I am going to be starting my own cleaning business and if I have flat rate, charging by the house, how should I pay my employees? :confused:

Do some Market Research.
Check out your competitors plus their prices.

Your employees would probably be working on a hourly wage.

Also remember that as an employee you will need to provide workers compensation insurance. If one gets hurt on the job you are liable for their medical bills and salary while they are off work.

You will need liablity insurance to cover your employees, if they break a vase or damage something while cleaning.

You will be paying them, so you will have to have accounts set up for doing their withholdings ( these funds have to be put into special accounts)
And have to pay your part of the social security/medicare tax

Next if they are using your truck or van, make sure it is for business use and they are covered while driving.

If they are going to be driving their own car, require them to provide proof of insurance since if they have a wreck while working for you in their car you can be held liable for the damage of the wreck also.

And remember to have enough money put back to pay them, even if some of the checks from your cleaning customers bounce or they are late paying.
If you are doing cleaning for business, expect them want it on a 30 day account, meaning you bill after 30 days and then wait 30 days to be paid.
( and then expect about 10 percent to be latter than that)

You can figure on about a 2 percent bad check also

And also sadly using employees, expect some of the cleaning supplies to get borrowed for personsal usage.

Most entry level cleaning people are paid hourly,

Go on a course that is free to get some information on this matter, make sure they know you are the boss,set your stall out straight away,paying by the hour seems the best way,

If you don't need employee's, then don't. Its best to establish the business first, get some houses you will service yourself, and then if you're completely swamped and its impossible for you to get more work, then you hire an employee (if you have a willing family member, then get them first)

If the worker isn't very fast, the more it will cost you out of your profit.
So, every time the worker comes into work a little under the weather, or is having a bad day, then its coming out of the total profit. So, my advice is, you get what you pay for, paying below average ($6-7) isn't going to get you the most motivated canidates.

Seeing as you're billing flat rate, pay average, or slightly above average, and pre-screen every employee with background checks, you want a good employee, not a bad employee who's getting paid good.

You also have to remember, unless you are going to be paying these people illegally (under the table), you have to take out taxes, and get insured and bonded (another big chunk of your profits). Having employees working for you legally is a huge cost, this is why I recommend getting established first, and only hiring when you absolutely need to.

There is no right way (hourly, rate or percentage) to pay residential cleaning staff. It boils down to what works best for your company. Will you be having them drive to multiple job sites, working alone or on a crew? If they are traveling will you be paying them for that drive time and how will you monitor the time it is taking them between homes?

A general rule of thumb is to have 2 months salary set aside before employing others so that you are never in a position where you are not able to make payroll.

Taking on employees is a huge responsibility in an industry where the average turnover rate is over 300%. I would highly recommend that you start your business doing the cleaning and slowly transition staff into your accounts. Visit a site such as Global Cleaning Association where professional cleaning business owners share their experiences and ideas with staffing concerns.

Liability insurance should be purchased regardless of whether you have employees.
Bonding and Worker Comp insurance will be needed if you employee others.

Accounting programs such as Quick Books will figure your tax obligations.