Invoice Template for Cleaning Businesses — Templates, Guides, and How-To
Get a cleaning business invoice template, learn what to include, set payment terms, and send invoices from a Novo business checking account.
Cleaning is a recurring business with one-off jobs mixed in, residential clients who pay by card and commercial clients who pay by ACH 30 days later, and supply costs that swing by job. A generic invoice template handles maybe half of that. Use the template below, then customize the line items, payment terms, follow-up schedule, and software setup for how your cleaning business bills clients.
Why are cleaning business invoices different?
Most invoice templates assume one client, one job, one payment. Cleaning rarely works that way.
A weekly residential client pays a flat $140 per visit, plus a $60 add-on the week you do the oven. The biweekly client across town pays the same $140 but only twice a month. A commercial office pays $1,200 a month on Net 30 terms, sometimes Net 45, and wants a single invoice for the whole month with the cleaning crew's hours itemized. A move-out deep clean is a one-time $550 job that needs a deposit before you'll put it on the calendar.
If you use one generic invoice for all of that, two things go wrong. First, recurring clients "forget" to pay. A weekly client who pays manually each week will routinely fall two or three invoices behind, and you'll spend Saturday morning chasing $420 you should have collected automatically. Second, your commercial clients reject the invoice because it's missing a PO number, the billing address (often separate from the service address), or the W-9 their AP team needs on file.
Solo cleaners can often start with a template plus a payment link. Once weekly invoicing and follow-up start eating real hours, a tool that auto-bills and auto-follows-up may be worth the cost.
What should you include on a cleaning business invoice?
Every cleaning invoice should have these fields. Missing any of them is the most common reason commercial clients delay payment.
Your business information
- Business name (as registered) and DBA if different
- Business address and phone
- EIN or business license number (commercial clients often require this)
- Email where you want payment questions sent
Client information
- Client name or company name
- Service address (where you cleaned)
- Billing address (often different: corporate HQ, property manager, or AP department)
- Client email and phone
Service details
- Date of service
- Itemized line items: per-visit rate, square footage rate, hourly crew rate, or flat rate
- Add-ons: deep clean, inside oven, inside fridge, baseboards, windows, carpet, post-construction
- Supplies billed through (if your contract passes supplies at cost or cost-plus)
Payment details
- Invoice number (sequential, such as 2024-0142 instead of "invoice 3")
- Issue date and due date
- Payment terms: Net 7, Net 15, or Net 30
- Accepted payment methods (card, ACH, check)
- Late fee policy stated on the invoice itself
If you charge a late fee, state it on the invoice or in the signed service agreement before work begins, and confirm the fee is allowed under your state's law. A monthly rate of 1.5% is a figure many small businesses use, but enforceability and maximum allowable rates vary by state.
Where can I get a free cleaning business invoice template?
Copy the template below into Google Docs, Word, or a Google Sheet. Replace the bracketed fields with your information.
INVOICE
[Your Cleaning Business Name]
[Street Address]
[City, State ZIP]
[Phone] | [Email]
EIN/License: [Number]
BILL TO: SERVICE ADDRESS:
[Client Name] [Service Address]
[Billing Address] [City, State ZIP]
[City, State ZIP]
[Email]
Invoice #: [2024-0001]
Issue Date: [MM/DD/YYYY]
Due Date: [MM/DD/YYYY]
Payment Terms: Net [7/15/30]
--------------------------------------------------------
DESCRIPTION QTY RATE AMOUNT
--------------------------------------------------------
Standard cleaning - 1 $140.00 $140.00
[Service date]
2 BR / 2 BA, ~1,400 sq ft
Add-on: Inside oven 1 $35.00 $35.00
Add-on: Inside refrigerator 1 $25.00 $25.00
--------------------------------------------------------
Subtotal: $200.00
Sales tax (if): $0.00
TOTAL DUE: $200.00
--------------------------------------------------------
Payment methods: Card, ACH bank transfer, check payable
to [Business Name].
Late fee: 1.5% per month on balances past due
(where allowed by state law).
Deposits for first-time deep cleans and move-outs: up to
50% required before scheduling.
Thank you — we appreciate your business.Tip: Paste the template above into ChatGPT or Claude with a prompt like "Turn this cleaning invoice template into a fillable Google Sheet with auto-calculating subtotal, sales tax, and total due, plus a second tab for recurring weekly clients with the date auto-filling." Review the output before using it, especially the formulas for subtotal, tax, and total due.
Sample line items for commercial/janitorial
Commercial invoices are usually monthly and itemize the recurring scope plus extras:
Monthly janitorial service -
[Month YYYY], per contract dated [date]
4 nights/week, ~8,500 sq ft 1 $1,200.00 $1,200.00
Day porter coverage - [date] 4 $32.00 $128.00
Carpet extraction - lobby + hallway 1 $285.00 $285.00
Restroom supplies pass-through 1 $94.50 $94.50
PO #: [Client PO]
W-9 on file: YesHow do you invoice a cleaning client (step by step)?
- Confirm scope and rate in writing before the first cleaning. A short service agreement listing rooms, frequency, rate, add-ons, and the late fee policy can reduce billing disputes.
- Send the invoice the same day service is completed so the client receives the payment request while the job is fresh. Cleaning businesses should send invoices the same day service is completed and auto-charge cards on file for recurring residential clients to reduce average days-to-payment.
- Set up [recurring invoices](/business-payments/recurring) for weekly, biweekly, or monthly clients so the invoice generates and sends automatically.
- Offer multiple payment methods. Card and ACH are the two that matter. Checks are slow and cash creates the deposit problem covered below.
- Follow up on a fixed schedule. Day 1 past due: polite reminder email. Day 7: second reminder with the late fee added. Day 14: phone call and a pause on future service until the balance clears.
- Reconcile against your bank account, not your invoicing app. A payment marked "paid" in Jobber or QuickBooks isn't money until it lands in your business checking account. Check the deposit, not the dashboard.
What invoicing software works best for cleaning businesses?
There is no single best tool; the right choice depends on whether you work solo, manage a crew, or bill mostly commercial clients.
Jobber and Housecall Pro bundle scheduling, dispatch, route optimization, and invoicing. Both charge monthly per-user fees and are built for crews running multiple jobs per day. Pick one of these if you have employees, route-plan in the mornings, or need GPS check-in for crews.
FreshBooks and Wave are billing-first tools without the scheduling layer. Good fit for solo cleaners who don't need dispatch and want to keep monthly software costs low.
ZenMaid is maid-service-specific and focused on residential workflows. Less useful for commercial janitorial.
QuickBooks Online is the choice if you already need accounting features such as payroll, sales tax filing, and profit-and-loss reporting by client. Its invoicing is solid, but the value is the bookkeeping integration.
Novo Invoices. Send unlimited invoices directly from your Novo business checking account. Clients pay by card, and funds deposit into the same Novo account without managing a separate processor payout schedule. No monthly subscription fee for Novo Invoices and no per-invoice fee; standard card processing fees may apply, so confirm current pricing at novo.co. Best for solo cleaners and small crews who want invoicing and the deposit account in one place. Pair it with Jobber or Housecall Pro for scheduling if you're running a multi-truck operation.
How to choose:
- Solo cleaner with a handful of regular clients: a template plus Novo Invoices is usually enough.
- Crew of two to ten, residential focus: Jobber or Housecall Pro for scheduling, Novo for the deposit account.
- Heavy commercial mix: QuickBooks Online plus Novo, so the accounting and the banking are already separated.
How can a cleaning business get paid faster?
Cleaning businesses can reduce payment delays by doing five things consistently.
Require a deposit on big one-off jobs.
Cleaning businesses commonly require a 25–50% deposit on first-time deep cleans and move-out jobs to reduce no-pay risk. Move-outs especially: once the tenant is out of the unit, your leverage is gone.
Auto-charge cards on file for recurring residential clients. A weekly client who pays manually each visit is the client who'll forget for three weeks. A card on file removes the decision.
Send invoices the same day, not at the end of the week.
Service businesses that invoice promptly are paid faster on average than those that delay invoicing.
Use ACH for large commercial invoices.
ACH is often cheaper than card payments for larger invoices, but actual fees depend on the payment provider. On a $1,200 monthly janitorial invoice, the difference between a percentage-based card fee and a flat ACH fee can add up to hundreds of dollars per client over a year.
Add a real late fee and actually charge it. A 1.5% monthly late fee on a $140 weekly invoice is only $2.10, but it signals you track this. Clients who get charged the fee twice stop being late.
How does Novo handle cleaning business invoices and payments?
Novo offers a cleaning business invoice template that can be sent directly from a Novo business checking account, with client card payments depositing into the same account.
Three things make Novo a fit for cleaning businesses specifically:
One account for invoices and deposits. When a client pays a Novo invoice by card, the money goes into your Novo business checking account. There's no second hop through a separate processor's payout schedule to track.
No monthly subscription fee on Novo Invoices.
Novo Invoices has no monthly subscription fee and no per-invoice fee on the Novo business checking account; standard card processing fees may apply, so confirm current pricing at novo.co.
Integrations with the tools you already use.
Novo integrates with tools such as QuickBooks, Stripe, and Shopify; confirm the current integration list and what each integration syncs before relying on it for accounting. If you take Stripe payments through a website booking flow, those settle into your Novo account too.
The honest tradeoff: cash.
Novo does not accept direct cash deposits. If clients pay in cash, confirm Novo's current cash-handling guidance; some businesses convert cash to a money order before depositing, while others ask recurring clients to switch to card or ACH so payments are trackable and easier to reconcile in a business account.
Keeping cleaning income in a dedicated business account, separate from personal money, can make tax records easier to review. Every transaction in the account is a business transaction, so deductions for supplies, mileage, and insurance are sitting right there in your statements when your CPA asks.
For a broader look at choosing a checking account tailored to this industry, see our guide to the best bank for cleaning businesses.
What are common cleaning invoice questions?
Do I charge sales tax on house cleaning?
Sales tax rules for cleaning services vary by state, so cleaning businesses should confirm requirements with the state tax agency where the service is performed. Some states tax residential cleaning, some only commercial, and some neither. If you operate in multiple states, the rules apply where the service is performed, not where your business is registered.
How do I bill clients for cleaning supplies and materials?
Three common approaches: bake supplies into your flat rate (simplest), pass supplies through at cost as a separate line item (transparent, works well for commercial), or charge cost-plus 10–20% as a markup. State the approach in your service agreement so it isn't a surprise on the first invoice.
Net 15 or Net 30, which should I put on my invoice?
Net 7 or "due on receipt" for residential. Net 15 for small commercial. Net 30 for larger commercial accounts that have an AP process and will insist on it anyway. Don't offer Net 30 to a residential client. You'll be waiting a month for $140.
A client tipped in cash. Does it go on the invoice?
Cash tips usually are not added to the client invoice, but you should record them in your books and ask a tax professional how to report them.
Can I send the same invoice every month for recurring clients?
Yes. That's exactly what recurring invoices are for. Set the template once with the monthly scope, set the frequency (weekly, biweekly, monthly), and the system sends it on schedule. For card-on-file clients, the charge runs automatically and you get a notification when the payment lands.