CRM for a cleaning business: what to track and which to use
A CRM for a cleaning business is where every client's details, cleaning history and next booking live, along with the follow-ups that bring them back: review requests, rebooking reminders and a nudge when a regular goes quiet. A house cleaning company earns most of its money from clients who rebook, so those follow-ups matter more than a sales pipeline. This guide covers what a cleaning company CRM should store, what it should do on its own, and how a spreadsheet, a general CRM and cleaning software compare.
What a cleaning company CRM should store
Every client record needs enough for you to quote, schedule, send a cleaner and follow up without asking the client anything twice.
| Field | Why you need it |
|---|---|
| Name, phone and email | Reminders and receipts, and a way to reach them if a cleaner is running late |
| Service address and how to get in | Lockbox code, alarm, parking, which door. Without it a cleaner stands outside and you lose the job |
| Pets and preferences | "Dog in the yard," "no bleach," "skip the office." The cleaner needs to see these before arriving |
| Service, home size and frequency | So the price and the next booking come out the same every time |
| Price and card on file | So you can charge after the clean without chasing payment |
| Every past clean, and who did it | To answer a complaint, send the same cleaner back, or spot a client who has stopped booking |
| What they've spent | Tells you who your best clients are and who deserves a call when something goes wrong |
| How they found you | Shows which marketing is worth paying for |
| Whether they've left a review | So you ask happy clients once, and don't ask twice |
Missing access notes and preferences cause the most trouble. Keep them on the client record, not in your texts, so they reach every cleaner you send.
What it should do without you
A list of clients doesn't bring anyone back. The follow-ups do, and they're the first thing a busy owner forgets. A CRM worth paying for sends these on its own:
- A reminder the day before each clean, so fewer clients forget and lock the cleaner out.
- A review request after the first clean. How to get more reviews covers timing and wording.
- A rebooking message to one-time clients a few weeks after their clean, offering a recurring plan.
- A win-back message when a regular hasn't booked for a while.
- A referral code clients can pass to friends, so you can see who sent whom.
It should also show you who needs a personal call. A client on an every-two-weeks plan who hasn't had a clean in six weeks has probably found someone else, or is unhappy and hasn't told you. A list of clients with no visit in four, six, eight or twelve weeks, and nothing booked, is the most useful report a cleaning CRM can give you.
Spreadsheet, general CRM or cleaning software
A spreadsheet
A Google Sheet with one row per client and the fields above is a fine CRM for your first clients. It's free and you already know how to use it. It stops working when you're the only one who remembers to look at it: the review request you meant to send, the regular who quietly stopped booking, the lockbox code a new cleaner never got.
A general CRM such as HubSpot or Zoho
HubSpot and Zoho CRM both have free plans, and they're good at moving a lead from first contact to a signed deal, which is how a commercial cleaning company sells a large office contract. A house cleaning company's day looks different. A general CRM doesn't book recurring cleans, quote by square footage, charge a card after the job or send the job to a cleaner, so you'd keep the same client in two places and copy details by hand. If you mainly bid on commercial contracts, a general CRM can make sense next to your scheduling tool.
Cleaning software with a CRM built in
For most residential companies the client list inside their booking software is the CRM. Every booking, payment, note and message lands on the client's record by itself, and the follow-ups run from the same data. These are the starting prices of the five options we compared in the best scheduling app for a cleaning business:
| App | Starting price (monthly billing) | Team size at that price |
|---|---|---|
| BookedEZ | $29 | Any |
| ZenMaid | $19 (Starter), $39 (Pro) | Owner only. Each extra user is $4 (Starter) or $14 (Pro) |
| BookingKoala | $27 | Up to 5 providers |
| Jobber | $49 | 1 user |
| Housecall Pro | $79 | 1 user |
The starting price isn't the whole cost. Check whether reminder texts and marketing campaigns are on the plan you'd buy or sold as add-ons, and what each extra cleaner adds. The scheduling app post has those details for each one.
Questions to ask before you pick one
- Can I import my client list from a spreadsheet, and will it message anyone the moment I import?
- Do the client's access notes and preferences show up on the cleaner's job details?
- Can I see every clean, payment and message for one client on one screen?
- Does it show what each client has spent, and which regulars have stopped booking?
- Are review, rebooking and win-back messages included, or an add-on?
- Can clients update their own card and reschedule without calling me?
- What does it cost with my whole team on it?
Moving your client list over
Export your spreadsheet, phone contacts or old software as a CSV file with one row per client and a column each for name, phone, email, address and notes. Clean it up first: remove duplicates, fix phone numbers and delete people you shouldn't contact. Import it, then spot-check a few records. Only turn on automatic messages once the list is right, and only for people who have agreed to hear from you. If you're also changing your booking tool, the scheduling app guide has a section on switching without losing clients.
BookedEZ as your cleaning CRM
In BookedEZ, every client who books is added to your contacts automatically, and you can import your existing list from a spreadsheet without it sending anyone a message. The notes a client leaves when booking go to the cleaner with the job. Each client gets one review request after their clean and is never asked twice. Reports show your top clients by lifetime spend and a "needs attention" list of clients with no visit in 4, 6, 8 or 12 weeks, with a button to send them a win-back email. Reminder texts, rebooking and win-back campaigns and referral codes are included, and clients can reschedule themselves. From $29 a month for your whole team with no per-user fees, and the first 14 days are free.
Common questions
Do I need a CRM for my cleaning business?
You need somewhere that holds every client's details, cleaning history and next booking, and that reminds you to follow up. With a handful of clients a spreadsheet does that. Once you start forgetting review requests, rebooking messages or access notes, move to software that does the follow-ups for you.
What should a cleaning company CRM track?
Contact details, the service address and how to get in, pets and preferences, the service and how often, the price and card on file, every past clean and who did it, what the client has spent, how they found you, and whether they've left a review.
Is there a free CRM for a cleaning business?
General CRMs such as HubSpot and Zoho CRM have free plans, and a Google Sheet costs nothing. None of them books cleans, charges cards or sends a job to a cleaner, so most owners end up paying for cleaning software that has client records built in. Those start at about $19 to $79 a month.
Should I use HubSpot or cleaning software as my CRM?
HubSpot and other general CRMs are built to move leads through a sales pipeline. A house cleaning company makes most of its money from clients who rebook, so it needs client records tied to bookings, recurring schedules, payments and the cleaner's job sheet. Cleaning software does that. A general CRM fits better if you sell large commercial contracts with long sales cycles.
What is the best CRM for a cleaning company?
For a residential cleaning company, the best CRM is usually the client list inside your booking software, as long as it keeps notes and history, shows what each client has spent, and sends review, rebooking and win-back messages on its own. Compare BookedEZ, ZenMaid, BookingKoala, Jobber and Housecall Pro on what they charge for texts and extra users as well as the starting price.
Need more clients to put in it? Read how to get clients for a cleaning business. Deciding on software as a whole? Start with cleaning business software: what you need.