This is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Read the official pages linked here. Partner offers are optional and labeled.
Choose recurring houses or move-outs for the first month, not both at full volume. Recurring work fills a week. Move-outs fill gaps and then collide with the week. Decide which one pays the account, and say so on the page. In Florida the first customers are in Miami, Tampa, Lakeland–Winter Haven, Orlando, Jacksonville. Miami cleaning is humidity, mildew on grout, and salt film near the water. Tampa cleaning is humidity, snowbirds, and rentals. Lakeland–Winter Haven cleaning is humidity, lake-country houses, and a winter bump from seasonal residents, plus turnovers tied to Legoland traffic that you may not want. Mildew on grout, hard-water film, and a calendar of move-outs or rental turns are the local standard of clean. Mildew on grout, hard-water film, and a calendar of move-outs or rental turns are the local standard of clean.
Florida is humidity, lightning, and hurricane season. Cooling runs most of the year. Insurers ask about roof age, leaks, and equipment condition. The state construction board is the starting point, and counties add their own layer.
File an LLC with the Florida Division of Corporations (Sunbiz). The Florida Division of Corporations fee schedule lists a $100 articles-of-organization fee and a $25 registered-agent designation fee as required for a new Florida LLC. A certified copy ($30) and a certificate of status ($5) are optional. The schedule's $160 line includes those optional items. Annual report fees are listed separately. A sole proprietorship can still be you, under your own name, without this filing. The fee is not a suggestion to form an LLC.
Some boxes are labeled Partner. ServiceBase has not joined those programs. The links go to each company's own homepage, not a tracking link. If a program later approves us, the address will change and we may earn a commission. You can file, insure, and bank anywhere. Official government links are not partner links. Nothing on this page is a discount code.
$500 in free advertising when you launch
Keep the checklist on your account
The guide stays public. An account saves your state, city, and trade, and lets you mark each filing as you go. The advertising credit is reserved when you register. It can be spent after the free website is live.
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 Florida Division of Corporations (Sunbiz) before you print shirts. Use the same spelling on the truck and on a quote in Miami.
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.
The Florida Division of Corporations fee schedule lists a $100 articles-of-organization fee and a $25 registered-agent designation fee as required for a new Florida LLC. A certified copy ($30) and a certificate of status ($5) are optional. The schedule's $160 line includes those optional items. Annual report fees are listed separately. A sole proprietorship can still be you, under your own name, without this filing. The fee is not a suggestion to form an LLC.
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.
The Florida licensing page we could verify is the Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board. 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.
Start at the Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board and see whether house cleaning appears. Many cleaning companies will not find themselves there and still need a local business tax or registration. Confirm that with the county. Do not skip the read.
A city or county can require its own registration even when the state page is quiet. The city guides name the local permit counter. Call that office and write down what they say. Do not pay a third party that promises a license until you have read the official page.
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 Florida.
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.
07Price the work Florida 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.
Miami: hurricane season, salt air, daily humidity, and rain that finds balconies and flat roofs Recurring cleans, move-outs, condo cleans where you have access, and a clear no on remediation. Tampa: lightning, hurricane season, afternoon storms, and humidity that never fully dries a shaded wall Recurring cleans, move-outs, and seasonal turnovers only if you want that calendar. Lakeland–Winter Haven: humid heat, a lake-effect afternoon storm, serious lightning, and hurricane season Recurring home cleans, move-outs, and seasonal or rental turns only if the calendar is one you want. Orlando: humid heat, a daily afternoon storm, hurricane season, and sandy soil with a high water table Recurring cleans, deep cleans, and move-outs as separate offers. In Orlando, FL, list Winter Park and Kissimmee together only if one crew really covers both. Jacksonville: humid heat, river and coastal storms, hurricane season, and salt air that is harsher at the beaches than inland Recurring cleans, deep cleans, and move-outs as separate offers. In Jacksonville, FL, list Riverside and St. Johns together only if one crew really covers both.
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 Miami, Tampa, Lakeland–Winter Haven, Orlando, Jacksonville, 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.
The Florida Division of Corporations fee schedule lists a $100 articles-of-organization fee and a $25 registered-agent designation fee as required for a new Florida LLC. A certified copy ($30) and a certificate of status ($5) are optional. The schedule's $160 line includes those optional items. Annual report fees are listed separately. A sole proprietorship can still be you, under your own name, without this filing. The fee is not a suggestion to form an LLC.
What license does a cleaner need in Florida?
The Florida licensing page we could verify is the Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board. 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.
Where should a new cleaning business start in Florida?
Start where you can reach the stops in a day. The city guides cover Miami, Tampa, Lakeland–Winter Haven, Orlando, Jacksonville. Many customers will call in Spanish or English and expect the person who answers to already know insurance inspections and condo rules. A statewide claim is a weak service area.
Is the EIN free?
Yes. Use the IRS link in the steps if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner on the EIN step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional. The IRS fee is still zero.
