How to Invoice as a Cleaner in Australia

By Dan Reeve — Working handyman and founder of SMASH Invoices. Built SMASH after losing $1,200 in uninvoiced jobs in a single year. He still takes on handyman work and uses SMASH on every job. About Dan →

To invoice as a cleaner in Australia, your invoice must include your business name, ABN, a unique invoice number, the date, a description of the cleaning services provided, the total amount, and GST if you're registered. Invoices must be provided within 28 days of a sale if the customer requests one. At $75,000 annual turnover, GST registration is mandatory, below that threshold, it's optional.

What a cleaner's invoice must legally include

Every invoice you send as a cleaning sole trader needs these fields:

• Your business name (or your own name if unregistered)
• Your ABN
• The words "Tax Invoice" (only if you're GST-registered)
• A unique invoice number
• The date the invoice was issued
• Description of services — what rooms, what frequency, what extras
• Total amount
• GST amount shown separately (if registered)
• Your payment details — BSB and account number, or a Pay Now link

That's the legal minimum. Miss the ABN and customers can withhold 47% of your payment under ATO rules. Miss the GST line when you're registered and your BAS reconciliation becomes a mess.

What cleaners forget to charge for (and what it costs them)

Here's the thing nobody talks about in cleaning: the extras.

You do a standard three-bedroom house. You invoice $140. Fine. But you also used half a bottle of oven cleaner ($4), a new mop head ($8), floor degreaser for the tiles ($6), and rubber gloves ($3). That's $21 in product you bought for that specific job. Never appeared on the invoice.

Twelve jobs a week. $21 per job. That's $252 a week in cleaning product costs you're absorbing. $13,000 a year. Gone.

Most cleaners I talk to have a flat rate for a standard clean and charge nothing else. That flat rate was set years ago and hasn't moved. Meanwhile the cost of product keeps going up.

There's also the invisible labour: the extra room the customer added at the door ("just quickly while you're here"), the second bathroom that wasn't in the original booking, the oven that turned out to be a six-hour job. None of it invoiced. All of it absorbed.

"You clean for a living. You shouldn't have to do data entry for free."

"I was doing twelve houses a week and invoicing ten of them properly. The other two, I'd forget, or it was late, or I let the extras go. Did the maths with my accountant and I was leaving about $600 a month on the table. That's $7,200 a year." — Donna K., House Cleaner, Melbourne VIC [PLACEHOLDER]

The average cleaning invoice breakdown

Here's what a fully itemised invoice for a standard residential clean should include:

Most cleaners invoice $150 for that job. The correctly itemised version is $235. Not because they ripped anyone off — because they actually did more work and used real product. That $85 difference, across 10 jobs a week, is $850 per week in uncaptured income.

How to invoice a cleaning job in under 30 seconds

You're locking up the last room. Before you walk to the car, hold up your phone and say:

"Three-bedroom standard clean. Oven extra. Used half a bottle of oven cleaner and floor degreaser on the tiles."

SMASH Invoices builds the invoice from that sentence. Your rate for standard clean. Your oven surcharge. The products priced from the materials catalogue. GST calculated. Sent to the customer via a portal link before you've started the engine.

The customer pays from their phone. You see it in real time. No chasing, no Sunday pile, no product costs absorbed silently.

📱 Watch: Cleaning Invoice in 18 Seconds Lock up. Phone up. Invoice sent before the car starts. Watch on Instagram →

Frequently asked questions

Do cleaners need to charge GST in Australia? Cleaners only need to charge GST if their annual turnover exceeds $75,000 and they are registered for GST with the ATO. Below this threshold, GST registration is optional. If you are not registered, do not add GST to your invoices and do not label them "Tax Invoice."

How much should I charge for a standard house clean in Australia? Rates vary by state and property size but typically range from $30–$50 per hour. A standard 3-bedroom clean takes 2–4 hours. Many cleaners charge flat rates per property ($120–$180 for a standard clean). End-of-lease and oven cleans are typically charged as extras at $60–$120.

Can I invoice a cleaning customer via text message in Australia? Yes. You can send an invoice link via SMS. The link must lead to a document containing all required invoice fields — business name, ABN, service description, total, and GST if applicable. Apps like SMASH Invoices generate a secure portal link you can share via SMS, WhatsApp, or email.

What should a cleaning invoice include for a regular client? For a recurring client, include the service date, property address, specific rooms cleaned, any extras performed, product costs if charged separately, your standard rate, and total. A running invoice history per client helps with disputes and ensures you're charging consistently.

How do I invoice for extra rooms or extras a customer adds on the day? Any service added at the door should be captured in writing before you do it, or immediately after. Voice invoicing apps let you describe exactly what was done including extras, so nothing is forgotten. A quick approval via portal protects you from "I didn't ask for that" at payment time.

You clean for a living. You shouldn't have to do data entry for free. Start Free →

Internal links: How to invoice without typing a single word · What is a customer approval portal? · How much are service workers losing on uncharged materials?