Residential vs commercial: completely different businesses
Both clean, but the customer, sales motion, and economics diverge sharply.
- • Residential maid service: $150–250 ticket, daytime work, customer acquisition via Google Ads + Yelp, 60–75% recurring (weekly/bi-weekly).
- • Commercial janitorial: $200–600/visit, evening/overnight, B2B sales (cold outbound + RFP), 90%+ recurring (1–3 year contracts).
- • Move-out / deep clean: $300–800 ticket, low recurring, lead-flow business — highest revenue per job but constant marketing.
- • Don't try to do all three. Pick one customer, build the playbook, scale.
The W-2 vs 1099 trap that's killing cleaning startups
Most failed cleaning businesses misclassify cleaners as independent contractors to dodge payroll tax. The IRS, DOL, and state labor boards are aggressive on this — California, NY, NJ, Mass, and WA will retroactively reclassify and bill you for years of back tax + penalties. Use W-2 with payroll provider from day 1. Bake the 8–10% payroll burden into your pricing.
Related guides
Long-form playbooks on the same topic, written by the RevenueLab editorial team.
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Read the guideFAQ
How profitable is a cleaning business?
Well-run residential cleaning hits 20–30% owner margin; commercial janitorial 18–25%; specialty deep clean 25–35%. A 3-crew residential operation can produce $80–150K owner cash flow.
How much does it cost to start a cleaning business?
Solo (you clean): $2–5K (supplies, insurance, LLC, basic marketing). 1-crew W-2: $20–35K (vehicle, equipment, working capital). 3-crew operation: $60–100K. Franchise (Two Maids, Maid Brigade, JAN-PRO): $50–150K all-in including franchise fee.
Can a cleaning business make $1 million?
Yes — at $1M revenue you typically have 6–10 crews, $200–280K owner cash flow at 20–28% margin. Most operators hit a ceiling at 3–5 crews without a true ops manager hire. Past that, you need real management infrastructure.
Is a cleaning franchise worth it?
Commercial cleaning franchises (JAN-PRO, Stratus Building) provide accounts but take 15–25% royalty/management fees, killing margin. Residential franchises (Two Maids, Molly Maid) provide brand + playbook for 6–8% royalty — better economics. Independent often beats franchise here once you have an operations playbook.
How this calculator is built
Independently maintained
Written by Sam Doshi and the RevenueLab editorial team. We don't sell the data feeds this tool is built on.
Sourced from primary data
Benchmarks come from public AdSense / Stripe / IRS disclosures and reader-submitted data — never third-party "$X per view" claims. Full methodology.
Last reviewed
June 2026. We re-check every figure on the platform on a rolling quarterly cycle.
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See our editorial policy and disclaimer. Results are estimates, not advice.