How to Get Clients for a Cleaning Business: Scripts to Use

To get clients for a cleaning business, work the free channels first (people who know you, a Google Business Profile, Nextdoor and local groups), then add one partner channel such as realtors or property managers, and only then pay for leads. Track what each channel costs per booked client, and keep the two cheapest.

The house cleaning business guide covers starting up: insurance, pricing, and the six steps to your first five clients. This page is for what comes after: how to fill a calendar, which channels cost what, and what to say to each kind of client. Pricing a clean is a separate question; the guide's "How to Price a Clean" section covers it. Quote each new client with the house cleaning price calculator before you send a script.

Which channels bring cleaning clients for the least money?

Here is every channel worth trying, with what it costs you to run. Each line is checked against the provider's own page.

Thumbtack is another paid-lead channel, where you pay for leads within a budget you set. Treat it like Local Services Ads: one channel to test after the free ones, and track it the same way. Whether paid leads pay back is covered in is Thumbtack worth it.

Notice that the free channels sit at the top for a reason. A new cleaner has no reviews, so the people most likely to book are the ones who already trust you or trust someone who recommends you.

How do you work out your cost per client?

Divide what a channel cost you by the number of clients it booked. Count your time too, at the hourly rate you want to earn.

An example, not a benchmark: you print 500 door hangers and spend six hours hanging them. If the print run cost $60 and you value your time at $25 an hour, the campaign cost $210. If it books three clients, each one cost $70. If two of them become biweekly clients, that $70 is paid back on the first clean.

That last point is why recurring clients change the maths. A one-off deep clean has to pay for its own acquisition. A biweekly client spreads it over a year of cleans. Use the hourly rate calculator to set the rate you value your time at before you count anything.

Keep a simple sheet: date, channel, cost, enquiries, booked, recurring. After four weeks, drop the channels that booked nobody.

What should you say to get the first booking?

Short, specific and with a price. Here are scripts for each channel. Change the details to yours.

To your warm network (text or WhatsApp):

Hi Sam, I've started a home cleaning service. I have two Thursday slots free this month for a standard clean of a home up to three bedrooms, $140. If you know anyone who'd like one, I'd be grateful for the intro.

Replying to a "looking for a cleaner" post on Nextdoor or Facebook:

Hi Maria, I'm a local cleaner two streets away in Elm Park. I have a Tuesday opening next week. Happy to send photos of recent work and a fixed quote if you tell me the bedrooms and bathrooms.

Answer within the hour, while the poster is still reading replies.

Door hanger or postcard (front and back):

Front: Your home, cleaned every other Friday. Fixed price, same cleaner, insured. Back: First clean $X for homes on [street names]. Text [number] with your bedrooms and bathrooms for a quote today.

Name the streets. A card that says "your street" reads as local; one that says "all areas" reads as junk mail.

Asking for a review, the same day:

Thanks for having me today. If you're happy with the clean, a short Google review helps me more than anything: [link]. And if a neighbour asks, I have one Friday slot left.

How do you get move-out cleans from realtors and property managers?

This is the channel most new cleaners skip, and it can produce repeat work, because one property manager handles many units and one agent lists several homes a year.

Your pitch rests on what the client is required to document. Take California as an example. Its security deposit law lets a landlord deduct cleaning only to return the unit to the same level of cleanliness it was in at the start of the tenancy. When a landlord deducts for work done by an outside cleaner, the law requires them to give the tenant a copy of the cleaner's bill, invoice or receipt, with the cleaner's name, address and phone number, within 21 days of move-out. Since April 2025, landlords must also photograph the unit after it is returned and again after cleaning or repairs.

So the cleaner a property manager wants sends an itemised invoice with full business details, and before and after photos of every room, the same day. Offer exactly that. Other states set their own deposit rules; your state attorney general's tenant guide will have them.

Email to a property manager:

Subject: Move-out cleans with invoices and photos, 48-hour turnaround Hi Dana, I clean homes in [area] and do move-out cleans for rentals. Each job comes with an itemised invoice showing my business name, address and phone number, plus dated before and after photos of every room, sent the same day. I can usually turn a unit around within 48 hours of the keys coming back. Could I do your next vacant unit at my standard rate so you can see the report?

To a listing agent:

Hi Chris, I saw your listing on Oak Street. I do pre-listing and move-out cleans in this area and can fit one in before photos. Fixed price for a three-bed, with before and after shots you can keep.

Agents care about listing photos and handover dates. Property managers care about turnaround and paperwork. Pitch each on what they care about.

How do you get Airbnb and short-term rental clients?

Hosts need a clean between every guest, often on a same-day window between check-out and check-in. That makes them recurring clients by nature.

Two ways in:

• The Turno marketplace. Hosts post turnovers and cleaners bid. Turno says cleaners pay no subscription fee, and it lists more than 126,000 cleaners worldwide, so you are bidding against others. Reviews on the platform decide who wins.
• Direct. Search your town on the rental sites, note the hosts and co-hosts with several listings, and message them. A host with four listings and a reliable cleaner rarely shops around.

Message to a host:

Hi Alex, I'm a local cleaner and handle same-day turnovers in [area]: strip and remake beds, restock from your supplies, photo check of every room before the next guest. I can do your [street] listing this month. What's your usual check-out to check-in window?

Ask about linen. Some hosts want you to launder it; that changes the price and the time.

How do you get commercial cleaning clients?

Small commercial is the next step once your evenings are free. Think dental offices, small law and accounting firms, studios and shops, ideally near the homes you already clean so the driving stays short.

How to get in:

1. Walk in during a quiet hour and ask for the office manager. Bring a one-page offer: what you clean, how often, a fixed monthly price and your insurance details.
2. Expect a request for proof of insurance. Many businesses will ask for a certificate naming them before you start. Your insurer can issue one.
3. Start with one evening a week. Most offices want cleaning after hours, so it fits around daytime homes.

If you plan to hire help for commercial contracts, the BLS put the median janitor and building cleaner wage at $17.71 an hour in May 2025. Price the contract to cover that wage plus your margin, and read 1099 vs W-2 for your first hire before you pay anyone.

Government contracts are posted on SAM.gov, where registering to bid is free. They usually suit established firms with a track record, so treat them as a later step.

Should you add window cleaning or other services?

Your existing clients are the cheapest people to sell to, because they already trust you with a key. A client who books a biweekly clean may also want windows done twice a year, or a driveway washed before a family event.

The window cleaning guide and the pressure washing guide cover the kit and pricing. Offer one add-on, to clients who already book you, before you market it to strangers.

Who should skip this?

• Cleaners with a full calendar. If every slot is booked, more marketing just creates a waiting list. Raise your prices instead.
• Anyone not yet insured. Partners such as property managers and offices will ask for proof before they hand over keys. Sort insurance first; the house cleaning guide covers what it costs.
• Anyone who cannot answer the phone during the day. Leads from every channel above go to whoever responds first. If you cannot reply within a few hours, paid channels will waste money.
• People hoping one channel will do it all. Plan on two or three running at once, and judge them by your own sheet.

A 30-day client plan

Week 1: free and warm. Send the warm-network text to 30 people. Set up or finish your Google Business Profile with photos. Claim a Nextdoor business page. Join three local Facebook groups and read their rules on business posts.

Week 2: partners. Email five property managers and three listing agents with the scripts above. Message five short-term rental hosts. Set up your Turno profile if there are listings near you.

Week 3: one paid test. Pick one: 500 door hangers on the streets around your best client, an EDDM postcard run, or Nextdoor ads at $5 a day. Log the cost.

Week 4: count. For each channel, write down cost, enquiries, bookings and recurring clients. Keep the two cheapest per recurring client. Ask every client you cleaned this month for a review and a referral.