How much to pay cleaners in Canada

Pay is a retention problem first

When Nayan lists what went wrong in Clean Papi's first months, two lines sit next to each other: he underquoted job after job, and some cleaners didn't show up. They look like separate problems. They're the same one. When the price is too low, the pay is too low, and when the pay is too low, the cleaner has less reason to turn up on a rainy Saturday.

Six months later, with the quoting, payments and scheduling running on a system, Clean Papi was serving 167 customers a month. And the thing that limits it now isn't software. In its own words: finding and keeping good cleaners is. That's true of almost every cleaning company that gets past the first year, and pay is the first lever.

It isn't the only one. Clean Papi's no-shows dropped when it brought in a formal process: a trial shift agreement signed before the first shift. Cleaners took the company more seriously, and better cleaners started applying. The training guide shows what goes in one. Fair pay and a real process work together.

What cleaners earn in Canadian cities in 2026

The best public numbers come from the Government of Canada's Job Bank, which publishes wages by region from Statistics Canada surveys. "Light duty cleaners" covers house cleaners (and hotel housekeepers); "janitors" covers office and building cleaners.

Low and high are the lower and upper quartiles: a quarter of cleaners earn less than the low number, a quarter more than the high. Canadian cleaning companies in our research pay employees about $18 to $24 an hour, which sits right in that band.

Two things push you above the median. Experience, obviously. And reliability: a cleaner who can be sent alone to a new customer's home, with the keys, is worth more than one who needs supervising.

Minimum wage sets the floor

Whatever you pay, it has to clear your province's minimum wage for every hour worked. As of October 2026: Ontario $17.95, British Columbia $18.25, Quebec $16.60, Alberta $15, Manitoba $16.40, Saskatchewan $15.70, Nova Scotia $17, New Brunswick $15.90, PEI $17.30, Newfoundland and Labrador $16.35. Several provinces raise theirs every year, often on April 1 or October 1.

What a cleaner really costs you per hour

The wage is only what the cleaner sees. As an employer you pay more on top, and this is where a lot of first price sheets go wrong. In Ontario in 2026:

• CPP: you match the employee's 5.95% on earnings above the basic exemption.
• EI: you pay 1.4 times the employee's premium, about 2.28% of insurable earnings.
• Vacation pay: at least 4% of wages (6% after five years in Ontario).
• WSIB: janitorial work was $1.43 per $100 of payroll in 2026. Your own rate can differ.
• Public holiday pay: nine paid holidays a year in Ontario, which adds a few percent more.

Job costing in More Knocks shows what each clean actually earned after your crew's real hours at their pay rate.

Hourly, per job or a percentage?

There are three common ways to pay cleaners. Each has a catch:

Many companies combine them: an hourly base, plus a bonus for five-star reviews or for jobs finished inside the estimated time. Rewarding speed without checking quality is how corners get cut, so tie bonuses to both.

Travel time between jobs

In Ontario, time spent travelling from one customer's home to the next during the workday counts as working time and has to be paid. The commute from home to the first job usually doesn't. Most provinces treat it similarly. If you pay per job, make sure the total for the day still clears minimum wage once the driving is counted.

Tips

Tips belong to the cleaner. In Ontario, employers can't take or keep tips except in narrow cases like a tip pool. If customers tip by card through your booking system, pay it out on the next pay run. The receipt emails in More Knocks automations include a button to tip the crew.

Employee or contractor: the question that costs the most

Plenty of small cleaning companies pay everyone as a contractor: no payroll deductions, no vacation pay, no WSIB. It's tempting. It's also often wrong, and the CRA decides based on how the work actually happens, not on what your agreement calls it.

The CRA looks at the whole relationship. A cleaner looks like an employee when you:

• Set their schedule and assign the jobs
• Tell them how to clean, with your checklist and your standards
• Supply the products, vacuums and uniforms
• Set the price the customer pays
• Don't let them send someone else in their place

A real contractor sets their own hours, uses their own equipment, can take or turn down jobs, can work for other companies, can hire a helper and carries their own risk of making or losing money.

If the CRA decides your contractors were employees, you can be assessed for both halves of the CPP and EI you didn't deduct, plus penalties and interest, often going back years. Workers' compensation boards can make their own ruling too. If you're unsure, you can ask the CRA for a ruling, or ask your accountant before you hire, not after.

Set your pay and your prices together

Here's the order that keeps both your cleaners and your margin healthy:

1. Look up your local band. Start at or above the median for your region. If you want experienced cleaners, aim for the upper quartile.
2. Work out your real hourly cost. Wage plus employer costs, plus the unpaid gaps and travel.
3. Time your real jobs. Use your last ten cleans of each type, not your best one.
4. Price from the cost. Labour cost times hours, plus supplies and travel, plus your margin.
5. Review it every six months. Minimum wage moves, your cleaners get faster and better, and your prices need to keep up.

If the price that comes out is higher than you'd like, that's useful news. It means the price you were about to charge was paying for someone's job with your profit.

Pay accurately, on time, every time

Nothing loses a good cleaner faster than a short pay stub. Late pay, missing hours, a reimbursement for supplies that never showed up. Each one feels small to you and huge to them.

• Record real hours. Check-in and check-out on site, not a weekly guess.
• Pay on a fixed schedule. Every two weeks on the same day, and never late.
• Reimburse fast. If they bought supplies, it goes on the next stub.
• Give a pay statement that shows hours, rate, vacation pay and deductions. Ontario requires one.
• Remit on time. Payroll deductions go to the CRA by the due date, usually the 15th of the following month for small employers.

In More Knocks, cleaners check in and out in the cleaner app, and those hours flow into payroll, with a pay statement for every cleaner and reimbursements from receipts on the stub. No Sunday-night spreadsheet.

Raises and the cleaners you want to keep

A clear path up the pay scale keeps good cleaners from shopping around. It doesn't need to be complicated: a starting rate, a raise after the first three months once they pass their inspections, and a review every year after that. Many companies add a dollar or two for a lead cleaner who trains new hires and runs a crew.

Money isn't the only thing that keeps people. Cleaners leave over unpredictable hours, long gaps between jobs, being sent across the city for one clean, and not knowing tomorrow's schedule until tonight. Steady hours in a tight area are worth a lot to someone paying for childcare or transit. When you're deciding between a raise and better scheduling, the honest answer is often both.