Starting a cleaning business in Ontario takes five moves: register your business name, get a Business Number from the CRA, set up insurance, register with WSIB once you have workers, and put up a bookable website. The path is short, and the startup cost is low. My sister Jen and I built Oak Bay Clean to $2.8M in sales over four years on the contractor model, and this is the Ontario version, with the actual costs, the name-approval steps, and where your first clients come from in Toronto, Ottawa, Mississauga, and Hamilton. For the country-wide picture, start with our how to start a cleaning business in Canada guide.
The model Jen and I use does not require you to buy supplies, a van, or equipment. You hire independent contractors who bring their own supplies, clients book online and leave a card on file, and you pay your cleaners out of money the client has already paid. That is what keeps the startup cost low, even in Ontario's biggest markets.
The short answer: how to start a cleaning business in Ontario
Here is the whole path in order. The rest of this post backs up each step with Ontario numbers.
- Cleaning the houses yourself, lowest cost: start as a sole proprietor and register your business name for $60.
- Building a company that runs without you: register the business, get your Business Number, set up insurance, and put up a bookable website. Incorporate when the income makes it worth it.
- The Ontario detail to know: your business-name registration is valid for five years, and you charge 13% HST once you pass $30,000 in revenue.
- Fastest to your first paying client: email Realtors and property managers about move-out cleans while your Google ranking builds.
For most people who want a business rather than a job, the company path is the one Jen and I teach, and it is what the rest of this guide walks through.
How much does it cost to start a cleaning business in Ontario?
You can start a cleaning business in Ontario for a few hundred dollars. A sole-proprietor business name costs $60 to register, your Business Number from the CRA is free, and there is no provincial cleaning licence to buy. Incorporating costs more and adds liability protection as you grow.
Here are the line items for the company path. All figures are in Canadian dollars.
| Line item | Ontario cost |
|---|---|
| Register a business name (sole proprietor) | $60, valid five years, through the Ontario Business Registry |
| Incorporate (optional) | about $300 provincially, plus a NUANS name search |
| Business Number from the CRA | free |
| HST registration | free, and required once you pass $30,000 in revenue |
| General liability insurance | commonly a few hundred dollars a year |
| Booking and website software | from about $67 a month, often free for the first 30 days |
Most owners start as a sole proprietor for $60 and incorporate later, once the revenue makes the extra cost worth it. The reason this is so much lower than the $5,000 to $15,000 most Ontario guides quote: those numbers assume you buy supplies, equipment, and a vehicle. Your contractors bring all of that, so it never lands on your books.
Do you need a licence to start a cleaning business in Ontario?
Ontario has no provincial licence for house cleaning. What you do need is to register your business name, and in many municipalities, a local business licence to operate. This is general information and not legal advice, so confirm your own city before you start.
A few things to know in Ontario:
- Municipal business licence. Cities set their own rules, so check whether Toronto, Ottawa, or your municipality requires a business licence for a cleaning or home-based business.
- WSIB. Once you have workers, Ontario requires you to register with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, usually within 10 days of your first hire. On the contractor model your cleaners are independent contractors, so confirm how WSIB treats your setup.
- WHMIS. If your team handles cleaning chemicals, the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System sets out labelling and safety rules.
For the general version of this question, read do I need a licence to start a cleaning business.
How do you register your cleaning business name in Ontario?
Ontario gives your business name a specific path. If you run as a sole proprietor under a name other than your own, you register that name through the Ontario Business Registry for $60, and it stays valid for five years before you renew it. Search the Registry first to confirm your name is available.
If you incorporate, Ontario requires a NUANS name search, a report that checks your proposed name against existing businesses and trademarks across Canada, before you file your articles of incorporation. Either way, pick a name built on your city plus the word clean or cleaning, like Hamilton Clean or Ottawa Cleaning Services, so it clears the search and gets found on Google and AI search. We walk through naming in how to name a cleaning business.
Do you charge HST on cleaning services in Ontario?
Cleaning is taxable in Ontario, but you only register for and charge HST once your revenue passes $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters. While you are under that line, you are a small supplier, which means you can run without charging tax and keep your pricing simple. The Ontario rate is 13%. This is general information and not tax advice, so confirm your situation with the Canada Revenue Agency and an accountant.
Once you pass $30,000, you register for an HST account through your Business Number, then add 13% to each invoice and send it in. If you cross the line before you register, the CRA can ask you to remit the tax you should have charged, so register as you approach $30,000. Our Canada guide has the full GST/HST table by province.
Where do you find your first cleaning clients in Ontario's cities?
Your first clients in Ontario come from two places: Realtors and property managers who need move-out cleans, and Google once your business name and profile are set up. The paid social following you think you need is not where the money is.
Move-out cleans are the fastest opening, because most cleaners avoid them. Toronto, Ottawa, Mississauga, Hamilton, Brampton, and London all move a steady volume of homes, so Realtors and property managers are booking these constantly. This is how our own business started. One email to a Realtor named Danielle turned into 47 cleans over the following years, which is $16,718.34 in revenue from a single email.
Three things to get right before you spend a dollar on ads:
- Answer the phone. About 70% of cleaning companies do not answer on the first try, and only 30% call back after a voicemail. Answering puts you ahead of most of your competition in any Ontario city.
- Put your prices online. About 95% of cleaning companies have no transparent pricing on their site. Flat-rate prices a client can see are the biggest thing standing between a lead and a booking.
- Let people book at 10pm. A live booking widget that takes the card means you capture clients while they are interested, without a phone call.
The tool Jen and I use for both of these is ConvertLabs, and our Canadian members run on it too. It puts an instant-quote form on your site, so a client picks their options, sees a flat-rate price on the spot, and books with a card in about 60 seconds. Our own widget turns about 33% of the people who fill it out into paying clients. You can get 30 days free at convertlabs.io/blueprint. That is an affiliate link, so Jen and I earn a fee if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.
For the full playbook, read how to get clients for a cleaning business.
Where do you find cleaners in Ontario?
You find cleaners in Ontario the same way you find clients, by posting where people already look for work and screening for reliability over experience. You are screening for dependable people who will represent your brand well.
Indeed, Facebook groups, and Kijiji still work across Ontario's cities, and there are people looking in every market. One thing to get right: the CRA has its own test for who counts as an independent contractor rather than an employee, based on control, who owns the tools, and who carries the risk, and WSIB looks at similar factors. The contractor model fits that test well when you set it up properly, so structure your agreements with it in mind. This is general information and not legal advice. Hire for reliability and communication, pay your cleaners well, which on our model is 60% of the job, and treat the relationship as a partnership. We cover the full process in how to find cleaners for a cleaning business.
New owners worry about three things with contractors. Here is how the model answers each.
- Quality control. You bring on cleaners who already know how to clean, so quality comes from feedback rather than training. Clients rate every clean, you pass that straight to the cleaner, and anyone who slips stops getting offered work. Your standard travels through the feedback loop.
- Will a cleaner take my clients? The client books, pays, and keeps a card on file through your system, so the relationship and the billing stay with your brand. Your contractors get a steady stream of pre-sold jobs they never had to find or quote, which is what they would give up by going around you. A non-solicitation clause in your contractor agreement backs it up.
- Could I get in trouble for treating employees like contractors? You keep them genuine independent contractors through how the work runs. You offer gigs through ConvertLabs and they accept or decline, they wear their own clothes, drive their own cars, and bring their own supplies, and you set what a finished home should look like while they choose how to get there. Put that in a written contractor agreement and it holds up to the control test above.
Is a cleaning business profitable in Ontario?
A cleaning business is profitable in Ontario, and Toronto and the surrounding region give you one of the deepest client pools in the country. Jen and I built Oak Bay Clean to about $2.8M in sales since July 2021 at roughly a 28% margin, running it with 18 cleaners. The same model works for the owners we coach across Ontario, because profit comes from the model, not the postal code.
The way we set prices is to charge flat-rate packages by square footage and number of bathrooms, landing around 75 to 80% of the most expensive cleaner in your market. The Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa, and the cities along the 401 support strong prices, and demand is steady year-round. Clients pay at the time of the clean, your contractors are paid out of that same money, and you keep the spread.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to start a cleaning business in Ontario? A few hundred dollars on the contractor model. A sole-proprietor business name costs $60 to register for five years, your Business Number from the CRA is free, and there is no provincial cleaning licence. Incorporating costs about $300 plus a NUANS search.
Do I need a licence to start a cleaning business in Ontario? There is no provincial cleaning licence. You register your business name, check whether your municipality requires a business licence, and register with WSIB once you have workers. This is general information, not legal advice.
How do I register my cleaning business name in Ontario? Search the Ontario Business Registry to confirm your name is available, then register a sole-proprietor business name for $60, valid five years. If you incorporate, Ontario requires a NUANS name search first.
Do I charge HST on cleaning in Ontario? Cleaning is taxable, but you only register for and charge HST once you pass $30,000 in revenue over four consecutive quarters. The Ontario rate is 13%. Under $30,000 you are a small supplier and can run without charging it.
How do I get my first cleaning clients in Ontario? Email Realtors and property managers about move-out cleans, set up your Google Business Profile, and put transparent prices and a booking widget on your site. One Realtor relationship was worth $16,718.34 to our business over time.
Do I need to buy supplies to start a cleaning business in Ontario? No. On the contractor model, your cleaners bring their own supplies and equipment, which is the main reason Ontario startup costs stay low.
How much can a cleaning business make in Ontario? There is no structural cap once you have a team. Our own business has done about $2.8M since July 2021 at a 28% margin. The Greater Toronto Area alone gives you a deep pool of clients to price against.
Should I start with residential or commercial cleaning in Ontario? Residential. Clients pay at the time of the clean, so the money funds the business. Commercial pays slower, so add it later, once your cash flow can carry it.
Where to start
The steps are the easy part. Getting your first clients and keeping good cleaners is the work, and that is exactly what Jen and I walk through in the free 22-Day Cleaning Business Master Checklist and the 22-Day Blueprint ebook. A few guides that pair well with this one:
- How to start a cleaning business in Canada
- How to start a cleaning business in 2026 (step-by-step guide)
- How to name a cleaning business
- How to get clients for a cleaning business
About the author
Victoria Westcott co-founded Cleaning Company Blueprint with her sister Jen. Together they built Oak Bay Clean, their cleaning company in Victoria, BC, to $2.8M in sales since 2021, running it with a team of contractors. Vic writes these guides from inside the business, sharing the model and the numbers behind it. More about Vic and Jen.
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