# Virtual assistant for cleaning business owners: what to delegate, cost, hiring and security

> A virtual assistant for cleaning business owners is a remote, usually part-time worker who answers inquiries, sends quotes, schedules visits, chases invoices and posts reviews requests, so the owner can clean, sell or manage. A dedicated US assistant costs about $37 to $39 an hour; an overseas assistant hired through OnlineJobs.ph costs a $69 to $99 monthly subscription plus the wage you agree. Start with ten hours a week, written procedures, and limited logins.

Published 2026-10-28, updated 2026-10-29 by Broombook · Run the day to day · 13 min read  
Canonical page: https://broombook.com/guides/virtual-assistant-for-cleaning-business

## Key takeaways

- Delegate the repeatable office work first: replying to leads, sending quotes, confirming visits, invoice follow-up, review requests, applicant screening.
- Time etc charges $390 a month for 10 hours with a dedicated US assistant ($39 an hour); OnlineJobs.ph charges $69 a month (Pro) or $99 (Premium) to post jobs and contact Philippine workers, whose pay you negotiate.
- The median US wage for administrative assistants was $47,540 a year in May 2025 (BLS), which is what an in-house hire competes with.
- A US-based assistant you pay $2,000 or more in a year gets a 1099-NEC; whether they are a contractor at all depends on the IRS’s behavioral, financial and relationship tests.
- Give the assistant their own login with only the access the job needs, turn on multi-factor authentication everywhere, and never share card numbers or client alarm codes.
- Write five procedures before the first shift: new lead reply, quote, booking, reschedule, overdue invoice.

## What does a virtual assistant do for a cleaning business?

A cleaning business virtual assistant does the office work that follows a procedure: answering new inquiries, sending quotes from your price list, booking and confirming visits, rescheduling, chasing unpaid invoices, asking happy clients for reviews, screening job applicants and keeping the client records tidy. They do not clean, and they should not make decisions you have not written a rule for.

| Task | Delegate? | What the assistant needs |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reply to new leads (web form, marketplace, text, email) within 15 minutes | Yes, first | Reply templates, your price ranges, service area, the booking link |
| Send quotes for standard homes | Yes | Your price list by size and type of clean, the estimate template, a rule for when to escalate (move-outs, hoarding, over 4,000 sq ft) |
| Book, confirm and reschedule visits | Yes | Calendar access, crew availability rules, your cancellation policy |
| Invoice and payment follow-up | Yes | Invoice access, a follow-up schedule (day 1, day 7, day 14), wording |
| Review requests and replies to reviews | Yes | A template, a rule for negative reviews (draft, you approve) |
| Screen cleaner applicants and schedule interviews | Yes | The job description, screening questions, your interview calendar |
| Bookkeeping entry, receipts, mileage logs | Yes, with limited access | View or entry rights in your accounting software, not bank access |
| Social posts and the Google Business Profile | Yes | Photos from the crew, a monthly content list, brand rules |
| Pricing decisions, firing clients, discipline, payroll approval | No | These stay with you |
| Quality control on site | No | A lead cleaner or field manager; see the remote cleaning business guide |

The best first task is lead response. It is time-critical, it follows a script, and it is the task most owners do worst while cleaning. If your assistant does nothing else in month one but answer every inquiry within 15 minutes and send the quote the same day, the hire has probably paid for itself. For how a whole company can run without you on site, including the lead cleaner the assistant cannot replace, see the guide to running a [remote cleaning business](https://broombook.com/guides/remote-cleaning-business). If what you mostly need is someone to pick up the phone while you clean, compare an [answering service for a cleaning business](https://broombook.com/guides/answering-service-for-cleaning-business), where live plans cost about $250 to $400 a month.

## How much does a virtual assistant cost?

A dedicated US-based virtual assistant through an agency costs about $37 to $39 an hour; an overseas assistant hired directly costs a job-board subscription of $69 to $99 a month plus whatever hourly or monthly pay you agree with the worker; and an in-house part-time office person costs the local wage plus payroll taxes.

| Route | Published price (October 2026) | What is included |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Time etc (US agency) | [10 hours $390 a month ($39 an hour), 20 hours $760 ($38), 40 hours $1,480 ($37)](https://www.timeetc.com/pricing) | A dedicated US assistant matched to you, unused hours roll over on the 20-hour and larger plans, switch or cancel any time |
| OnlineJobs.ph (Philippine job board) | [Pro $69 a month or $299 a year; Premium $99 a month or $349 a year](https://www.onlinejobs.ph/pricing) | Pro: up to 3 job posts a month and contact with 75 workers a month; Premium: 10 posts and 500 contacts. You pay the worker directly on top. |
| In-house administrative assistant (US) | [Median $47,540 a year in May 2025 (BLS, secretaries and administrative assistants, 43-6014)](https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2/timeseries/data/OEUN000000000000043601413?latest=true), about $22.86 an hour | Plus employer payroll taxes and any benefits; part-time hires at a pro-rated wage |
| Freelance marketplaces (Upwork, Fiverr) | Set by each freelancer, plus a platform fee | Short projects or trial periods; check the fee schedule on the platform before you post |

### A worked budget (hypothetical numbers)

Say you need 10 hours a week of office work: 50 hours a month.

- US agency: 50 hours at $37 to $39 an hour is about $1,850 to $1,950 a month.
- Overseas direct hire at an agreed $8 an hour (your negotiation; rates vary widely): $400 of pay, plus $69 for the job board while you recruit, plus a transfer fee.
- In-house part-timer at $23 an hour: $1,150 plus roughly 10% employer payroll taxes, about $1,265, and you handle the hiring and the laptop.

What justifies any of these is the revenue the hours free up. If 10 hours a week of answering leads and sending quotes books two more recurring clients a month at $160 every two weeks, that is about $690 of new monthly revenue added each month and kept for as long as the clients stay. The [profit calculator](https://broombook.com/tools/cleaning-business-profit-calculator) helps you see what a client is worth before you decide which route you can afford.

## Where do you hire a virtual assistant for a cleaning company?

Hire through a US agency when you want someone vetted and replaceable this week, through OnlineJobs.ph or a similar board when you want a long-term overseas assistant at a lower rate and are willing to recruit, and locally when the job includes anything that needs a US phone number in your time zone all day.

### Agencies (Time etc, Belay and similar)

You describe the work, the agency matches an assistant and bills you monthly. You pay more per hour, but onboarding is fast, there is a replacement if it does not work out, and the agency handles the contract and payment. Good for a first assistant and for owners who do not want to manage recruiting.

### Job boards for overseas assistants

OnlineJobs.ph is a job board for hiring remote workers in the Philippines, where English is widely spoken and the time difference lets an assistant cover your early morning or evening. You post the job, screen applicants, interview on video and agree pay directly; the board’s Timeproof tool tracks hours if you pay hourly. Plan on two to three weeks of recruiting. Post a job that describes the actual tasks (“reply to house cleaning inquiries within 15 minutes, send quotes from our price list, schedule in Broombook”), ask for a short written reply to a sample inquiry, and interview the five best on video.

### Freelance marketplaces

Upwork and Fiverr work for a defined project (set up your Google Business Profile, build a quote template, clean up your client list) and for a paid trial week before you commit. Both charge platform fees; read the current schedule on the platform.

### Local part-time

A retiree or a parent working school hours from home, found through your own network or a local job post, is often the easiest fit for phone-heavy work. They can take calls in your area code, meet clients’ expectations on accent and local knowledge, and come by the office. The hiring process is the same as for cleaners; the [hiring guide](https://broombook.com/guides/how-to-hire-cleaners) covers interviews, references and the paperwork.

### What to test before you hire

- Send a sample inquiry and ask for the reply they would send. Judge speed, tone and whether they asked the right questions.
- Give them your price list and a described home; ask for the quote.
- A 10-minute video call: can you understand each other easily, and do they ask questions?
- Check their internet and power backup if overseas; ask what happens during an outage.

## Is a virtual assistant a contractor or an employee?

It depends on the facts, not on what you call them. The IRS looks at three categories of evidence: [behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-or-employee). An assistant who works set hours you dictate, uses your tools, is paid by the hour indefinitely and has you as their only client looks a lot like an employee; one who runs their own assistant business, sets their own hours, serves other clients and invoices you per project looks like a contractor. Agencies solve this by employing the assistant themselves. This is general information, not tax or legal advice; the guide on [classifying cleaners as W-2 or 1099](https://broombook.com/guides/independent-contractor-vs-employee-cleaners) explains the tests in detail and they apply the same way to office help.

### Paperwork by route

- **US contractor:** a written agreement, a W-9 before the first payment, and a Form 1099-NEC at year end. The IRS instructions say the reporting threshold for nonemployee compensation [increased to $2,000 and may be adjusted for inflation beginning in 2027](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099mec).
- **Overseas contractor:** collect Form W-8BEN (the foreign-status certificate) and keep it; no 1099-NEC is issued for services performed entirely outside the US. Pay through a service that keeps records of each transfer.
- **Agency:** the agency’s invoice is your record; nothing else to file.
- **Employee:** payroll, withholding, workers’ compensation where required, and your state’s rules on remote employees if they live in another state.

Whatever the route, write a short agreement: scope, hours, pay and payment date, confidentiality, who owns the templates and client lists they create, return of access on exit, and notice. A contractor who stays two years without one is a dispute waiting to happen.

## Which procedures should you write before the first shift?

Write five procedures before the assistant starts: new lead reply, quote, booking, reschedule and overdue invoice. Each one fits on a page: when it applies, the steps, the template, and the rule for handing it to you. The assistant then has something to follow on day one, and you have something to correct instead of re-explaining.

### SOP 1: new lead reply (example)

1. Check the lead inbox, website form and marketplace apps every 15 minutes between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.
2. Reply within 15 minutes using template A (text or email). Use the client’s name. Ask for bedrooms, bathrooms, square feet, frequency and start date if missing.
3. If the home is under 4,000 sq ft and the clean is standard, deep or recurring: send the quote (SOP 2) in the same conversation.
4. If it is a move-out, post-construction, hoarding, or over 4,000 sq ft: say the owner will send a quote within 24 hours and tag the lead for the owner.
5. Log the lead: source, date, size, quoted price, status.
6. Follow up at 24 hours and at 5 days if no reply, then close as “no response”.

### The other four, in one line each

- **Quote:** price from the [price list](https://broombook.com/tools/house-cleaning-price-list) by size and type, add-ons from the add-on list, send with the [estimate template](https://broombook.com/tools/cleaning-estimate-template), valid 14 days, offer two time slots.
- **Booking:** only into slots the crew is free, confirm by text and email, add access notes and pets to the client record, send the policy to sign.
- **Reschedule:** within 48 hours of the visit, apply the cancellation policy; offer the next two open slots; tell the crew.
- **Overdue invoice:** friendly reminder at day 1, firm at day 7 with the payment link, call at day 14, flag to owner at day 21.

Record a 10-minute screen video for each one the first time you do it; that video plus the page is the training. Keep all SOPs in one shared folder, dated, and update the page when the assistant finds a case it does not cover (there will be one a week for the first month).

## How do you give a virtual assistant access without risking client data?

Give the assistant their own login to each tool with only the permissions the job needs, turn on multi-factor authentication on every account, keep payment details and client access codes out of their reach, and remove access the day the arrangement ends. A cleaning company’s client list holds addresses, alarm codes, schedules and sometimes keys; treat it like a bank treats account numbers.

### Least privilege, tool by tool

| Tool | Give | Do not give |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Scheduling and client software | A named user with a role that can book, message and quote | Owner or admin rights; access to card data; alarm codes unless the job needs them |
| Email and phone | A company mailbox (office@) and a seat on the business phone system | Your personal email; the ability to forward mail outside the company |
| Accounting | Invoice and receipt entry rights, or view-only | Bank logins, bill pay, payroll approval |
| Google Business Profile and social | A manager role under your ownership | Primary ownership of the profile |
| Files | A shared folder for SOPs and templates | Your whole drive; insurance, tax and HR files |

### Rules that prevent most problems

- **Multi-factor authentication everywhere.** CISA, the US cybersecurity agency, describes MFA as [a second method to verify your identity that can make you much more secure](https://www.cisa.gov/MFA) than a password alone. Require it on the assistant’s accounts and on yours.
- **Separate logins, never shared passwords.** If you must share a credential, use a password manager that shares without revealing the password, and change it when the assistant leaves.
- **No card numbers, ever.** Clients pay through a link or a card on file in your software; the assistant never sees or types a full card number.
- **Client access notes stay in the software,** not in chat messages or spreadsheets. If the assistant does not dispatch crews, they do not need alarm codes at all.
- **A confidentiality clause** in the agreement, and a sentence that client data may not be copied or exported.
- **Offboarding checklist:** remove every login, rotate shared passwords, transfer ownership of any file or profile they created, confirm in writing.

Software with roles makes this easier. In Broombook, for example, you choose who sees prices and client phone numbers, cleaners open their own private links, and the owner stays the only admin; the [features page](https://broombook.com/features) lists what each role can see.

## What does the first 30 days with a virtual assistant look like?

Give the assistant one task in week one, add one each week after, and review the log every day for the first two weeks. Owners who hand over everything on day one spend month two undoing it.

1. **Week 1: leads only.** They answer every inquiry from the templates and log each one. You read every reply the same day and correct wording. Target: every lead answered within 15 minutes during their hours.
2. **Week 2: add quotes and bookings.** They send quotes for standard homes and book into free slots. You approve the first ten quotes before they go out, then spot-check.
3. **Week 3: add reschedules, confirmations and review requests.** They own the day-before confirmations and the day-after review text.
4. **Week 4: add invoice follow-up and applicant screening.** Hand over the overdue list and the job inbox.
5. **Day 30 review:** leads answered, median reply time, quotes sent, close rate, bookings made, overdue balance now versus day 1, mistakes and what SOP changed because of them.

### Numbers that tell you it is working

- Reply time to new leads: under 15 minutes in working hours.
- Quote sent the same day: 90% or more.
- Close rate on quotes: not lower than when you did it yourself.
- Overdue invoices over 14 days: falling month over month.
- Your own hours on admin: down by at least the hours you are paying for.

If after 60 days the close rate has dropped or clients complain about the tone, the fix is usually the templates and the escalation rules, not the person. If the problem is that there is not enough office work to fill ten hours a week, you hired too early: the [growth guide](https://broombook.com/guides/how-to-grow-a-cleaning-business) lays out which stage needs which hire, and software with automatic confirmations, reminders and an instant-price booking page can remove a good share of the work before a person is needed at all. Our guide to [automating a cleaning business](https://broombook.com/guides/cleaning-business-automation) sets out what to automate first and what to leave to a person.

## Frequently asked questions

### What can a virtual assistant do for a cleaning business?

Answer new inquiries, send quotes from your price list, book and confirm visits, handle reschedules, chase overdue invoices, request and reply to reviews, screen cleaner applicants, post on social media and enter receipts. They do not clean, set prices, fire clients or approve payroll.

### How much does a virtual assistant cost for a small business?

A dedicated US assistant through an agency such as Time etc costs about $37 to $39 an hour ($390 a month for 10 hours). Hiring overseas through OnlineJobs.ph costs a $69 to $99 monthly subscription plus the pay you agree with the worker. An in-house US administrative assistant earned a median $47,540 a year in May 2025 according to BLS.

### How many hours a week does a cleaning company need a virtual assistant?

Most companies with two to six cleaners need 5 to 15 hours a week: lead replies and quotes every day, plus confirmations, invoicing and review requests. Start with 10 hours, measure what fills them, and add hours when the assistant is consistently out of time.

### Is a virtual assistant an independent contractor?

Often, but not automatically. The IRS looks at behavioral control, financial control and the relationship. An assistant with their own business and several clients who sets their own hours usually qualifies; one who works fixed hours you set, only for you, may be an employee. Agencies employ the assistant themselves, which avoids the question.

### Do I send a 1099 to an overseas virtual assistant?

Generally no. A foreign contractor performing services entirely outside the US gives you Form W-8BEN instead, and no 1099-NEC is issued. For a US contractor, the IRS instructions put the 1099-NEC reporting threshold at $2,000, which may be adjusted for inflation from 2027. Confirm with your accountant.

### How do I keep client data safe with a virtual assistant?

Give them their own login with only the permissions the job needs, require multi-factor authentication, keep card numbers and alarm codes out of their reach, put a confidentiality clause in the agreement, and remove every login the day the arrangement ends.

### Should I hire a virtual assistant or use software first?

Software first. Automatic confirmations, reminders, online booking with instant prices and payment links remove a large share of the repetitive work at a fixed monthly price. Hire the assistant for what is left: conversations, quotes that need judgment, follow-up and applicant screening.

## Sources

- [Time etc: pricing](https://www.timeetc.com/pricing)
- [OnlineJobs.ph: pricing](https://www.onlinejobs.ph/pricing)
- [BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: secretaries and administrative assistants (43-6014), median annual wage, May 2025 (public API)](https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2/timeseries/data/OEUN000000000000043601413?latest=true)
- [IRS: independent contractor (self-employed) or employee?](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-or-employee)
- [IRS: instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099mec)
- [CISA: multifactor authentication](https://www.cisa.gov/MFA)

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Broombook is scheduling, online booking and crew software for residential cleaning businesses. More guides for cleaning business owners: https://broombook.com/guides