How to start a cleaning business in Texas: 2026 guide

What are the steps to open a cleaning company in Texas?

To open a house cleaning company in Texas, register your business name (or form an LLC), get a sales tax permit from the Comptroller, buy liability insurance, and price your cleans with sales tax on top. When you hire, register with the Texas Workforce Commission, report each new hire, and decide whether to carry workers’ comp. Most of it can be done online in a few days.

This guide covers what is different about Texas: county assumed names, the franchise tax, sales tax on cleaning, TWC and the state’s unusual workers’ comp rules. The parts that work the same everywhere, such as picking services, buying equipment and doing your first cleans, are in our general guide on how to start a cleaning business. Read that one for the basics and use this page for the Texas numbers.

Here is the order that avoids redoing paperwork:

1. Choose your services and the cities or ZIP codes you will cover.
2. Pick a structure. Sole proprietors file an assumed name with the county clerk, LLCs file with the Secretary of State.
3. Apply for a Texas sales and use tax permit, because residential cleaning by a cleaning business is taxable.
4. Check your city’s rules, plus any HOA or deed restrictions if you work from home.
5. Buy general liability insurance, and tell your auto insurer you drive to jobs.
6. Set prices, then add the sales tax rate for where you clean.
7. Set up booking, reminders and payments, and find your first clients.
8. When you hire: TWC, new-hire reporting, and a decision on workers’ comp.

Still choosing a name? The cleaning business name generator gives you ideas to check against your county’s assumed name records. To see whether the numbers work before you spend anything, the cleaning business plan template turns your prices and costs into a 12-month forecast.

Sole proprietor, LLC or assumed name: what does Texas charge?

A Texas sole proprietor using a business name files an assumed name certificate with the county clerk, which costs about $23 to $25 in the big counties. An LLC costs $300 to form with the Secretary of State, plus $25 for each assumed name it uses. Both are paid once, with no yearly state renewal fee.

Sole proprietorship and the county assumed name

The Secretary of State’s name filings FAQ says a sole proprietorship files its assumed name certificate with the county clerk in each county where it keeps a business office. If you have no office in Texas, you file in each county where you do business. A certificate lasts for the term you state, up to 10 years.

County fees are small but differ:

• Travis County (Austin): the county clerk’s DBA page lists $23 for the business name and one owner, $0.50 for each extra owner, and a notarized form for mail-in filings.
• Harris County (Houston): the county clerk lists $24 for a notarized filing for the first owner, or $25 plus a $1 witnessing fee if you sign in front of the clerk. The record is valid for up to ten years.

Trading under your own full legal name, such as “Rosa Martinez,” needs no assumed name. “Rosa’s Home Cleaning” does. The trade-off of a sole proprietorship is that business debts and claims can reach your personal assets.

Texas LLC

The Secretary of State’s fee schedule (Form 806) lists $300 for a certificate of formation for a Texas LLC (Form 205). If the LLC trades under a name other than its legal name, it files an assumed name certificate with the Secretary of State for $25 (Form 503). You can reserve a name for 120 days for $40 first, but most people simply file the LLC.

An LLC separates business debts from your personal ones, but it does not pay a client whose floor you damaged: insurance does that. For a one-person cleaning business, many owners start as a sole proprietor and form an LLC once they hire or sign commercial contracts. An accountant can tell you which suits your situation.

Does a Texas LLC owe franchise tax?

Almost never at cleaning-business size. For 2026 reports, the Comptroller’s franchise tax page sets the no-tax-due threshold at $2,650,000 in revenue. Below it you owe no franchise tax, but your LLC still files a report every year, due May 15.

The Comptroller says that if you are at or below the threshold, you simply file your Public Information Report (or an Ownership Information Report for some entity types). If May 15 falls on a weekend or holiday, the due date moves to the next business day. Above the threshold, the rate is 0.75% for most businesses (0.375% for retail and wholesale).

Sole proprietors don’t file franchise tax reports at all. That is one of the few real costs of an LLC in Texas: not money, but a yearly filing you must not forget. Put May 15 in your calendar the day you form the company.

Do you charge sales tax on house cleaning in Texas?

Yes, in most cases. Texas treats cleaning as a taxable “real property service,” and the Comptroller says tax is due on the charge to clean a home, office or any other building. Collect 6.25% state tax plus any local tax, up to 8.25% in total. The narrow exception is a self-employed person working directly for a household.

Many national guides say residential cleaning is untaxed, and in many states it is. Texas is different, so read this section before you quote your first client.

What the Comptroller says

The Comptroller’s publication Cleaning and Janitorial Services (94-111) says that if you operate a maid, janitorial or custodial service, you should be collecting sales and use tax, and that tax is due on the charge to clean a home, office, warehouse, garage, restaurant or any other building. Its list of taxable work includes cleaning and straightening, washing windows, floors, walls and ceilings, and picking up trash.

The Comptroller’s guide to taxable services (96-259) lists janitorial and custodial services among the taxable real property services. The residential exemption you may have read about applies to repair and remodeling work, not to cleaning.

The household exception

Publication 94-111 says there is no tax on the charges of a self-employed person who provides traditional household services such as housekeeping. To qualify, the person must be an employee of the household and must not work as a subcontractor for a third party, such as a maid service. If you run a cleaning business with a name, a price list and other clients, plan on collecting tax. If you are unsure which side you fall on, ask the Comptroller in writing before you decide not to collect.

Rate, permit and supplies

• Rate: the Comptroller’s sales tax page sets the state rate at 6.25%, and cities, counties and other local bodies can add up to 2%, for a maximum combined rate of 8.25%.
• Permit: the permit FAQ says there is no fee for a sales tax permit, though the Comptroller may ask some businesses to post a security bond.
• Supplies: 94-111 says cleaning businesses pay sales tax on the soap, chemicals and equipment they use. Items you hand over to the client, such as toilet paper or hand soap you restock, can be bought with a resale certificate instead.
• Subcontractors: if you subcontract a job, you can give the subcontractor a resale certificate, and you collect tax from the client on the full amount you bill.

Worked example

A $160 clean in a city with the full 8.25% combined rate carries $160 × 8.25% = $13.20 of tax, so the client pays $173.20. Say on your website and quotes that prices are before tax, and use the rate for the place where you do the work. The tax is the client’s money held in trust, not income, so set it aside every week.

Do Texas cities require a license for house cleaning?

Usually not. The City of Austin notes that the State of Texas does not require a general business license, and we found no state or big-city license for house cleaning on the official pages we checked. What you do need is the assumed name or LLC filing, the sales tax permit, and a home base that local rules allow.

Austin

Austin’s start a business page says the state does not require a general business license, while noting that some agencies license specific trades. It points sole proprietors to the Travis County Clerk’s Office for their assumed name, which it says is good for 10 years unless changes are made. Ask the city about any permit for your exact address if you plan signs, storage or staff meeting at your home.

Houston

Houston’s business planning page says the city does not have a formal zoning ordinance, but that restrictions may apply through local deed restrictions. If you run the business from home, read your deed restrictions or HOA rules for limits on signs, parked work vehicles and visitors. Your assumed name goes to the Harris County Clerk.

Dallas, San Antonio and smaller cities

We did not check every Texas city, so call your city’s permit or development office and ask three questions: do I need any permit to run a residential cleaning business from my home, do I need anything to work in other cities, and are there sign rules. Write down who you spoke to and when.

“Licensed, bonded and insured” in Texas usually means registered, with a bond or crime policy, and with liability insurance, not holding a cleaning credential. Our guide to what licenses are needed to start a cleaning business explains each piece in general terms, and our guide to insurance for cleaners covers the policies. Many clients and property managers ask for a certificate of insurance before your first visit.

Hiring in Texas: wages, TWC, new-hire reports and workers’ comp

When you hire, pay at least $7.25 an hour, report the new hire to the Attorney General within 20 days, and register with the Texas Workforce Commission once you pass its wage or weeks test. Then make a deliberate choice about workers’ comp, which most private Texas employers may skip but must report if they do.

Minimum wage

The Texas Minimum Wage Law adopts the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour. The state law also requires certain employers to give workers a written earnings statement. In practice, you will compete with every other local employer for good cleaners, so treat $7.25 as a legal floor, not a pay plan.

Unemployment tax with TWC

TWC’s page on whether you need an unemployment tax account says you become liable once you pay $1,500 or more in gross wages in a calendar quarter, or have at least one employee during 20 different weeks in a calendar year, whatever the wages. The employee doesn’t have to be the same person, and the weeks don’t have to be in a row.

TWC’s tax rates page sets the 2026 entry rate for new employers at 2.70%, and the tax applies to the first $9,000 of each employee’s wages per year. So a new employer pays at most 2.7% × $9,000 = $243 per employee per year in state unemployment tax. Employees don’t pay it.

New-hire reporting

The Attorney General’s new hire reporting page says you must report new and rehired employees within 20 calendar days of the day they start earning wages. A good rule of thumb: if they fill out a W-4, report them. State law sets a $25 penalty for each employee you knowingly fail to report.

Workers’ comp: optional, but not a free pass

The Texas Department of Insurance says private employers can choose to carry workers’ comp, and that it is not required in most cases. Employers without it must report to the state that they don’t have coverage, and must report work injuries that cause more than one day of lost time, plus all work-related illnesses and deaths.

Cleaning is physical work with ladders, wet floors and chemicals. Without coverage, the cost of a cleaner’s back injury can land on you. Get a workers’ comp quote alongside your liability quote, and expect some commercial clients to ask about it before they sign. If you skip it, write the reason down and review it each time you hire.

Employee or contractor?

Calling a cleaner a contractor doesn’t make them one. For unemployment tax, TWC applies a “direction or control” test: if you have the right to control when, where and how the work is done, the worker is likely an employee. Its page on classifying employees and independent contractors explains the factors. Cleaners who work your schedule, with your supplies, for your clients, usually look like employees, and misclassifying them can mean back taxes, penalties and interest.

What does it cost to start in Texas?

A solo cleaner in Texas can start with about $25 of government fees for a county assumed name, or $300 for an LLC, plus insurance and supplies. The sales tax permit is free, and an LLC under $2.65 million owes no franchise tax. Insurance is the biggest unknown, so get quotes before you set prices.

Government fees below were checked on official pages on October 5, 2026. Rows marked “estimate” are our own rough ranges, not quotes.

A realistic minimum for a solo sole proprietor with a business name: about $25 for the county filing, roughly $200 to $500 of supplies (our estimate) and your first insurance payment. Remember that the sales tax you collect is not part of your revenue.

How do you win clients in Texas and run the schedule?

Start with people you know, a free Google Business Profile for your city, and a booking link that shows prices before tax. Texas metros are spread out, so pick a tight service area: drive time between homes eats your profit faster than almost anything else.

Our playbook on how to get clients for a cleaning business covers referrals, partners, flyers and reviews. To price each home size, the house cleaning pricing guide compares hourly, flat and per-room pricing. Build your price first, then add sales tax on top, so the tax never comes out of your margin.

Running it with BroomBook

We make BroomBook, a scheduling, online booking and crew app for residential cleaning businesses. Here is how it fits a Texas business, including its limits:

• Sales tax you control. Tax is off until you turn it on. You type your rate (for example 8.25%), it is added at checkout and on card charges, never on the tip, and your booking page says prices are before tax. It is one rate for the business, not a different rate for each client’s address, so check with your accountant if you work across areas with different local rates.
• Service area by distance or ZIP code, with travel fees by distance and drive time kept free between visits on the booking page.
• A bilingual crew. Job notes can be translated into Spanish, French or Portuguese for each cleaner, and each cleaner gets a private link with their jobs, checklists and clock in and out, with no app download.
• Payroll export. Hours from clock-ins, tips split across the crew and commissions go into a CSV for your payroll service. BroomBook does not file TWC reports or calculate withholding.

BroomBook costs $29 a month on Solo (up to 2 cleaners) or $59 a month on Team (unlimited cleaners), with a 14-day free trial and no credit card. See how the calendar and routes work on our cleaning scheduling software page, or compare plans on pricing.

Pick something other than BroomBook if

• You need jobs and payments to sync into QuickBooks automatically. BroomBook doesn’t sync with accounting software.
• You bill commercial clients by invoice with net terms. BroomBook charges cards after the job and sends receipts.
• You want a native app from the App Store or Google Play. BroomBook runs in the phone’s browser.
• You mainly bid on janitorial contracts, or run a multi-trade field service company.