As one of the largest cities in Canada, Toronto has a vibrant job market across many industries. While housekeeping may not seem like the highest paying job, some housekeeping roles in Toronto can offer surprisingly good wages. If you’re interested in a career as a housekeeper but want to maximize your earning potential, focus your job search on the following high-paying housekeeping jobs available in Toronto.
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Commercial Cleaning
Many of the highest-paying housekeeping roles in Toronto fall under commercial cleaning. Commercial cleaners are responsible for keeping large office buildings, hotels, hospitals, and other commercial spaces spotless. According to data from Simply Hired, common commercial cleaning wages in Toronto include:
- Hotel Housekeeper: $16-22 per hour
Housekeeping roles at major hotels in downtown Toronto generally pay towards the higher end of this range. Hotel housekeeping often involves early morning shifts and can be physically demanding work, but the hourly wages are significantly higher than residential housekeeping jobs. Many Toronto hotels also offer benefits like paid vacation time and occasional tips from guests. - Office Building Cleaner: $15-20 per hour
Cleaning large office towers and business districts throughout Toronto provides stable, full-time housekeeping positions with good pay. Experienced office cleaners with several years under their belt can earn up to $20 per hour or higher. Office cleaning companies typically work evenings and weekends to avoid disrupting businesses during operating hours. - Hospital Cleaner: $16-22 per hour
Hospitals are major employers for housekeeping staff in Toronto. In addition to cleaning patient rooms and common areas, hospital cleaners may be required to sanitize equipment and disinfect against illnesses. Hospital cleaning positions offer competitive wages, benefits, and often union representation for job security and annual raises. Experience in healthcare settings is preferred but not always required. - Event Center Cleaner: $15-25 per hour
Venues like the Scotiabank Arena, Rogers Centre, and Metro Toronto Convention Centre hire large housekeeping teams to thoroughly clean between events. Event cleaning shifts can be long but pay very well due to the high demand around evenings and weekends. Supervisory roles for event cleaning crews may even exceed $25 per hour.
Private Home Cleaning
While individual home cleaning gigs typically pay less than commercial roles, running a successful private house cleaning business can become very lucrative in Toronto. Self-employed house cleaners have the flexibility to serve multiple clients each week and set their own service rates. Experienced house cleaners may earn:
- $20-30 per hour contracting independently
Well-reviewed independent house cleaners in Toronto are able to charge $20-30 per hour for regular cleaning services and deep cleaning. Marketing through online listings and word-of-mouth leads to steady client bookings. - $40,000-60,000 annually running a small business
House cleaners who have built a reliable clientele of 5-10 homes can gross between $40,000-$60,000 running their cleaning operation as a sole proprietorship. It requires self-promotion, but the earnings have far fewer limits than hourly wage work. - Over $80,000 as an established business owner
The most successful house cleaning entrepreneurs in Toronto have developed larger teams of 2-5 cleaners serving 15-20 high-paying clients each week. Annual revenues upwards of $80,000 allow business owners to take on more help or operate other revenue streams alongside residential cleaning.
Supervisory & Management Roles
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Advancing beyond frontline housekeeping into a supervisory or management role sharply increases earning potential in the industry. Supervisors oversee cleaning staff and ensure quality control, while managers handle business administration too. Salary examples include:
- Housekeeping Supervisor: $35,000-50,000 annually
Supervising a shift of 5-10 cleaners at an office tower, hotel or hospital starts at around $35,000 per year in Toronto. Strong supervisors with experience can push their salary to $50,000. - Hotel Housekeeping Manager: $50,000-75,000 annually
Overseeing the entire housekeeping department at a mid-sized Toronto hotel is a salaried management job paying $50,000-$75,000 annually depending on the hotel’s size and amenities. - Commercial Cleaning Company Manager: $60,000-100,000+ annually
Larger cleaning firms employ area or regional managers to lead teams of supervisors across multiple contracts. Managerial roles for these commercial operators often exceed six figures based on the company’s scale.
Specialized Cleaning Skills
While general housekeepers take care of light dusting, vacuuming, and basic sanitation, the highest wages in cleaning go to those with specialized certifications. Workers who gain extra qualifications open up new lucrative opportunities:
- Window Cleaner: $20-35 per hour
Window washing on the sides of tall skyscrapers becomes a highly paid commercial trade. Unionized window cleaners in Toronto often make $20-$25 per hour with experienced leads earning $30-$35 hourly. - Hazmat Certified Cleaner: $18-30 per hour
Hospitals employ specially trained cleaners to handle hazardous spills, decontaminate isolation rooms, and sterilize medical equipment used with infectious diseases. Specialized hazmat certifications are required. - Janitorial and Floor Care Certified: $18-25 per hour
Sanding, refinishing and deep cleaning commercial flooring is a technical role. Cleaners with official certifications in stripping and sealing floors are in high demand at office buildings and urban landmarks in Toronto.
Additional Skills & Training
While not always required, pursuing additional education in areas like business administration, accounting or management can further expand career paths and income potential within the cleaning industry. Housekeepers looking ahead may consider:
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- Post-Secondary Cleaning Management Diploma: $40,000-80,000+ starting
One-year diploma programs teach all facets of launching and operating a cleaning company. Graduates are well positioned for management roles from the get-go with specialized business training. - Trades Qualification in Commercial Cleaning Equipment: variable
Cleaners gaining certification to operate powered cleaning machines like buffing machines, burnishers, and extractors expand the scope of projects they can take on for additional wages. - Language Education: variable
Being fluently bilingual, especially in English and another language like Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish or Italian expands a cleaner’s clientele in Toronto’s multicultural market. Additional languages are an asset. - First Aid & CPR Training: variable
Safety certifications aren’t required for all cleaning roles but demonstrate initiative. They can make a cleaner more attractive for healthcare facilities and other employers prioritizing on-site first aid attendants.
Preparing for High Paying Housekeeping Jobs
For housekeepers seeking higher wages, focus your efforts on continuing education, gaining specialized certifications, and seeking roles with larger commercial cleaning companies rather than individual homes. Some additional tips when preparing for high paying housekeeping opportunities in Toronto include:
- Emphasize cleaning experience on your resume, including acreage/buildings cleaned and responsibilities held.
- Pursue safety training, facility-specific certifications, and building management protocols to demonstrate your ability to clean various property types.
- Contact professional cleaning associations about gaining official designation in your province through apprenticeship hours.
- Consider registering your house cleaning business and obtaining general business licensing to seem more professional for commercial contracts.
- Market your specialized skills on online job sites and networking platforms like LinkedIn to recruiters actively sourcing qualified cleaning talent.
- Cold call commercial building managers and facilities directors introducing your credentials and interest in vacancies.
- Ask current and previous employers for referral opportunities at their affiliated locations or client sites.
- Inquire about paid on-the-job training programs some large firms offer for new hires seeking supervisory coaching.
With Toronto’s thriving economy, proven abilities, certifications, and targeted efforts, dedicated housekeepers have strong chances of rising from hourly wages into the higher earnings categories this industry offers. Commercial exposure creates more earning potential than residential alone.
Toronto’s Future for High-Paying Housekeeping
As one of North America’s fastest growing cities, projections suggest growing demand for quality cleaning services in Toronto for years ahead. Specific industry trends enhancing high-paying housekeeping potential locally include:
- Continued new mixed-use, retail, and residential high-rise construction driving facility openings.
- Increased concern over communicable illness control in healthcare settings boosting specialized decontamination needs.
- Enhanced regulatory standards for green cleaning chemicals and sustainable hygiene practices.
- Population aging increasing home care assistance and senior-focused cleaning support roles.
- Innovation in automated equipment accelerating for floor scrubbers, pressure washers, and microfiber technologies.
- Emphasis on sterilizing public spaces post-COVID to maintain indoor air quality assurance.
- Growing inclination towards outsourcing non-core functions like facilities upkeep to cleaning contractors.
- Urbanization concentrates people in dense downtown cores with vast commercial real estate stocks.
With larger cleaning firms regularly recruiting and massive upcoming developments shaping Toronto’s cityscape, experienced housekeepers committed to skills upgrading seem poised for job stability and wage growth matching the cost of living. Leveraging new credentials keeps cleaners ahead of technological changes too. Overall, the outlook bodes well for high paying housekeeping careers well into the future.
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