Search “house cleaning near me” and you’ll get a mix of companies, and most of them look about the same on the surface: nice website, good reviews, similar prices. One thing that rarely gets mentioned up front is how the cleaner showing up at your door is actually employed. That difference matters more than almost anything else on this list, because it determines whether any of the other protections — background checks, insurance, workers’ comp — actually apply to the person in your home.
Two different relationships
A W-2 employee works for the company. The company hired them directly, ran their background check, trains them, supervises them, and is legally responsible for the work they do. If a W-2 cleaner does something wrong, or gets hurt, or breaks something, that’s the company’s problem to fix — not yours.
A 1099 worker is self-employed. The “cleaning company” in this case is often more like a booking platform or a referral service, connecting you with an independent contractor who runs their own one-person business. That contractor isn’t required to be background-checked by the company that sent them. They’re not covered by that company’s workers’ comp. Their liability insurance, if they have any at all, is their own — separate from whoever booked the job.
Where this actually bites people
This isn’t a technicality. It shows up in real situations:
A cleaner gets injured in your home. If they’re a W-2 employee, the company’s workers’ comp covers it. If they’re a 1099 contractor, there’s a real chance you — the homeowner — could be pulled into a liability claim, because there’s no employer standing between you and the injury.
Something gets broken or goes missing. A company built on W-2 employees has bonding and insurance behind its own people, because it’s directly responsible for them. A referral network of 1099 contractors often has no such backstop — you’re left dealing with an individual, not a company.
The person shows up without warning changes. Companies that employ their cleaners directly control who gets assigned, background-check every one of them, and can tell you exactly who’s coming. Loose networks of contractors can rotate people in and out with far less oversight.
Why companies use 1099s anyway
It’s cheaper and simpler for the company. No payroll taxes, no workers’ comp premiums, no direct liability for training or supervision. That’s a legitimate business reason — for the company. It’s just not a reason that benefits the person hiring the cleaner.
What to Ask Before Hiring a Cleaning Company
If you’re vetting a cleaning company, ask directly: “Are your cleaners W-2 employees, or are you sending me a 1099 contractor?” A company confident in its answer will tell you plainly. One that hedges, or answers a different question, is telling you something too.
Every cleaner on our team is a W-2 employee — background-checked, trained by us, and covered by our insurance and workers’ comp. When something needs to be made right, there’s a real company standing behind it, not a name we handed you and stepped away from.