Cleaning jobs · Working for yourself
How to start a cleaning business in Australia
Get an ABN (it's free), take out public liability insurance, put together a reliable kit, price your time properly, and find your first regular customers. You don't need a licence to clean homes in Australia, but check the business licence finder for your area. Register for GST once your turnover reaches $75,000 a year.
Huy Hoang started Simply Maid in July 2015 with a single booking; it now books cleaners in seven cities. This guide covers the steps, and the parts that decide whether a new cleaning business lasts.
Individuals & teams welcomeJoin solo, as a pair or with a larger team
Weekly bank paymentsKeep track of earnings in the app
Your hours & travel rangeBuild around your existing commitments
Homes, offices & carpetsRegular, deep, end of lease, commercial and carpet steam
The steps, in order
Most of these take an afternoon. Finding customers is the step that takes months.
- 01
Decide what you'll clean
Homes, offices, end of lease, or a mix. Each needs different kit, hours and pricing, and homes are the easiest place to start.
- 02
Get an ABN
Apply free through the Australian Business Register. Many new cleaners start as a sole trader, the simplest structure; register a business name with ASIC if you trade under a name that isn't your own.
- 03
Check licences for your area
There's no general licence to clean homes, but councils and states can have rules for some activities. The business licence finder (ABLIS) lists them by location.
- 04
Get insured
Public liability insurance covers damage or injury you cause in a customer's home. Customers, agents and platforms often ask for it.
- 05
Build a reliable kit
A good vacuum, mop, microfibre cloths and a small set of products you know are safe on common surfaces, plus a way to carry them.
- 06
Set your prices
Price by the time a job really takes, plus travel, products and the hours you can't fill. Check what households pay in your city before you set a rate.
- 07
Find your first regular customers
Regular weekly and fortnightly homes are what make a cleaning business viable. Expect this to take longer than everything above put together.
- 08
Register for GST when you need to
Once your GST turnover reaches $75,000 a year, you must register within 21 days. You can register earlier if it suits you.
How to price cleaning jobs
Price the time a job really takes, not the time you hope it takes, and make sure the rate covers more than the hours you're in the home.
A cleaning business's price has to cover travel between jobs, products, insurance, admin and the hours that never get booked. A rate that looks generous per hour can leave you short once those are counted.
Our pricing guide shows what households pay for a clean in each city, read live from our booking calculator. Use it as a check on the market, not as a target: your price has to work for your costs and your area.
A cleaning business has costs and time commitments beyond the visit itself. This is a planning diagram, not a forecast of profitability or a recommended rate.
Read the illustration as text
- Cleaning at the property
- The agreed work for the customer.
- Travel and preparation
- Getting between jobs, maintaining equipment and replenishing supplies.
- Running the business
- Quoting, bookings, records and time that remains unfilled.
Price with your whole working day in view.
Finding customers: the hard part
The hard part of a small cleaning business usually isn't the cleaning. It's finding enough regular customers close enough together.
What works is slow and local: referrals from happy customers, neighbours of the homes you already clean, local community groups, and a simple, honest listing online. Regular customers matter far more than one-off jobs, because a full week of regular homes is what makes the income predictable.
Keep your customers close together. Every half hour of driving between jobs is unpaid time.
Is a cleaning business profitable?
It can be, once your week is full of regular customers close together. Until then, the unfilled hours and travel decide whether it pays.
The costs of a small cleaning business are mostly your own time: travel, quoting, admin, cancellations and gaps between jobs. The business becomes worthwhile when most of your working hours are booked, paid cleaning.
Or start with steady work first
If finding customers is the part that worries you, you can build experience and income through a platform while you decide.
Simply Maid works with solo cleaners, teams and established cleaning businesses as independent contractors. We find the customers, handle bookings and payments, and pay weekly, starting from $45 an hour. Some cleaners use it to fill the gaps around their own clients. Cleaning jobs with Simply Maid explains how it works.
Do you need a licence to clean in Australia?
No general licence is needed to clean homes, but check the business licence finder (ABLIS) for your council and state, and you'll need extra registrations for specific work, such as NDIS supports.
What type of cleaning makes the most money?
Specialist and commercial work can pay more per hour, but it needs more equipment, training or contracts. Regular home cleaning is the easiest to start and the most predictable once you have customers.
How much do cleaners earn in Australia?
Employed cleaners get at least the Cleaning Services Award minimum, from $27.08 an hour. Contractors and business owners earn more per hour but carry their own costs. Our pay guide compares them.
Do I need to register for GST?
Only once your GST turnover reaches $75,000 a year; then you must register within 21 days. You can choose to register earlier.
Do I need a business name?
Not if you trade under your own name. If you use a different name, register it with ASIC.
Find your kind of work
Look around first.
Apply once.
One application covers every type of work. You choose the services you offer as you apply, and your hours and travel range in the app. Your city follows your home address.
Types of work
- Home cleaning
Regular, deep and end of lease cleans in people’s homes, the work most jobs are. Pay by home size on the main page.
- Office and commercial cleaning jobs
Offices, shops, shared commercial spaces, gyms and studios. What's checked, the kit and how the hours work.
- Carpet cleaning jobs
Carpets, upholstery and mattresses with your own extraction machine. How the 40-minute units are paid.
Cleaning jobs by city
We’re taking applications in all seven cities we work in.
Before you apply
- How much do cleaners get paid in Australia?
Award wages, contractor rates and running your own clients, side by side, with what each one leaves you to cover.
- How to become a house cleaner in Australia
What the job involves, whether you need a certificate or a resume, and how to build the experience we ask for.
- How to start a cleaning business in Australia
ABN, GST, insurance, pricing and finding customers, from someone who started one.
- Cleaner help centre
How jobs, pay runs, equipment and support work once you’re with us.
Sources
Where this comes from
Government rules are quoted from the ATO, the Australian Business Register and business.gov.au on the date shown. General information, not legal, tax or financial advice.
- Apply for an ABN, Australian Business Register. Read 6 October 2026. Applying for an ABN is free.
- Registering for GST, Australian Taxation Office. Read 6 October 2026. The $75,000 GST turnover threshold and the 21-day registration rule.
- Australian Business Licence and Information Service (ABLIS), business.gov.au. Read 6 October 2026. Licences and permits by activity and location.
- CPP30321 Certificate III in Cleaning Operations, training.gov.au. Read 6 October 2026. Current qualification; no entry requirements; no licensing requirement at endorsement.
Reviewed by Huy Hoang, Founder. General information, not legal, tax or financial advice.
When you're ready
Want customers without the chase?
Apply to clean with Simply Maid. Start with your mobile and email; approval is automatic once your checks are complete.
Apply now