Scorecard · Tampa, FL
House cleaning service
71/100
How much does it cost to start a house cleaning business in Tampa? $4,000–$12,000 in Tampa, FL, on the figures below.
- Profit
- A
- Tampa recurring cleans go for $130–$190 a visit and take a pair 2.5 hours. Two cleaners at $18 an hour leaves roughly $70 a visit before overhead.
- Difficulty
- B
- A Florida LLC, a Hillsborough County business tax receipt and general liability with a bonding rider. No trade licence. The hard part is hiring people who show up.
- Capital
- B$4,000–$12,000
- Supplies and two vacuums $1,800, insurance and bonding $1,400 a year, a used car if you have none, and $2,000 of ads to fill the first ten slots.
Break-even
- The number that has to be true
- 34 cleans a month at $155
- Fixed costs a month
- $1,950
- The assumption
- Half the book is recurring fortnightly, not one-off deep cleans.
Opening for less
All three together take $6,500 off: $12,000 becomes $5,500.
Clean solo for the first 20 clients before you hire
−$3,600
Costs you: You cap out near $6,000 a month and cannot take a week off
Buy supplies at a Tampa janitorial wholesaler instead of retail
−$900
Costs you: Case quantities and a 20-minute drive each way
Take the first clients from a neighbourhood group instead of paid ads
−$2,000
Costs you: Slower fill, and one bad review lands in front of every neighbour
How you’d do it
What you need
- General liability plus a bonding rider, roughly $1,400 a year in Florida
- A Hillsborough County business tax receipt
- A written scope per visit, so a $155 clean does not become a four-hour one
- Two reliable cleaners at $18–$22 an hour before you sell recurring slots
First 3 moves
- 1Quote ten houses in one neighbourhood and note the price nobody flinches at.
- 2Run one $200 ad test and count calls, not clicks.
- 3Write the checklist you will hand a cleaner on day one, before you hire.
The hardest part
Staff turnover. Cleaners leave for $2 an hour, and the client is loyal to the person, not to you.
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