How to Start a Cleaning Business in Australia: ABN, Insurance, Pricing and First Customers

You can start a cleaning business in Australia as a sole trader in about a week, with a free ABN, public liability insurance, a car boot of gear and a phone. The paperwork is the easy part. What decides whether you are still going in twelve months is the type of cleaning you pick, how you price it, and how you find the first ten customers.

TL;DR

Pick a lane first: domestic, commercial, or a specialist niche like end of lease or NDIS. Register as a sole trader with a free ABN through the Australian Business Register, and only register for GST once your turnover reaches A$75,000. Get public liability insurance before your first paid job, because clients will ask for the certificate. Price per job with a written scope rather than a bare hourly rate, and do not compete on being the cheapest. Your first customers come from people you already know, a Google Business Profile, free directory listings, and a few conversations with real estate agents.

1. Decide what kind of cleaning business you are

Domestic cleaning is regular weekly or fortnightly cleans of private homes. Easiest to start, daytime work, and repeat customers make income predictable. The going rate in your area sets a ceiling, though.

Commercial cleaning is offices, medical rooms, gyms, shops and warehouses. Contracts are larger and longer, but the work is often early morning or after 6pm, and you will be asked for insurance and sometimes police checks before anyone talks price.

Specialist work often pays better per hour:

• End of lease (bond) cleans, sold through tenants and real estate agents. Hard work, clear scope.
• NDIS participant cleaning, funded by a participant's plan. Steady, but it comes with worker screening requirements (covered below).
• Windows, carpets, pressure washing or builders' cleans. Each needs its own equipment, so pick one.

Start with one lane. Add a second once the first is paying the bills.

2. Sole trader or company

For a one person cleaning business, sole trader is the sensible default. It is free to set up and you report income on your personal tax return. A company gives you a separate legal entity and some protection of personal assets, but it costs money to register, has ongoing ASIC fees and needs its own tax return. The business.gov.au comparison of business structures lays out the trade-offs.

If you are unsure, start as a sole trader. Nearly everyone does.

3. Get your ABN, and only register for GST when you need to

An Australian Business Number is free to apply for online at the Australian Business Register. Third party sites will offer to "help" you register for a fee. Skip them. We have a step by step walkthrough in our guide to how to register your ABN.

GST is separate. You must register once your turnover reaches A$75,000 in a twelve month period, and the ATO's GST registration page explains how the threshold is worked out. Below that, registration is optional. Most new cleaners stay unregistered in year one because it keeps invoices simpler and prices 10% lower for domestic customers who cannot claim GST back.

4. Business name

If you trade under your own name (say, "Sarah Nguyen Cleaning") you need nothing beyond the ABN. If you want a name like "Sparkle Clean Brisbane", you must register it as a business name with ASIC. The process and current fee are on ASIC's register a business name page, and you will need your ABN first.

Before you settle on a name, check the .com.au domain and the Instagram and Facebook handles are free. A name you cannot get a domain for will annoy you for years.

5. Insurance and checks

Public liability is the one policy every cleaning business needs from day one. It covers you if you damage a client's property or someone is injured because of your work: a scratched benchtop, a flooded apartment below. Commercial clients and real estate agents will ask for a certificate of currency before they hand over keys. Premiums depend on your turnover, the type of work and the level of cover, so get two or three quotes. The business.gov.au insurance page lists the other types worth a look, including cover for your equipment.

If you hire anyone, even casually, workers compensation is compulsory and it is run by each state and territory. Check your state scheme before the first shift.

For NDIS work, anyone delivering services to participants needs an NDIS Worker Screening Check, applied for through your state or territory screening unit. The NDIS Commission's worker screening page explains who needs it and how to apply. Many clients and most agencies will also want a recent national police check, and a Working with Children Check applies if you clean in schools or childcare centres. All three are state based.

6. Equipment starter list

A reliable car and the following cover domestic and most end of lease work:

• A good vacuum for carpet and hard floors
• Mop and bucket, with a second mop head for bathrooms
• Microfibre cloths in two colours so kitchen and bathroom cloths never mix
• Core chemicals: multi-purpose, glass, an acid based bathroom cleaner, a degreaser and a disinfectant
• Scrubbing brushes, grout brush, non-scratch scourers, a squeegee
• Gloves, knee pads, a step stool, bin liners and spray bottles

Buy concentrate from a cleaning supplies wholesaler rather than the supermarket; it is cheaper per clean and works better. Keep every receipt, all of it is deductible. Add a carpet extractor or pressure washer only when a paying job justifies it.

7. Pricing: how to work it out without racing to the bottom

You can charge hourly or a fixed price per job. Hourly punishes you for being fast and makes clients watch the clock. Fixed price on a written scope is what most established cleaners move to: it rewards efficiency and gives the client certainty.

To set your baseline, work backwards. Decide the take-home income you need per week, add your costs (fuel, insurance, product, equipment replacement, phone, the super you should be paying yourself), then divide by the hours you can actually bill. Billable hours are fewer than you think once travel, quoting, invoicing and cancellations are counted. Then sanity check the number against what other cleaners in your suburb quote.

A quote should include:

• Exactly what is included, room by room, and what is not (inside the oven, windows, walls, garage)
• Whether you bring product and equipment or use the client's
• The price, and whether it includes GST if you are registered
• Cancellation terms, especially for end of lease jobs that move at short notice
• Payment terms and how to pay

Undercutting everyone is not a strategy. Cheap clients churn, argue about scope, and refer other cheap clients. Charge a fair price, turn up on time, and do the skirting boards. That is rarer than it should be, and it is what gets you referred.

8. Finding your first customers

The first ten customers almost never come from paid advertising. They come from these.

Friends, family and their workplaces. Offer a discounted first clean and ask for a review afterwards, so you have photos and reviews to show strangers.

A Google Business Profile. Free, and it puts you on the map for "cleaner near me" searches. Set it up using our complete guide to Google Business Profile and set a service area rather than a street address if you work from home.

Free directory listings. List on The Local List free at /add-business and you will appear in the cleaners category for your state and suburb, with your hours, phone, reviews and an ABN Verified badge. Our list of the top free business listing sites in Australia covers the rest.

A Facebook page and local groups. The page holds your before and after photos. The suburb groups are where people ask "can anyone recommend a cleaner?" Answer those posts as yourself, with a link.

Flyers, in the right letterboxes. A hundred flyers in a newer estate or a block of rental apartments will beat a thousand at random. Include a real photo of you, your suburb and one clear offer.

Real estate agents, for end of lease work. Property managers are always short of reliable bond cleaners. Walk into three local agencies with a flyer, your insurance certificate and a card. Do one job well and you are on their list.

Strata managers and small business owners, for commercial work. Strata managers control cleaning contracts for apartment blocks, and small office, clinic and gym owners mostly want someone who turns up. Start within ten minutes of your house.

9. Simple systems so it does not fall apart at 20 clients

You do not need software on day one. You do need three things written down.

A booking sheet. A calendar or spreadsheet with client name, address, access notes (alarm code, where the key is, the dog's name), frequency and price.

An invoicing app. A free or low cost phone app that sends a PDF invoice with your ABN and a payment link. Invoice the same day the job is done.

A receipts folder. Photograph every receipt into a folder or your accounting app as you go, so BAS and tax time are not a reconstruction job. Our guide to understanding BAS lodgement explains what you will report once you register for GST.

Add a scheduling tool once you have more clients than you can hold in your head. Not before.

Get listed before your first job

Do the paperwork this week, buy the gear, and set your price from your costs rather than the cheapest ad on Facebook. Then make sure people can find you. Listing on The Local List takes a few minutes, costs nothing, and puts you in front of people searching for a cleaner in your suburb. Add your business free and you will show up in the cleaners directory with your hours, reviews and contact details.