How to Get Cleaning Business Clients in the US (Homes and Offices)

Key takeaways

• 49.8% of maids and housekeeping cleaners and 35.6% of janitors in the US are Hispanic or Latino (BLS, 2025 average). Supply is high, so customers choose on trust, not price.
• Google offers a "House cleaning services" category in Local Services Ads, where it may require background checks, general liability insurance and licenses.
• A discount for leaving a review is against Google's policy, and the FTC's 2024 rule bans incentives conditioned on a positive review.

How do I attract clients to my cleaning business?

First decide whether you're going after homes, offices or both, because they sell differently. Homes are won with a strong Google profile, reviews and neighbor recommendations. Offices are won by going to the customer yourself: visits, a walkthrough and a written proposal. Either way, the goal is a recurring client.

Where do house cleaners find clients?

Start close to home: neighbors, local Facebook groups and Nextdoor, and real estate agents who need move-out cleans. Offer a first deep clean, then a biweekly plan. Every happy client should bring you another one: give a credit for referrals, never for reviews.

Client sources that work in residential cleaning:

1. Move-in and move-out cleans. Real estate agents and rental managers need them often and on short notice. Deliver, and they'll call again.
2. Short-term rental hosts. They need a clean between every guest, on fixed schedules. It's recurring work if you're on time.
3. A referral program. A discount on the next clean for each new client someone sends you. That one is allowed.
4. Platforms like Thumbtack or Angi, to get started. Use them for your first clients, then move them onto your own calendar and your own profile. Read each platform's lead terms before you pay, and track which jobs actually turn into repeat clients.

What should a cleaning business put on Google Business Profile?

Set it up as a service-area business with no visible address, since you go to the customer. Google allows up to 20 service areas. Use the category that describes your main work: "House cleaning service" for homes, "Commercial cleaning service" or "Janitorial service" for offices.

• One primary category, a few secondary ones. Google asks you to pick the most specific one and not add a category for every service.
• The "Latino-owned" attribute, if it applies. Google offers it as an identity attribute and you can remove it anytime.
• Services with a price or range: standard, deep, move-out, office. Customers want to know if it fits their budget before they call.
• Real photos of the work, with the customer's permission and without showing personal details of their home.

The rest (identical details everywhere, Spanish pages with their own URLs) is in our local SEO for Hispanic-owned businesses guide.

How do I ask for reviews without breaking the rules?

Ask after every job, with a direct link by text message, to every customer and not just the happy ones. Google doesn't allow you to discourage negative reviews or only ask people who'll rate you well, and it doesn't allow discounts, payments or free services in exchange either.

This matters more in cleaning than in most trades, because "10% off for your review" is a very common offer. Don't do it: on top of Google's policy, the FTC can seek penalties against businesses that give incentives conditioned on a positive review. Reply to every review, in the language it was written in. A review that mentions your cleaner by name is gold: it proves you send the same person.

How do I get office cleaning contracts?

List nearby businesses that need cleaning several times a week (medical offices, gyms, small offices, managed buildings) and visit or email the manager. Offer a free walkthrough, then hand over a written proposal with scope, frequency, schedule and monthly price. Having your certificate of insurance ready speeds up the signature.

• Insurance and employees. The SBA explains that if you have employees you need workers' compensation, unemployment and disability insurance, plus the general liability coverage almost every commercial client will ask for.
• Licenses and permits for your city and state: see the SBA's licenses and permits guide.
• Government contracts. If you're interested, the first step is registering on SAM.gov. The SBA explains its federal contracting programs, including contracts open only to small businesses.
• One page per commercial service on your site (offices, medical, post-construction) for when the manager looks you up on Google before replying.

Seasons in cleaning

Residential demand climbs in spring, during moving season and before the year-end holidays. Have your deep-clean offers ready a few weeks ahead. On the commercial side, ask the manager when their current cleaning contract ends and write it down: that's when to knock again.

Mistakes we see often

• Pricing low to win clients, then not being able to pay good staff.
• Sending a different cleaner to the same home every time.
• A Google profile with no prices or services, just a phone number.
• Nothing in writing with office clients: without a clear scope, every complaint becomes an argument.

If you want to show up on Google when people search for cleaning in your city, in English and Spanish, see our SEO for US businesses service or get in touch. If you don't have a site yet, we also build websites.