Invoicing software for cleaning businesses

A cleaning company offers cleaning services for premises — private homes, offices, floors, restrooms, windows, vehicles, etc. — as well as supplying materials (hand towels, toilet paper, bin bags, etc.). It serves individuals as well as businesses. Whether you’re setting up a company with employees or starting out on your own, you certainly need invoicing software for your cleaning business to keep your bookkeeping up to date.

Which legal structure should you choose for cleaning trades?

Invoicing for cleaning services as a sole trader

If you’re starting out on your own, the sole trader (micro-entrepreneur) status is perfectly suited to cleaning trades. You benefit from a simplified and advantageous tax and social security regime, and your bookkeeping is lighter.

The drawback of this status is that you cannot deduct business expenses from your accounts. You can work around this by having consumables billed directly to your client. Your cleaning invoices will then only cover your service.

If you don’t want to set up a company to expand your scope, you can work with other sole traders, which lets you take on bigger jobs without worrying about the burden of complex bookkeeping or the charges weighing on your revenue.

Once you exceed the sole trader thresholds, you’ll need to change legal status. You can keep a single-owner structure by setting up an EURL (Single-Member Limited Liability Company) or an SASU (Single-Member Simplified Joint-Stock Company).

Invoicing software for cleaning as a solo entrepreneur

If you start out under the sole trader regime, you need to plan ahead for a change of status once you exceed the revenue and VAT thresholds. For service provision in cleaning, the revenue threshold is €72,600.

The thresholds for VAT invoicing are €34,400 (base threshold) and €36,500 (increased threshold) in revenue. The exemption threshold is the point from which you enter the tolerance range. This tolerance period gives you extra room before switching to the VAT regime. If your revenue falls within this range two years in a row, you automatically switch to the VAT regime in the third year. Once you exceed the increased threshold, you switch to the VAT regime immediately.

Your cleaning invoicing software also needs to anticipate this change of status. With software like Bizyness, for example, switching between thresholds — or in the event of a change of legal status — is very simple. You don’t lose any of your data, and your accounting documents automatically include VAT invoicing along with the new mandatory notices that guarantee the validity of your cleaning service invoices. It then helps you export your data to file your VAT return.

Setting up a company if you want to build cleaning teams

Cleaning trades generally use one of the following two business activity codes (APE codes) when working with companies:

• 8122Z: “Other building and industrial cleaning activities.”
• 8121Z: “General building cleaning (buildings, homes, offices, etc.).”

If you’re planning to manage cleaning teams, you can choose between several legal structures, including: SARL (Limited Liability Company), SAS (Simplified Joint-Stock Company), SA (Public Limited Company) and SNC (General Partnership).

Take the time to study the different structures before deciding on the best option. The consequences affect the type of taxation, protection of your personal assets, the possibility of including your spouse, and more.

The cleaning invoicing software you choose will naturally need to be compatible with the status you adopt.

Your cleaning company’s clients

If you work alone, your client base can be split between individuals and small businesses. SMEs need your services, as do hotels, schools, restaurants, and more. If your company has staff, you’ll be able to take on bigger contracts and larger surfaces.

Industry regulation

Cleaning trades are not regulated. You don’t need any diploma or training to start your business, and you can work with any type of company.

You can also choose to specialize, in which case you may need training to understand the regulations specific to each field of activity. For example, if you work with the medical sector or in nursing homes, your cleaning services are governed by law, which sets out the products, tools and methods to be used.

You can also choose to specialize in window cleaning, vehicle cleaning (private or commercial), building lobbies, and so on.

Certifications related to a cleaning company

While certifications aren’t officially required, some are strongly recommended to help you win new clients.

If you work with individuals, it’s in your interest to register your activity as a personal service (service à la personne). This allows your clients to benefit from tax reductions.

ISO 9000 certification attests to the quality of your services in terms of hygiene. It will allow you to work in sensitive environments such as hospitals.

The European Ecolabel certification — Indoor Cleaning Services — distinguishes higher-quality, more environmentally friendly products and services; the QUALIPROPRE label promotes cleaning trades by showcasing the skills of industry players. These two certifications add value to your sales approach. By highlighting them, you stand out from your competitors and can more easily win contracts.

Choosing invoicing software for cleaning services

Invoicing software for cleaning is one of the tools designed to make your job easier. You need to spend as little time as possible on the administrative side of your business, so you can focus your time on business development and fieldwork.

You should choose a program that’s simple to use to invoice your cleaning services. With an intuitive interface and highly flexible features, you can meet all your accounting obligations in just a few clicks.

Your software should also be useful for your business management. You need to be able to access your client records, sort them, carry out bulk actions, and so on. Bizyness software lets you automate part of your accounting operations (issuing and sending invoices, chasing unpaid invoices, etc.). By pairing it with a tool like Zapier, you can automate other, more customized tasks that support your sales efforts; they help you retain existing clients and win new ones.

In addition, your cleaning invoicing software should offer you all the data export options you need. These documents let you respond to tax authorities when you need to declare your revenue or VAT. They’re also intended for your partners (accountant, banker, etc.), as well as potential future collaborators: investors, partners, and so on.

Finally, hosting your cleaning invoicing software in the cloud is clearly more advantageous than a tool you’d have to download onto your computer. The cloud lets you access your data whether you’re at the office or out in the field, from any desktop or laptop computer, tablet or smartphone. What’s more, you don’t have to worry about backups or renting storage space — everything is included in your monthly or annual plan.

Try out your cleaning company invoicing software!

It’s highly recommended that you test your invoicing software for a cleaning company before committing. A free trial period lets you check how easy it is to use, as well as the full range of its features.