How much does it cost to start a cleaning service?
About $27,100 all in for a small one, opened by one founder in an American city: $3,210 to open the doors and $23,900 to keep going for the 6 months it typically takes to pay its way. Below, every item at low, typical and high with where it comes from — and your own quote, for your country, your town, how you start and the money you have.
To open: $3,210
Vacuum, mops and cleaning tools: $800 ($300–$2,000). Housecall Pro, 'Cleaning business startup costs' (2025): basic equipment $200-$2,000 (vacuum $100-$500+, mop/bucket $30-$100, microfibre $20-$75, PPE $25-$100, caddies $20-$100)
Opening cleaning supplies: $300 ($100–$500). Housecall Pro, 'Cleaning business startup costs' (2025): initial supplies $100-$500
General liability insurance, first year: $580 ($525–$900). Insureon cleaning-business cost page: average $48/month ($580/yr); house cleaning $44/month ($525/yr); pressure washing $75/month ($895/yr)
Janitorial surety bond: $150 ($100–$300). Housecall Pro, 'Cleaning business startup costs' (2025): surety bonds typically $100-$300/yr for small cleaning businesses
Local business licence: $75 ($50–$100). Housecall Pro, 'Cleaning business startup costs' (2025): local business licence typically $50-$100/yr
Website, logo and flyers: $500 ($100–$1,000). Housecall Pro, 'Cleaning business startup costs' (2025): initial marketing $100-$1,000+
Forming the company: $800 ($150–$2,500). An LLC's state filing is $50–$500 (state fee schedules), plus an EIN (free) and a registered agent; the World Bank measured the procedures at about 1% of income per capita, about $850 (Doing Business 2020); a lawyer's formation package $500–$2,000.
To keep going until it pays its way: $23,900
Running costs while sales build: $2,520 ($533–$12,700). Cleaning chemicals and paper goods, Local advertising and listings, Scheduling and invoicing software, Car running costs for jobs, Phone and internet, until it breaks even; sales are taken to grow evenly to cover them, so about half is needed. Break-even: Ovenu cleaning franchise guide: break-even in months 3-6, consistently profitable within 12 months; cost guides warn most take longer than projected
Your own living costs until it can pay you: $21,400 ($10,700–$42,700). A one-person household spends about $3,560 a month in America (BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2021–22); nothing is paid to you until the business breaks even.
All in: $27,100
About $27,100 all in ($12,500–$62,700): $3,210 to open and $23,900 to keep going for the 6 months it typically takes to pay its way.
With $10,000 of your own you are $17,100 short: borrowed as an SBA microloan at 11% over 5 years, about $371 a month.
The trade's published range, before the months it takes to pay its way: $2,000–$10,000. ZenBusiness and Aspire cleaning-business guides (2025): $2,000-$10,000 for a full setup; IJCSA: average startup spend $3,500; Housecall Pro: $500-$5,000+, residential often under $1,000
How much does it cost to start a cleaning service?
About $27,100 all in ($12,500–$62,700) for a small one, from home, in an American city. To open: Vacuum, mops and cleaning tools $800; Opening cleaning supplies $300; General liability insurance, first year $580; Janitorial surety bond $150; Local business licence $75; Website, logo and flyers $500; Forming the company $800 — $3,210. To keep going for the 6 months it typically takes to break even: running costs while sales build $2,520; your own living costs until it can pay you $21,400 — $23,900. The trade's published startup range is $2,000–$10,000 (ZenBusiness and Aspire cleaning-business guides (2025): $2,000-$10,000 for a full setup; IJCSA: average startup spend $3,500; Housecall Pro: $500-$5,000+, residential often under $1,000), which leaves the months before it pays its way out.
What does SparkTower's simulator pay to open it?
The simulator pays the one-off opening costs before the first customer — the running costs and the founder's living it plays month by month: Equipment and supplies $3,000; Insurance and bonding $2,000; Licence and forming the company $1,000; Opening marketing $2,000. A residential cleaning business: $2k–$10k (Jobber and Homeaglow cleaning-business startup guides), using the owner's own car.
How much of that do you keep?
$3,000 of it — the kit, fit-out or stock it bought — is still yours afterwards, something a buyer would pay for and a lender would lend against; the other $5,000 is spent.
What if my own money doesn't cover it?
With $10,000 of your own you would be about $17,100 short. Borrowed as an SBA microloan at 11% over 5 years, that is about $371 a month. Most founders borrow the rest. A small-business term loan runs about 11% a year over 5 years (SBA 7(a) loans are the prime rate plus 3 to 6.5 points), repaid every month from the start — before the business has found its customers. In SparkTower's cleaning service simulator the founder starts with $30,000 of their own money; the launch costs come out of it and leave $22,000 to trade on, with nothing borrowed.
Can you start a cleaning service with no money?
Not in full: lenders want the owner to put in about 20% (the SBA's own floor for a start-up is 10%), and lend against the kit, fit-out and stock a launch buys, not its marketing or a software build. What a founder with nothing does is open smaller — the founder alone, with their own supplies — on about $2,100 of essentials (supplies and a vacuum $800; insurance and bonding $1,000; licence and forming the company $300), borrowed as a microloan (the SBA's are up to $50,000, at 8–13%) or, for a few thousand dollars, on a card at about 22%. The rest is bought once the business can afford it. A solo cleaner starts on under $2,000 with their own car (Jobber cleaning-business startup guide).
Will it earn the money back?
That depends on what you charge, how many customers you win and what your rivals do. The free cleaning service simulator pays these costs before it opens, borrows what the founder's cash doesn't cover, and plays the business forward against real rivals, so you can see whether it earns them back before you spend them.
What it costs to start others like it
- Cost to start a small-town business — $126,000 all in
- Cost to start a café — $155,000 all in
- Cost to start a restaurant — $223,000 all in
- Cost to start a salon or barber — $128,000 all in
- Cost to start a gym or studio — $208,000 all in
- Cost to start a food truck — $116,000 all in
- Cost to start a bakery — $145,000 all in
- Cost to start a retail shop — $160,000 all in
- Cost to start a landscaping business — $53,900 all in
- Cost to start an auto repair garage — $156,000 all in
- Cost to start a daycare or nursery — $117,000 all in
- Cost to start a plumbing or electrical trade — $55,400 all in
- Cost to start a construction company — $80,700 all in
- Cost to start a trucking company — $113,000 all in
- Cost to start a solar installer — $99,000 all in
- Cost to start a property developer — $937,000 all in