Business toolkits
Cleaning Business Toolkit
The paperwork side of a cleaning business, organised. Build schedules and site checklists, set out a specification for a quote, keep a colour coding chart, log staff hours and see which insurance policies and certificates are coming up for renewal.
- Records saved to your account, private to you
- Print or save any list as a PDF
- Email reminders before renewal dates
- Free to use, no account needed
- One free Excel or Word download a month, then £1.49 a file or £4.99 a month for unlimited
Free to use. No account needed. Create a free account when you want to save your records, and to get your free monthly download.
Create a free accountTools in this toolkit
Cleaning Schedule Builder
Set out which areas get cleaned, how often, and who is doing it.
Open toolSite Cleaning Checklist Builder
Build a per site checklist your team can print and work through.
Open toolCleaning Specification Builder
Write a clear specification of tasks, standards and methods for a contract or quote.
Open toolColour-Coding Chart
Record which colour of cloth or equipment your team uses in each area.
Open toolStaff Timesheet
Log hours worked by staff member, date and site, then print for payroll.
Open toolCleaning Insurance & Certificate Expiry Tracker
Keep a cleaning business's insurance policies and certificates in one list with renewal dates.
Open toolFree cleaning templates
Win cleaning contracts too
Schools, councils, housing providers and NHS trusts tender cleaning work all year round, and the schedules and specifications you build here are exactly the kind of detail buyers ask for. See what is live right now.
How to start a cleaning company
Cleaning is one of the cheapest businesses in the country to get off the ground, and one of the easiest to get wrong on the paperwork. Here is the order most people do it in.
Pick sole trader or limited company
Registering as a sole trader with HMRC costs nothing. A limited company is filed with Companies House and costs roughly £12 to £50 depending on how you file. Neither route needs a qualification for general cleaning work.
Open a business bank account
Keep the money separate from day one. It makes your year end far less painful, and commercial clients tend to expect to pay a business account rather than a personal one.
Get public liability insurance
Most commercial and domestic clients will ask for it before they let you through the door. Cover of £2m to £5m is the usual ask and typically runs about £8 to £15 a month for a small operator.
Add employers' liability the moment you hire
The second you take on your first employee this stops being optional. Minimum cover is £5m. Budget for it before you offer anyone a job, not after.
Buy the kit
Vacuum, mops, buckets, colour coded cloths, chemicals and somewhere to store them. Start with what the jobs you have actually need and add to it as work comes in.
Sort a DBS check if you need one
Schools, healthcare settings and anywhere with vulnerable people will want checks in place for you and your staff. If you are only doing offices and homes it may never come up.
Get found locally
A Google Business Profile with real photos and a handful of reviews will bring in more domestic work than a website will in year one. Local Facebook groups still work, oddly well.
Watch the VAT line
You only have to register for VAT once your turnover goes over £90,000. Below that it is your choice, and for domestic work it usually is not worth it.
What it actually costs to start
A bare bones solo domestic launch can be done on £300 to £500. A proper small setup with a van, branding, insurance and a couple of staff is more like £2,500 to £10,000.
Once you are trading, the admin is what quietly eats your evenings. That is what this toolkit is for: staff rotas and timesheets, cleaning schedules and site checklists, a colour coding chart, and reminders before insurance certificates and other documents expire. It handles the office side, not the regulatory side.
When you are ready for bigger work, schools, councils and housing providers put cleaning contracts out to tender all year. Those are already matched and listed on our cleaning tenders page.
Which package makes sense at this stage
If you are still setting the cleaning business up, start on the free Starter plan. It costs nothing, it lets you search and read live contract notices, and it is enough to work out whether public sector work is realistic for you yet.
The admin toolkit itself is free to use and needs no account, so you can build the rotas, checklists and renewal lists from day one. Create a free account if you want those records saved and waiting for you next time, which also gives you one free Excel or Word download each month across all the toolkits.
Move up to Pro at £89 a month when you are genuinely ready to bid, meaning insurance in place, references you can name and the capacity to take the work on. Pro is where the matching, scoring and drafting live. Business is built for teams running several bids at once, so most people setting up do not need it, and there is no reason to pay for it early. Full detail is on the pricing page.
No work is guaranteed
Using this toolkit, or finding tenders through 123 Tenders, does not mean you will get work. Whether you win a tender depends on your bid, on who else is bidding and on plenty of things none of us control. We help you find opportunities and prepare for them properly. We do not promise you will win them, and we do not promise work will follow once you are set up.
Not sure this is the right sector for you?
Answer five questions about your budget, vehicle, qualifications, insurance and area, and the free Sector Finder will tell you which public sector work is realistic for you, with live notices to match. It is guidance based on your answers, not a promise of work.
These tools are provided for general business administration, organisation and record-keeping purposes. They do not constitute legal, medical, clinical, safeguarding, health and safety or regulatory advice and do not guarantee compliance with any applicable requirement. Businesses remain responsible for ensuring their own policies, procedures and records are appropriate for their circumstances.