Cleaning service agreement template: a clause checklist for house cleaners

Search for a cleaning service agreement template, a PDF or a free form and you mostly get blank documents with a line for your name. This page lists the clauses a house cleaner can write, next to what insurers, an HOA and the platforms already ask of you. The quoted blocks marked "Example" are wording you can adapt.

Insureon's contract guide says online templates are useful but might not cover everything a cleaner needs. It also says a written agreement can serve as evidence if a client sues, and may help keep insurance premiums down. That page was last updated in 2022, and the premium claim is Insureon's own.

Scope, price and schedule

What gets cleaned, how often, with what

Insureon's list for a cleaning contract includes the services at every visit and the occasional extras, how often each is done, the equipment and products you'll use, your prices, your schedule and the payment methods. It also says to state who supplies the equipment, yours or the client's. Exclusions matter as much as inclusions: Insureon's guide to commercial cleaning contracts recommends naming them, with windows, floors and dishes as its examples.

Naming the exclusions protects your price, and gives you something to point at when a one-bedroom clean turns into the garage.

Example: Each visit covers the kitchen, bathrooms, floors and dusting of reachable surfaces. Inside oven, inside fridge, windows and garage are extra and priced before the visit. I bring my own vacuum, mops and products; please tell me before the first visit about any product you don't want used.

Payment

Insureon says to list the payment schedule, the accepted methods and how payment is delivered. The commercial guide adds late fees. A house cleaning agreement can be shorter, but write down the due date and what a missed one costs.

Example: Payment is due at the end of each visit by card or check. A balance more than seven days late pauses future visits until it is paid.

Cancellation and rescheduling

Handy's terms show a three-step version of this clause for customers who book through its platform: no fee if the customer cancels or reschedules more than 24 hours ahead, $25 between 2 and 24 hours, and the full service amount inside 2 hours. For plans with a minimum commitment, its terms add a cancellation fee of up to $150. Those are Handy's numbers for its own bookings, as of terms dated July 8, 2024. Yours can differ.

Insureon's contract guide suggests a date of termination and a way for either side to end the agreement, with two weeks' written notice as its example.

Example: Cancel or reschedule more than 24 hours ahead at no charge. Inside 24 hours, half the visit price. Either of us can end this agreement with two weeks' notice by email.

Access and lockouts

No insurer or platform page we read prices a lockout, so the number is yours to pick. Handy's cancellation tiers are a usable model, since a cleaner standing at a locked door has lost the same slot a late cancellation does.

Example: If I arrive on time and can't get in within 20 minutes, the visit is charged at the late-cancellation rate.

Keys, codes and alarms

Key and code handling

Insureon says lost key coverage is usually an endorsement to general liability, that it covers rekeying and replacing locks when a key is lost, and that the endorsement usually covers the cleaning service responsible for the keys and its employees. The article is from 2019. ERGO NEXT's claims guide, from May 2025, says failing to secure a property is a common claim, and advises storing keys and passcodes securely and resetting alarms and locking doors when you leave.

Platforms put some of this on the client. Handy's terms say the user is responsible for changing the lockbox code after each service, and that Handy is not responsible for lost keys stored in its Handy Vault. The lost key guide has the habits and the questions for your agent.

Example: I keep your key coded, with no address on the tag, and return it when this agreement ends. If I lose it, I pay to rekey the affected lock. Please change any lockbox or garage code after a one-off clean.

Alarm codes and who else has access

Say whether your helpers get the code, and who you call if the alarm goes off. ERGO NEXT recommends background checks before new cleaners join a crew; Turno requires one of every US cleaner on its marketplace.

Example: Only the cleaners named on your confirmation email will enter. I will arm the alarm and lock up after every visit.

Things in your care

Breakage and valuables

Thimble's explainer says a housekeeping business whose employee breaks an item may be liable for replacement or repair, and that whether the policy pays depends on a care, custody or control exclusion. Thimble says its own cleaning policy includes that coverage automatically, and that on other general liability policies it may be an endorsement if the insurer offers one. We read both Thimble pages cited here from Wayback copies dated June 16, 2026. The care, custody and control guide covers the exclusion in full.

Platforms exclude the same objects. Handy's terms list jewelry, porcelains and valuable rugs under "fine arts", which its guarantee doesn't pay for, and the platforms guide covers Thumbtack's version. ERGO NEXT's advice: ask clients to put away rare, valuable or irreplaceable pieces before you arrive.

Example: Please put away jewelry, cash, fragile heirlooms and anything irreplaceable before each visit. I'm not responsible for items left out that I've asked you to put away.

Whether a clause like that changes what your insurer pays is for your insurer to say.

Products and surfaces

Example: I use the products listed above. Tell me about natural stone, antique finishes or anything with a manufacturer's care instruction.

The wrong product on the wrong stone is a damage claim. Thimble's cleaning insurance page gives a vase knocked over while dusting as its property damage example, and supplies left on the floor that a child trips over as its bodily injury one.

Photos and marketing

Thimble's cleaning page gives, as its personal and advertising injury example, a cleaner who posts a photo of the inside of a client's home without permission, and is sued for invasion of privacy. A one-line permission clause heads that off.

Example: I won't photograph or post images of your home without your written permission.

Reporting damage

Example: Tell me about any damage within 48 hours of the visit, with a photo, so I can notify my insurer promptly.

Handy gives customers 72 hours after a visit to make a first report, then 7 days from receiving the claim form to complete it. Those are Handy's terms for its own guarantee, but they show how short claim windows run. A reporting clause sets your own.

Insurance and who is working

Proof of insurance

HOAs and platforms ask for paper. Evo's vendor rules require a certificate at the front desk and name the HOA and manager as additional insureds. Turno's liability badge takes a real certificate and rejects simulation or request documents, per a Wayback copy of its help page from January 17, 2025. The certificate guide shows how to get one.

Example: I carry general liability insurance and will send a certificate to you or your building on request. Tell me the exact names the building needs.

Independent contractor or employee

A clause can't settle this. Handy's terms say Handy provides software for connecting with independent professionals, that it is not their employer, and that a professional and requester form a direct contract. Insureon says state law decides who is an employee, W-2 and 1099 labels are only traditional markers, and misclassification can mean fines. California's janitorial rules treat independent contractors as covered workers, as the California license page explains. biBERK says subcontractors typically carry their own liability insurance and that you should collect a certificate from each before they start (page read from a Wayback copy of August 24, 2026).

The client agreement should say who will show up. The helper agreement should say they carry a certificate.

Example: Visits are done by me or by cleaners I employ or engage. Anyone I engage carries their own insurance, and I keep their certificate on file.