How to get paid for house cleaning when the client isn't home

Why is getting paid harder when the client is out?

Because the person paying you isn't there. Home client: you finish, they pay, done. Away client: you're counting on them to leave cash, remember a transfer, or answer a text in the middle of a workday that has nothing to do with you.

Cash isn't much of a backup anymore. The Federal Reserve's 2026 payments diary found cash made up 14% of consumer payments in 2025, counted by number of payments. In a Pew Research Center survey published in August 2026, 42% of US adults said they don't use cash for any purchases in a typical week. The envelope on the counter is getting rarer for a simple reason: there's nothing to put in it.

Then there's your side. Three or four houses a day. Chasing one unpaid client by text that evening is unpaid work.

What's the easiest way to get paid without the client there?

Send a payment link before you pull out of the driveway. The client gets a text, taps it, and pays from their phone wherever they are, at their desk or in line for coffee, without installing anything or making an account. They see your name, the service and the price. Card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Done.

A good text reads like this example:

Hi Dana, all done for today. Kitchen, two baths and the bedrooms. Here's the link for today's clean: [your link]. Thanks!

Short, specific, sent while the visit is fresh. A client who gets the link while they're thinking about their clean house pays it between meetings. One who gets an invoice three days later has to remember why.

Should you use a fixed-price page or a one-time link?

Depends on the price. Does it change?

On tipme a service page has a set price and its own link and QR code, and neither ever changes. A one-time link is made for a single amount. You can keep up to 1,000 of them open, which is plenty for sending one after every job. More on personal payment links.

What should you leave on the counter?

A small card with two QR codes. One is your service page, for a client who missed the text and wants to pay the moment they walk in. The other is your tip page. That second code matters more than it looks.

Tips are the part cleaners lose most when nobody's home. A client walks into a clean house hours after you left, feels grateful, and has no way to act on it. A card that says "Thank you. Tips welcome" with a code from your tip page fixes that.

Keep two separate pages: a service page for the cleaning, and a tip page with suggested amounts. Your history then shows which money was payment and which was a tip, which matters at tax time. For placement ideas by job, see where to put your tip QR code.

How do you handle a client who forgets to pay?

Assume they forgot, because they usually did. You're in good company, too: in the Federal Reserve's 2023 Small Business Credit Survey, 39% of small employer firms named slow-paying customers as a payments problem. Then make the second ask as easy as the first.

1. Same evening: a friendly nudge with the same link. "Just resending today's link in case it got buried."
2. Next day: a short reminder. Still friendly, still the link.
3. Before the next visit: a clear note that the last clean is still open, sent before you show up again.

Turn on customer details for the service page. Every payment then arrives with the client's name and email. No more squinting at bank deposits to guess who paid.

Can regular clients pay ahead or set up a routine?

Yes, if you both agree. Some clients prefer to pay at the start of the month for every visit in it, and for them you make a service page priced at the monthly total and send it once. Done for the month.

tipme doesn't run automatic recurring charges, so nothing is taken from a client's card without them tapping pay. Some clients like that. Nobody is surprised by a charge.

What does it cost, and when do you get the money?

On tipme there's no signup fee and no monthly fee. Each payment carries one flat processing fee, and for each page you choose who covers it, as of October 2026:

• The client covers it: about 4.1% + $0.31 is added at checkout, and you get the full price.
• You cover it: 4% + $0.30 comes out of what you receive.

On a $120 clean, covering the fee yourself costs $5.10, so you receive $114.90. If the client covers it, they pay about $125.23 and you receive $120. Current rates are on the fees page.

The money lands in your balance. From there it goes to your bank account by standard ACH transfer: free, in 2 business days. The minimum withdrawal is $1.

How do you set it up?

You sign up as an individual with your SSN or ITIN. No LLC, no EIN.

1. Sign up with your name, email and a US mobile number, then verify your identity. Stripe runs the check.
2. Create a service page called something like "Home cleaning, standard visit" with your price.
3. Create a tip page with three suggested amounts.
4. Print both QR codes on a small card, service page and tip page side by side. Download them from your dashboard or the app.
5. Save the service page link in your phone's text shortcuts so sending it takes one tap.

Finish the work, send the link, leave the card. That's the whole routine.

Frequently asked questions