How to Start a House Cleaning Business: The Paperwork, Pricing and Bookkeeping You Need

What paperwork do you need to start a house cleaning business?

At minimum you want paperwork for four moments: before the first visit, agreeing on the job, doing the work, and getting paid.

Before the first clean

• New client intake form: address, home size, pets, entry instructions, priorities and anything off-limits.
• Walkthrough and inspection sheet: note the home's condition before you start and do a quality check after. This helps if a client later says something was damaged or missed.
• Estimate: the price, what's included, the frequency and how long the quote is good for.

Agreeing on the job

• Service agreement (cleaning contract): the scope of work, schedule, price, payment terms and what happens if either side wants to stop.
• Key and access agreement: if clients give you a key, garage code or alarm code, put in writing how you store it and who is responsible.
• Cancellation and payment policy: late cancellations, lockouts, late payments and accepted payment methods. Clients take a written policy more seriously than a text message.

Doing the work and getting paid

• Checklists for a standard clean, a deep clean and a move-in or move-out clean, so every visit covers the same tasks, especially once you add a helper.
• Invoice with your business name, the service date, line items and the due date.
• Feedback form to catch problems early and ask happy clients for referrals.

Do you need a license or insurance to start a cleaning business?

It depends on where you live. Many places require some kind of general business license or registration even for a one-person cleaning business, and some cities have their own home-business or occupational rules. If you use a business name that isn't your own legal name, you may also need to register it (often called a DBA).

The U.S. Small Business Administration's Launch your business guide explains business structures, name registration, tax ID numbers and state and local licenses, and says requirements vary by business activity and location. It's a good place to start before calling your city or county.

Insurance isn't the same as a license. Because you work inside people's homes, talk to a licensed insurance agent about general liability coverage. If you hire employees, the SBA notes that workers' compensation, unemployment and disability insurance come into play. Some cleaners also look into bonding because clients ask about it. Ask an agent what makes sense for you.

Requirements vary by state, county and city. Check with your state and local licensing offices before you take paid jobs. This is general information, not legal or insurance advice.

How do you price house cleaning jobs?

Most cleaners price per visit, not strictly by the hour, but they check the price against an hourly goal. The kit's calculator works in this order:

1. Base price from the home's size. Square feet × your rate per square foot, or number of rooms × your rate per room if you'd rather count rooms.
2. Service type multiplier. A standard clean is 1.0. Deep cleans and move-in or move-out cleans take longer, so the workbook multiplies the base (its example values are 1.5 and 1.75).
3. Frequency discount. Recurring clients often get a lower per-visit price because the home stays cleaner between visits. The example discounts are 15% weekly, 10% bi-weekly and 5% monthly, and you can change them.
4. Add-ons. Extras like inside the oven or fridge, inside cabinets, interior windows, laundry or extra pet hair, each with its own price.
5. Minimum job price. The quote never goes below your minimum, so small jobs are still worth the drive.
6. Profitability check. The sheet subtracts an estimated supply cost (a percentage of the price), divides by the hours you expect to be on site, and tells you whether you're at or below your target hourly rate.

Worked example: how the kit's calculator adds it up

Example numbers only. These are the placeholder rates that come pre-filled in the workbook so you can see how the math flows. They are not market prices or a recommendation. Replace them with rates based on your own costs and your local market.

The useful part is the last line. If the effective hourly rate comes out below your target, either the price is too low or the job will take longer than you think. Raise the rate, add an add-on or rethink the frequency discount before you send the estimate.

Set your own rates by adding up your real costs (supplies, fuel, insurance, phone, software) and the hourly pay you need. Then look at what local cleaning services publish. Don't copy a number off the internet. Prices vary a lot from one area to another.

How do you track income, expenses and mileage for a house cleaning business?

Keep it simple and do it every week: log every paid job, every business expense and every business trip in one place. The kit's workbook has separate income, expense and mileage tabs that roll up into a monthly profit and loss dashboard, so you can see income, expenses, mileage and approximate net profit for any month and the year to date.

A business bank account or card used only for the business makes this much easier, because your statement becomes a checklist of what to log. Snap a photo of every receipt on the day you get it.

What should go in each log?

• Income log: one row per paid job: date, client, service type, payment method, status (paid or unpaid) and amount. In this kit the service types are pre-set to Recurring Cleaning, One-Time Cleaning, Deep Clean, Move-In/Out, Add-On, Tip and Other, so you can see which kind of work brings in the most.
• Expense log: date, vendor, category, amount, and whether you kept the receipt. The kit's categories are Cleaning Supplies, Equipment & Tools, Vehicle / Fuel, Insurance, Marketing & Advertising, Software & Subscriptions, Office / Admin, Uniforms / Apparel, Subcontractor / Helper Pay, Training & Education, Licenses & Permits and Other.
• Mileage log: date, from, to, purpose and miles. The sheet multiplies miles by a rate you enter.

The IRS publishes a standard mileage rate and changes it from time to time. On its standard mileage rates page (checked October 2026), the business rate is 72.5 cents per mile for January 1 to June 30, 2026 and 76 cents per mile for July 1 to December 31, 2026. The workbook ships with an example rate, so type in the rate that applies to your trips. Whether you can use the standard rate at all depends on your situation, so ask a tax professional.

For what records to keep, the IRS page What kind of records should I keep says your books must show your gross income and your deductions, backed by documents like invoices, receipts and bank statements. Self-employed people generally file Schedule C and may need to pay estimated tax each quarter; see the IRS Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center. This is general information, not tax advice.

Step-by-step: how do you start a house cleaning business?

1. Decide what you'll offer first: recurring standard cleans, deep cleans, move-in and move-out cleans, or a mix.
2. Pick a business name and check whether you need to register it in your state or county.
3. Look up business license and registration rules for your city, county and state, using the SBA guide as a starting point.
4. Talk to a licensed insurance agent about liability coverage, and about bonding if clients in your area ask for it.
5. Open a separate bank account (or at least a separate card) for business money.
6. Work out your costs and target hourly rate, then set your per-square-foot or per-room rates, multipliers, discounts and add-on prices.
7. Fill in your service agreement, cancellation policy and key access agreement, and have a local attorney review them.
8. Brand your estimate, invoice and checklists with your name, logo and contact details.
9. Set up your income, expense and mileage logs and delete any example data.
10. Do a walkthrough, send the estimate and get the agreement signed before the first clean.

House Cleaning business FAQ