How to Start a Cleaning Business in Georgia
How to Start a Cleaning Business in Georgia
Georgia charges $100 to form an LLC and requires zero state-level cleaning license. That’s the short version. The longer version involves a mandatory affidavit you’ll need notarized before you can get a business license, workers’ comp coverage that kicks in at just three employees, and insurance that isn’t legally required but is functionally required — because no property manager or HOA client is handing you keys without a Certificate of Insurance.
This guide walks through all of it. The real costs, the actual steps, and the requirements that catch first-timers off guard.
Why Georgia Is a Strong Market for Cleaning Businesses
With roughly 11 million residents and some of the fastest-growing metro areas in the Southeast, Georgia generates sustained demand for cleaning services at every level. Atlanta’s suburbs keep expanding outward. Savannah’s short-term rental market is enormous. Augusta, Columbus, and Macon all have active commercial real estate scenes.
Dual-income households don’t have time to clean their own homes. The aging population increasingly can’t. And commercial office space in Atlanta alone adds millions of square feet every few years — all of it needing routine maintenance. The market isn’t going anywhere.
The barrier to entry is also genuinely low. Georgia doesn’t require a state-level cleaning license or certification of any kind. No exam. No training hours. No state board approval. What you need is a local business license, the right insurance, and a legal business entity — and you’re operating. Compare that to states with occupational licensing requirements for various cleaning categories, and Georgia looks pretty straightforward.
Startup costs reflect that low barrier. A solo residential operation — cleaning supplies, a decent vacuum, basic liability insurance, your LLC filing, and your local business license — runs roughly $1,000 to $3,000 in the first year. A more professional setup with commercial-grade equipment, a cargo van, and coverage for employees lands in the $5,000 to $10,000 range. Neither figure requires a bank loan to get started.
Step 1: Choose Your Business Structure
Most cleaning businesses form an LLC. There’s a good reason for that.
You’re going inside people’s homes and offices. You’re around expensive furniture, irreplaceable items, electronics, and hardwood floors that can be damaged by the wrong cleaning product. If you operate as a sole proprietor and something goes wrong — a broken antique, a chemical spill that damages flooring, a slip-and-fall by a client who walked in while you were mopping — your personal assets are exposed. Your car, your savings account, everything.
An LLC creates a legal separation between you and the business. It doesn’t make you bulletproof, but it means a lawsuit is aimed at the business, not at you personally.
In Georgia, filing an LLC costs $100 online at ecorp.sos.ga.gov. Processing takes 5-12 business days. If you’re in a hurry, expedited processing is $100 for 2-day turnaround, or $250 for same-day. The Secretary of State’s Corporations Division also handles this by mail at $110, but there’s no reason to bother with mail when the online portal is straightforward.
After formation, Georgia requires an Annual Registration — $60 per year, due between January 1 and April 1. Missing that window costs you a $25 late penalty. Put it in your calendar now.
Sole proprietorship is free to “start” in the sense that there’s no state filing, but that’s the only advantage. No liability protection, no separation between personal and business finances, and it signals to commercial clients that you’re not operating a real business. For a cleaning company, where you’re regularly inside other people’s property, sole proprietorship is the wrong call.
Step 2: Get Your Local Business License
Georgia has no statewide business license. None. Every business licensing requirement flows through local government — your city or county, depending on where your business is located.
What you’re getting is called an Occupation Tax Certificate. The name varies slightly by municipality, but that’s the standard Georgia term. Cost typically runs $50 to $200 per year, and the exact amount often depends on your projected gross revenue — lower revenue estimates mean lower fees in most jurisdictions.
Here’s where Georgia throws a curveball at people who haven’t done their homework: two mandatory affidavits are required for any business license application.
The E-Verify Affidavit. If you have 11 or more employees, you must register for the federal E-Verify program and provide your user number. If you have fewer than 11 employees — which covers most new cleaning businesses — you still can’t skip this step. You file an exemption affidavit instead. Either way, this is a requirement under O.C.G.A. § 36-60-6, and your application won’t go through without it.
The SAVE Affidavit. This one requires notarization. You’re verifying your lawful presence in the United States under O.C.G.A. § 50-36-1, and you need to present what Georgia calls a Secure and Verifiable Document — a driver’s license, passport, or similar ID. Find a notary before you show up at the clerk’s office, or check whether your local government office has one on-site.
To get started, contact your city or county clerk’s office directly. Requirements vary enough between municipalities that there’s no universal checklist. If you’re in Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, or one of the major metro counties, their websites typically have the full application process outlined. Smaller municipalities may require a phone call.
Step 3: Register for State Taxes
The good news: cleaning services in Georgia are generally not subject to state sales tax. You’re selling a service, not a product, and Georgia doesn’t tax most services.
The catch: if you sell cleaning products to your clients — separately itemized on an invoice, or as a standalone retail transaction — that product sale is taxable. Most cleaning businesses don’t operate this way, but if you’re planning to sell branded cleaning kits or resell supplies, register for sales tax collection through the Georgia Tax Center at gtc.dor.ga.gov.
Before you do any of this, get your EIN from the IRS. It’s free, it’s instant, and you do it at irs.gov/ein. You need an EIN to open a business bank account, hire employees, and register for state taxes. Do this before anything else in Step 3.
If you’re hiring employees — and most cleaning businesses do, quickly — register for employer withholding tax through the Georgia Tax Center as well. Georgia’s state income tax is a flat 5.19% for 2025, dropping to 5.09% in 2026 under HB 111. You’ll be withholding that from employee paychecks and remitting it to the Georgia Department of Revenue. The GTC portal handles registration and filing for both.
Step 4: Insurance — What You Actually Need
Let’s be direct: general liability insurance is not required by Georgia law. And it is absolutely required to run a legitimate cleaning business.
Any property manager worth their lease agreement will ask for a Certificate of Insurance before they let you near a commercial property. Residential clients with high-value homes increasingly ask for one too. HOA-managed communities often require it for any vendor doing work on the property. Without a COI, you’re invisible to the clients who pay well and hire consistently.
For Georgia cleaning businesses, general liability insurance averages around $732 per year. That covers property damage you cause, third-party bodily injury, and completed operations — meaning if a client trips on a wet floor you just mopped, or your cleaner accidentally breaks a glass shower door, you’re not paying out of pocket. Monthly, that’s roughly $61. Not an optional expense.
Workers’ compensation is where Georgia’s rules matter more than most business owners expect. The threshold is three employees — including part-time workers. Once you have three people on payroll, workers’ comp is mandatory under state law. The Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation (sbwc.georgia.gov) administers the program. Georgia’s rates run approximately 10% below the national median, which is a genuine advantage, but the coverage is still a real cost that needs to be built into your pricing from day one. Most cleaning businesses hire their second and third person within the first year. Plan for this.
Surety bonding is the third piece of the puzzle. Georgia doesn’t legally require it, but commercial clients and property managers do — because a bond protects them if an employee steals from their property. A cleaning business bond (sometimes called a janitorial bond) is cheap, typically a few hundred dollars per year, and it’s a major trust signal when you’re pitching commercial accounts.
All in, budget $48 to $178 per month for insurance depending on your coverage levels, employee count, and whether you’re adding commercial auto or inland marine coverage for equipment.
Don’t skip insurance to save money early on. The first time something breaks in a client’s home and you’re not covered, the lawsuit costs more than five years of premiums.
Step 5: Equipment and Supplies
The equipment gap between residential and commercial cleaning is significant. Choosing one as your primary market affects your startup costs, your vehicle needs, and your pricing structure.
Residential cleaning is the lower-cost entry point. For a solo residential operation, you can start with $20 to $800 in supplies — microfiber cloths, mops, an all-purpose cleaner, a quality vacuum, bathroom and kitchen-specific solutions, and some organization for your kit. Many residential cleaners start with a mid-range upright vacuum ($150-$300) and build from there. Your personal vehicle works fine for transporting supplies between houses.
Commercial cleaning requires more investment. Industrial-grade disinfectants, commercial vacuums, floor scrubbers, and buffers run $50 to $3,300 for a basic commercial setup. The floor scrubber alone can cost $1,500 or more for a decent entry-level unit. Commercial work also typically means moving equipment between larger spaces — a cargo van in the $10,000 to $25,000 range becomes a practical necessity rather than a luxury once you’re running a crew.
Don’t underestimate uniforms and branding. A polo shirt with your logo, matching aprons or pants, and a clean-looking vehicle (even if it’s your personal car) communicates professionalism before you say a word. For in-home residential services especially, clients are making a trust decision — they’re letting strangers into their house. Professional appearance closes that gap faster than any sales pitch.
The residential vs. commercial choice isn’t “do both and see what sticks.” They require different equipment, different pricing, different sales approaches, and different insurance considerations. Start with one. Get good at it. Expand when the first market is stable.
Costs at a Glance
Here’s what you’re actually looking at in year one:
| Expense | Cost |
|---|---|
| LLC filing (one-time) | $100 |
| Annual Registration | $60/year |
| Local Occupation Tax Certificate | $50–$200/year |
| General liability insurance | ~$732/year |
| Surety bond | ~$200–$400/year |
| Equipment and supplies (residential) | $200–$800 |
| Equipment and supplies (commercial) | $500–$3,300 |
| Workers’ comp (3+ employees) | Varies by payroll and class code |
Total first-year cost for a solo residential operation: approximately $1,200 to $3,500 all-in. That includes your LLC, local license, insurance, and a solid supply kit.
Total first-year cost for a commercial setup with employees: approximately $5,000 to $15,000, once you factor in better equipment, a vehicle, workers’ comp, and higher insurance limits.
Neither of those numbers requires outside funding to get started. A cleaning business is one of the few legitimate service businesses where you can go from zero to operating with a few thousand dollars and start generating revenue in the first week.
The Real Path Forward
The framework is straightforward: form your LLC at ecorp.sos.ga.gov, get your EIN at irs.gov/ein, get your Occupation Tax Certificate from your city or county clerk (with both affidavits ready), and get insured before you take your first client.
The parts people skip — the SAVE Affidavit notarization, the E-Verify exemption form, the workers’ comp planning — aren’t optional. They’re just the parts no one warns you about.
Georgia’s low barrier to entry is real. So is the liability exposure of a cleaning business. Get the structure right from the start, and you’re building something that can grow. Skip the LLC and the insurance to save $800 in year one, and one bad day inside a client’s home can cost you everything you’ve built.
Start with the LLC filing. Everything else follows from there.