How to Grow a Cleaning Business: 12 Strategies That Actually Work in 2026

TL;DR: Growing a cleaning business comes down to six things: stop underpricing, build a referral system, keep the clients you have, hire at the right time (not too early, not too late), create systems before you scale, and track your numbers religiously. Most cleaning businesses plateau between $80K-$150K because owners work in the business instead of on it. The 12 strategies below show you how to break through that ceiling, whether you’re a solo cleaner ready to hire or a small team pushing toward $500K+.

Here’s what nobody tells you about running a cleaning business:

Getting clients isn’t the hard part. Keeping them, scaling without burning out, and actually making money after expenses, that’s where most owners get stuck.

I’ve seen it dozens of times. Someone starts a cleaning business, hustles hard for a year, builds up a solid client base, and then… nothing. They hit a wall somewhere between $80K and $150K. They’re working 50-hour weeks, exhausted, turning down jobs because there’s no time, and wondering if this is as good as it gets.

It’s not. Not even close.

The cleaning industry is a $450+ billion global market growing at 7.19% annually. There’s more than enough room for your business to scale. But growth doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you stop trading hours for dollars and start building something that runs without you mopping floors every day.

This guide covers 12 strategies that actually work to grow a cleaning business.

If you’re still figuring out how to launch, start with our guide on how to start a cleaning business. But if you’re past that stage and ready to scale, keep reading.

We’ll also talk about how the right cleaning business software can automate the busywork so you can focus on growth. 

But first, let’s get into what actually moves the needle.

What “Growing” a Cleaning Business Means

Let’s get specific. “Growth” is a vague word people throw around without defining it.

For a cleaning business, there are three types of growth, and they’re not the same thing:

Here’s the trap: most cleaning business owners confuse being busy with growing.

Prefer watching instead? Check out the video below!

Working 60-hour weeks, rushing from job to job, barely keeping up with your schedule, that’s not growth. That’s a job you accidentally created for yourself. One where you’re the employee, the manager, and the owner all at once.

Real growth means building a business that can scale beyond your personal labor. Where you’re not the bottleneck.

That’s what these 12 strategies are designed to do.

12 Proven Strategies to Grow Your Cleaning Business

Short on time? Hit play and listen while you work.

1. Get Clear on Who You Actually Want to Serve

🏗️ Long-Term Play – foundational decision that shapes everything else

Most cleaning business owners take any job that comes their way. Residential? Sure. Commercial? Why not. One-time deep cleans, recurring weekly visits, post-construction mess, whatever pays.

This “say yes to everything” approach feels smart when you’re hungry for revenue. But it’s actually killing your growth.

When you serve everyone, you can’t market effectively to anyone. Your messaging gets watered down. Your operations get complicated. And you never become known for anything.

The cleaning businesses that grow fastest pick a lane and own it:

• Residential recurring – Families who want weekly or bi-weekly cleaning. Predictable, relationship-based.
• Airbnb and vacation rentals – Turnover cleaning with tight timelines. Volume-based, operationally intense.
• Small commercial offices – After-hours cleaning for businesses with 5-50 employees. Bigger contracts, less personal.
• Medical and dental facilities – Specialized sanitization. Higher rates, more requirements.
• Post-construction – Builder relationships, project-based. Dirty, physical, well-paid.

When you niche down, you can charge more (specialists always earn more than generalists), create marketing that actually resonates, and build referral networks within your industry.

What to do this week: Write a one-paragraph description of your ideal client. What type of property? What’s their budget? What’s their biggest pain point? Get specific. “Anyone who needs cleaning” isn’t a niche, it’s a trap.

2. Build a Referral System That Works on Autopilot

🔄 Medium-Term – set up in a week, builds momentum over 1-3 months

Referrals are the highest-ROI growth channel for cleaning businesses. This isn’t opinion, it’s math.

Word-of-mouth influences all purchasing decisions. Referred clients have higher lifetime value, lower acquisition cost, and churn less often than clients who found you through ads or Google.

The problem? Most cleaning business owners hope for referrals but don’t systematize them.

Hoping isn’t a strategy.

A referral program that actually works:

• Give the referrer something meaningful: $25-50 credit toward their next cleaning, a free add-on service, or a donation to their favorite charity
• Give the new client an incentive too: 10-15% off their first cleaning removes friction
• Make it stupidly easy: leave a referral card after every single job with a simple code or link
• Actually mention it: don’t be pushy, but do bring it up (“By the way, if you know anyone who needs cleaning, we have a referral program, here’s how it works”)

The best time to ask for a referral? Right after you’ve done a great job, the client is happy. That’s when you have the most goodwill.

3. Raise Your Prices (You’re Probably Undercharging)

⚡ Quick Win – can implement this week, impact within 30 days

This one’s uncomfortable, so let’s just say it directly:

Most cleaning businesses undercharge by 15-30%.

If you’re fully booked, working constantly, and still not hitting your income goals, the problem isn’t that you need more clients. The problem is your pricing.

Low prices attract price-sensitive clients. Price-sensitive clients haggle, complain more, and leave the moment someone cheaper comes along. You’re building your business on the least loyal customers.

When to raise your prices:

• You’re booked at 80%+ capacity consistently
• You haven’t raised rates in over 12 months
• Your net profit margin is below 15%
• You’re turning down work regularly

How to raise prices without losing everyone:

1. Grandfather existing clients – Keep their current rate for 60-90 days, then implement a modest increase (5-10%). Most won’t leave.
2. New pricing for new clients immediately – There’s no reason to offer new clients your old rates.
3. Introduce premium tiers – Add a “deep clean” or “white glove” option at higher rates. Some clients will happily pay more for more.
4. Communicate value, not apology – If you do raise rates, don’t apologize. Explain what’s improved: better supplies, insurance, reliability, and experience.

4. Stop Ignoring the Clients You Already Have

⚡ Quick Win – start today, compounds over time

Here’s a stat that should change how you spend your time:

Acquiring a new client costs 5x more than keeping an existing one.

And existing clients have a 60-70% likelihood of booking again, versus just 5-20% for new leads.

Yet most cleaning business owners spend 90% of their energy chasing new clients and 10% keeping current ones happy.

That ratio should be flipped.

Retention tactics that actually work:

• Recurring service plans – Get clients on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly schedule. Predictable revenue beats one-time jobs.
• Consistency – Same cleaner for the same client whenever possible. People don’t like strangers in their homes.
• Communication – Confirm appointments the day before. Follow up after service. Respond quickly when they reach out.
• Personalization – Remember their preferences. No fragrance? Specific products for their floors? Pet’s name? Write it down and use it.
• Loyalty perks – Free add-on service after 10 cleanings. Anniversary discount. Small gestures that show you value them.

A CRM makes this manageable at scale. Pipeline management tools let you see every client’s status, from new lead to long-term account, so nothing falls through the cracks.

What kills retention:

• Inconsistent cleaning quality
• Different cleaner every visit
• No-shows or late arrivals without notice
• Making clients feel like “just another appointment”

Keep your clients, and growth takes care of itself.

5. Sell More to the Clients You Already Have

⚡ Quick Win – introduce add-ons at your next job

Before chasing new clients, ask yourself: can you sell more to the ones you’ve got?

Upselling an existing client is faster, easier, and more profitable than finding a brand new one. They already trust you. They already have their credit card on file. The hardest part, getting them to say yes the first time, is done.

High-margin add-on services:

• Carpet cleaning
• Interior window washing
• Deep cleaning/spring cleaning
• Oven and appliance cleaning
• Refrigerator clean-out
• Laundry and linen services
• Organization and decluttering

Specialty services with premium pricing:

• Move-in / move-out cleaning
• Post-construction cleaning
• Hoarding cleanup
• Biohazard cleaning (requires certification)
• Vacation rental turnovers

The package bundling strategy:

Create three tiers so clients can self-select into higher-value options:

Tier	What’s Included	Positioning
Basic	Standard clean—floors, surfaces, bathrooms, kitchen	Entry price point
Standard	Basic + kitchen appliances, baseboards, dusting details	Most popular option
Premium	Standard + interior windows, rotating deep clean areas	Highest value

Most clients pick the middle option. Some pick premium. Everyone pays more than your old one-size-fits-all rate.

6. Show Up When People Search (Google Business Profile)

🔄 Medium-Term – set up in a day, results build over 2-6 months

This is non-negotiable in 2026:

Over 80% of people find cleaning services through online search. And 46% of all Google searches have local intent—meaning people are looking for services near them, right now.

If you’re not showing up when someone searches “house cleaning near me” or “cleaning service [your city],” you’re invisible to the majority of potential clients.

Your Google Business Profile is the most important piece of digital real estate you own. More important than your website. More important than Instagram.

How to optimize your Google Business Profile:

• Complete every single field: hours, services, service area, business description
• Add at least 10-15 photos: your team, your equipment, before/after shots
• Post updates weekly: tips, promotions, behind-the-scenes content
• Respond to every review within 24-48 hours (positive and negative)
• Answer the questions in your Q&A section before someone else does
• List your services with descriptions and pricing ranges

Reviews are your growth engine:

• 88% of consumers trust businesses that respond to all their reviews
• 41% of people check 3+ review sites before making a decision
• Ask for a review after every completed job, and make it easy (send a direct link via text)

One simple script: “Thanks so much for having us today! If you have 30 seconds, a Google review would really help us out. Here’s the link.”

7. Hire Your First Employee (At the Right Time)

🏗️ Long-Term Play – major decision, plan 2-3 months ahead

This is the hardest growth hurdle for solo operators. And the most important one.

You can’t scale past your own physical capacity. There are only so many hours in a day, and you can only clean so many homes. At some point, hiring isn’t optional; it’s the only path forward.

But timing matters. Hire too late, and you burn out, quality suffers, and you turn down good work. Hire too early, and you don’t have enough jobs to keep them busy, cash flow suffers, and you end up letting them go.

Signs you’re ready to hire:

• You’re consistently turning down 2+ jobs per week
• You have at least 3 months of operating expenses saved
• Your schedule is 80%+ booked for the next 30 days
• You’re exhausted, and quality is slipping

Signs you’re NOT ready to hire:

• You’re hiring because you think it will “motivate” you
• You don’t have documented processes for how you clean
• Your income is unpredictable month to month

The math that makes hiring work:

If you bill clients $45/hour and pay an employee $18/hour, you keep $27/hour in gross profit on their labor. One full-time employee working 30 billable hours per week generates roughly $3,500/month in gross profit for you—while you’re not even there.

That’s how you stop trading time for money.

Hiring tips that prevent headaches:

• Always run background checks, even when you’re desperate to fill the role
• Invest in proper training, 7-10 days minimum. Rushing training creates quality problems and turnover.
• Start part-time to test fit before committing to full-time hours
• Set crystal clear expectations: written checklists, quality standards, and consequences

Once you have a team, workload balancing becomes critical. You need to distribute jobs fairly so no one burns out while others sit idle.

8. Build Systems Before You Try to Scale

🏗️ Long-Term Play – invest 2-4 weeks now, saves months later

Here’s a truth that took me too long to learn:

You cannot scale chaos.

If your business runs on memory, sticky notes, and “I’ll figure it out when I get there,” hiring employees will make everything worse, not better. Every problem you have now will multiply.

Systems are what let you grow without losing your mind.

You need documented processes for:

Area	What to Document
Cleaning	Room-by-room checklists, which products to use where, time standards per room type
Client communication	Booking confirmation templates, reminder messages, follow-up scripts
Invoicing	Room-by-room checklists, which products to use where, and time standards per room type
Quality control	Post-job inspection checklist, how to handle client complaints
Hiring & training	Job posting template, interview questions, day-by-day training schedule

This doesn’t have to be complicated. A Google Doc for each process is fine to start.

Free resources to get you started:

• Cleaning estimate template
• Cleaning invoice template

A client management system stores preferences, service history, and notes in one place, so anyone on your team can deliver consistent service, even if they’ve never met the client before.

9. Go After Commercial Contracts

🏗️ Long-Term Play – sales cycle takes 1-3 months, but contracts last years

Commercial cleaning accounts for 49.7% of the global cleaning market revenue. It’s the biggest slice of the pie.

And there’s a reason for that.

Why commercial contracts change the game:

Factor	Commercial	Residential
Contract size	$500 – $5,000+/month	$100 – $300/job
Revenue predictability	High (monthly contracts)	Variable
Scheduling	Predictable (usually evenings/weekends)	Scattered
Client acquisition cost per dollar of revenue	Lower	Higher
Relationship type	Professional, transactional	Personal, high-touch

One small office contract paying $1,500/month equals roughly 10-15 residential clients. And it’s one relationship to manage instead of 15.

Good entry points for commercial cleaning:

• Small professional offices (5-20 employees)
• Medical and dental practices
• Gyms and fitness studios
• Daycares and preschools
• Retail stores and boutiques
• Churches and community centers

The commercial sales process is different:

Residential clients decide fast, sometimes on the same call. Commercial takes longer.

1. Identify prospects – Drive around business parks, use Google Maps, ask your network
2. Cold outreach – Email, phone, or walk in with a one-pager about your services
3. Site walk-through – Assess scope, ask about pain points with their current cleaner
4. Submit a proposal – Professional, itemized, specific to their needs
5. Follow up – Decisions take weeks. Stay in touch without being annoying.
6. Contract signing – Get it in writing with clear terms

10. Build Partnerships That Feed You Leads

🔄 Medium-Term – first partner in 2-4 weeks, referrals build over months

The fastest way to get clients is to borrow someone else’s.

Strategic partnerships let you tap into existing relationships and trust that someone else built. Done right, they become a consistent source of leads without spending money on ads.

High-value partnerships for cleaning businesses:

Partner Type	Opportunity
Real estate agents	Move-in/move-out cleanings for buyers and sellers
Property managers	Regular unit turnovers between tenants
Airbnb hosts	Turnover cleaning between guests
Interior designers	Post-project cleaning after renovations
Home organizers	Cleaning after organization sessions
General contractors	Post-construction cleaning

How to approach a potential partner:

1. Lead with value for them – What do they get? Happier clients? A referral fee? Reciprocal referrals?
2. Prove yourself first – Offer to handle one job at a discount so they can see your quality
3. Make referring easy – Give them a dedicated booking link or phone line
4. Deliver exceptionally – Partner referrals are high-stakes. Mess up, and you lose the partner.

Even one strong relationship with a busy real estate agent can generate 5-10 new jobs per month. That’s worth more than most marketing campaigns.

11. Use Technology to Stop Doing Everything Manually

🔄 Medium-Term – set up in 1-2 weeks, ROI within 60 days

When you had 5 clients, you could manage everything in your head. Scheduling was a calendar. Invoicing was a Square receipt. Client notes were… memories.

At 30+ clients with employees, that approach breaks down.

Manual processes become bottlenecks. You spend hours on admin work instead of growing. Mistakes happen, double bookings, missed follow-ups, and late invoices.

Technology that pays for itself:

Tool	What It Does	Why It Matters
Scheduling software	Prevents double-bookings, handles reschedules	Fewer headaches, happier clients
Route optimization	Plans the most efficient path between jobs	Less driving, more cleaning, lower fuel costs
CRM	Tracks client info, preferences, history	Personalized service without relying on memory
Automated invoicing	Sends invoices immediately, tracks payments	Faster collection, professional image
Online booking	Lets clients book 24/7 without calling	Captures leads while you sleep

The ROI is measurable: Businesses using field service software report 35%+ revenue increases in their first year.

The right software doesn’t just save time, it makes your business sellable. Because the systems exist outside your head.

12. Track Your Numbers Like Your Business Depends on It

⚡ Quick Win – start a simple dashboard this week

Because it does.

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. And most cleaning business owners have no idea what their actual numbers are. They know roughly how much came in last month. They have a vague sense of expenses. But margins? Client acquisition cost? Churn rate? No clue.

Metrics you should track monthly:

Metric	What It Tells You	Healthy Range
Gross revenue	Total money coming in	Depends on your goals
Net profit margin	Total revenue from the average client over time	10-28%
Client acquisition cost	What do you keep after all expenses	Varies by channel
Client lifetime value	Total revenue from average client over time	Should be 3x+ your CAC
Churn rate	% of clients you lose each month	Under 5%
Average job value	Revenue per cleaning	Track trends
Operating expenses	Cost to run the business	25-30% of revenue is typical

Monthly review questions:

• Did revenue go up or down compared to last month? Why?
• How many new clients came in?
• How many clients left?
• What’s my profit margin this month?
• Which services are most profitable?
• Where are new clients coming from?

Residential vs. Commercial: Which Path Should You Take?

This isn’t a right-or-wrong question. It’s a strategic choice based on what you want your business to look like.

Factor	Residential	Commercial
Contract size	$100-300/job	$500-5,000+/month
Sales cycle	Fast (days)	Slow (weeks or months)
Profit margin	10-28%	10-15%, but volume-based
Client retention	Lower (life changes, moves)	Higher (contracts)
Competition	High	Moderate
Work hours	Daytime, weekdays	Evenings, weekends often
Relationship style	Personal, high-touch	Professional, transactional

Residential makes sense if:

• You’re just starting and need cash flow now
• You prefer daytime hours
• You enjoy personal relationships with clients
• Your local market has strong residential demand

Commercial makes sense if:

• You want larger, more predictable contracts
• You’re comfortable with longer sales cycles
• You can work evenings/weekends (or your team can)
• You’re trying to scale past $300K revenue

Can you do both? Yes, but run them as separate operations. Different marketing, different pricing, different processes. Trying to blend them creates confusion.

Realistic Growth Timeline

Every business is different, but here’s what typical growth looks like:

Year 1: Building the Foundation

• Revenue: $50K – $80K
• What’s happening: Building client base, refining services, figuring out pricing, creating basic systems
• Your role: Doing most of the cleaning yourself

Year 2: First Hire

• Revenue: $80K – $150K
• What’s happening: Adding part-time or full-time help, documenting how you do things, and learning to delegate
• Your role: Still cleaning, but starting to manage

Year 3+: Real Scaling

• Revenue: $150K – $300K+
• What’s happening: Multiple employees, maybe an operations manager, consistent lead flow
• Your role: Working on the business, not in it

What accelerates growth: Niching, systems, commercial contracts, partnerships, technology

What slows it down: Underpricing with no systems, trying to do everything yourself, saying yes to everyone, ignoring your numbers

Mistakes That Keep Cleaning Businesses Stuck

If you’re not growing, one of these is probably why:

1. Underpricing to “win” clients: You attract the worst customers and train them to expect cheap.
   
2. Hiring too late: You’re burnt out, quality drops, and you turn down work that could have paid your first employee’s salary.
   
3. Hiring too early: Cash flow can’t support payroll. You let someone go. Morale craters.
   
4. Running without systems: Every job is handled differently. Training is chaos. Quality is inconsistent.
   
5. Ignoring your online presence: 80%+ of people search online. If you’re not there, you don’t exist to them.
   
6. Saying yes to everyone: No niche, no focus, no efficient marketing.

7. Not knowing your numbers: You’re flying blind. You don’t know what’s working, what’s profitable, or where money is leaking.

What to Do Next?

Growing a cleaning business isn’t about working more hours. It’s about working smarter, building systems, making strategic choices, and focusing on what actually moves the needle.

Here’s where to start:

1. Pick one strategy from this list and implement it this week. Not three. One.
   
2. Define your ideal client so your marketing actually lands with someone.
   
3. Start tracking your numbers so you know what’s working and what’s wasting your time.
   

You don’t need all 12 strategies running at once. That’s a recipe for overwhelm. Pick 2-3 that fit where you are right now, execute them well, and stack from there.