Methodology

How a figure gets onto the page

Each report is one industry, written for someone opening a first location in the United States. A number is either copied from a page you can open, or calculated from numbers that are.

A cited figure names the publisher, the year, and who was counted. The footnote opens that page.
When two of those figures are divided or multiplied, the sentence shows the arithmetic, such as 41,548 ÷ 67,799.
A price, wage, or startup range you are meant to replace is described as an example in the sentence. The planner starts blank so you can type your own quote.
Two official numbers that disagree stay in their own columns. A receipts total stays off the page until that table has been opened.

Wages, Census releases, shelf prices, and state pages are checked again when they change. The date on the report changes with the words or the numbers, not when the site is rebuilt. The cleaning figures were checked on November 5, 2026. The reports were updated on November 6, 2026.

Corrections
Version	Date	Change
v1	2026-11-06	Cleaning report published. No correction has been issued.

Written by the FlareForge team. When a figure changes, this log names the old value and the replacement.

Citation links go to Census, BLS, state agencies, Angi, ISSA, and Insureon. They are ordinary links. Reports stay free to read.

Cleaning report sources

The same list is on the cleaning report. A link here jumps to the footnote on that page.

Source ledger. Each limit is part of the claim. A link that answered HTTP 200 is still not a quote for your city.
#	Source	Vintage and place	Limit	Audit note
[1]	County Business Patterns: 2023 U.S. Census Bureau · Official	2023 reference year United States	This landing page is not the establishment count. Counts below were read from the bulk file.	Scripted GET recorded HTTP 200 on 2026-11-05. Used for the data-year description.
[2]	cbp23us.zip (cbp23us.txt), NAICS 561720, LFO total row U.S. Census Bureau · Official	2023 United States	67,799 is employer establishments, not companies, and it leaves out operators with no employees. 1,088,193 is employment in this industry, not every cleaner in the country. Do not add legal-form rows on top of the total row. This is not revenue. 2023 is the year retrieved, not a claim that no newer CBP year exists. The Census API was not used.	Scripted GET recorded HTTP 200 on 2026-11-05. The U.S. total row was read directly: naics 561720, lfo "-", fields est and emp.
[3]	May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Table 1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · Official	May 2025 United States	Hourly median, hourly mean, and annual mean are different columns. $37,080 and $38,760 are means. OEWS excludes the self-employed and private-household workers. A wage is not a price you can charge and not your profit.	A scripted GET from the audit environment recorded HTTP 403. The wage rows and column headers were read with a separate fetch on 2026-11-05. Confirm the column headers yourself.
[4]	Janitors and Building Cleaners U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · Official	Handbook page read 2026-11-05; projection span 2025–2035 United States	The $17.71 hourly figure and the $36,840 annual median are occupational. They include jobs inside and outside NAICS 561720. The 2% growth projection and about 321,800 openings a year count occupational openings, including people who leave the job. They are not new cleaning companies, contract volume, or revenue growth.	A scripted GET from the audit environment recorded HTTP 403. The page was read with a separate fetch on 2026-11-05.
[5]	Plan your business U.S. Small Business Administration · Official Audit started at https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business/write-your-business-plan, which redirected.	Page followed a redirect on 2026-11-05 United States	General planning guidance. It does not set a 90-day launch period for a cleaning business and it is not a loan approval.	The requested URL redirected and the destination recorded HTTP 200.
[6]	Launch your business: licenses and permits U.S. Small Business Administration · Official Audit started at https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/launch-your-business/apply-licenses-permits, which redirected.	Page followed a redirect on 2026-11-05 United States	A national entrance to the topic. State, county, and city rules come from those agencies, not from this page.	The requested URL redirected and the destination recorded HTTP 200.
[7]	Employer identification number Internal Revenue Service · Official Audit started at https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/employer-identification-number, which redirected.	Page followed a redirect on 2026-11-05 United States	The IRS application is free. This site does not apply for an EIN for you. An EIN is not a cleaning license and not a state business license.	The requested URL redirected and the destination recorded HTTP 200.
[8]	Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee Internal Revenue Service · Official	Page read 2026-11-05 United States, federal tax	Federal tax classification looks at behavioral control, financial control, and the relationship. A contract title does not decide it. State labor agencies are a separate check. Nothing here is advice to pay cleaners on a 1099 to cut costs.	Scripted GET recorded HTTP 200. The body was read.
[9]	Janitorial Registration FAQs California Department of Industrial Relations, DLSE · Official	FAQ read 2026-11-05 California	Registration is $500, valid for one year, renewal $500. Residential-only cleaning is listed as an exemption. Commercial contracting coverage is broader than "only if you have employees." Do not add $500 to other states or to a residential-only budget by default. This row is not a California sales-tax or workers-compensation ruling.	Scripted GET recorded HTTP 200. The body was read.
[10]	Publication 94-111, Cleaning Services Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · Official	Publication read 2026-11-05. An older publish date on the page does not, by itself, retire the guidance. Texas	Cleaning charges generally involve Texas sales and use tax, with an exception discussed for private household employees. This is not Washington classification and not a national rule. This row does not decide Texas licensing or workers compensation.	Scripted GET recorded HTTP 200. The body was read.
[11]	Coverage requirements Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Workers Compensation · Official	Page read 2026-11-05 Florida	Non-construction employers are generally required to carry coverage at 4 or more employees. Owner-counting exceptions and industry classification have to be read on that page. This is not a U.S. rule that the first hire always triggers coverage.	Scripted GET recorded HTTP 200. The body was read.
[12]	Common janitorial services Washington Department of Revenue · Official	Page read 2026-11-05 Washington	Routine janitorial services and other cleaning services are not the same Washington tax classification. Do not copy a Texas answer onto a Washington return. This row does not decide Washington licensing or workers compensation.	A scripted GET from the audit environment recorded HTTP 403. The page was read with a separate fetch. A guessed shorter URL was discarded and is not a source.
[13]	Cleaning industry Occupational Safety and Health Administration · Official	Safety entrance read 2026-11-05 United States	Use it as the entrance to hazard, chemical, and training material. It is not the source of the job counts or wages in this report.	A scripted GET from the audit environment recorded HTTP 403. The page was read with a separate fetch. Employment figures on that page were not copied.
[14]	Commercial cleaning rates per square foot ISSA · Trade association	Article dated 2025-12-04 General office guidance; sampling frame not published	The $0.09–$0.17 per square foot range uses monthly contract cost divided by cleanable area. Do not multiply it by the number of visits and call the result a per-visit price. The sampling method is not public. This is a trade-association article, not a government census.	A scripted GET from the audit environment recorded HTTP 403. The article was read with a separate fetch.
[15]	Cleaning business insurance cost Insureon · Insurance broker sample	Page updated 2026-10-12, as read 2026-11-05 Insureon customer sample, not a national census	General liability $59 a month, workers compensation $114 a month, a janitorial bond $9 a month, and commercial auto $250 a month are that page’s sample figures. The page uses "average" in places and describes a median in its method; this report treats them as the sample typical or median costs the page published, not as a quote. A residential general-liability subclass is listed at $51 a month and is not mixed into the $59 figure. Do not add a standalone general-liability premium on top of a business owner policy that already includes general liability. A bond premium is not proof that a bond is legally required. These are not government rates.	Scripted GET recorded HTTP 200. The body was read.
[16]	How much does it cost to hire a house cleaner? Angi · Marketplace sample	Article updated 2026-09-29, as read 2026-11-05 Angi national sample of its own projects	National average $176 a visit, common range $118–$239 a visit, and 98,643 verified projects are the article’s own sample claims. Sub-tables on the same page do not collapse into one precise distribution. This is not your city’s price, not revenue you will collect, and not an advertising rate.	The article was read with a fetch on 2026-11-05. An independent scripted GET in the audit environment did not record HTTP 200 (a later check recorded 403).
[17]	Spam policies for Google web search: scaled content abuse Google Search Central · Platform policy	Policy page recorded HTTP 200 in the 2026-11-05 audit and carried forward Google Search policies	Cited as the standard this site is written to meet: do not generate many pages that do not add value. It is not a ranking promise and not a legal opinion.	Scripted GET recorded HTTP 200 during the 2026-11-05 audit.