How Do You Get a License to Start a Cleaning Company?

How do you get a license to start a cleaning company? The first key to knowing how to do this is to determine whether the area where you live offers or requires licenses for this type of business. In some cases, especially if you are just going to be running a small scale business with no additional employees other than yourself, you won't even need a special business license for this. In other cases, you may need to obtain a general business license or a license specific to acting as a cleaner or cleaning service. Whether or not you need such licensing is going to depend on regulations in your state.

In most situations where you need to obtain a license to start a cleaning business, the license you will need to obtain is just a general business license.

• You can obtain your business license at your nearest court clerk or at your city hall, depending on the procedure in the state where you live.
• You’ll generally need to have a business name and proper identification in order to obtain your license, as well as an estimate of how much revenue your business is expected to generate in its first year.  When you give this estimate, it’s not uncommon for you to like to think your business will be very successful as soon as you’ve obtained your license; however you need to keep your estimate of your own success as low as you reasonably can because usually the license you obtain will carry a cost that is pertinent to the estimate you give for your first year’s success. The higher the amount is on your estimate, the higher your cost will be for your license. 

In addition to obtaining a license (or even when a license is not necessarily required), there are two other things you may want to do in order to open your business:

• You may want to become bonded. This is a special kind of insurance where you essentially purchase insurance that would pay for damage you to do the customer if something went wrong.  Customers like to see a "bonded" cleaning service and may be more apt to hire you if you advertise yourself as bonded. Insurance companies who offer "bonds" can assist you in getting what you need here. You can find information about these insurance companies by visiting the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and using the state specific resources available there.
• If you intend to have employees, you may be required by your state law to have worker's compensation insurance. The same website above can help you find insurers who will provide this type of coverage.

So, now you know how to get a license to start a cleaning business and some of the important questions to think about before starting your business.