How to get cleaning contracts with apartments and property managers

Who hires cleaners at an apartment community?

Three people hire cleaners at an apartment community: the property manager, who owns the budget; the maintenance supervisor, who issues the work orders when a unit turns; and the regional or portfolio manager at the property management company, who approves vendors for every community they oversee. Win the first two and you have a property. Win the third and you have a portfolio.

The market is big and local. Tens of millions of US households rent, and the National Multifamily Housing Council keeps running counts of the apartment stock and of who rents. Every one of those units is cleaned when a tenant leaves, and the larger communities have lobbies, hallways, fitness rooms and clubhouses cleaned every week.

Most property management cleaning contracts are not formal bids. They are a handshake, a work order and an invoice, repeated every time a unit turns. That makes the account easy to start and easy to lose; the sections below cover how to keep it.

What cleaning work do apartments buy?

Apartments buy three kinds of cleaning: move-out turnovers, which are the volume; common-area cleaning, which is the steady weekly revenue; and model unit, clubhouse and leasing office cleaning, which is where the manager judges you.

1. Turnover (make-ready) cleans

When a tenant moves out, maintenance repairs and paints, then you clean so the unit shows and rents. The scope is a full move-out clean: appliances inside and out, cabinets and drawers, bathrooms, windows and tracks, blinds, floors, light fixtures and closets. Our move-out cleaning checklist is the standard list; attach it to your agreement so “clean” has one meaning. Managers care most about turnaround: the unit is usually needed within 24 to 48 hours of the work order. If turnovers will be most of your work, see how to start an apartment cleaning business for crew speed and per-unit setup.

2. Common areas

Lobby, mail room, hallways, elevators, stairwells, laundry rooms, fitness room, pool restrooms, trash rooms and the dog run. Typically one to five visits a week depending on size and class of the property. Larger communities add a day porter for trash and touch-ups.

3. Models, clubhouse and leasing office

The model unit is cleaned weekly and before tours; the clubhouse after events. This is small work with outsized influence, because the property manager walks through it every day.

Common add-ons

• Trash-out of abandoned belongings before the clean (priced by volume, with a photo before you start).
• Carpet cleaning, or a referral to a carpet partner.
• Post-renovation cleanup after flooring or cabinet replacement.
• Occupied-unit cleaning offered to residents as a paid amenity, which some communities promote for you.

How much turnover volume should you expect, and when?

Expect roughly as many turnovers per year as the community’s unit count multiplied by its annual turnover rate, with most of them landing between May and September. Ask each property manager for last year’s move-out count by month; they track it, and it tells you exactly how to staff.

A volume example (hypothetical numbers)

• A 200-unit community with 50% annual turnover produces about 100 turnover cleans a year.
• If 60% of leases end in the five summer months, that is about 60 cleans from May to September, or 12 a month, versus 5 or 6 a month in winter.
• At an average of $200 per turnover, the account is worth about $20,000 a year in turnovers alone, plus common areas.
• Three such communities under one regional manager mean 36 cleans in a peak month: that is a second crew, planned in April.

Vacancy and turnover move with the market. The Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey publishes the national rental vacancy rate every quarter, and a rising rate usually means more units sitting empty and more pressure on managers to turn them fast. Your local numbers matter more: student housing turns almost entirely in August, military-town properties follow transfer season, and snowbird markets flip in spring.

Staffing for the peak

1. Confirm each manager’s expected summer move-outs in April.
2. Hire and train seasonal cleaners in May, pairing each with an experienced lead on the first ten units.
3. Agree on a maximum number of units per day per property and a 24-hour notice rule so the schedule is real.
4. Keep winter crews busy with common areas, occupied-unit cleaning for residents and residential clients.

Scheduling software that handles recurring common-area visits and one-off turnover work orders on the same calendar keeps this manageable; Broombook does both and lets your crew see the day’s units on their phones.

How do you price apartment turnover cleaning per unit?

Price turnovers as a flat rate per unit by bedroom count, with a condition tier (standard, heavy, trash-out) and extras priced separately. Property managers want a price list they can put on a work order without a quote, and a flat rate per unit type is what they expect.

Build each rate from hours. Time your crew on ten units, add supplies and drive time, then add margin. The figures below are hypothetical and show the structure; for current residential rates by home size, see house cleaning prices.

What moves the price

• Volume commitment: a property promising 10 units a month can get a lower rate than one calling twice a year.
• Turnaround: same-day or next-day service at the peak deserves a rush rate written into the agreement.
• Who supplies paper and liners for common areas, and whether the property stocks a cleaning closet you can use.
• Class of property: a new luxury building with a demanding model-unit standard versus a workforce housing community with heavy turnovers.
• Photos and documentation requirements; some management companies want before and after photos on every unit.

Price common areas per visit from timed hours, the same way as an office. Put the whole list on one page with the house cleaning price list template and hand it to the manager; a clear price list is often what gets you on the vendor list in the first place.

What does vendor onboarding at a property management company involve?

Vendor onboarding means proving you are insured and set up to be paid: a certificate of insurance naming the owner and the management company, a signed W-9, a vendor agreement, and often registration with a third-party compliance service that checks your documents every year. No manager can send you a work order until this is done, so do it the week you meet them.

The documents

1. Certificate of insurance (COI). General liability (commonly $1 million per occurrence), workers’ compensation and auto, with the property owner and the management company listed as additional insured. Your broker issues it in a day; our guide to cleaning business insurance covers the policies and costs. Many companies also ask for a janitorial bond.
2. Form W-9. The IRS’s Form W-9 gives the management company your taxpayer identification number so it can report what it pays you. The company files a Form 1099-NEC for your payments; the IRS instructions state that for tax years beginning after 2025 the reporting threshold rose to $2,000, with inflation adjustments from 2027. An LLC taxed as a corporation may be exempt from 1099 reporting; the W-9 asks.
3. Vendor agreement. The management company’s standard terms: indemnification, insurance minimums, payment terms (net 30 is typical, net 45 or 60 at some larger firms), background checks for anyone entering occupied units, and sometimes a vendor code of conduct.
4. Compliance service registration. Larger companies route vendors through a compliance platform with an annual fee that verifies your COI and W-9. Ask if there is a fee before you agree, and put the renewal date on your calendar.

How work and money flow

• Work orders come from the maintenance supervisor or through the property’s software, with the unit number and the date it is needed.
• Keys: a key log or a lockbox code per unit; never a master key in a cleaner’s pocket.
• Invoice per unit with the unit number and work order number, or the invoice stalls in accounting.
• Payment usually comes from the owner’s account through the management company, which is why the owner must be on your COI.

This is not tax or insurance advice; your accountant and broker will confirm what applies to your entity and state.

A step-by-step plan to get on the vendor list

The fastest route is to become the reliable backup vendor at one community, prove yourself during a peak month, and then ask the property manager for an introduction to their regional manager. From first visit to first work order usually takes two to six weeks; from one property to a portfolio takes a season.

1. Build a list of communities within 20 minutes of your base. Note the management company on the sign or website; a dozen communities often share two or three companies.
2. Visit the leasing office mid-morning, Tuesday to Thursday. Ask for the property manager and the maintenance supervisor. Ask two questions: who cleans their turns now, and what happens when that vendor is busy in July. Offer to be the backup.
3. Leave a one-page price list and your COI. Managers keep vendor sheets in a binder or a folder; be in it before the next busy week.
4. Do the first unit perfectly and on time. Send a short note with photos when it is done. Ask the maintenance supervisor to walk it with you.
5. Ask for the regional manager. After two or three good months, ask the property manager to introduce you, and bring a one-page summary: units cleaned, average turnaround, zero callbacks.
6. Register on the management company’s vendor page and with its compliance service, so other properties in the portfolio can order from you.
7. Show up where managers gather. Local apartment association events and vendor fairs, landlord association meetings, and the Facebook groups where property managers ask for referrals.

The direct outreach approach in how to get cleaning clients applies here too; the difference is that one property manager can send you fifty jobs a year, so each visit is worth more preparation.

What should an apartment cleaning agreement say?

Put the price list, the scope, the turnaround promise and the payment terms in writing, even when the management company uses its own vendor agreement. Most disputes with property managers are about what “clean” and “ready” mean, and a signed scope settles them.

• Price list by unit type and condition, plus the extras (trash-out, carpet, heavy appliances) and the rush rate.
• Scope by checklist: attach the move-out list and the common-area list, with frequencies.
• Turnaround: for example, units requested by 3 p.m. are cleaned the next business day, with a cap of a set number of units per day.
• Condition clause: units beyond standard condition are quoted on arrival with a photo before work starts, so a trash-out is never a surprise invoice.
• Inspection and callbacks: issues reported within 24 hours are fixed free; after that, a new work order.
• Payment terms: net 30, invoices per unit with work order numbers, and a late fee if the agreement allows it.
• Keys, access and occupied units: key log, lockbox procedure, and background-checked cleaners for occupied-unit work.
• Term and cancellation: 30 days’ notice either way, so a change of manager does not end the account overnight.

The free cleaning contract template and estimate template cover these clauses; adapt them to the management company’s paperwork rather than fighting it.

How do you keep property management accounts when managers change?

Property managers change jobs often, and a new manager brings their own vendors. You keep the account by being known to everyone on site, by being in the management company’s system rather than one person’s phone, and by making your record visible.

• Know the whole team. Maintenance supervisor, assistant manager, leasing agents. When the manager leaves, they are the ones who say “keep the cleaners”.
• Be in the system. Approved vendor status with the management company, a current COI and a price list on file, not just a text thread.
• Report monthly. Units cleaned, average turnaround, callbacks. A one-paragraph email makes you the vendor with numbers.
• Hold capacity for them. Managers remember who answered in July. Keep a slot each day for same-week turnovers during the peak.
• Track every work order. Unit, date requested, date done, photos, invoice number. Broombook keeps job history and notes per client, which is handy when a new manager asks what you did last year.

One last tip: ask each property manager where they worked before. Managers move between companies in the same city, and a manager who liked you at one community becomes your introduction at the next.