Paying one person to clean your digs differs substantially from hiring a company. They will be your employee, not a contractor. You must negotiate pay and benefits.

As with a housecleaning company, you’ll want to hire someone you can work with comfortably and regularly. They must understand, and fulfill, your expectations.

The personal nature of your relationship with an individual housecleaner can be problematic. You may feel ill at ease giving orders or voicing complaints. Your employee may feel awkward about requesting a raise, extra pay for special jobs, or time off.

To help you screen prospective household employees and define a satisfactory relationship, the remainder of this article consists of the results of our surveys of subscribers and other local consumers who have employed housecleaning help, guidelines for household employment, and a summary of employers’ legal responsibilities.

Survey of Employers

We surveyed more than 1,000 consumers who employ individual housecleaners. Most have help weekly or biweekly, but some have fewer than one visit a month and a handful have daily visits. Here are answers to some of the questions we asked:

How did you find the housecleaner? More than 75 percent were steered to their employees by friends, relatives, neighbors, or coworkers. The next most frequent source was advertisements.

How did you check out the housecleaner’s competence and honesty? Of respondents who found their employees through sources other than referrals from friends, relatives, neighbors, or coworkers, only about one-third checked their employees’ references at the time of hiring.

How much do you pay? When we asked about pay per visit, number of rooms in the respondent’s home, and number of hours for a typical visit, we found big variations in wages. Some employers pay a rate that calculates out to less than $15 per hour, while others pay more than $75 per hour. On average, surveyed employers pay their housecleaners $150 per visit, which when factoring in hours worked equals about $70 per hour.

What other types of payments or benefits do you provide? About 10 percent of respondents reported they provide or reimburse for transportation costs; five percent provide meals. Ten percent offer paid holidays and seven percent said they provide paid vacation time, but fewer than five percent reported helping to pay for health insurance or offering paid sick leave.

Are you paying employer taxes? A surprisingly small percent (12 percent) of respondents pay the employer’s share of Social Security taxes and unemployment taxes. Fewer than 10 percent withhold income tax.

How do you rate your housecleaner? We asked respondents to rate their employees on doing work properly, neatness of work, promptness/arriving on time, and overall quality. Compared to the average scores from consumers who rated housecleaning companies, the ratings of individuals were, on average, substantially higher.

Do you have an explicit agreement with your housecleaner regarding pay, duties, schedule, benefits, and other aspects of employment? Seventy-five percent had no agreement, and only a handful of respondents had written agreements.

Screening Steps

When recruiting a new worker, always contact past employers and ask about the prospect’s strengths and weaknesses. Describe your expectations, and ask about any problems they may have experienced.

Before interviewing candidates, write out a job description detailing the tasks you require and how often you want them done. If you are picky about certain things, tell the candidate about them during the interview. If some tasks are out of the ordinary, discuss them.
Work out all terms of employment and put them in writing. Discuss and reach an agreement on pay, sick leave, vacations, holidays, hours, and rules regarding meals and rest periods. Also, establish a probationary period: It gives you and the employee the opportunity to back out gracefully if problems arise.

During the probationary period, get acquainted with each other. Be at home during the first visit or two, and explain any peculiarities of your home. As work is completed, discuss any areas of dissatisfaction. Do not let complaints pile up and then bring them up after a month. Be straightforward and honest with criticism and directions.

Legal Requirements

A major disadvantage of employing an individual rather than using a housecleaning service is the added legal responsibilities associated with being an employer.

Verification of Identity and Work Eligibility

When you hire an employee, federal law requires you to complete with them a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). To do so, you must check the employee’s identification or other documents to prove that they are a U.S. citizen or otherwise can legally work in the U.S. The verification form is not filed with USCIS, but you must keep the completed form on file for three years after the date of hire or for one year after employment ends, whichever is later. Download the form at uscis.gov/i-9-central.

Federal Taxes

Federal law requires that Social Security and Medicare taxes be paid for anyone who you pay more than $2,800 per year for household work. In 2025, the employer’s share is 6.2 percent for Social Security and 1.45 percent for Medicare, and the employee’s share is also 6.2 percent for Social Security and 1.45 percent for Medicare. If you employ someone, you are responsible for payment of both your employee’s share of these taxes and your own share. You can either withhold your employee’s share from his or her wages or pay it yourself.

If you pay a household employee more than $1,000 during any calendar quarter during the current year or the previous year, you must also pay federal unemployment taxes. (Do not withhold this tax from your employee’s wages—you must pay these taxes yourself.) The tax rate is six percent of the first $7,000 in wages, but the federal government offers a credit to offset state unemployment taxes (see below) of 5.4 percent, regardless of the actual state tax rate. This means that if you properly pay state unemployment taxes, the effective federal unemployment tax rate is 0.6 percent.

Payments are made annually by completing a Schedule H on your Form 1040 income tax return. Failure to pay these taxes can result in penalties as well as the obligation to pay both the employer’s and the employee’s share of the taxes.

Although you are not legally required to withhold federal income tax, you are required to file forms W-2 and W-3 with the Social Security Administration each year. The Social Security Administration records earnings and sends the information to the IRS.

For more information, see IRS Publication 926: Household Employer’s Tax Guide.

State Taxes

If you pay a household worker $1,000 or more in a calendar quarter, you are required to pay state unemployment insurance tax for that worker. The tax rates vary depending on previous unemployment claims against the employer. New employers should register with the state’s Department of Revenue. For more information, call your local district’s tax office or the Department of Revenue (360-705-6705) or visit dor.wa.gov.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Workers’ compensation insurance covers costs such as medical care and lost wages for workers who are injured, become ill, or are killed on the job. Washington requires only those who employ two or more full-time household workers to purchase workers’ compensation coverage; employers of part-time household workers are not required to purchase coverage. If you employ a part-time employee, you still may want to purchase coverage, since most homeowners insurance policies do not cover claims that would normally fall under a workers’ compensation policy. Without coverage, you could be liable for medical expenses, lost wages, and legal fees if someone is injured while working for you. In Washington, you must purchase workers’ compensation insurance through the state’s Department of Labor & Industries or be self-insured; you may not purchase this insurance through a private company. For more information, check with the Department of Labor & Industries by calling 800-547-8367 or by visiting lni.wa.gov.

State Requirements

In Washington, household workers and other employees earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked, and they can start using paid sick leave after 90 days of employment. Employers must keep records of paid sick leave and provide this information to employees, such as on pay stubs. See the state’s Department of Labor & Industries website (lni.wa.gov) for more information.
The state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave provides paid leave for qualifying life events to employees who work at least 820 hours in a year. For this benefit, employers must collect premiums from workers and file quarterly reports. Find more information by calling 833-717-2273 or visiting paidleave.wa.gov.

As an employer, you also need to collect premiums, 0.58% of an employee’s gross wages, for the WA Cares Fund, a long-term care insurance program for Washington workers. For employer information on the WA Cares Fund, call the Employment Security Department at 833-717-2273 (option 3) or visit wacaresfund.wa.gov.

Seattle Domestic Workers Ordinance

Seattle residents who employ housecleaners or other household workers should review the Seattle Domestic Workers Ordinance, in effect since July 2019, which provides protections for domestic workers.