How to start a cleaning business in Connecticut

1. 01Choose a name in Connecticut

   Pick a name that sounds like a person will show up, not a national franchise. Search the state records and the city. If customers will text you, the name has to be easy to spell in that text. Use it on the invoice and the voicemail the same way.

   Search that name at the Connecticut business portal before you print shirts. Use the same spelling on the truck and on a quote in Connecticut.

   • Connecticut business portal

2. 02Form the LLC or stay a sole proprietor

   Many cleaning companies start as a sole proprietorship and form an LLC when they hire the first employee or want the company name on the bank account. Either way, keep the money separate. An LLC does not decide whether you charge sales tax. That is a state revenue question. Read it. If you are the only person cleaning, say so. If a crew is coming, the structure and the insurance both change.

   We do not have a filing fee for Connecticut that we are willing to print. The Connecticut business portal publishes it. Sole proprietors who operate under their own name often skip this filing. Confirm that on the same site.

   • Connecticut business portal
   • SBA: choose a business structure

3. 03Get a free EIN from the IRS

   An employer identification number is the business tax ID. The IRS issues it online at no charge and says you never have to pay a company to get one. If you form an LLC, file with the state first. The IRS says an EIN application can stall when the state filing is not done. A sole proprietor can often start with a Social Security number and get an EIN when a bank or a hire requires it.

   Apply on the IRS page if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner beside this step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional. The IRS fee is still zero either way.

   • IRS: get an employer identification number

4. 04Check the cleaner license in Connecticut

   The Connecticut licensing page we could verify is the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell.

   Read this page for your trade. A city or county can require its own registration even when the state does not.

   Read the contractor board far enough to see whether ordinary house cleaning is on it. Then get the city business license and the state tax permit the revenue department describes. Post-construction cleaning can be a different rule from a recurring house clean.

   A city or county can require its own registration even when the state page is quiet. Connecticut does not have a city guide on this site yet, so open the city or county site where you will work and ask what a new cleaner has to file. Do not pay a third party that promises a license until you have read the official page.

   • Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection

5. 05Insure the work

   General liability covers damage inside a house and an injury on site. Ask the insurer about key custody and about employees before you send anyone else into a home. A personal auto policy is the wrong place to hide a car full of chemicals and vacuums if that car is how you work. Workers' compensation is a state question the moment someone is on payroll or, in some states, the moment someone is helping. Ask. Do not copy a headcount from another state.

   Workers' compensation is a state program. Before anyone works with you, including a friend, ask an insurer and the state labor office whether you must carry it. This guide does not quote a headcount, because those rules differ and the state page is the source. The SBA page describes the common policies. It does not sell them. Buy the policy before you work in a house in Connecticut.

   • SBA: business insurance

6. 06Open a business bank account

   Deposit cleaning payments into a business account the same week. Recurring clients pay small amounts, and those amounts disappear into a personal account. A simple note of which visit was paid is enough bookkeeping at the start. Set aside tax money every Friday.

   The bank will usually ask for your ID, the EIN or your Social Security number, and the formation papers if you filed an LLC. A checking account and a habit of setting tax money aside are enough at the start.

7. 07Price the work Connecticut actually has

   Price by the visit, from bedrooms, bathrooms, condition, and extras. Ovens, fridges, and interior glass are where quotes go wrong, so name them as extras before you are standing in the kitchen. A recurring clean and a move-out are different prices. Write both down.

   Humidity, hard water, pets, and stairs change the time. A price that assumes an empty suburban house will lose money in a walk-up. Raise the number after you have timed ten real visits, and tell recurring clients when the price changes.

   Connecticut has a long heating season, nor'easters, humid summers, and a lot of older housing. Ice dams and boilers are ordinary. The state consumer-protection page is the license starting point, and towns add their own permits. Price the week you can actually work in Connecticut. A number copied from a different climate will miss.

8. 08Get found, then create the free site

   Google Business Profile, with photos of kitchens and baths you have finished. Reviews should mention the neighborhood and whether it was a recurring clean or a move-out. The website splits those services and the form asks for beds, baths, pets, and a date. ServiceBase publishes that page and keeps the requests. It will not book the calendar for you.

   In Connecticut, the profile, the reviews, and the site should name the neighborhoods you actually drive. ServiceBase publishes the page and keeps quote requests in a list on your account. No card. It does not file the LLC, get the EIN, or buy the insurance.

   • Google Business Profile

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