Cleaning businesses run on tight margins, recurring schedules, and a mix of payment types: a weekly residential route paid by card, a commercial contract paid by ACH, the occasional tip in cash. The account underneath all of that should show cash flow clearly, connect to scheduling and accounting tools, and avoid monthly fees and minimum balance requirements. Evaluate a business account based on its fee structure, software integrations, and cash-handling policies.

Why cleaning businesses need a dedicated business bank account

If you run cleaning income and expenses through a personal checking account, three common problems become harder to manage.

Taxes get harder. Cleaning operators have a long list of legitimate deductions like supplies, equipment, vehicle mileage, insurance, licensing, and uniforms, and the IRS expects you to substantiate each one. When personal Target runs sit in the same statement as a Costco trip for paper towels and microfiber cloths, you spend hours at year-end untangling what was business and what wasn't. A separate business account draws the line for you.

Cash flow is invisible. Residential clients pay weekly or biweekly. Commercial accounts often pay net-30 or net-60. Without a dedicated business account, you can't see at a glance whether this month's incoming jobs will cover payroll, supplies, and your own draw.

Your LLC protection weakens. If you formed an LLC to shield your personal assets, courts can "pierce the corporate veil" when business and personal finances are commingled. A separate business checking account for an LLC is one of the basic facts that proves the LLC is a real entity, not a paper shell.

A dedicated business bank account makes cleaning-business tax deductions (supplies, mileage, equipment, insurance) easier to document and defend.

A meaningful share of residential cleaners get paid partly in cash or take cash tips, which requires a specific deposit workflow if your bank doesn't accept cash.

What to look for in a bank account for a cleaning business

Cleaning is a low-margin, high-volume service business. The account that fits should reflect that.

No monthly fees and no minimum balance. A monthly maintenance fee can eat into the profit from a small residential job. Many traditional business checking accounts charge monthly maintenance fees, minimum-balance fees, or incoming-wire fees, so check each bank's fee schedule before opening an account.

Integrations with the tools cleaners already use. Jobber and Housecall Pro handle scheduling, dispatch, and client management. QuickBooks and FreshBooks handle bookkeeping. Your account should talk to them, not force you to export CSVs.

Fast ACH and no-fee incoming wires. Commercial cleaning contracts for offices, medical facilities, and property management companies often pay by ACH or wire. Wire-receive fees at a traditional bank come straight out of your margin on the job, so confirm the bank's wire-receive fee before you accept ACH/wire-paying clients.

Mobile-first. You're not at a desk. You're between a 9 a.m. apartment turnover and a 1 p.m. office. Depositing checks, sending invoices, and checking balances has to work from a phone.

Reserves or sub-accounts for taxes. Self-employment tax plus federal income tax can take a meaningful slice of profit. You need a place to set that money aside the moment a client pays, before you spend it.

The cash question. If a third or more of your revenue comes in as cash, an online-only account may create too much deposit friction. Be honest about your mix before you choose.

What does Novo offer cleaning businesses?

Novo is a business banking platform built for service operators that bill clients and track jobs. The account has no monthly fees, free ACH transfers, no-fee incoming wires, built-in invoicing, and Reserves.

No monthly fees, no minimum balance. You don't pay to keep the account open, and you don't have to park cash to avoid a fee.

Free ACH transfers and no-fee incoming wires. When a property management company pays a $2,400 monthly contract by wire, the full $2,400 lands in your account.

Direct integrations with the software cleaners use. Novo connects directly with Stripe, Shopify, and QuickBooks, and works with other invoicing tools, including FreshBooks, through standard connections. Cleaning-job income is easier to reconcile because transactions sync to your bookkeeping software rather than living in CSV exports.

Novo Invoices, built in. Send an invoice from the same app you bank in. Clients pay by card or ACH, and the money lands in your Novo account. For a solo cleaner or a small crew running one-off commercial jobs, this can replace a separate invoicing tool entirely.

Novo Reserves. Set aside money for quarterly taxes, payroll, or a new floor scrubber without opening a second account. You decide the percentage; Novo automatically allocates a portion of your overall checking balance to your Reserve. Reserves is a budgeting feature within the Novo checking account — funds remain part of the overall account balance. If you want to bucket money for several goals at once, see how business sub-accounts work.

The honest tradeoff. Novo does not accept cash deposits. If you take a $200 tip in cash from a deep-clean job, you can't walk into a Novo branch and deposit it, because Novo doesn't have branches. If your business is mostly cash, a local credit union or community bank with a nearby branch may serve you better as the primary account; Novo can still work as a secondary account for digital payments and Reserves.

Novo charges no monthly fees and has no minimum balance requirement.

How Novo fits with the invoicing and scheduling tools cleaners use

Most cleaning operators don't need their banking platform to do scheduling. They need it to clear payments quickly and reconcile with the scheduling tool they already pay for.

Jobber and Housecall Pro handle the operations. Routes, recurring appointments, crew assignments, client texts, before-and-after photos. These tools are good at what they do; trying to replace them with your banking app is the wrong direction.

Novo handles the money. Card and ACH payments collected through Jobber or Housecall Pro deposit into your Novo account. You see them in the Novo app and in your accounting software.

QuickBooks and FreshBooks for the books. Connect Novo to QuickBooks Online or FreshBooks and transactions categorize themselves over time. At tax season, your CPA pulls a clean profit-and-loss report instead of a shoebox of receipts.

Novo Invoices for the jobs that don't need a full platform. If you pick up a one-time deep-clean for a real estate closing, you don't need to add it to your Jobber client list. Send a Novo invoice, get paid, move on.

Novo integrates directly with Stripe, Shopify, and QuickBooks, and connects with invoicing tools cleaners use like FreshBooks.

What tax deductions should cleaning businesses track?

The IRS allows you to deduct ordinary and necessary expenses for your business. For cleaning operators, the common categories are:

• Supplies: chemicals, disinfectants, paper goods, microfiber cloths, mop heads, trash bags.
• Equipment: vacuums, floor buffers, pressure washers, carpet extractors. Items over a certain cost are typically depreciated rather than expensed; ask your CPA.
• Vehicle: either actual expenses (gas, maintenance, insurance) or the standard mileage rate. You have to pick one method and document mileage either way.
• Insurance: general liability, workers' comp if you have employees, bonding for residential clients.
• Licensing and permits: business license, state-level cleaning certifications where required.
• Uniforms and branded apparel with a business logo.
• Software: Jobber, Housecall Pro, QuickBooks, Novo Invoices.
• Marketing: website, Google Ads, lawn signs, flyers, vehicle wraps.
• Wages and contractor payments: what you pay employees or 1099 subcontractors.

The IRS publishes a new standard mileage rate each year, so confirm the current-year figure on the IRS standard mileage rates page before filing.

Section 179 limits are adjusted for inflation each tax year, so confirm the current-year cap with your CPA or the latest IRS Form 4562 instructions.

Two practical habits make these defensible at tax time:

Run every business expense through the business account. If you swipe a personal card for $80 of supplies at the warehouse club, you can still deduct it, but you have to remember it happened, find the receipt, and reimburse yourself cleanly. Running it through Novo with the business debit card makes the deduction self-documenting.

Use Novo Reserves for quarterly estimated taxes. A workable starting point is 25–30% of net profit allocated to a Reserve labeled "Taxes" each time a client pays. When April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 arrive, the money is set aside.

How should cash-heavy cleaning businesses handle deposits if their bank does not take cash?

Novo does not accept cash deposits. If cash is a meaningful share of your revenue, compare your cash percentage against the deposit friction before choosing an online-only account.

Estimate your cash percentage honestly. Look at the last three months. If less than 10% of revenue arrives as cash or cash tips, the workarounds below are fine. If it's 30% or more, an online-only account will be a friction point and you should consider a local bank or credit union instead, or use Novo alongside one.

The two-account workaround. Open a basic checking account at a local bank or credit union that's convenient to your routes. Deposit cash there. Once a week, ACH transfer the balance to Novo. You get the cash-handling of a branch and the software, integrations, and Reserves of Novo.

Push clients toward digital payment. Every time you onboard a new residential client, default to autopay by card or ACH through Jobber, Housecall Pro, or Novo Invoices. The fewer cash transactions you process, the less the deposit problem matters.

Novo does not accept cash deposits, which is relevant for cleaning businesses that receive cash payments or tips.

How to open a Novo account for your cleaning business

The online application is designed to be completed in about 10 minutes.

What you need:

• EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS. Sole proprietors can use an SSN, but an EIN is free and keeps your SSN off vendor paperwork.
• Business formation documents: Articles of Organization for an LLC, Articles of Incorporation for a corporation. Sole proprietors with a DBA may need the DBA filing.
• Government-issued ID for each owner with 25% or more of the business.
• Business address and phone number.

Sole proprietors, LLCs, and corporations running cleaning businesses can apply for Novo online in about 10 minutes with a government-issued ID and either an EIN or, for eligible sole proprietors, an SSN.

Once you're approved:

1. Connect Jobber, Housecall Pro, QuickBooks, or FreshBooks.
2. Set up a Reserve for taxes and pick a percentage (25–30% is a reasonable default).
3. Order your Novo Mastercard business debit card.
4. Send your first invoice through Novo Invoices, or update your existing invoicing tool with the Novo account details.

What should a cleaning business invoice include?

If you don't have an invoicing tool yet, use this plain-text template. Adapt the line items to match what you cleaned.

INVOICE

From:
[Your Business Name]
[Address, City, State ZIP]
[Phone] · [Email]
[EIN or business license #, if applicable]

Bill To:
[Client Name]
[Client Address]
[Client Email]

Invoice #: [0001]
Invoice Date: [MM/DD/YYYY]
Due Date: [Net 15 from invoice date]
Service Date(s): [MM/DD/YYYY]

------------------------------------------------------------
Description                        Qty    Rate      Amount
------------------------------------------------------------
Standard residential cleaning       1    $150.00   $150.00
  (3 BR / 2 BA, ~1,800 sq ft)
Interior windows (add-on)           6    $  8.00   $ 48.00
Inside oven cleaning                1    $ 35.00   $ 35.00
Supplies fee                        1    $ 10.00   $ 10.00
------------------------------------------------------------
                                      Subtotal:   $243.00
                                      Tax (if applicable): $  0.00
                                      TOTAL DUE:  $243.00

Payment methods:
- ACH / card via the link in this email
- Check payable to [Your Business Name]

Notes:
- Late payments accrue 1.5% per month after the due date.
- Thank you for your business.

Tip: Paste this template into ChatGPT or Claude and ask it to generate a working file. For example: "Turn this cleaning invoice template into a fillable Google Sheet with formulas that calculate Amount = Qty × Rate, a Subtotal that sums the Amount column, and a Total Due that adds Tax. Add a dropdown for service type with values: standard residential, deep clean, move-out, post-construction, commercial." You can also ask for an Excel version, an interactive PDF, or a Word document with the same formulas.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a business bank account for my cleaning business?

If you've formed an LLC or corporation, a separate business account is strongly recommended because it helps keep personal and business finances separate and supports liability protection. Sole proprietors are not always legally required to have one, but a separate account is usually worth it for cleaner records and easier tax prep. A dedicated account makes tax deductions defensible, keeps cash flow visible, and stops you from spending Tuesday night reconciling personal Venmo charges against cleaning supply receipts.

Can I use Novo if my cleaning clients pay in cash?

You can, but with a workaround. Novo does not accept cash deposits. The common approach is to open a basic checking account at a local bank or credit union, deposit cash there, and ACH transfer the balance to Novo weekly. If most of your revenue is cash, a local bank with branches near your routes may serve you better as the primary account.

Does Novo integrate with Jobber or Housecall Pro?

Payments collected through Jobber and Housecall Pro deposit into your Novo account like any other ACH or card payment. Novo connects directly with QuickBooks for bookkeeping reconciliation, and works with FreshBooks and similar tools. Jobber and Housecall Pro handle scheduling, dispatch, and client management on their side.

What does Novo cost for a small cleaning business?

Novo has no monthly fee and no minimum balance requirement. Incoming wires have no Novo fee. ACH transfers have no Novo fee. There is no charge to open the account. Novo Invoices is included with your account; standard card processing fees apply when clients pay invoices by card.

Novo offers free incoming wires and free ACH transfers.

Can solo cleaners and sole proprietors open a Novo account?

Yes. Sole proprietors, LLCs, and corporations can apply. Sole proprietors can use an SSN, though getting a free EIN from the IRS is recommended because it keeps your SSN off invoices, W-9s, and vendor paperwork, and it makes the upgrade to an LLC easier later.

How much should I set aside for taxes?

A common starting point is 25–30% of net profit (revenue minus deductible expenses), allocated to a Novo Reserve labeled "Taxes" each time a client pays. The exact number depends on your state, your filing status, and whether you have employees. Confirm with a CPA before your first quarterly payment.

Novo Reserves lets cleaning operators set aside money for taxes, payroll, or equipment without opening a separate account.

Can I send invoices directly from Novo?

Yes. Novo Invoices lets cleaning business owners send invoices and accept card and ACH payments directly from their bank account. For one-off commercial jobs or solo operators without a full scheduling platform, this can replace a separate invoicing tool.