Cleaning contract template — recurring service, access and cancellation
A cleaning contract is mostly about access, scope creep and cancellation. Here is what it has to settle before the first visit.
This is a checklist of what a cleaning contract has to settle — not a ready-to-sign legal document, and not legal advice. Most states regulate home improvement contracts: required disclosures, cancellation windows, deposit limits and licence display all vary, and some trades carry extra rules. Adapt this, then have a lawyer in your state review it before you put it in front of a customer.
Download as a spreadsheet to work through, or print it to sit alongside your own agreement.
What a cleaning contract has to settle
Cleaning contracts govern a recurring relationship with keys involved, which makes access and liability the first things to settle. The scope needs a room-by-room task list, because 'clean' is not a specification and every unlisted task becomes an expectation. Cancellation and lockout fees only hold up if the policy was agreed in writing beforehand. Supplies, equipment and who is liable for damage to what belong in the contract, as does what happens to keys or codes when the arrangement ends.
Clauses it needs
- Parties, property address, and the service level — standard, deep, move-out
- Task list by room, and tasks explicitly not included
- Frequency, the billing period, and how holidays are handled
- Access: keys, codes, alarm details, and how they are returned at termination
- Lockout and cancellation fees, with the notice period that avoids them
- Supplies and equipment: whose, and whether billed separately
- Damage liability, insurance carried, and the process for reporting a breakage
- Staff: whether a named cleaner is guaranteed, and substitution terms
- Rate review timing, so an increase is not a surprise
- Termination notice both ways, and final invoice treatment
What cleaning contracts actually get argued over
- A task the customer assumed was included and the list never mentioned
- Cancellation fee charged with no written policy behind it
- A breakage with no reporting process, discovered days later
- Keys retained after termination, with nothing in the contract governing return
The estimate this contract is built on
A contract can only be as clear as the scope it references. BidWand drafts the itemised estimate — labour, materials, exclusions and assumptions — that the scope and exclusions clauses point at.
Draft the cleaning estimate this contract references
This generates the estimate, not the contract — describe the job and you get the itemised scope to attach. No email needed to see the first one.
What you get — see the format first
A complete estimate you can send to the customer, built from the rate you enter:
| Description | Qty | Unit | Unit price | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor — itemized by task | hrs | hour | your rate | — |
| Materials — with your markup applied | qty | ea / sq ft | cost + markup | — |
| Permits, disposal, access | — | — | — | — |
Plus a plain-English scope summary, assumptions (what had to be guessed), exclusions (what you are not doing — the section that prevents most change-order arguments), and a validity period. Printable, or send the link.
Every figure comes from the rate and markup you supply. We never fill in a market price for you.
Related guides
How much to charge
window cleaning · house cleaning · deck staining · tree removal · fence installation
Estimate templates by trade
cleaning · HVAC · plumbing · electrical · painting · roofing · landscaping · handyman
How to estimate
How to write a contractor estimate · Estimate vs quote vs bid — and which one you should send · What to include in a contractor estimate · How to price a job as a contractor · Should you charge for estimates? · How to follow up on an estimate · How to handle change orders · Estimate vs invoice: what's the difference? · How to raise your prices as a contractor