarters of the total in this example. That’s why the hours in step 1 matter more than anything else on this page.
Step 3: Add margin (and dodge the markup trap)
Margin is a share of the price, not a markup on cost. To keep 25 cents of every dollar you’re paid:
Price = cost ÷ (1 − margin) = $2,053 ÷ 0.75 = $2,737 a month
Rounded, that’s $2,740 a month, or $13.70 per door for 200 units, and about $687 a month in profit before your own time as the owner, if you’re not on the payroll.
The trap: adding 25% to cost instead ($2,053 × 1.25 = $2,566). It looks the same on a napkin. It’s actually a 20% margin, and the gap compounds with every property you add.
The half hour that eats a third of your profit
Now break your own model. Suppose the route really takes 3.5 hours a night, not 3.0. Slower elevators, a compactor farther away than it looked, more overflow than you saw on the walk. The contract is signed, so the price doesn’t move.
| Estimated: 3.0 h a night | Actual: 3.5 h a night | |
|---|---|---|
| Labor per month | $1,495 | $1,744 |
| Total cost | $2,053 | $2,302 |
| Price (already signed) | $2,740 | $2,740 |
| Profit per month | $687 | $438 |
| Margin | 25% | 16% |
Thirty minutes a night took more than a third of the profit. Nobody sent an invoice for it.
That’s the case for measuring time on site every night, not once. A month of real arrival and departure times tells you which properties are priced right and which need a conversation at renewal, and it gives you something better than a feeling to bring to that conversation.
Then, and only then, look at the market
Once you have a price built from your costs, compare it with what the property pays now or what other operators charge locally. Ask the property manager directly; many will tell you. Treat per-door figures you find online with suspicion: most aren’t sourced, and many describe a different market or a different service.
If your number is well above the market, don’t just cut it. Find out why. It might be a slow route you can redesign, a cost you’ve overestimated, or a property that simply doesn’t work at the going rate. Walking away from a contract that loses money is a pricing decision too, and often the best one you’ll make all year.
Put the price’s protections in writing
A good price can be quietly undone by a vague contract. Before you sign, make sure it says:
- What’s counted. Total units or occupied units, and how often the count is updated
- Which nights. The service days, the service window, and what happens on holidays
- What’s included. Bag limits, what’s excluded (bulk items, furniture, hazardous waste), and the price for extras
- Resident rules. Set-out times, bags tied, no loose trash, and what you’ll do about violations
- Price changes. An annual adjustment, or a right to reprice if the unit count or service changes
- Term and notice. How long it runs, and how either side ends it
The fee your client’s residents see
Many properties pass the cost of valet trash on to residents as a monthly fee, and that fee is getting attention. In 2025, the Federal Trade Commission’s complaint against Greystar, a large apartment manager, named valet trash fees among the fees it said were left out of advertised rent.2 The settlement requires total monthly prices and mandatory fees to be displayed clearly.3 The FTC’s existing fees rule doesn’t cover long-term rental housing,4 but in March 2026 it asked for public comment on a possible rule for rental housing fees.5
None of that sets what you can charge a property. It does mean your clients may be asked to justify the fee their residents see, which makes a clear price, and a clear record of the service behind it, worth more to them than it used to be.
Sources
- Hand Laborers and Material Movers, Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accessed October 27, 2026. 2025 median pay for hand laborers and material movers: $18.38 per hour.
- FTC and State of Colorado take action against Greystar (January 16, 2025), Federal Trade Commission. Accessed October 27, 2026. The complaint lists valet trash fees among fees left out of advertised rent.
- Greystar agrees to pay $24 million (December 2, 2025), Federal Trade Commission. Accessed October 27, 2026. Settlement terms requiring total monthly prices and mandatory fees to be displayed clearly.
- Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees: Frequently Asked Questions, Federal Trade Commission. Accessed October 27, 2026. The fees rule covers live-event tickets and short-term lodging, not long-term rental housing.
- FTC seeks public comment on proposed rulemaking regarding rental housing fees (March 12, 2026), Federal Trade Commission. Accessed October 27, 2026. An advance notice of proposed rulemaking on rental housing fees; not a final rule.
This is general information, not legal, tax, insurance or financial advice. Rules differ by city, state and contract; check yours with a licensed professional.