How to start a cleaning business
A house cleaning business opens in Florida for between $300 and $1,200 and needs no state license. You need to register the company (about $125 for an LLC), get the local county permit, carry general liability insurance if you're entering other people's homes, and buy supplies, cloths, and a vacuum. It pays $120 to $300 per house depending on bedrooms and baths, and the business becomes stable when half your clients are recurring biweekly instead of one-off jobs.
Updated 2026-08-15
What to buy to start
The temptation is to buy everything. You don't need to: this list cleans a whole house just as well as twice the gear.
| What | How much | Note |
|---|---|---|
| A decent vacuum | $120 to $300 | The one place not to cut corners |
| Microfiber cloths | $30 to $60 | A color per zone, so bath and kitchen never cross |
| Basic products | $60 to $120 | All-purpose, bath, glass, degreaser, disinfectant |
| Mop and bucket | $40 to $80 | Microfiber with spare heads |
| Small step ladder | $40 to $70 | For fans and high spots |
| Caddy or carry bin | $30 to $60 | Saves trips to the car |
| Gloves and masks | $20 to $40 | Consumable, budget them monthly |
Buy concentrate and dilute it. You use half as much and it all fits in the car, which is the real problem when you're doing three houses in a day.
What to charge
In South Florida a standard house clean is priced by size, not by the hour. This is what the area looks like:
| House | Standard clean | Deep clean | Move-out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 bed, 1 bath | $80 to $120 | $150 to $200 | $180 to $250 |
| 2 bed, 2 bath | $120 to $160 | $200 to $280 | $250 to $350 |
| 3 bed, 2 bath | $150 to $200 | $250 to $350 | $300 to $450 |
| 4 bed and up | $200 to $300 | $350 to $500 | $400 to $600 |
Deep cleans and move-outs pay the most, and they're what almost nobody writes on their site. If you offer them, say so: they get searched separately and they pay considerably better than a standard clean.
The beginner mistake is charging by the hour. The customer doesn't want to buy hours, they want to buy a clean house, and you want to get faster with practice without earning less for it.
The paperwork, specifically
- LLC on sunbiz.org, $125. Not required, but if something breaks in someone else's house, without it your own assets answer. See how to register it.
- IRS EIN, free, for the business bank account.
- Local county permit, $45 to $200 a year.
- General liability insurance, $40 to $90 a month. It's what opens managed buildings and rentals.
- A bond, if you'll work luxury buildings or short-term rentals. It's usually cheap and some managers require it.
In Florida house cleaning needs no state license, and that's where people get confused and end up with no paperwork at all. The local permit is required, and it's the first thing a commercial client asks for.
How to get the first ten houses
- Google profile from day one, free. It's where most of the work will come from. See how to open it.
- Neighborhood Facebook groups: answer whoever asks for a recommendation, with a price and a photo. Don't post ads daily.
- People you know first, even at a lower rate, to build photos and reviews.
- A review from every house, asked for in person before you leave.
- Flyers in gated communities where you already work, since that's where word travels.
Ten houses and ten reviews and you're standing. What actually changes the business is what comes next: turning those one-off houses into standing biweekly clients.
The step that turns a job into a business
A one-off clean gets paid once. A biweekly house gets paid twenty-four times a year without looking for another customer. That's the whole business.
The way to get them is simple and almost nobody does it: offer it. When you finish the first clean, say what it costs if you come every two weeks, with something off for being regular. Half the people who'd say yes never ask, because they don't know it's an option.
With fifteen biweekly houses your month is covered before it starts. With thirty one-off jobs, every month starts from zero.
the process
How to start a cleaning business
- 1 Buy the minimum Supplies, microfiber cloths, a vacuum, and a caddy. $300 to $700 is enough to start properly.
- 2 Register the company An LLC on sunbiz.org, $125, if you're entering other people's homes. Then the local county permit.
- 3 Get insured General liability, $40 to $90 a month. Without it you're not getting into managed buildings.
- 4 Price by size By bedrooms and baths, which is how it's quoted. Post a starting price so people know if they can afford you.
- 5 Land the first houses Google profile, neighborhood groups, and people you know. Ask each one for a review.
- 6 Convert to recurring Offer biweekly or weekly with a discount. That's where the business stops depending on luck.
doubts
What people usually ask
Do I need a license to clean houses in Florida?
No state license. You need the local permit from the county or city where you work, and you very much want an LLC and general liability insurance if you're entering other people's homes.
How much can you make cleaning houses?
Working full time with recurring clients, South Florida billing runs roughly $3,000 to $5,000 a month. Supplies, gas, insurance, and taxes come out of that, so figure 20% to 30% in costs.
Do I charge hourly or per house?
Per house, by bedrooms and baths. Hourly punishes you for getting faster, and an open-ended number scares the customer. Hourly only makes sense for closet organizing and odd jobs.
How do I take payment?
Zelle, card, or cash, but always in the business name and into the business account. Mixing it with personal money strips your LLC protection.
Do I need a website for cleaning?
You need one once you're texting the same prices every day. With pricing by size written down, people call already decided instead of asking. See [the cleaning page](/p/cleaning).