What do you need to register?
Three things, and only the first is a must on day one.
An ABN. business.gov.au says "It's free to register for an ABN". Have your business structure, proof of identity and details of what the business does ready before you start.
Source: business.gov.au, Register for an Australian business number (ABN), read 25 October 2026.
A business name, if you want one. Trade under your own name and you don't need to register anything extra. Want to be "Sparkle Home Cleaning" instead? That's $47 for 1 year or $108 for 3 years.
Source: business.gov.au, Register your business name, read 25 October 2026.
GST, once you're big enough. The ATO says you have to register when your GST turnover hits "$75,000 or more (the GST threshold)", and you get 21 days to do it once you know you've crossed it. Below that it's your choice. This is general information, not tax advice, and you lodge it yourself.
Source: Australian Taxation Office, Registering for GST, read 25 October 2026.
Open a separate bank account for the business on the same day. Every cent in and out of it is business, and tax time takes an hour instead of a weekend.
House cleaning or commercial cleaning, which path?
They look like the same job with a mop, and they run as two different businesses. Pick one to start, you can add the other later.
House cleaning
- Weekly or fortnightly regulars, plus one-off and bond cleans
- Daytime work, in people's homes, often with their key
- Small jobs, so the drive between them eats your day
- Won by word of mouth and local groups
Commercial and office cleaning
- Contracts with a scope and a set number of visits
- Early mornings, evenings, alarm codes and site inductions
- Bigger, steadier invoices, paid on the client's terms
- Won by quoting, and often you'll need staff to cover it
The ATO's own numbers show how fast commercial work turns into an employer's business. Its benchmarks for businesses that clean "retail, office and high-rise buildings, factory buildings, schools and roads" come from real tax returns. In the smallest band, $50,000 to $115,000 a year, total expenses run 30% to 53% of turnover, 42% on average. Labour alone is 31% to 48% of turnover in that same band, so most of these small operators are already paying someone else to clean.
Source: Australian Taxation Office, Small business benchmarks, cleaning services, building and other industrial (2023 to 24 returns), read 25 October 2026.
Do you need a licence to clean?
For everyday house and office cleaning, no. Cleaning isn't a licensed trade the way electrical or plumbing work is. Two things catch people out.
Big residential jobs in NSW. NSW counts cleaning of homes as building or trade work once the job's big enough. It says "you need a contractor licence to do any residential building or trade work, including minor maintenance and cleaning, which is valued at more than $5000 in labour and materials (including GST)." It defines that work as "non-structural maintenance (including minor repairs) or cleaning of existing works, structures or buildings", and pressure washing has its own endorsement. A weekly house clean never gets near $5,000. A whole-house exterior wash on a big property can.
Source: NSW Government, Minor maintenance and cleaning work, read 25 October 2026.
Old roofs. SafeWork NSW warns that "it was against the law to use high pressure water spray and compressed air to clean asbestos roofs", after a water-blasted roof sent asbestos debris onto neighbouring properties and two homes had to be vacated. If a roof or wall might be fibro, don't quote to wash it.
Source: SafeWork NSW, SafeWork NSW issues warning after tradies busted cleaning asbestos roofs, read 25 October 2026.
Schools, childcare centres and some offices will ask for a police check or a working with children check before they let you on site. That's set by the client and the state, so ask before you quote.
What insurance does a cleaning business need?
Public liability first. business.gov.au says it "covers you if someone dies, gets injured or has their property damaged because of your negligence". A cracked stone benchtop or a slip on a wet floor is exactly that. The law doesn't demand it for most cleaners, but commercial clients and agents often ask to see a certificate before you start.
The day you hire, workers compensation stops being optional. "Employers must get workers compensation insurance from an authorised insurer." And as a sole trader, it doesn't cover you, so think about your own income protection.
Source: business.gov.au, Types of business insurance, read 25 October 2026.
We don't quote premiums, they swing too much by state, turnover and claims. A broker who already covers cleaners can compare them for you.
What does a cleaner cost you the day you hire?
This is the step most guides skip. Fair Work says the Cleaning Services Award covers "house and apartment cleaners employed by a contract cleaning business", office cleaners and specialist cleaners. So the day your business takes someone on, the award sets their minimum pay.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Cleaning Services Award summary, read 25 October 2026.
The award's minimum hourly rates from 1 July 2026 are $27.08 at Level 1, $27.97 at Level 2 and $29.45 at Level 3. A casual gets "a loading of 25% in addition to the minimum hourly rate", and weekend, early and late shifts are paid at a higher percentage again. On top of that you pay 12% super, and since 1 July 2026 that's paid each payday, not each quarter.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Cleaning Services Award 2020, clauses 11.2, 15.1 and 20.2, read 25 October 2026.
Source: Australian Taxation Office, Super guarantee, read 25 October 2026.
What one job costs you in wages
For a casual cleaner at the award minimum. Pick the level from the award's definitions, this tool doesn't choose it for you. Everything stays in this browser.
Wages take 63% of your price. The rest pays for products, travel, insurance and you.
An estimate from the award's published minimum rates and casual percentages (clauses 11.2, 15.1 and 20.2, read 25 October 2026) and the ATO's 12% super guarantee. It leaves out workers compensation, payroll tax, overtime and allowances. Not tax advice, and you pay and lodge it yourself. Check the exact figure with Fair Work before you hire.
Run the same three-hour clean on a Saturday and the wages take most of a weekday price. Weekend and after-hours work needs its own price.
One more line in the award matters for a cleaning round. A casual "may only be engaged" to work "on an intermittent or irregular basis", "uncertain hours", or to replace someone who's away. If you're hiring for the same Tuesday and Thursday every week, read Fair Work's casual rules before you call it casual.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Cleaning Services Award 2020, clause 11.1, read 25 October 2026.
Paying a subbie instead? Cleaning is one of the industries the ATO tracks. Once you pay contractors or subcontractors to do your cleans, and cleaning is at least 10% of your business income, you report those payments in a Taxable payments annual report, lodged by 28 August each year. Payments to your own employees don't go in it.
Source: Australian Taxation Office, Taxable payments annual report, cleaning services, read 25 October 2026.
What happened to one cleaning business that didn't pay
In July 2026 the Fair Work Ombudsman announced the result against Julie-Ann Shotter, who runs Jules Domestic Cleaning as a sole trader in Sydney. She'd employed two casual cleaners. One was paid for only one of the 13 weeks she worked, the other, an international student, got nothing for three days' work. Fair Work Inspectors issued Compliance Notices under the Cleaning Services Award, and she didn't act on them.
The court imposed a $12,840 penalty and ordered $8,274 in back-pay, $21,114 in all, plus the super and interest owed. The judge found she'd been "untruthful on a number of occasions" with the Ombudsman.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, "Untruthful" cleaning business operator penalised, 27 July 2026, read 25 October 2026.
It's an extreme case, but the start of it is ordinary. A sole trader takes on a casual or two, cash is tight one month, and the wages slip. Price every job so the wages are covered first, and if a Compliance Notice ever arrives, deal with it that week.
What should you charge?
Start with what you need an hour, not what the cleaner down the road charges. Your hourly figure has to cover the drive, the products, the quoting, the invoicing and the weeks you're sick, none of which anyone pays you for. The hourly rate calculator works it out from your real costs.
Then quote by the job. A house you've timed at three hours is a price, not three hours, and when you get faster the difference is yours. The ATO benchmark above is a sense check. Even small commercial cleaners spend about 42 cents of every dollar on costs, so a price that only covers your time leaves nothing for the business.
Your first quote
Send it the same day, in writing, with what's included and what isn't. Ovens, inside windows and walls are where the arguments start, so name them. The cleaning quote template is already filled in with the usual lines, change the rooms and rates and send it.
Carpet and pressure cleaning, what changes
Carpet cleaning means gear and a van, so it costs more to run. The ATO's benchmarks for carpet, rug and upholstery cleaners show total expenses of 37% to 58% of turnover in the $65,000 to $150,000 band, 48% on average, with motor vehicle costs alone at 9% to 13%.
Source: Australian Taxation Office, Small business benchmarks, cleaning services, carpet, rug and furniture upholstery (2023 to 24 returns), read 25 October 2026.
Pressure cleaning is where the licence and the asbestos rules above bite. In NSW a residential job over $5,000 needs a contractor licence with the pressure washing endorsement, and NSW bans water-blasting an asbestos roof outright. Check the surface before you quote.
Yamate sells software to cleaners and tradies. This guide and its tool are free and ask for nothing. In the app a quote becomes the job and then the invoice, and it shows GST and tax as an estimate as you go.
Related
General information, not tax advice and not legal advice. Wage figures are estimates from the award's minimum rates and leave out allowances, overtime and state charges. You pay your staff and lodge your own tax. Check the award and your state's rules before you rely on a figure.