First Up Cleaning Services hires independent cleaning contractors across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Nassau County, New York, paying $20 per hour during onboarding and $22 per hour on residential assignments after qualifying, with weekly pay and on-call scheduling.
Cleaning Jobs & Careers in NYC and Nassau County
Independent contractor work across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Nassau County. On call, paid weekly, and you're trained before you're sent out.
What the Work Actually Pays $20 → $22
Starting rate | $20/hr during onboarding |
|---|---|
After you qualify | $22/hr on residential assignments |
Pay schedule | Weekly |
Status | Independent contractor — 1099 |
Hours | On call. Assignments are offered as they come in, and you take the ones that fit your schedule. |
Where | Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Nassau County |
On call means what it says. There are no guaranteed hours here, and we'd rather tell you that on the first screen than after you've filled out a form. What we can tell you is that the work is steady, the rate is above what most of this market pays, and the money lands every week.
Open Positions
Two roles, and one usually leads to the other — most of our commercial technicians started here on residential work.
House Cleaning Technician
Residential cleaning in homes and apartments across NYC and Nassau County. $20/hr during onboarding, $22/hr once you qualify. This is where most people start with us — and it's where our commercial technicians come from.
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Commercial Cleaning Technician
Offices, retail, medical suites, and facilities. $22/hr during onboarding, with the rate rising after you qualify depending on the account and the certifications you hold. Most of these assignments go to technicians who've already proven out on residential work with us — but the position is open, and the door is the same either way.
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From Application to Assignment
Four steps. No invented deadlines, no vague "we'll be in touch" — here's exactly what happens after you hit submit.
You Apply.
The form below, or a phone call. It takes a few minutes and we ask for a résumé if you have one.
We talk.
If your experience lines up, someone from First Up reaches out to walk through how we work and what you're looking for.
You onboard — and you're paid for it.
$20/hr from your first assignment. You work alongside a supervisor who reviews the job when it's done and tells you exactly what met the standard and what didn't.
You qualify.
Ten assessments passed, and your rate moves to $22/hr.
There's no calendar on step four. Some technicians clear ten in a few weeks. Others take longer, and if the work isn't there yet, we keep going until it is. You advance when your work says you're ready — not when a date says you are.
You Get Trained, Not Just Scheduled
Plenty of companies will hand you a cart and an address. We'd rather you knew what you were doing.
First Up's onboarding program draws on the same standards we're certified against — OSHA, ISSA, IJCSA, IEHA, ARCSI, and P&G Professional. Chemical handling. Surface-specific technique. The room-by-room sequence that turns a four-hour clean into a three-hour clean without cutting anything. How cross-contamination happens, and why the order you work in matters more than the products you use.
That knowledge belongs to you afterward. It's the reason a technician who starts with us on residential work can end up running a medical suite two years later.
Certified and recognized by leading industry organizations
How Technicians Move Into Commercial Work
Office cleaning, janitorial contracts, medical suites, restaurants, post-construction — those accounts pay more than residential, and they're harder. Different equipment. Different chemistry. Different consequences when it goes wrong.
So we don't fill them from a résumé.
Once you've completed ten residential assignments with us, you're eligible to be invited into the commercial track. It's the same structure you already know — paid onboarding at $22/hr, supervised assessments, and you qualify when the work says you're ready. From there your rate depends on the type of account you're working and the certifications you've picked up along the way.
Applying directly is fine too, and there's a position open for it. You'll go through the same onboarding either way. Nobody skips the assessment, and nobody talks their way past it.
Where the Assignments Are
Manhattan · Brooklyn · Queens · The Bronx · Nassau County, Long Island
Assignments are offered based on where you're able to get to. Tell us the boroughs and towns you can reach comfortably and that's the board you'll see. Most technicians work a tight radius and build from there.
One thing worth saying plainly, because we get asked constantly: this is on-site work. Every assignment happens in a customer's home or a client's building. There is no remote or work-from-home version of this job, and there never will be.
What We're Looking For
- Conversational English
- A smartphone, so you can accept assignments and pull up job details through our app
- Reliable transportation to the areas you've told us you can cover
- The physical side of it — you'll be on your feet, and some assignments involve moving or lifting furniture
- Gloves and a mask on every job, residential and commercial
What we're really looking for is harder to put in a bullet. People who notice things. People who'd rather redo a corner than explain it later. If somebody's home or somebody's business looks better because you were in it, that's the job.
No degree, no certificate required — and previous cleaning experience isn't required either. If you've got roughly a year of it, professional or otherwise, mention it. It usually means you move through onboarding a little faster, but it's not a gate. Plenty of our best technicians started with none.
Why Contractors Stay
First Up has been working across New York City and Long Island since 2015. We're BBB accredited, and the certifications on this page aren't decoration — they're what we train against.
But the reason people stay isn't the badges. It's that the rate is real, the pay is weekly, and nobody moves the target on you. You know what qualifies you. You know what it pays when you get there. You know the assessment is on the work and not on who you know.
We've had technicians start on residential and end up handling medical accounts. We've had people work three days a week for years because that's what fit their life, and that was fine. What we ask for is standards. What we give back is a rate that respects them, and a straight answer every time you ask a question.
Apply
Two ways in. Take whichever is easier.
for information about applying
Or complete the form. A few minutes, and you can attach a résumé if you have one ready. If you don't, apply anyway and tell us where you've worked.
Common Questions About Working at First Up
$20/hr during onboarding and $22/hr on residential assignments once you've qualified. Commercial onboarding starts at $22/hr, and the rate after that depends on the account type and your certifications. Everyone is paid weekly.
No — it's not required. If you've got about a year of experience, professional or otherwise, it usually means you move through onboarding a little faster. But we pay you to learn from your first assignment, and plenty of our best technicians started with none at all. What actually matters is attention to detail, not what's on a résumé.
No. Every assignment is on-site in a customer's home or a client's building. There is no remote version of this work.
Yes. Assignments are on call, so you take what fits your availability. Some technicians work a couple of days a week for years. That's a normal way to work with us, not a lesser one.
An independent contractor. You're paid on a 1099, you set your own availability, and you decide which assignments you take.
Yes — you'll need to get yourself to assignments in the areas you've told us you can cover. Materials for assigned work are made available through First Up.
After ten completed residential assignments you become eligible for an invitation into the commercial track. You can also apply to the commercial position directly — either way, you go through paid onboarding and supervised assessments before you're assigned independently.
Possibly — that's a different conversation from this one. Call (888) 440-3098 and ask about contractor partnerships.
There's no set number of weeks. Qualification is ten passed assessments, so it comes down to how quickly your work meets the standard and how often you're taking assignments.
Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Nassau County on Long Island. You tell us what you can reach, and that's the board you'll see.
Ready to Get Started?
Paid onboarding. Weekly pay. Work across NYC and Long Island.