Running a cleaning business in Georgia

What this site covers and who it is for

Most cleaning businesses start with a few houses and a car full of supplies. The paperwork changes the day an office manager or a county buyer asks for a certificate of insurance.

That request is the turning point this site is built around. A commercial client wants to know who it is contracting with, what insurance stands behind the work, and sometimes whether a bond does too. Each of those questions has its own page here.

Start with whether Georgia licenses cleaning businesses at all if you are just beginning. Go to the first commercial contract if a client has already sent you their vendor packet.

Licensing and what it costs to start

Georgia has no statewide license for cleaning work. What you need comes from the county or city where the business is based.

That local certificate is cheap, but it asks for things you must set up first. It wants a legal business name, a tax number and a count of your employees. The real money goes to insurance and supplies, not to filing fees.

See the startup cost breakdown for the fees and the recurring costs side by side.

Insurance, bonds and the commercial contract

Commercial clients set the insurance and bond terms, not the state. The limits change from one contract to the next.

A county building might ask for $1,000,000 in general liability and name itself as an additional insured. Another might skip the bond entirely. Read how a certificate of insurance works and what a janitorial bond actually covers before you sign anything.

Public buyers add their own layer, covered in bidding on government cleaning contracts.

The company behind the contract

A contract is signed by a legal person. The entity you form decides whose name goes on the certificate, the W-9 and the bank account.

Read the setup sequence for the order of steps. Then read the entity comparison for the choice itself. If you want someone else to handle the filing, the formation-services comparison lists what each service publishes about its own prices. Annual registration and taxes covers what comes due each year after that.

Crews, workers' comp and chemical safety

Hiring your first cleaner changes your tax filings, your insurance and your safety duties all at once.

Georgia's workers' compensation rule turns on a head count. The IRS test for employee or contractor turns on control. OSHA's chemical rules apply as soon as an employee handles a labelled product.

See hiring cleaners, workers' compensation in Georgia and chemical safety for cleaning crews.

Licensing and startup costs

• Do you need a license to clean in Georgia? — Georgia has no state cleaning license. What a cleaning business needs instead is a local occupation tax certificate, and the affidavits that come with it.
• What it costs to start a cleaning business in Georgia — The fixed fees to start a Georgia cleaning business, from the $100 LLC filing to the local certificate, and the recurring costs that follow.

Landing commercial accounts

• Your first commercial cleaning contract, step by step — What a Georgia cleaning business assembles before its first office or county account: entity, insurance certificate, bond, affidavits, staff checks.
• Certificates of insurance for cleaning contracts — How a certificate of insurance works for a Georgia cleaning business: who issues it, what it shows, additional insured wording, and the limits clients set.
• Janitorial bonds explained for Georgia cleaners — What a janitorial bond is, how a fidelity bond differs from bid, performance and payment bonds, and when a Georgia cleaning contract asks for one.
• Bidding on government cleaning contracts in Georgia — What county and federal janitorial contracts ask of a Georgia cleaning business: bid packets, insurance, bonds, SAM.gov and Service Contract Act wages.

Forming the company

• How to set up a cleaning business in Georgia — The order to form a Georgia cleaning company: entity, name, articles, agent, EIN, bank account, tax accounts, local certificate and insurance.
• LLC or sole proprietor for a Georgia cleaning business — How a sole proprietorship, LLC and corporation compare for a Georgia cleaning business: filings, federal tax, net worth tax and workers' comp.
• LLC formation services for cleaning businesses — Formation services for a Georgia cleaning LLC by use case: each one's own published prices, agent terms, and the $100 file-it-yourself route.

Crews and safety

• Hiring cleaners in Georgia, employee or 1099 — How a Georgia cleaning business decides between employees and 1099 contractors, and the I-9, new hire, withholding and unemployment steps for each hire.
• Workers' comp for Georgia cleaning businesses — When a Georgia cleaning business must carry workers' compensation, how LLC members and sole proprietors are counted, and what commercial clients ask for.
• Chemical safety rules for cleaning crews — What OSHA's Hazard Communication and Bloodborne Pathogens standards require of a cleaning business with employees: labels, data sheets, training.

Every year after

• Annual filings and taxes for Georgia cleaners — The yearly calendar for a Georgia cleaning business: April 1 annual registration, local renewal, estimated taxes, Georgia income tax and payroll reports.

Questions