In reference to carpet cleaning, factors taken into consideration when designing an accurate estimate are the overall size of the carpet, the texture of the carpet (which determines how easily it could be cleaned), the state of the carpet (as in if it was very old or very dirty) and what type of space it was in, since a simple rectangular room is much easier to clean in a shorter period of time than a room with lots of nooks and crannies.

For other types of cleaning, factors taken into consideration are again the size of the space and the state of the rooms, but also the amount of surfaces needing to be cleaned and how intricately those surfaces needed to be cleaned.