How to start a cleaning business in Kenya
Updated 24 October 2026
Start a cleaning business in Kenya with a few services you do well (homes, sofas and carpets, offices), basic equipment, a small team, and prices per seat, per square metre or per room; win repeat work with office contracts billed monthly.
Choose your services
Begin with two or three: home cleaning, sofa and carpet cleaning, and office cleaning are the most asked for. Fumigation needs a PCPB licence (see the permits guide).
Equipment to start
- An extraction machine for sofas and carpets (the biggest cost).
- A vacuum cleaner, buckets, brushes, microfibre cloths and mops.
- Cleaning products, gloves and overalls for each person.
- A way to move: a motorbike or a hired car for each job.
Price each job the same way
Quote each service by its unit (a sofa seat, a square metre of carpet, a room), add materials and transport as their own lines, and ask for a deposit on bigger jobs. Customers trust a quote they can read.
Win repeat work
Offices, schools and estates want the same cleaning every week. A contract with monthly statements turns one-off jobs into steady income.
Fuahub runs quotes, jobs, teams on their phones, before and after photos and monthly statements, from KSh 1,500 a month.
Questions
How much does it cost to start a cleaning business in Kenya?
It depends mostly on the extraction machine; basic tools and products cost far less, and many start by hiring the machine per job.
How do I price sofa cleaning?
Per seat, with transport added; the cleaning quote calculator works it out.
How do I get office cleaning contracts?
Visit offices near you with a clear monthly price, offer a first clean at a fair price, and send a statement every month.