Cleaning Business Client Intake Form: What to Ask First
A cleaning business client intake form should capture six things before you ever quote: property details (size, beds/baths, condition), pets, access and parking, the client's priorities, how they found you, and their budget or frequency expectations. Collected up front, those answers let you quote accurately, spot bad-fit clients before they're on your schedule, and skip the four-email back-and-forth that kills half your leads. Here's every field worth asking, plus a phone script for taking intake live.
What should a cleaning intake form capture before the first quote?
Six categories — and if you only remember one thing, remember that every category maps to either a pricing variable or a problem you're screening for.
1. Property details. Square footage (or beds/baths as a proxy), number of stories, flooring types, and an honest condition question — "When was the last professional clean?" is politer than "how bad is it?" and gets the same answer. Condition is the single biggest quoting variable: a neglected 1,500 sq ft house takes longer than a maintained 2,500 sq ft one. This is the data your production-rate math runs on — see how much to charge for house cleaning for that calculation.
2. Pets. How many, what kind, do they shed, and where will they be during the clean. Shedding pets add real time (price accordingly); an anxious dog with no crating plan is a safety question, not a pricing one. Ask both halves.
3. Access and parking. How do you get in — someone home, key, code, lockbox? Where do you park? Gate codes, alarm systems, buildings with service-elevator rules? Every access surprise costs 15 minutes, and a lockout costs the whole visit. Whatever they answer here should match what ends up in your service agreement's access and lockout clauses.
4. Priorities. "If we only had time for three things, what matters most?" Their answer tells you what "clean" means in this house — some clients live and die by floors, others by bathrooms, others by the kitchen. Delivering on the stated priority is most of what drives reviews. It also surfaces add-on revenue: "the oven, honestly" is a menu item, not a favor — that's what your price list's add-on menu is for.
5. Lead source. "How did you hear about us?" One question, huge payoff. Six months of answers tells you which marketing is working and which referral sources deserve a thank-you. Nobody remembers to reconstruct this later; capture it at intake or lose it.
6. Budget and frequency expectations. Are they after a one-time deep clean or recurring service? Do they have a number in mind? Not everyone answers the budget question, and that's fine — the ones who do save you a mismatched quote. And "recurring biweekly" versus "one-time before my in-laws visit" are different businesses at different prices.
How does a good intake form prevent bad clients?
By making red flags visible before you've spent a drive, a walkthrough, and a first clean finding them the hard way. After growing a route-based service company to 5,000 clients, I can tell you the expensive clients almost always announced themselves at intake — we just weren't listening.
What intake filters catch:
- The mismatch client. Their budget expectation and their 3,200 sq ft, four-dog, "hasn't been cleaned since spring" house don't intersect. Better to learn that in a form than in a driveway.
- The vague-access client. Can't say how you'll get in, doesn't want a lockbox, "just call me that morning." This person is your future lockout fee dispute.
- The everything-is-a-priority client. Refuses to name what matters most because all of it must be perfect, at the standard price. Priorities question left blank or answered with "everything" — proceed with eyes open.
- The price-only shopper. Skips every question except cost. Sometimes fine, often the client who churns for a $10 cheaper quote in month two.
None of these are automatic declines — you decide where your lines are. The point is that the form gives you the information while you still have all your options: quote higher, add conditions, or pass politely. A half-decent intake form is the cheapest client-screening tool you'll ever own.
How is commercial intake different from residential?
Residential intake profiles a home and its owner; commercial intake profiles a building and its decision chain. Same idea, different fields:
| Intake area | Residential | Commercial |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Sq ft or beds/baths | Sq ft per area type (offices, restrooms, break rooms, lobby) |
| Contact | The homeowner, usually the decider | Contact person vs. decision-maker vs. who signs — often three people |
| Timing | Daytime visits, client preference | After-hours windows, business hours to work around |
| Access | Key, code, lockbox | Alarm codes, security/check-in procedures, keyholder protocol |
| Frequency | Weekly / biweekly / monthly | Task-by-frequency schedule (daily trash, weekly floors, monthly windows) |
| Special factors | Pets, kids, valuables | Restroom count and traffic, consumables restocking, current vendor and why they're leaving |
| Budget | Frequency and rough budget | Current contract price if they'll share it, and their bid timeline |
Two commercial questions that earn their place: "Who else is bidding?" (calibrates how you present) and "Why is the current vendor leaving?" (the answer is sometimes a warning about the client, not the vendor). Commercial intake feeds a walkthrough and a formal bid rather than an instant quote — but the form is what makes the walkthrough efficient.
What fields belong on the intake form? (Printable checklist)
Use this as your field list — residential version, with the commercial extras noted above:
- Full name, phone, email, service address
- How they heard about you (lead source)
- Home size (sq ft) and/or beds and baths
- Number of stories; flooring types
- Last professional clean / general condition
- One-time or recurring? Desired frequency
- Requested clean type (standard / deep / move-out)
- Top three priorities in the home
- Add-on interests (oven, fridge, interior windows, laundry)
- Pets: number, type, shedding, location during clean
- Access method (home / key / code / lockbox) and parking notes
- Alarm system? Gate code? Anything a stranger should know before entering
- Areas or items that are off-limits or fragile
- Product sensitivities or preferences (scents, allergies, eco-only)
- Preferred days/times and any scheduling constraints
- Budget expectation (optional but ask)
- Anything else we should know? (free text — this field catches everything the form missed)
Seventeen fields sounds like a lot; it's a five-minute form, and every field either changes the price or prevents a problem. Nothing on that list is decorative.
How do you take intake over the phone? (Mini script)
Half your leads will call instead of filling out a form — so keep the form open and drive the same fields conversationally. A shape that works:
Open: "Thanks for calling — I'd love to get you a quote. Mind if I ask a few quick questions so the number I give you is actually accurate?" (Everyone says yes. You've just gotten permission to run intake.)
Property: "Tell me about the place — roughly how many square feet, or how many beds and baths? ... How many floors? ... When did it last have a professional clean?"
Pets and access: "Any pets I should know about? ... And on cleaning day, how would we get in — will someone be home?"
Priorities: "If we only had time to make three things perfect, what would they be?"
Frequency: "Are you thinking one-time, or regular service — weekly, biweekly?"
Lead source: "And how'd you hear about us?"
Close: "Great — based on that, you're looking at roughly [range]. I'll firm that up and text you the exact quote today. What's the best number?"
Quoting a range on the call and firming it in writing keeps you honest with yourself — no getting talked into a number mid-conversation — and gives them something concrete immediately. Log the answers into the same form the website uses, so every client has an intake record no matter how they arrived.
FAQ
Should the intake form be online, paper, or phone-based? All three, feeding one format. Online form on the website, the same form open in front of you for phone leads, printed copies for walkthroughs. The medium doesn't matter; the consistency does.
Won't a long form scare off leads? A 17-field form converts worse than a 3-field form — and quotes far better. A workable compromise: short form to capture the lead (name, contact, size, frequency), full intake on the follow-up call. Just don't quote firm prices from the short version.
Should I ask for budget directly? Ask softly — "Do you have a budget in mind?" — and make it optional. Some clients answer, some don't; the answers you do get prevent the worst mismatches. Never let a blank budget field stop a quote.
Do I need a separate commercial intake form? Yes. The overlap is smaller than it looks — decision chain, after-hours access, task frequencies, and consumables have no residential equivalent. Two forms, each shorter, beats one bloated form.
What happens to the intake info after the quote? It becomes the job file: the quote is built from it, the access notes go to whoever cleans, and the priorities list becomes your quality checklist for that house. Intake isn't paperwork before the real work — it's the first half of doing the job right.
The Cleaning Business Starter Kit ($49) includes the client intake form in both residential and commercial versions — plus the quote template, service agreements, pricing calculator, and 10 more files that turn intake answers into accurate quotes and signed clients.