The domestic cleaning businesses we sell are home cleaning agencies and owner-run teams with regular weekly or fortnightly household clients.
Recent sales and businesses under offer. We keep every business anonymous, so names and towns are left out and the photos are for illustration. New instructions go to buyers on our register before they are advertised anywhere else.
Window cleaning contractor for offices, retail parks and multi-site commercial properties, 15 years trading with 8 staff, 5 vans and 110 clients. Dense rounds, long-standing accounts and a team leader running the day to day brought 17 enquiries and 4 offers, and a regional facilities services company paid cash on completion.
Daily office cleaning and washroom services for 32 commercial clients, 12 years trading with 24 staff. Multi-year client relationships, reliable site supervisors and an owner who was not tied to the day to day drew 22 enquiries and 5 offers, and a larger regional cleaning company paid 90% on completion and 10% over the following year.
Carpet, upholstery and deep-cleaning for 185 commercial and domestic customers, 9 years trading with 6 staff and 3 vans. Strong reviews and repeat hotel and property-management work brought 13 enquiries and 3 offers, and a local cleaning operator adding the service paid cash on completion.
Pressure washing, cladding and facade cleaning, car parks and forecourts for 75 clients, 11 years trading with 9 staff and 6 vans. Commercial maintenance agreements, specialist machinery and trained operatives brought 26 enquiries and 4 offers, and a national exterior maintenance group is now completing its checks.
Factory floor, warehouse machine scrubbing and high-level cleaning for 28 manufacturing and logistics clients, 18 years trading with 17 staff and 7 vans. Established factory contracts and specialist kit brought 19 enquiries and 3 offers, and a facilities management group growing its industrial division is now agreeing final terms.
Most sell for roughly 1.5 to 3 times a year's adjusted profit, meaning profit with the owner's own pay and personal costs added back, and a small domestic business often changes hands in 2 to 4 months. The price depends mostly on how settled the clients and cleaners are, how the cleaners are engaged, and how much of the business still runs through the owner.
You are buying a list of regular household clients with their addresses, visit days, hours and prices, together with the cleaners who look after them, the booking and payment systems, the website and phone number, the reviews that bring in new enquiries, and in many cases a set of client keys held under a key-control system. Clients in domestic cleaning tend to be loyal to their own cleaner more than to the company name, so the business is only as settled as its cleaning team, and the best domestic businesses for sale have cleaners who have stayed with the same households for years.
This table shows the two ways domestic cleaning businesses usually engage their cleaners and what a buyer should check under each.
| Model | How it works | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Employed cleaners | The business employs the cleaners, pays them through payroll and charges clients for each visit | Pay at or above the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026, paid travel time between homes where it applies, holiday pay, pension enrolment and employers' liability insurance |
| Self-employed cleaners (agency model) | The business introduces self-employed cleaners to clients and earns a fee or margin on each hour | Written agreements, whether the cleaners are genuinely self-employed in practice, and how easily a cleaner could take clients with them |
Under the employed model the cleaners transfer to a new owner under the TUPE regulations in an asset sale, while under the agency model the profit margin per hour is usually lower and the business depends on cleaners choosing to stay, so both models can work well as long as you understand which one you are buying and price it accordingly.
Owner-run domestic cleaning businesses are usually priced on adjusted profit and often sell for roughly 1.5 to 3 times that figure, so a business making £45,000 of adjusted profit would typically be priced between £67,500 and £135,000. Buyers pay towards the top of that range for long-standing clients on weekly or fortnightly visits, settled cleaners, a supervisor who runs the rota, card or direct debit payments and prices that already reflect the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour. They pay towards the bottom for businesses where the owner does much of the cleaning, clients pay cash, many visits are one-off cleans, or several clients could follow a single cleaner if they left.
Smaller domestic businesses are often bought largely with the buyer's own cash, with the seller agreeing to take part of the price over an agreed period after the sale, known as deferred consideration, which keeps the seller involved in introducing you to clients and cleaners. Larger agencies can also be funded with bank lending on ordinary terms or under the government-backed Growth Guarantee Scheme, where the bank receives a partial government guarantee and you remain fully responsible for the loan, and lenders will want to see steady regular clients and profit that covers the repayments comfortably.
We send an anonymous summary first, share the name and sales pack once you agree to our confidentiality terms, arrange for you to meet the owner, take your offer to the seller and stay involved until the money is paid and the handover is done. Domestic businesses are often bought by first-time owners leaving corporate jobs and by cleaning companies expanding into nearby towns, so if you are either, register as a buyer with your area and budget and we will contact you when something suitable comes in, usually before it reaches the portals. You can also browse all cleaning businesses for sale or read our guide to buying a cleaning business.
Owner-run domestic cleaning businesses often sell for roughly 1.5 to 3 times a year's adjusted profit. A business making £40,000 of adjusted profit would usually be priced between £60,000 and £120,000. Settled clients and cleaners push the price up, while heavy reliance on the owner pulls it down.
Usually yes, since domestic clients tend to be loyal to the person who cleans their home. Keeping every cleaner in place through the sale is the best protection you have for the client list. A short introduction from the seller to each household helps as well.
No, TUPE moves employees across in an asset sale, and genuinely self-employed cleaners are not employees. If the cleaners work in practice like employees, a tribunal could treat them as workers or employees, so check how the arrangement runs day to day. Your solicitor can review the agreements during due diligence.
Yes, if the business already has a supervisor or office manager who handles the rota, quotes and complaints. Owner-run businesses where the seller does much of the cleaning need far more of your time. Ask the seller to set out exactly what they do in a normal week before you decide.
A small domestic cleaning business often changes hands in 2 to 4 months from first enquiry. Larger agencies with employed staff can take longer because of due diligence on payroll and contracts. Having your funding ready before you offer keeps things moving.
Buyers on our register hear about new listings before they are advertised.
