The Best House Cleaning Jobs Online
Learn about the best house cleaning jobs to check out, why they're great, and where to find them.
Working in house cleaning can take many forms.
There is the standard once-a-week or once-a-month cleaning appointment, where a cleaner will come in and take care of vacuuming, dusting, and mopping.
There are deep clean services that will take clean houses to the next level.
These companies provide steam vacuuming of carpets, power washing of decks and siding, outside window cleaning, and more.
The Best Places to Find House Cleaning Jobs Online
- Housekeeper.com
- Care.com
- Job Boards
- Maid Service Companies
- Craigslist
- Thumbtack
- TaskRabbit
Some people employ live-in house cleaners and housekeepers, who may double as au pairs or cooks.
These are full-time employees who reside in the home and work daily to ensure it’s clean and running efficiently.
There are also new companies that not only offer to clean your house but to organize it as well.
These personal organizing companies help clients get their home in order, prioritize what’s important, and create a system to make their lives more manageable.
7 Other Places To Find House Cleaning Jobs
We’ve covered the basics of house cleaning.
Now it’s time to find a job.
Below are seven resources that can help you land a gig in cleaning.
Some of these are job boards, others are professional cleaning services that are often hiring qualified cleaners.
Sorting through these will help you find the best jobs near you.
1. Housekeeper.com
Housekeeper.com is a great resource for finding cleaning work because it’s a specific site built for just this reason.
As of March 2023, their job listings page has over 70,000 jobs for housekeepers across the United States.
They have listings for part-time house cleaning jobs and full-time, live-in housekeepers.
Search by location to find jobs near you.
2. Care.com
Care.com is a site dedicated to finding caretakers for potential clients, and that includes home caretakers.
They give you the ability to post a profile with your background, rate, and specialties.
Then users can reach out to you directly to give you work.
Care.com users do have the option to request a background check for potential cleaners, which may require a valid driver’s license to complete, depending on the state you’re in.
3. Job Boards
Many online job boards, from Flexjobs to Indeed to Monster to Snagajob, have job postings for house cleaners.
These sites allow you to search by job type, read job descriptions, set alerts when new jobs become available in your area, and apply directly through the site.
4. Maid Service Companies
Home cleaning service companies like Molly Maid, Merry Maids, and many others are often hunting for new team members who are reliable and efficient.
These companies provide deep clean services, as well as standard home cleaning services, and may offer perks to new employees.
5. Craigslist
Craigslist will often have job requests asking for part-time work or one-time jobs.
People looking to move out of apartments or looking for a deep clean ahead of a big party, can make requests on the site and invite cleaners to offer a quote.
Craigslist also allows you to post your services there, and can be a great way to target local clients.
6. Thumbtack
Thumbtack is a site that allows qualified professionals to post their specialties and bid on jobs of all types, including house cleaning.
Getting on the site will allow you to review client work requests and offer a quote for your services.
Thumbtack takes care of the easy, secure, online payment, so all you have to do is a great job.
There are two versions of the site, Thumbtack and Thumbtack pro.
If you’re a local business owner or contractor, you’ll want to use Thumbtack Pro.
If you’re a gig worker looking to offer services yourself, you’ll want to just use regular Thumbtack.
7. TaskRabbit
TaskRabbit allows people to accept odd jobs that users request through the app.
This platform is very similar to Airtasker, which we’ve written about in the past.
These jobs can take many forms, from doing light repairs on a house to running across town to wait in line for a spot at a concert.
Many people also request cleaning services through TaskRabbit, so you can potentially land cleaning jobs by keeping your eye on the app and seeing what people request.
Becoming a TaskRabbit worker is easy, so if you have spare time and are skilled at cleaning, this is a platform that you should definitely check out.
Starting Your Own Cleaning Company
If you think you can provide an exceptional cleaning experience and want to start your own business, launching your own cleaning company is a great way to do so.
To make it work as a business, you will need multiple clients a week.
Getting clients to commit to recurring cleaning appointments is key to building something sustainable.
A great way to get clients is to create a company that provides cleaning services specifically for Airbnb hosts.
With residential clients, you might clean a home once or twice per month.
With an Airbnb cleaning service, you’ll be cleaning the home a few times a week, usually.
With so much turnover from the listings, you can see how you could earn a decent company with this type of business.
Pro Tip: Find Airbnb hosts that provide long-term Airbnb rentals. These are a great way to earn consistent, long-term income from hosts.
While it may be tempting to launch a full-scale business with multiple employees, most cleaning businesses start small with just a few clients.
This may result in slow growth, but it’s a healthy and smart way to grow a business, and one without too much risk.
This is a gem in the world of growth hacking and launching your company on a budget.
If you’re providing the labor, the start-up costs are simply cleaning supplies and whatever marketing you want to do.
If you rely on word of mouth and provide a quality product and great customer service, you can successfully build a strong local business providing cleaning services to people in your area.
If you want to learn more about building a strong small business, check our our favorite small business ideas.
Other Cleaning Businesses
While this article is focused on residential cleaning, you should also look into office cleaning — many local companies are on the lookout for reliable cleaning services on nights and weekends, and if you can offer a better price than competitors, you can pick up serious work that way.
If you have experience in construction and don’t mind getting down and dirty, there is also a lucrative market for specialists who can do construction site cleanup.
This tends to require professionals with experience and a knowledge of safety codes and proper disposal techniques, but it can be a great business to run, especially in areas with lots of development.
FAQs About House Cleaning Jobs
1. Do I need to provide my own cleaning products?
A professional house cleaning service will almost always provide their own cleaning supplies.
If you work for a maid service company, they will provide these for you.
If you’re going it alone, however, you should invest in cleaning supplies to bring to your jobs.
Remember to keep your receipts as you can write this investment off on your taxes.
That being said, it is totally fine to ask a potential client if they have a vacuum cleaner or step ladder so you can avoid lugging your own up to a home or apartment.
2. Do I need to pay taxes if I start my own company?
Many cleaners are paid in cash or personal check, and it can be tempting to simply deposit that money in your personal account and not report the income to the IRS.
We strongly advise against this.
Read our guide to taxes as a freelancer to learn more.
3. Can I limit what I will or won’t clean?
Of course.
If you don’t want to clean a basement that’s been abandoned for years and is infested with cobwebs or mold, or you don’t feel safe getting on ladders to clean windows at a great height, you have every right to explain that to a client.
You may not get that job, but your health and safety should always come first.
Becoming a Cleaning Professional
If you take solace in cleaning, or have a knack for making a house look beautiful, you could find a great career as a cleaning professional.
Understanding the landscape of the profession and where to find house cleaning jobs can provide a great start.
Using that expertise to launch your own business can turn a side hustle into a full career, and a lucrative one.
This article can get you started on that journey.
Brett Helling is the founder and owner of Gigworker.com. Having worked in the gig economy for nearly a decade, he has mastered freelance, remote, and app-based work. You can learn more about his journey in his book, "Gigworker: Independent Work and the State of the Gig Economy", now available on Amazon.