Month end with a pile of invoices
At the end of the month, your cleaners send their invoices: some typed, some handwritten, some a list in a text message. Each one lists the properties they cleaned. Your office checks them against the booking calendar, remembers that one clean was split between two cleaners, adds the hot tub extra for some but not others, and finds that one cleaner has claimed a clean that the calendar says another did.
It takes days to sort out, and cleaners wait for their money while it happens.
Why cleaner pay is so fiddly
Each property has its own cleaning rate, based on size and time. Extras vary: hot tub cleans, pet cleans, extra linen, a deep clean after a messy stay, travel for remote properties. Last-minute swaps between cleaners are common. And the record of who actually did each clean lives in text messages.
The same information is also needed for owner charges, so the office works it out twice: once for pay, once for statements.
What the pay battle costs
Slow or wrong payments are one of the main reasons good cleaners leave, and cleaners are hard to replace in busy seasons. Disputes over what was done take up office time. Owner charges for cleaning can be wrong or inconsistent with what cleaners were paid. And the agency's margin on cleaning is difficult to see.
How we build pay records from the work itself
We generate pay records from completed changeovers, so the calculation happens as the work is done.
- Rate card: each property has a base cleaning rate and any agreed extras, and each cleaner can have their own rates where you pay differently.
- Completed jobs: when a cleaner marks a changeover finished in their app, a pay line is created with the property, date and base rate.
- Extras: extras are added when the job includes them, such as a hot tub or pet clean from the booking, or when a supervisor approves an extra requested by the cleaner with photos.
- Swaps and splits: if a job is reassigned or split between cleaners, the pay line follows who actually completed it.
- Cleaner statement: each cleaner sees their running total and job list for the period, and can raise a query on any line before the pay run.
- Accounts and owner charges: approved totals are passed to Xero or your accounts system for payment, and the matching cleaning charges flow into owner statements.
| Pay item | Created from | Approved by |
|---|---|---|
| Base clean | Changeover marked complete | Automatic |
| Hot tub or pet extra | Booking details or job type | Automatic |
| Deep clean after a messy stay | Cleaner request with photos | Supervisor |
| Travel to remote properties | Property travel rule | Automatic, as agreed |
Month end afterwards
There is no pile of invoices to reconcile. Cleaners see what they are owed as they go and query anything straight away. The office approves a short list of extras and runs the payments. Owner cleaning charges match the work done. And your agency can see the cost and charge for cleaning per property.
Where your cleaners need to issue their own invoices, the statement can be produced as a self-billing style document or a summary for them to copy, whichever your accountant prefers.
Does this sound like your month end?
- Cleaners send invoices in all sorts of formats.
- Office staff check cleaner invoices against the booking calendar by hand.
- Extras such as hot tub or pet cleans are applied inconsistently.
- Cleaners have been paid late because of disputes.
- Owner cleaning charges and cleaner pay are calculated separately.