Every Chicago business needs a city license
In Chicago, a business license is required to conduct, engage in, maintain, operate or manage any business in the city, with exemptions mainly for professions already regulated by the State of Illinois. Operating without the license is unlawful, and each location must carry its own.
The limited business license covers most Chicago businesses
Every business operating in Chicago needs a limited business license unless it needs a regulated license under Chapter 4-6, holds a specific Title 4 license, is preempted by state or federal law, or has an emerging business permit. Cleaning has no license of its own in the code, and the limited business license covers most Chicago businesses that fall outside the regulated list.
A home-based cleaning business has extra conditions
Cleaning is a business type that must show a storage lease when licensing a home occupation. A home occupation must be secondary to living in the home, may post no exterior sign, and may have no more than one non-resident employee working in the home. Those are the conditions a home-based cleaning business operates under.
Hiring a cleaner yourself puts you under the domestic worker rules
The second route is hiring someone directly. A domestic worker is defined as a person whose primary duties include housekeeping and house cleaning in or about a private home. That is the person a household hires to come once a week with a bucket and a vacuum. When a household makes that arrangement directly, the city treats the household as the employer for the rules that apply to domestic work.
Households that hire a cleaner directly owe a written contract
The headline duty is a written contract. Chicago requires every employer of domestic workers to provide a written contract setting out the wage and the work schedule agreed between the employer and the worker, in the worker's primary language on request. The domestic worker contract rule is a longer guide that walks through paid leave, overtime, days off and breaks. A cleaning company is the employer of its own workers.
For a household making the arrangement directly, the rule applies regardless of how often the cleaner comes and regardless of what everyone has agreed to call the arrangement. A twice-a-month visit is a working arrangement that falls under Chicago's domestic worker definition, and the same contract rule applies.
Hiring a company and hiring a cleaner directly put different duties on the household under the City's rules.
A cleaning company, or a cleaner you hire yourself
The two routes to a house cleaner in Chicago, with different schedules and different rules behind them.
A cleaning company
- A business license is required to operate a business in Chicago.
A cleaner you hire yourself
- A house cleaner is a domestic worker under the City's code.
- A written contract is required, in the worker's language on request.
- Paid leave and paid sick leave start after 80 hours with one employer in 120 days.
- Overtime after 40 hours in a calendar week.
Sources: City of Chicago BACP, Business License Exemptions; Municipal Code of Chicago 6-100-010, Definitions; Municipal Code of Chicago 6-120-020, Contracts for domestic workers; City of Chicago Office of Labor Standards, Domestic Worker Rights.
Questions to ask any cleaning company
The useful questions are plain ones. The table below is a short set to work through on a first call.
| Question to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What City of Chicago license does the business hold? | Confirms the business is operating under the City's licensing rules |
| What happens on a first visit versus a recurring one? | Shows how the company treats first visits |
| How is the price set? | A per-visit price built from rooms and bathrooms differs from an hourly rate |
| What products do you use, and will you use mine instead? | Covers scent, finishes and surfaces the company might not know about |
| What is the process if something is missed on a visit? | A company with an answer here has thought about it before |
| Who do I talk to if the regular day will not work next week? | Shows how the company handles schedule changes |
A short list of questions covers more than a long questionnaire; listen for how the company answers.
Products, pets and keys
Products are a question in almost every home. If you have a scent you do not want in the kitchen, a finish on the floor that reacts badly to the usual mop solution, or a cabinet surface that comes off with the wrong wipe, say so on the first call. Milder products are an option if the household prefers them. If the household already keeps a short list of products on the shelf, say which ones the cleaner should use and which ones to leave in place.
Pets come next. A big dog that is friendly can still be in the way of a vacuum, and a cat that bolts out an open door is a problem to solve before the first visit rather than at it. Tell the company what the pet usually does when the vacuum comes out, where it will be during the visit, and whether a bedroom door should stay closed.
Keys are the third. If the cleaner needs to come in while you are at work, there is a plan to agree on, with the options sorted out before the day. Building access is one of the things to cover up front, since the arrangements vary with the building: a doorman building, a condo with a buzzer at the entry, a three-flat with a shared front hall, and a single-family house with a key under a planter each have different habits.
What to have ready for the call
The first call goes faster when a few things are at hand. The number of rooms and bathrooms, with a count of the bedrooms if the condo plan calls one a den. The name of the building and the floor, with any front-desk rules you know. What you want cleaned above the standard list, if anything. Pets, by name and by what they do when the door opens. Products you want avoided. The dates and times that would work for a first visit. If the home has had cleaners before, a short note about what the last team did well and what they missed is useful; a company that knows a kitchen was skipped last time starts there this time. Getting ready for the first visit has the longer version of the list.
For a condo or a loft, add the building rules the association sends new residents: service elevator times, where a cleaning cart can wait in the hall, which door the cleaner uses, and whether the garbage room is on the floor or in the basement. Buildings vary, and a building manager who hears the question once knows the answer without checking.
The call itself does not need to run long. Say what the home is, what the household wants out of a cleaning, and what shape the schedule would take if the first visit goes well. The price gets set after the few details above, since a two-bedroom with one bath cleans at a different pace from a four-bedroom with three. For how a visit is priced in general, what moves the price is the shortest route in.
Housekeeper, cleaning lady or cleaning company: same work, different arrangement
A "housekeeper" or "cleaning lady" usually means a person hired directly by a household. A "cleaning company" is a business, and the household's arrangement with the company is between the household and the company. The arrangement is where the difference lives, with who arranges the schedule, who comes when the usual cleaner is out, and who takes the call when the regular day has to shift. A standard maid service visit is one option at a cleaning company, and a recurring schedule is an option after the first deep clean is done. How a call with us goes walks through what we do when a Chicago household first reaches us.
The right route for a given household often comes down to the calendar. A household that travels, that has a schedule that changes every week, or that has a long holiday season each year often prefers a company that handles the schedule changes without a conversation about who covers the day. A household with a steady schedule and a cleaner it knows already often prefers to keep the arrangement direct. The right question is what the household's calendar looks like a year out.