Hire a VA · Cleaning Business VA
Cleaning business virtual assistant: cost per quote, per clean and per month
$6.50–$10.00 an hour · $1,040–$1,600 a month full-time
That's the agency example below for a dedicated cleaning business VA working only for you: no recruitment or setup fee, billed monthly for hours worked. Part-time (80 hours) comes to $520–$800 a month.
On this page
- Three receipts for the same office
- What the VA handles, what stays with you
- Price per quote, booking and invoice
- Calculator: your hours and cost per clean
- Cost per clean by company size
- What your crew lead's phone time costs
- The 7 a.m. callout, priced
- A recurring client in VA minutes
- Residential, commercial, turnovers: the unit of work
- Three cleaning companies, worked through
- A full-time week, priced by block
- Hiring cleaners: the admin, priced
- The first year, both ways
- Answering service, booking tool or VA
- Numbers to check every Monday
- The software bill and entry codes
- The extras on both sides
- How the agency example bills
- A 30-minute test before you hire
- The first month
- Cleaning office terms, in one line each
- How to hire one here
Three receipts for the same office
Most cleaning companies don't have an office manager. They have an owner who answers quote requests from a parked car between two cleans, and a crew lead who texts the next client that the team is running late. When owners price help, the usual comparison is a customer service representative (CSR) who answers clients all day, or a receptionist who mostly takes calls and books. US government pay data has both jobs. Each slip prices a full-time employee at the national median, then adds what an employer pays on top of the wage.
Published by Outsourcing Insider, a VA MASTERS company. The agency slip uses VA MASTERS' published cleaning business VA rates, shown because they're public; other agencies' prices vary. About us
Customer service rep, US
Full-time, per month
- Median pay ($44,770 a year)a$3,731
- Paid leave1$312
- Supplemental pay (overtime, bonuses)1$166
- Health and other insurance1$317
- Retirement plans1$116
- Payroll taxes and required insurance1$398
Monthly total$5,040
Per year$60,479
- About $29.08 an hour loaded (monthly total ÷ 173 hours). Can hand keys to a crew and count supplies in the storeroom; a VA can't.
- Benefit costs are the average for private employers with 1–49 workers; your own package may differ.
Receptionist, US
Full-time, per month
- Median pay ($38,010 a year)a$3,168
- Paid leave1$265
- Supplemental pay (overtime, bonuses)1$141
- Health and other insurance1$269
- Retirement plans1$98.32
- Payroll taxes and required insurance1$338
Monthly total$4,279
Per year$51,347
- About $24.69 an hour loaded. The national median across all industries, not only cleaning.
Cleaning business VA, agency example Parent company
VA MASTERS, Administrative & Operations Support
- 160 hours at $6.50–$10.00$1,040–$1,600
- Recruitment or setup fee$0
Monthly total$1,040–$1,600
Per year$12,480–$19,200
- Part-time, 80 hours: $520–$800 a month. 40 hours: $260–$400.
- Card or PayPal payments add 4%; USD bank transfer has no fee.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 median pay: customer service representatives $44,770 a year ($21.53 an hour); receptionists $38,010 ($18.27 an hour); janitors and building cleaners $36,840 ($17.71 an hour). Checked Nov 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, Table 6. Checked Oct 2026.
- SHRM, 'SHRM Releases 2025 Benchmarking Reports' press release (Oct 15, 2025). Checked Oct 2026.
- Agency example: VA MASTERS pricing page, checked Oct 2026.
The CSR slip is the fair comparison when the job includes quotes, complaints and payment follow-up, because that is talking clients through decisions. The receptionist slip fits a narrower job: answering, booking and reminding. One remote assistant can cover both as long as the volume fits in the hours, which is why most small cleaning companies start with one person on a part-time block and add hours as the client list grows.
What the VA handles, what stays with you
Put this table in the VA's first-day guide. It keeps prices, people decisions and promises about your coverage with you, and costs nothing to write.
| The VA does | You decide |
|---|---|
| Quotes from your price sheet: rooms, square footage, frequency, add-ons, minimums | Every price, every discount, and anything the sheet doesn't cover |
| Books, moves and confirms cleans by your rules for zones, crews and arrival windows | The rules: which crew takes which area, how many cleans a day, what gets bumped |
| Logs complaints with photos and offers a re-clean or refund only as your written policy allows | Exceptions, goodwill credits and anything outside the policy |
| Sends invoices and reminders, records payments in your software | Write-offs, payment plans, sending an account to collections |
| Posts your job ads, checks applications against your criteria, books interviews, sends your onboarding paperwork | Who is hired, pay, and whether a cleaner is an employee or a contractor: your accountant or attorney decides that, not the VA |
| Sends the insurance or bonding certificate you provide when a commercial client asks for it | What your policy covers: questions about coverage go to you and your insurance agent; the VA makes no claims about it |
| Drafts review replies in your voice from approved templates | Replies to angry or public complaints before they're posted |
The rule that saves the most trouble is the price sheet rule. If a job doesn't fit the sheet (a hoarder clean, post-construction dust, a 6,000-square-foot house), the VA says "I'll have the owner confirm that price today" and books a walkthrough or a photo review with you. A VA guessing a price is how margins disappear.
Price per quote, booking and invoice
The VA's cost is the rate times the minutes. The minutes below are example assumptions for a VA who already knows your software and your price sheet; time your own first two weeks and replace them.
| Task | What's in it | Minutes (example) | Cost each |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quote request answered | Size, rooms, frequency, add-ons and access asked; price worked out from your price sheet; quote sent from your software | 8 | $0.87–$1.33 |
| Open quote followed up | One call or text on a quote already sent, answer logged, price unchanged | 4 | $0.43–$0.67 |
| New client booked | Approved quote turned into a slot, entry and pet notes added, card or deposit request sent by your policy | 7 | $0.76–$1.17 |
| Reschedule handled | New slot found, crew calendar updated, client and cleaner told | 4 | $0.43–$0.67 |
| Day-before reminder | Text or email with the arrival window, replies handled | 2 | $0.22–$0.33 |
| Job notes for tomorrow (per clean) | Address, entry instructions and client notes checked on the job before the crew sees it | 2 | $0.22–$0.33 |
| Invoice sent | Invoice built from the completed clean, payment link sent, job closed | 3 | $0.33–$0.50 |
| Past-due reminder | A polite reminder by text or email, promise-to-pay date logged | 3 | $0.33–$0.50 |
| Review request | Short message after the clean with your review link | 2 | $0.22–$0.33 |
| Complaint logged | Details and photos collected, re-clean or refund offered only as your policy says, crew lead told | 10 | $1.08–$1.67 |
| Applicant interview booked | Application checked against your written criteria, interview slot sent and confirmed | 5 | $0.54–$0.83 |
| Commercial invoice on contract terms | Month's service log checked against the contract, invoice built and sent | 12 | $1.30–$2.00 |
What the table can't show is the cost of the quote request nobody answered while you were on a job. This page doesn't put a dollar figure on it, because the honest number depends on your average clean and on how many of those people would have booked. Count last month's quote requests that got a reply after more than a few hours, multiply by your own booking rate and average first-year value of a client: that is your number.
Calculator: your hours and cost per clean
Cleaning work is easy to count: cleans a month and quote requests a month come straight out of your scheduling software. Put in your numbers to see how many VA hours the office side takes and what that comes to per clean.
- VA hours a month–
- Suggested block–
- VA cost a month for those hours (agency example)–
- Per clean–
- Same hours at the receptionist slip's loaded hour–
With the defaults, 300 cleans and 60 quote requests come to about 62 hours a month: $403–$620, or $1.34–$2.07 per clean. That fits an 80-hour part-time block with room for the callouts and reschedules the calculator leaves out. Billing is for hours worked, so a quiet month costs less than the block.
Cost per clean by company size
Divide the monthly cost by the cleans the VA keeps track of. Clean counts below are examples; a two-person residential team might do 120 cleans a month, a company with several crews 600 or more.
| Cleans a month | Full-time VA per clean | Part-time VA per clean | US receptionist per clean |
|---|---|---|---|
| 120 | $8.67–$13.33 | $4.33–$6.67 | $35.66 |
| 300 | $3.47–$5.33 | $1.73–$2.67 | $14.26 |
| 600 | $1.73–$2.67 | $0.87–$1.33 | $7.13 |
| 1,000 | $1.04–$1.60 | $0.52–$0.80 | $4.28 |
What your crew lead's phone time costs
In most small cleaning companies the office work doesn't go undone. It is done by the owner and the crew leads between cleans: a reply in the car, a reschedule at lunch, a message to tomorrow's client at night. Here is what that time costs a month per crew lead at a loaded $23.93 an hour (the BLS median for janitors and building cleaners, $17.71 an hour, plus employer costs from the slips), against the same hours from a VA. Minutes a day are examples; 21.7 working days a month.
| Office time per crew lead a day | Hours a month | At the cleaner's hour | Same hours from a VA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 minutes | 5.4 | $130 | $35–$54 |
| 30 minutes | 10.8 | $260 | $71–$109 |
| 60 minutes | 21.7 | $519 | $141–$217 |
The direct cost is only half of it. A crew lead on the phone is a cleaner not cleaning, so the job runs long and the next client's window slips. The owner's own hours are harder to price; put your own figure on them. If you would rather spend those hours selling commercial contracts or checking quality on site, the table shows the cheapest place to buy them back.
The 7 a.m. callout, priced
Ask a cleaning business owner for the worst moment of the week and it is often the same one: a cleaner texts at 7 a.m. that they can't come in, and the first clean starts at 9. Here is one example morning, with one cleaner out and four jobs on their list, in VA minutes:
One callout, VA time
Example: one cleaner out, four cleans affected
- Backup cleaners messaged in your order, one confirmed8 min
- Four clients told and offered a new cleaner or a new date20 min
- Schedule rebuilt, job notes moved to the backup10 min
- Confirmations sent to clients and crew4 min
VA time42 minutes
Cost per callout$4.55–$7.00
- Works only with a written protocol: the backup list in order, what clients are offered, who gets paid what for a last-minute job. You write it; the VA follows it.
At the example 42 minutes, four callouts a month take about 2.8 hours, $18–$28 of VA time. The cost isn't the point; the point is that the VA's shift has to start before your first clean does. If your callouts arrive at 6 or 7 a.m. your time, agree an early start in the hiring brief, because a VA who starts at 9 sees the problem after it has already happened.
A recurring client in VA minutes
Recurring clients carry most cleaning companies, and the arithmetic is simple: a weekly client can book up to 52 cleans a year, a monthly client 12. Each visit needs a reminder and an invoice, about 5 minutes of VA time in this example. Here is what keeping each kind of client costs in office time over a year:
| Frequency | Cleans a year | VA hours a year | VA cost per client a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly | 52 | 4.3 | $28.17–$43.33 |
| Every two weeks | 26 | 2.2 | $14.08–$21.67 |
| Every four weeks | 13 | 1.1 | $7.04–$10.83 |
| Monthly | 12 | 1.0 | $6.50–$10.00 |
Then the clients who drift off. A VA can watch your client list for regulars who haven't booked in the window you set (say 45 or 60 days) and run a short sequence: a personal text, a call five days later, and an email with a comeback offer only if you choose to make one. At about 12 minutes per lapsed client that is $1.30–$2.00 each, or $26–$40 for 20 lapsed clients a month. This page quotes no win-back rates; nobody publishes honest ones for cleaning, and yours will depend on why they left.
A first-clean check-in belongs in the same block: a short message the day after a new client's first clean, asking if anything should be different next time. It takes two or three minutes and catches the complaint before it becomes a one-star review.
Residential, commercial, turnovers: the unit of work
The office work changes with what you sell, and so does the unit worth pricing it by. Minutes are examples.
| Type of cleaning | What the VA does | Unit | VA cost per unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential recurring (maid service) | Quotes, recurring slots, reminders, reschedules, job notes, invoices, review requests | Per clean, 8 min | $0.87–$1.33 |
| Move-in, move-out and deep cleans | Fast quotes from photos and room counts by your rules, booking deposits by your policy, date changes with landlords or property managers | Per job, 20 min | $2.17–$3.33 |
| Commercial and janitorial | Site schedules and shift cover, supply orders you approve, service logs, invoices on contract terms, bid paperwork for your review | Per site a month, 60 min | $6.50–$10.00 |
| Short-term rental turnovers | Checkout calendars watched, turnover booked between checkout and check-in, cleaner and host confirmed, checklist and photos checked before "ready" | Per turnover, 8 min | $0.87–$1.33 |
| Carpet, window and pressure washing | Estimates from photos and measurements by your price sheet, weather reschedules, seasonal campaigns to past clients | Per job, 15 min | $1.63–$2.50 |
Turnovers are the most time-sensitive line. A same-day checkout and check-in leaves a fixed window, and when a guest leaves late, the VA's job is to tell the cleaner and the host at once and move whatever can move. Hosts often have their own assistant on the other side of that calendar; if that is your client's setup, our page on hospitality VA costs covers how that role works.
Three cleaning companies, worked through
Example businesses with example volumes, priced with the agency example's rate:
Owner plus two cleaners
Residential, about 120 cleans a month
- 40 hours a month$260–$400
Per clean$2.17–$3.33
- Quote requests answered while the owner cleans, reminders, invoices and review requests. The owner stops doing the books at 10 p.m.
Residential company, four crews
About 400 cleans a month, some move-outs
- 160 hours a month$1,040–$1,600
Per clean$2.60–$4.00
- Phones and inbox from an early start, crew calendars and callouts, move-out quotes, past-due follow-up, win-back messages, hiring admin.
Commercial and residential
25 commercial sites plus a residential team, two seats
- Clients, quotes and crews, 160 hours$1,040–$1,600
- Billing and contract admin, 80 hours$520–$800
Monthly total$1,560–$2,400
- Commercial clients on net terms, so receivables get their own hours; the in-house operations manager keeps site walks, supplies and payroll.
Other home-service trades run on the same pattern with different units. Companies that run technicians from a dispatch board will find more detail on what an HVAC VA costs and what a dispatcher VA costs.
A full-time week, priced by block
Where 40 hours of a full-time cleaning business VA typically go, and what each block costs at $6.50–$10.00 an hour. Illustrative split; your volume decides the real one.
| Block | Hours a week | Cost a week | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quote requests and new clients | 10 | $65.00–$100 | Calls, web forms and messages answered, quotes sent and followed up, new clients booked |
| Schedule and crews | 10 | $65.00–$100 | Reschedules, tomorrow's job notes checked, callouts covered, crews told of changes |
| Client messages and complaints | 6 | $39.00–$60.00 | Questions answered, complaints logged, re-cleans booked by your policy |
| Billing and collections | 6 | $39.00–$60.00 | Invoices out the same day, payments recorded, past-due list worked |
| Reviews, win-backs and posts | 4 | $26.00–$40.00 | Review requests and replies, lapsed clients contacted, Google Business Profile updated |
| Hiring admin and weekly report | 4 | $26.00–$40.00 | Ads up, interviews booked, paperwork tracked, Monday numbers sent |
Hiring cleaners: the admin, priced
Most growing cleaning companies are hiring most of the time. The interviews and the decision are yours; the admin around them is VA work. One example hiring round, in VA minutes:
One hiring round, VA time
Example: two cleaners hired from one ad
- Job ad posted on the boards you choose15 min
- 40 applications checked against your written criteria80 min
- 8 interviews booked and confirmed40 min
- Onboarding paperwork sent and tracked for 2 hires30 min
VA time2.8 hours
Cost per round$17.88–$27.50
- Job board fees, background checks and any assessment tools bill you separately, whoever runs them.
Where the line sits: the VA checks applications against criteria you write (availability, area, driving, experience) and books the interviews; it doesn't reject anyone on criteria you didn't give it. Pay rates, whether a cleaner is an employee or a contractor, overtime and anything else under employment law are questions for your accountant or attorney. The VA can book the background check through the provider you choose and file the result where you say; the hiring decision stays yours.
Our job description templates are a starting point for the ad, and the interview questions template works for cleaners as well as for the VA.
The first year, both ways
| Line | In-house CSR | Full-time VA (agency example) |
|---|---|---|
| Twelve months of pay and payroll costs | $60,479 | $12,480–$19,200 |
| Average cost per hire2 | $5,475 | $0 recruitment fee |
| Desk, computer, headset | Your purchase | The VA's own |
| Part-time option | Hard to hire for 20 hours | 80 hours: $6,240–$9,600 a year |
Answering service, booking tool or VA
Many owners first look at an answering service or an online booking tool. They bill differently and do different work, so compare them by what you need done, not by price per hour.
| Answering service | Online booking or AI phone tool | Cleaning business VA | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Usually billed | Per minute or per call | Monthly plan, often with a usage cap | Per hour worked ($6.50–$10.00 in the agency example) |
| Hours | Often around the clock | Around the clock | The shift you set |
| Custom quotes | Takes a message | Standard cleans only | From your price sheet, odd jobs to you |
| Callouts, reschedules, crew notes | No | No | Yes, inside your software |
| Invoices and past-due follow-up | No | Sometimes automated reminders | Yes |
If all you need is calls caught after hours, a service or tool can cost less than a person. Plenty of cleaning companies combine them: a VA in business hours, online booking for standard cleans, and voicemail or an answering service at night that the VA works through first thing in the morning.
Numbers to check every Monday
Your scheduling software and phone system already count most of this. Ask for a one-page weekly report. You set the targets; there are no honest industry benchmarks to copy.
| Number | How it's counted | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Quote reply time in the VA's hours | Time from request to first reply, from your inbox or software | Whether new leads hear back while they're still shopping |
| Quotes to bookings | New clients booked ÷ quotes sent | How well the price sheet and follow-up work |
| Callouts covered | Cleans saved by a backup ÷ cleans affected by callouts | Whether the backup list is deep enough |
| Invoices unsent at end of day | Completed cleans with no invoice out | How fast cash comes in |
| Past due over 30 days | Dollar total from your accounting software | Whether collections happen |
| Review requests sent | Requests ÷ completed cleans | Whether the habit holds on busy weeks |
| Regulars past their booking window | Recurring clients with no clean in your set number of days | Whether someone notices before they're gone |
The software bill and entry codes
The hourly rate covers the person, not the software. Cleaning and field service platforms (ZenMaid, Jobber, Housecall Pro, Launch27, Swept, ServiceM8), short-term rental tools (Guesty, Hostaway, Breezeway), accounting and payments (QuickBooks, Square, Stripe), texting and review tools and your Google Business Profile bill you per plan, per user or per message, whoever does the work. Check whether your plan charges for an extra office user before you compare totals. A VA who already knows your platform sits higher in the rate range and needs less time to start.
Cleaning software holds the most sensitive thing in the business: how to get into clients' homes. Alarm codes, lockbox codes and key locations belong in the job notes of your software, where crews see them for that job only, never in a group chat or a spreadsheet. Give the VA a named login with only the permissions the role needs, two-factor login where offered, and no access to bank accounts or payroll. Our guide on giving a VA access to accounts walks through it. Remove access the day the role ends; the client records stay in your systems.
The extras on both sides
| Cost | In-house office hire | Cleaning business VA |
|---|---|---|
| Hiring | Ads, interviews, weeks of your time | No recruitment fee; you interview a shortlist |
| Desk, computer, headset | You provide | The VA's own setup |
| Software seat | Usually one more office user | Usually one more office user |
| Phone line | A desk phone | An app or extension on your business number, so clients see your number |
| Early starts for callouts | Hard to staff before 8 a.m. | An early shift agreed in the hiring brief, same hourly rate |
| Sick days and holidays | Paid, and the phone goes to voicemail | Billed for hours worked only; agree cover in advance |
| If it doesn't work out | A new hiring round | 30-day trial, then 30 days' notice; replacement at no extra cost (agency example) |
How the agency example bills
- Billed monthly after the work, for hours worked only
- Nothing to pay before you choose your hire
- 30-day trial with each new hire: end it right away, no notice
- After the trial, 30 days' written notice
- Replacement at no extra cost
- A one-time advance payment once you choose your hire, credited against your first invoices and refundable
- Recruitment, placement or setup fee: None
- Bank transfer in USD: No processing fee
- Credit card or PayPal: 4% processing fee
A 30-minute test before you hire
Scheduling and customer service skills carry over to cleaning quickly. What you are testing is calm under a broken schedule and respect for your price sheet.
- Quote request (8 minutes): hand over a one-page price sheet and a web form from a three-bedroom house wanting a deep clean, then a weekly clean. Do they ask the right questions, price from the sheet, and spot the add-on the client mentioned in passing?
- Callout (10 minutes): a screenshot of tomorrow's schedule, a cleaner who just called out with three jobs, and a backup list. Who do they contact first, what do they tell each client, and what changes in the schedule?
- Off-sheet price (4 minutes): a caller wants a post-renovation clean the sheet doesn't cover and asks for a number now. The right answer promises a reply from you today and books a photo review, not a guess.
- Writing (8 minutes): a reply to a client unhappy about a missed bathroom, under your re-clean policy, and a polite reminder on a three-week-old invoice. Look for short, warm sentences and no promise your policy doesn't make.
Our interview questions template has more to ask.
The first month
| Week | Cleaning business VA | You |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Learns the software, reads past quotes and messages, answers the inbox with you checking | Logins, the price sheet, the "VA does vs you decide" table, message templates |
| 2 | Takes quote requests and reminders in set hours; invoices go out daily | Check a few quotes a day; fix the sheet where questions repeat |
| 3 | Adds reschedules, job notes and the first callouts under your protocol | Write the callout protocol and the backup list in order |
| 4 | Past-due list, review requests, win-back list; first Monday report | Agree the weekly numbers and targets above |
Cleaning office terms, in one line each
Useful for the job description and for checking a candidate knows the work.
- Deep clean
- A longer, more detailed clean, often the first visit before a recurring plan starts.
- Move-in / move-out clean
- A clean of an empty home between occupants, often booked by a tenant, landlord or property manager.
- Turnover
- A short-term rental clean between one guest's checkout and the next guest's check-in.
- Callout
- A cleaner cancelling a shift at short notice, usually the same morning.
- Price sheet
- Your written prices by size, frequency and add-ons; the only prices a VA may quote.
- Walkthrough
- A visit or video call to see a property before quoting a job the price sheet doesn't cover.
- Re-clean
- A return visit to fix a missed area, offered under your quality policy.
How to hire a cleaning business VA here
Requests from this site go to our recruiting partner, the agency in the example above, at $6.50–$10.00 an hour for cleaning business office roles:
- Tell us the job: residential, commercial or both, crew count, scheduling software, the hours you need covered (an early start for callouts, if you want one) and the work from this page.
- Meet a shortlist: candidates with customer service, scheduling or home-service office backgrounds, usually in about 2 business days.
- Choose and start: nothing is paid before you choose; billing is monthly, after the work, for hours worked.
The trade-offs: an agency costs more per hour than hiring a freelancer yourself, in exchange for screening, payroll handling and free replacement; the first weeks need your time for the price sheet, the callout protocol and checking replies.
More: part-time vs full-time VA cost, outsourcing vs hiring in-house and what customer support costs by country.
Questions people ask about the cost
How much does a cleaning business virtual assistant cost?
In the agency example on this page (our parent company's published rates), a dedicated cleaning business VA costs $6.50–$10 an hour: $260–$400 a month for 40 hours, $520–$800 for 80 hours and $1,040–$1,600 for 160 hours, with no recruitment or setup fee. Reminders, invoices and review requests sit lower in the range; a VA who already runs your scheduling software and handles callouts and commercial billing sits higher.
How does that compare with an in-house office hire?
The US median pay for customer service representatives was $44,770 a year ($21.53 an hour) in May 2025, and for receptionists $38,010 ($18.27 an hour), according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. Payroll taxes and benefits come on top; the slips on this page add them line by line from BLS employer cost data. A full-time VA in the agency example costs $12,480–$19,200 for 1,920 hours a year. A VA can't hand over keys or restock a supply van, so those jobs stay local.
What does a cleaning business VA cost per clean?
Divide the monthly cost by your cleans. A part-time VA at $520–$800 a month costs $1.73–$2.67 per clean at 300 cleans a month; a full-time VA at $1,040–$1,600 costs the same per clean at 600. The calculator on this page works it out from your own clean and quote counts.
What does one quote or one callout cost in VA time?
Rate times minutes. At this page's example times, answering a quote request from your price sheet (8 minutes) costs $0.87–$1.33, and covering a morning callout with four affected cleans (42 minutes) costs $4.55–$7.00. Time your own first two weeks and use your minutes instead.
Can a VA set prices or give discounts?
No. The VA quotes only from your written price sheet: size, rooms, frequency, add-ons and minimums. Jobs the sheet doesn't cover, discounts, goodwill credits and refunds outside your policy go back to you, usually with a walkthrough or photo review booked.
Can a VA handle last-minute cleaner callouts?
Yes, with a written protocol: your backup list in order, what affected clients are offered, and how the schedule changes. The VA messages backups, tells clients, moves job notes and confirms everyone. Agree an early start in the hiring brief if your callouts arrive before 8 a.m.; a VA who starts at 9 sees them too late.
Can a VA help hire cleaners?
With the admin: posting your ads, checking applications against criteria you write, booking interviews, sending onboarding paperwork and booking background checks through the provider you choose. Who you hire, pay rates and whether a cleaner is an employee or a contractor are for you and your accountant or attorney; the VA gives no employment-law advice.
Can a VA answer questions about our insurance or bonding?
Only by sending the certificate you provide when a client asks for it. What your policy covers is a question for you and your insurance agent; the VA makes no claims about coverage, bonding or claims.
Does a cleaning VA work for commercial and Airbnb cleaning too?
Yes. For commercial and janitorial work the VA keeps site schedules, supply orders you approve, service logs and invoices on contract terms. For short-term rental turnovers it watches checkout calendars, books each turnover, confirms the cleaner and host, and checks the checklist and photos. At this page's example times that is $6.50–$10 per commercial site a month and $0.87–$1.33 per turnover.
How do I keep clients' entry codes safe?
Keep alarm codes, lockbox codes and key locations in your scheduling software's job notes, where crews see them for that job only, never in group chats or spreadsheets. Give the VA a named login with only the permissions the role needs, two-factor login where offered, and remove access the day the role ends.
Does the hourly rate include ZenMaid, Jobber or our other software?
No. Your scheduling platform, phone system, texting and review tools and accounting software bill you per plan, per user or per message, whoever does the work. Check whether your plan charges for an extra office user before you compare totals.
Are there extra fees, when do I pay, and can I cancel?
In the agency example there is no recruitment, placement or setup fee and no fee for USD bank transfers; card or PayPal payments carry a 4% processing fee. A one-time advance payment is due once you choose your hire, credited against your first invoices and refundable. Billing is monthly after the work, for hours worked only. Each new hire has a 30-day trial you can end right away; after that, 30 days' written notice applies, and a replacement is provided at no extra cost. First candidates usually arrive in about 2 business days.