What should a cleaning business payment policy cover?
A payment policy covers five things: when payment is due, which payment methods you accept, whether you take a deposit, what you charge for late payment and late cancellation, and what you do when a client does not pay. Everything else in this guide is detail under those five headings.
Most owners write it after the first unpaid invoice. Write it before. Clients accept almost any reasonable terms when they book, and almost none after a dispute has started. The policy also protects your cleaners: a crew that drives to a locked house and gets nothing for it will not stay long.
| Question | Residential clients | Commercial clients |
|---|---|---|
| When is payment due? | Day of service | Net 15 or net 30 from the invoice date |
| How do they pay? | Card on file, charged after the clean; cash or check if you want them | ACH or check, card as a backup |
| Deposit? | On one-time jobs only | First month in advance for new accounts, or none |
| Late cancellation or lockout? | A flat fee or a share of the visit price | Billed as a visit if the building was inaccessible |
| Late payment? | Rare if a card is on file; pause service otherwise | Late fee or interest after the due date, stop work after 60 days |
Keep the policy to one page and put the same wording in three places: your booking page, your service agreement (the cleaning contract template has a payment section to fill in) and the footer of every invoice.
How do you get paid for residential cleaning?
Get paid the day of the clean, and get the card before the first visit. A card saved at booking and charged after the clean removes the two biggest problems in residential cleaning: chasing payment, and cleaners handling cash or checks they have to drive to the bank.
Card on file, charged after the clean
This is now the standard cleaning service payment terms for recurring house cleaning. The client enters a card once, you charge it when the job is marked done, and the receipt goes out by email or text. Payment processors have rules about this. Stripe’s guide to saving a payment method says that before you save or charge a customer’s card you need terms that state the customer’s agreement letting you initiate payments on their behalf, the anticipated timing and frequency of the charges, how you determine the amount, and your cancellation policy. In plain words: your booking page or agreement must say “we charge the card on file after each visit for the quoted price, plus any add-ons you approve.”
Cash and checks
Some clients, especially older ones, prefer to leave a check on the counter. Accept it if you want, but set a rule: the check must be there when the cleaner arrives, and the cleaner photographs it in the app. Cash left for the cleaner should be logged the same day, with the amount and the job, so tips and payments do not blur.
Paying before the first clean
For a brand-new client, a card on file is enough. If the first visit is a large deep clean, ask for a deposit (next section). Do not demand the full amount up front for a recurring client; it signals distrust and most will walk.
Tips
Let clients add a tip at checkout. Decide in advance how tips are split and paid out, and say so in your cleaner agreements. The guide to tipping house cleaners covers what clients expect and how owners handle it.
When should you take a cleaning business deposit?
Take a cleaning business deposit when a cancellation would cost you a block of time you cannot resell: move-out cleans, deep cleans, post-construction jobs, same-week bookings and any job over a few hundred dollars. Do not bother with deposits on recurring visits if a card is on file, because the card already protects you.
How much
- One-time residential jobs: a flat amount or a share of the quote, enough to cover the drive and an hour of lost wages if the client vanishes. Many owners use 25% to 50%, or a fixed $50 to $100 on smaller jobs. Pick what covers your real loss, not a round number.
- Move-outs and post-construction: a larger share, because these often get cancelled when a closing date moves or a contractor runs late. Make the deposit non-refundable inside 48 hours of the job.
- New commercial accounts: some owners bill the first month in advance for the first 60 to 90 days, then move the client to net terms once they have paid on time. It filters out the companies that never intended to pay.
Rules that keep deposits fair
- State clearly what the deposit is for and when it stops being refundable.
- Apply it to the final invoice, and show that line on the invoice.
- Refund it in full if you cancel or cannot do the job.
- Keep it if the client cancels inside the window or locks you out, and say so before you take it.
Check your state’s rules on deposits and non-refundable fees. Some states limit what a business can keep when it is the business that fails to perform, and a few require deposits to be refunded within a set number of days. This is general information, not legal advice.
What payment terms do commercial cleaning clients expect?
Commercial clients expect an invoice and time to pay it: net 15 or net 30 is normal, net 45 or net 60 shows up with larger property managers and some institutions. You can offer card on file to small businesses, but offices, property managers and government buyers mostly pay by ACH or check against an invoice.
Pick terms you can afford
Net 30 means you pay your cleaners for four to six weeks before the client pays you. If payroll is tight, quote net 15, or bill twice a month instead of once. A client who insists on net 60 is asking you to finance them; price the delay in, or ask for the first month in advance.
Government work pays slowly by rule
Federal agencies follow the Prompt Payment Act regulations in 5 CFR Part 1315, which generally set the payment due date at 30 days after the agency receives a proper invoice when the contract does not say otherwise, and add an interest penalty when an agency pays late. Many states have similar prompt payment laws for their own agencies. Two lessons: your invoice must be “proper” (correct contract number, dates, amounts, remittance details) or the clock does not start, and you should expect the full 30 days.
What to put in the contract
- Invoice date and due date (for example, invoiced on the 1st, due on the 30th).
- Late fee or interest after the due date, in plain numbers, and where your state caps interest, stay under the cap.
- A stop-work clause: service pauses when an invoice is 30 days past due, and resumes within a set time after payment.
- Who approves extra work and how it is billed, so add-ons do not become disputes.
- Lockout and access failures billed as a visit, because your crew still showed up.
The guide to winning commercial cleaning contracts covers the bid side; the cleaning proposal template has a terms section you can reuse.
Which payment methods should a cleaning business accept, and what do they cost?
Accept cards for residential clients and ACH for commercial accounts, and keep cash and checks as options rather than defaults. Card fees are the price of getting paid on the day; ACH is cheaper and suits large monthly invoices.
What the processors charge
Stripe’s pricing page lists a standard rate of 2.9% plus a 30-cent fee per successful domestic card transaction, with 0.5% more for manually entered cards and an extra percentage for international cards. Square’s pricing page lists 2.6% plus 15 cents for in-person card payments and 3.5% plus 15 cents when a card is manually entered or a saved card on file is used. Both change their rates from time to time, so check the pages before you compare.
| Method | Fee on a $160 clean (approximate) | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Card on file through Stripe (2.9% + 30¢) | about $4.94 | Recurring residential, charged after each visit |
| Card on file through Square (3.5% + 15¢) | about $5.75 | Same, if you already run Square |
| ACH bank debit | Usually a small flat or capped fee, check your processor | Commercial invoices, larger amounts |
| Check or cash | $0, plus your time | Clients who insist, with a photo logged by the cleaner |
ACH needs an authorization too
Stripe’s ACH Direct Debit documentation describes a mandate: the customer’s authorization to debit their account, which can be reused for later payments while it is active, and which is invalidated if the customer disputes a payment. For commercial accounts, that means a one-time ACH authorization form at signup, then monthly debits on the due date, with the invoice emailed a week ahead.
Should you pass card fees on?
Most residential clients expect the price to be the price. Build the fee into your rates rather than adding a surcharge at checkout; surcharges are restricted or banned in some states and card network rules limit them. If a commercial client wants to pay a large invoice by card, you can offer an ACH option and let them choose.
How should you charge for late cancellations and lockouts?
Charge a fixed fee when a client cancels inside your notice window or your cleaner cannot get in, and charge it to the card on file the same day. The fee is not punishment, it is the wage you still owe the cleaner for a slot you could not fill.
- Notice window: 24 or 48 hours is common. Shorter is friendlier; longer protects a full calendar.
- Late cancellation: a flat fee (for example $50 to $75) or a percentage of the visit price (often 50%). Many owners waive the first one with a friendly note.
- Lockout: the crew arrived and could not get in. Bill the full visit or a large share of it, because the whole slot is gone.
- Your cancellations: if you cancel late, offer a discount on the next visit. Clients notice when the policy only runs one way.
Write it once with the free cancellation policy template, then put the same wording on your booking page and in your reminder texts. A reminder the day before, with a one-tap reschedule link, cuts late cancellations more than any fee does.
What do you do about a cleaning business late payment?
Follow a fixed sequence: automatic reminder, personal message, phone call, pause service, demand letter, then small claims or a collection agency. Decide the sequence now so you do not improvise while angry, and decide the balance below which you simply write it off.
A sequence that works
- Due date: the invoice goes out with a pay-now link. If a card is on file, the charge runs automatically and most of this list never happens.
- Day 3 to 5: an automatic reminder with the invoice attached.
- Day 10: a personal text or email. Most late payments are forgotten invoices, not refusals.
- Day 15 to 20: a phone call. Ask when you can expect payment and note the date they give you.
- Day 30: pause service and say so in writing. For commercial accounts, this is the stop-work clause from the contract.
- Day 45: a demand letter with the amount, the dates, a final due date and what happens next.
- Day 60: small claims court or a collection agency, depending on the amount.
Late fees and interest
A late fee only works if it was agreed before the work. Put the number in the contract and on every invoice (for example, a flat $25 after 15 days, or 1.5% per month). States cap interest and some restrict flat late fees on consumer contracts, so check your state before you set the number, and never add a fee that was not in writing.
Small claims and collection agencies
Small claims court is built for amounts like unpaid cleaning invoices. Limits vary by state; California’s courts, for example, explain that a business can claim up to $6,250 in small claims and an individual up to $12,500 (California Courts self-help guide). Filing fees are modest and you do not need a lawyer. A collection agency takes a share of what it recovers and is only worth it for larger commercial balances. Either way, keep every invoice, reminder and reply, because the record is your case.
For the scripts, a demand letter you can copy and the question of whether to keep the client at all, see how to fire a cleaning client. And never hold keys, codes or a client’s belongings as leverage; collect the debt the normal way.
A payment policy you can copy
Adapt the wording below to your prices and your state, and show it to every client before the first visit.
Residential clients
Payment is due on the day of service. We keep a card on file and charge it after each visit for the quoted price plus any add-ons you approve; you receive a receipt by email. One-time cleans over $300 require a deposit of 25%, applied to your final invoice and non-refundable within 48 hours of the appointment. Cancellations with less than 24 hours’ notice, and visits where we cannot access the home, are charged a $60 fee. Prices may change with 30 days’ written notice.
Commercial clients
Services are invoiced monthly on the 1st and due within 30 days by ACH or check. Invoices unpaid after the due date accrue a late charge of 1.5% per month, or the maximum allowed by law if lower. Service may be suspended when any invoice is more than 30 days past due and resumes within two business days of payment. Visits where the premises are inaccessible are billed in full. Additional work is performed only on written approval and billed at the agreed rates.
Use the cleaning invoice template so every invoice repeats the due date and late fee, and the accounting guide to keep receivables in view each week.
How does software enforce a payment policy?
Good scheduling software enforces the policy without you thinking about it: it collects the card at booking, charges it when the job is done, sends receipts and reminders, and applies deposits and late-cancellation fees you set once. That is how one owner can run dozens of clients without a weekly collections session.
Whatever you use, look for these pieces:
- A booking page that saves a card and shows your terms before the client confirms.
- Charge-after-service with tips, add-ons and sales tax handled on the same receipt.
- Optional deposits and late-cancellation fees, applied by rule rather than by memory.
- Reminders the day before, so fewer visits are cancelled late in the first place.
- Invoices with a pay link and ACH for commercial accounts, plus a receivables view.
Broombook is booking, scheduling and reminders for recurring service businesses. Clients can save a card when they book and it is charged after the clean, tip included, into your own Stripe account; cash, check and e-transfer check out in one tap; deposits and late-cancellation fees are there if you want them. The features page lists what is included and pricing shows the plans. For a wider comparison, see the best cleaning business software.