"House cleaning is high-margin, low-overhead, easy to start." Mostly true. But the picture isn't complete. Here's every actual cost a solo house cleaner carries in 2026.
One-time startup costs (year 1)
- Vacuum (commercial-grade upright): $250-$400
- Backup vacuum: $80-$150
- Cleaning kit (mop, buckets, microfiber, brushes, squeegees): $200-$300
- Initial chemicals (multi-surface, glass, bathroom, degreaser, floor): $150-$250
- Apron + uniform shirts: $80-$150
- Caddy + storage: $100-$150
- LLC + business license: $100-$300
- First-year insurance: $400-$700
- Booking page + software (annual): $300
Total year-1 startup: ~$1,700-$2,700.
Recurring monthly costs
- Insurance: $35-$60/month
- Supplies + chemicals (~5-8% of gross): $150-$400
- Software (CRM, invoicing, booking): $30-$80
- Vehicle gas + maintenance: $200-$500
- Phone (business line, optional): $25-$50
- Marketing: $50-$300
- Accountant (averaged monthly): $50-$150
- Equipment replacement fund: $50
Total recurring: ~$1,000/month average.
Annual + occasional
- Vacuum replacement (every 18-24 months): $250-$400
- Heavy chemical restock: $200/yr
- Microfiber refresh (every 6 months): $80
- Tax prep: $400-$800
- License renewal: $100-$200
- Vehicle major repair fund: $800-$1,500/yr
Add ~$1,500-$2,500/year occasional.
The hidden costs nobody talks about
- Chargebacks + non-payments: 1-2% of gross.
- Damage claims (rare): broken decoratives $50-$200; floor damage $500-$2,000 (insurance covers, deductible adds up).
- Time off (sick, family, burnout): solo cleaners average 4-6 weeks off/year.
- Quote-to-no-book ghosting: 25-40% of quotes don't convert. The 15 min spent quoting is unpaid.
- "Just one more thing" creep: customers casually ask for laundry, dishes, organizing not in scope.
- Vehicle depreciation: ~$0.30/mile of business use.
What this means for take-home
Solo cleaner grossing $60K/year:
- Gross: $60,000
- Recurring monthly ($1,000 × 12): -$12,000
- Annual + occasional: -$2,000
- Hidden (5%): -$3,000
- Self-employment tax: -$6,500
- Federal income tax (~10% effective): -$3,800
- State income tax: -$1,500
- True take-home: ~$31,200
$60K gross = $31K net. That's the honest math. At $100K gross? About $58K net — margin improves with scale.
How to improve the margin
- Raise prices 5%. ~3% gross margin improvement (no extra cost).
- Tighten the route. Less drive time = more billable hours.
- Lock in recurring customers. No quote-time leakage.
- Get the inquiry-capture stack right — lost leads are the biggest hidden cost.