Cleaning Services
Cleaning looks simple until you try to figure out which jobs actually make money. We track costs by client, handle Florida sales tax, and keep your payroll running so you can focus on the work.
The Industry
Cleaning businesses run on tight margins and packed schedules. You send crews out every day, collect payment, and do it again the next week. Revenue looks healthy because the calendar is full. But “busy” and “profitable” are not the same thing. The difference hides in the details that nobody is tracking. Drive time between jobs. Supplies consumed per visit. Callbacks and walk-throughs that eat unbillable hours. The schedule says you cleaned eight houses today but the bank account doesn’t reflect what eight houses should produce.
The variety of work adds more complexity. Residential clients pay through an app or leave a check on the counter. Commercial janitorial contracts get invoiced monthly and paid on net 30 or net 60 terms. A pressure washing job on Saturday has a completely different cost structure than a recurring office cleaning. Each type of work needs its own tracking, but most cleaning companies lump everything together and hope the totals look okay at the end of the month.
Who This Covers
Who This Covers
Residential cleaning companies, commercial janitorial services, pressure washing businesses, and window cleaning operations across the South Shore and greater Tampa Bay area. Whether you are running a solo operation or managing multiple crews working different routes every day.
The Friction
The Friction
Labor is your largest expense and also the hardest to allocate properly. A crew that cleans four houses in a day also spent time driving between them, loading supplies at the warehouse, and dealing with client requests that never show up on an invoice. Without tracking those real costs per job, your pricing is based on feel instead of numbers.
What We Handle
We set up your books to track income and expenses by job type and by client where it matters. Recurring residential accounts get tracked differently from one-time pressure washing jobs. Commercial contracts with monthly billing get their own receivable tracking so you know exactly who owes you and how long the balance has been sitting. QuickBooks gets configured for the way your business actually operates instead of using a generic setup that produces reports you can’t act on.
Florida requires sales tax collection on cleaning services. This catches many business owners off guard, especially those who started small and grew without formalizing their financial processes. We handle sales tax calculation, filing, and remittance so you stay compliant without having to think about it. We also manage payroll for your crews, prepare 1099s for any subcontractors you bring in, and file tax returns that capture the vehicle expenses, equipment purchases, and supply costs specific to your line of work.
Job-Level Tracking
Job-Level Tracking
Every recurring client and one-time job gets tracked with its actual costs. Labor hours, supply usage, and travel time allocated properly. Monthly reports show you which accounts are worth keeping and which ones need a price increase. You stop guessing about profitability and start seeing it in the numbers.
Payroll and Tax Compliance
Payroll and Tax Compliance
Crew payroll processed on schedule with proper withholdings and tax deposits. Sales tax filed on time every period. 1099s prepared for subcontractors at year end. Business and personal tax returns completed with proper capture of vehicle mileage, equipment depreciation, and supply deductions that cleaning companies routinely miss.
Common Problems
The most common issue is underpricing. You set rates based on what competitors charge or what feels right, not on what the job actually costs. A $150 residential clean looks profitable until you add the 45 minutes of drive time, the cleaning supplies consumed, the payroll taxes on your crew’s wages, and the insurance cost allocated to that visit. Real margin on that job might be $30. Multiply that thin margin across a full schedule and you are working very hard for very little. The businesses that grow are the ones that price from data, not from gut feeling.
Sales tax is another area where cleaning businesses get into trouble in Florida. Cleaning services are taxable, and the Department of Revenue does audit for it. If you have been operating for a year or two without collecting and remitting sales tax, the back taxes plus penalties add up fast. Some owners genuinely do not realize the requirement exists until a notice arrives. By that point the bill includes interest and the conversation is about damage control instead of prevention.
Worker Classification Risk
Worker Classification Risk
Using 1099 contractors instead of W-2 employees for your cleaning crews avoids payroll taxes and workers comp on paper. But the IRS has clear rules about who qualifies as an independent contractor. If you set the schedule, provide the supplies, and direct how the work gets done, those are employees in the eyes of the government. Misclassification triggers back taxes, penalties, and interest that can cripple a small business.
Personal and Business Funds Mixed Together
Personal and Business Funds Mixed Together
Personal and business expenses running through the same bank account. Owner draws recorded as expenses or not recorded at all. Credit card charges for groceries sitting next to charges for cleaning supplies. This makes your financial statements unreliable and creates real problems at tax time when nobody can tell what is a legitimate business deduction and what is personal spending.
What Changes
You see real numbers. Not just total revenue for the month but profitability by client, by job type, and by crew. You discover that your commercial janitorial contracts are carrying the business while certain residential accounts barely break even after all costs are accounted for. That information changes how you price new work and whether you keep existing accounts that are eating into your time and margins.
The compliance burden goes away. Sales tax gets filed on time every period. Payroll runs without eating your weekend. 1099s go out in January without a scramble. Your tax return captures every deduction you are entitled to. And when you are ready to add another crew or invest in a new vehicle, you have clean financial statements to support a loan application or simply to confirm the decision makes financial sense before you commit.
Pricing Based on Real Costs
Pricing Based on Real Costs
Historical data shows what each type of job actually costs after labor, travel, supplies, and overhead. You stop guessing and start quoting with confidence. Unprofitable accounts get repriced or dropped. New bids reflect what the work actually requires to produce a real margin. Your schedule fills with work that pays, not just work that keeps you busy.
A Foundation for Growth
A Foundation for Growth
Scaling a cleaning business means more crews, more vehicles, and more scheduling complexity. You need financial systems that can handle the growth before you attempt it. Clean books, proper payroll, and accurate job-level tracking give you the foundation to take on more work and more employees without losing control of the money that is flowing through the business.
Tampa Bay's Small Business CPA Firm
First Step:
A Short Conversation
Tell us about your business and where you need support. We'll walk through your situation, answer your questions, and give you a clear quote.
