How to run payroll for a cleaning business: classifying workers, paying for travel between sites, per-job and piece-rate pay, overtime, tips, mileage and record-keeping.
Many cleaning businesses start with independent contractors. That can be appropriate for genuinely independent cleaners who set their own prices, use their own supplies, work for many clients and run their own business. But when you set schedules, assign houses, require uniforms, control how the work is done and pay by the hour or job, the workers are likely employees under federal and state tests. Misclassification can lead to back wages, back taxes and penalties. See independent contractor vs. employee.
To total hours with breaks and overtime, use our time card calculator.
For non-exempt employees, you must pay for all hours worked. In cleaning, that includes more than time inside clients’ homes or offices:
| Activity | Usually paid working time? |
|---|---|
| Cleaning at a client site | Yes |
| Travel between client sites during the workday | Yes |
| Picking up supplies or keys at the office before the first job, when required | Generally yes, and travel after that is also work time |
| Normal commute from home to the first job and from the last job home | Generally no, under federal rules |
| Waiting at a site because the client is not ready, when the cleaner cannot use the time freely | Often yes |
| Required meetings and training | Yes |
| Short rest breaks (typically up to 20 minutes) | Yes |
| Bona fide meal breaks of 30 minutes or more, fully relieved | No |
Travel between sites is the most common mistake. If a cleaner spends five hours cleaning three houses and an hour driving between them, they have worked six hours. See travel time pay rules and cleaning company time tracking.
Paying per house or per job can motivate efficient work, and it is allowed for employees. But the minimum wage and overtime rules still apply:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Jobs completed in the week | 20 houses at $45 per house = $900 |
| Total hours worked, including travel | 45 |
| Regular rate | $900 ÷ 45 = $20.00 |
| Overtime premium | 5 hours × $10.00 = $50 |
| Total pay for the week | $950 |
All hours worked for your company in a workweek are added together, regardless of how many clients or sites. A cleaner who works 25 hours for commercial accounts and 20 hours on residential jobs has worked 45 hours. Some states also have daily overtime. See FLSA overtime rules and how to reduce overtime costs.
Clients often tip cleaners in cash, by card or through your booking system. Tips belong to the employees who received them, and employers generally may not keep any portion. If you use a tip credit (which is less common in cleaning and not allowed in some states), strict conditions apply. Employees must report cash tips to you so that taxes can be withheld. Card tips should be paid through payroll. If you pool tips among a team that cleaned together, set clear rules.
If cleaners use their own cars between jobs, think about reimbursement. Under federal law, unreimbursed costs that an employer requires the employee to bear cannot reduce wages below the minimum wage or cut into overtime owed. Several states, including California, require employers to reimburse necessary business expenses such as mileage. Many companies reimburse at the IRS standard mileage rate. The same principle applies to supplies and equipment that employees are required to buy. See mileage report template and our expense reimbursement policy.
Weekly or biweekly pay is common in cleaning, where many employees are hourly and value regular pay. Some states set minimum pay frequencies. Choose a schedule you can sustain, and set a clear cutoff for timesheet approvals. See pay period types.
A residential cleaning company pays cleaners $50 per house and schedules three houses a day. A review of GPS clock-ins shows that cleaners spend about 90 minutes a day driving between houses, which was not counted as working time. On a 30-hour cleaning week plus 7.5 hours of travel, effective pay was still above the state minimum wage, but the company had been undercounting hours, which mattered for weeks over 40. It now records travel time automatically, recalculates overtime on all hours and reimburses mileage.
EZTime lets cleaners clock in and out at each site from the mobile app, with GPS location confirming where they are, so travel between sites is captured as working time. Job and client tracking shows hours per client, overtime is calculated across all sites, and approved timesheets export to payroll.
Generally yes. Travel between job sites during the workday is working time for non-exempt employees.
Yes, but total weekly pay divided by total hours must meet minimum wage, and overtime must be paid on the regular rate.
It depends on the facts. If you control schedules, methods and pay, cleaners are likely employees.
Federal law requires that unreimbursed costs do not reduce pay below minimum wage; some states, like California, require reimbursement of necessary expenses.
Tips belong to employees. Employers generally may not keep any part of them.
Under federal rules, a normal commute is generally not paid, but travel after a required stop at the office is.
Approved hours leave EZTime as payroll-ready Excel or PDF reports for whoever runs your payroll.