Domestic cleaning jobs

Domestic cleaning is regular cleaning of private homes: weekly or fortnightly maintenance cleans, one-off deep cleans, and daily cleans for larger households. The market splits three ways. Agencies match cleaners to households and take a cut. Local cleaning companies employ teams directly. And a large share of domestic cleaners are self-employed with their own client list, often built from a handful of agency clients who recommended them onward.

Employed and agency roles in adverts tend to sit near the legal floor of £12.71 an hour, while established self-employed cleaners charge households noticeably more, which is why the self-employed route is the most common progression in this niche. Daytime hours are the draw: domestic work happens while clients are out, making it the school-hours job of the cleaning world.

Work pattern

Daytime, weekday, regular clients

Routes in

Agency, local firm, self-employed

Legal pay floor (21+)

£12.71/hour

Self-employed rates

Set your own, typically higher