How to start a cleaning business

Homes or Airbnb turnovers: pick one to start

There are two easy starts, and they run on different schedules.

Homes. Standard, deep and move-out cleans for families nearby. A standard clean runs $140 to $220 a visit nationally, and the clients you want book every week, every two weeks or every month.

Airbnb turnovers. You reset a short-term rental between guests: linens, bathrooms, kitchen, restock, photos for the host. Turnovers pay $80 to $300 a clean for most listings (a studio can go as low as $65, a 5-bedroom past $350), and the work follows the host's booking calendar, so same-day availability matters.

If you're not sure, start with homes. It needs the least setup. Neel Parekh did that with MaidThis in Los Angeles, and within a few months Airbnb hosts started calling him for turnovers, so he switched. I cover the rental side in more detail in how to start an Airbnb cleaning business.

What it costs to start

Less than most guides say, if you start with what you need for the first month.

Sources: supplies and vacuum from Durable, insurance, bond and workers' comp from Insureon, LLC fees from LegalZoom.

Supplies plus the first month of insurance comes to roughly $180 to $195. Neel Parekh says his all-in start at MaidThis was about $800, website included.

If money is tight, the order helps: your first clean pays for your supplies, and the LLC can wait until clients are paying. I break every line down, including starting with almost no money, in how much it costs to start a cleaning business, with an estimator for your own numbers.

Insurance and bonding

Practice cleans for friends and family can come first. Get general liability before you clean for anyone you don't know. It covers you if you break something or someone gets hurt in a client's home, and it's the first thing a careful client asks about. The median for cleaning businesses is $725 a year for $1M/$2M limits.

A janitorial bond covers theft by you or your helpers. It's not legally required in any state, but plenty of clients ask for one, especially offices, and it runs about $120 to $125 a year. I'd get it at the same time as the insurance. Workers' comp comes later, once you hire.

What each policy covers and what it costs is in cleaning business insurance.

Your first month, week by week

This is the part the other guides skip. They say “market your business” and stop. Here's what the first 30 days look like for each start, one job a day, in four weeks.

Homes

• Week 1: set up and tell people you know. Set your prices, buy supplies and time a practice clean, write a list of everyone you know nearby, message the first 20, then the next 20 and ask for referrals. Put up a free business profile so strangers can find you.
• Week 2: your first cleans. Follow up, answer every inquiry fast, book a test clean, put up flyers, get your insurance and bond in place, then do your first clean for someone you don't know and ask for the review and the next booking before you leave.
• Week 3: reach strangers nearby. Realtors and property managers, before-and-after photos of your work, the neighbors of the clients you already have, and a referral offer.
• Week 4: turn first clients into recurring ones. Offer every one-time client a recurring slot, call apartment offices about move-outs, go back to the people who said “maybe later”, and lock in next month.

Airbnb turnovers

• Week 1: set up and find the hosts. Set your prices, practice a turnover and time it, map the rentals and property managers in your area, set up your profile on Turno, where hosts post cleaning jobs, and introduce yourself in local host groups.
• Week 2: your first turnover. Message managers and co-hosts, bid on Turno jobs, get insured, set up a photo report for hosts, then do your first turnover and ask for a standing arrangement.
• Week 3: widen your reach. Offer same-day availability, follow up with managers, ask hosts for referrals, and line up a backup cleaner so a sick day doesn't cost you a checkout.
• Week 4: turn trial hosts into standing ones. Offer linens and restocking, get next month's calendar from every host, and lock in next month.

Two things to skip. Don't message hosts through Airbnb booking requests: Logan Robison tried it with Bonnie & A Broom and stopped because it annoyed hosts. And on Nextdoor, promote the business from a free Business Page, since a personal account can post an offer about once a month.

A good target for the month is five reviews in your first 30 days. Blake and Cleia Hickman started SA Cleaning Service in San Antonio with family and people they already knew, and grew mostly by word of mouth from there. They have 12 cleaners now.

The kit has the day-by-day version of both tracks: the job for each day, the message to send, and the done check you tick off. The channels and scripts get their own guide in how to get clients for a cleaning business.

Do you need a business plan?

To clean houses, a one-page plan is enough. It answers five questions: who you clean for, what you charge, how many cleans a week cover your costs and pay you, where the first clients come from, and what you do in month two. A long plan matters when a bank or a partner asks for one. I walk through the one-page version in cleaning business plan.

Adding commercial cleaning later

Offices, churches, salons, small shops and gyms are a good second step once your week is full of homes. A 1,000 sq ft office cleaned four times a month runs about $100 to $200 a visit, so one small office can be worth $400 to $800 a month.

The bar is higher. Commercial clients usually ask for proof of insurance, a bond and a written contract with the tasks, exclusions and payment terms spelled out. Reviews help too: Amanda Stovall, who cleans homes in rural Missouri, was found on Google by a church with three buildings when she had about 33 to 35 five-star reviews. Her advice: do the walkthrough in person, bid a flat rate, and reply fast.

What cleaning business owners earn

These are the numbers owners have published about themselves. They're the stories that went well enough to share, so read them as what's possible, next to the price ranges above.

• Logan Robison's first job with Bonnie & A Broom paid $500, two days after his website went up. A year later the business was at about $100K in revenue.
• Mary Gonzalez says Mary and a Mop did $10K in its first month, working a post-construction niche in Orange County.
• Mudit Patel's Queen City Cleaners in Charlotte did $200K in its first 15 months.

If you clean alone, your hours set the ceiling. For a sense of the floor, house cleaners who work for someone else earn about $21 an hour on average (Indeed 2026), while cleaning businesses bill $30 to $80 per cleaner-hour. That gap is what you keep, before supplies and driving.

Most new owners start with a few clients a week. The owners above grew fast, and their numbers come from their own interviews. They aren't a promise of what you'll earn.

Frequently asked questions