On Hometress, a cleaner brings their own supplies and equipment to every visit. That is one line on the cleaner page, and it leaves the practical question open: what goes in the bag? Most kit lists online answer with generic categories. This guide answers from the published cleaning checklist instead, so each item in your kit traces to a line you will be asked to do.
It is a packing guide, not a shopping list. We name no brands and quote no prices: we have no verified prices to give, and your costs depend on where you shop. We read Hometress’s own pages and the two outside pages quoted below on October 29, 2026. Those pages change, so check them.
The short answer
- Bring everything yourself, every visit. The household stocks nothing.
- Build the kit from the 40 lines every tier shares, then add tools only for the extra lines of the tier you take on.
- Make the kit match what households are promised: plant-based, low-fragrance products and HEPA-filter equipment.
What Hometress asks you to bring
The cleaner page answers “Do I bring my own supplies?” directly: “Yes. You bring your own supplies and equipment to every visit. Households are promised professional, eco-friendly products and HEPA-filter equipment, with nothing for them to stock.” The application asks two yes-or-no questions on the same theme: “Do you have your own cleaning supplies?” and “Do you have reliable transportation?”
The household’s side reads the same way. Our FAQ says plant-based, low-fragrance products and HEPA-filter equipment “are the default on every reset, not an upsell.” Our guide for customers on whether house cleaners bring their own supplies adds that there is “no separate supplies charge on the price” and that cleaners work “the same checklist and products in every home.” Your kit is what makes those sentences true.
This guide does not cover pay. The cleaner page is where Hometress publishes that.
Every tier starts from the same 40 lines
The published checklists are an inheritance chain. Standard Regular Cleaning has 40 lines. Standard Deep Cleaning is those 40 plus 10 more, Standard Move Cleaning adds 10 more for 60, and Dream Home Cleaning adds 10 more for 70. Our guide to what each checklist tier adds walks through the steps. For a kit, the consequence is simple: the Standard list is the floor under every job, and each step up adds tools rather than replacing any.
Here is the Standard list read as a packing list. Lines are quoted as published.
| Checklist lines | What they ask of your kit |
|---|---|
| “Ceiling Fans Dusted”; “Dust Light Fixtures / Door Frames / Shelves (up to 9ft)”; “Dust Accessible Vent Covers (up to 9ft)” | Reach. The lines run up to nine feet, so plan on an extendable duster rather than a hand cloth. |
| “Vacuum Upholstered Furniture”; “Vacuum Under Bedroom Frames”; “Open Carpet Areas Vacuumed”; “Hallway & Staircases Vacuumed And/or Mopped” | A HEPA-filter vacuum, since that is the household promise, with an upholstery attachment and a slim one for under a bed. It also has to be one you can carry up a staircase. |
| “Hardwood / Tile / Vinyl Swept and Mopped”; “Floors Swept / Mopped / Vacuumed” | A broom and dustpan, a mop and bucket, and a floor product whose label allows hardwood, tile and vinyl, since one visit can include all three. |
| “Clean Entire Toilet / Behind Toilet / Toilet Handle”; “Clean Showerhead, Faucets, and Handles”; “Clean Sink Bowl, Faucet And Drains”; “Wipe Down Shower Curtain, Rod and Rings” | A toilet brush, a bathroom cleaner, and cloths used only in bathrooms. |
| “Countertop Disinfected and Wiped Down”; “Wipe Down Door Handles and Light Switches”; “Wipe Down Refrigerator Front” | A product you have read the label of for what it is meant to do, plus clean cloths. The checklist says “Disinfected”, so the product has to be one that can be used that way and still fit the household promise. |
| “Clean Bedroom Blinds / Mirrors”; “Clean Window Sills / Ledges” | A cloth that will not leave lint on a mirror and a small brush or duster for blinds. |
A few Standard lines need no kit at all: “Neatly Fold & Hang Towels”, “General Room Straightening” and “Declutter of Walking Area”. Do not buy anything for those.
What each step up adds
| Tier | Extra lines to read | What to add |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Deep Cleaning (50 lines) | “Deeply Scrub & Disinfect Bathtub / Showerhead”; “Deeply Scrub Interior / Exterior of Toilets”; “Deeply Scrub & Disinfect Inside / Outside Sink”; “Deeply Scrub Countertop Surfaces”; “Deeply Scrub & Disinfect Stovetop”; “Wipe Down Major Appliances Exterior (2 Max)” | Scrubbing gear: brushes and pads that suit each surface, and cloths for appliance exteriors. This is the tier where scrub gear starts to matter. |
| Standard Move Cleaning (60 lines) | “Clean Interior & Exterior of Oven”; “Clean Inside of Refrigerator (must be clear)”; “Clean Inside Cabinets (must be clear)”; “Clean Interior Windows (6 max)”; “Spot-Clean Baseboards (30-Mins)”; “Clean & Degrease Air fryers” | An oven cleaner, a degreaser, a glass cleaner with a squeegee or a cloth that leaves no streaks, and a detail brush for baseboards. Two of the lines carry “(must be clear)”, so the fridge and cabinets have to be emptied before you can clean inside them. |
| Dream Home Cleaning (70 lines) | “Attempt Removal of Rust, Lime, or Calcium”; “Pet Shed Removal”; “Clean Knobs, Cracks, and Crevices”; “Change Bedsheets (2 bedrooms included)”; “Laundry Wash & Dry (2 Loads)” | A product for rust, lime or calcium (read the stone section below first), a pet-hair tool and small detail brushes. The checklist does not say whose detergent goes in those two loads, and neither do we. Ask us through the contact page before you plan around it. |
First visits often start with a deep reset
Housecall Pro, a software company for service businesses, publishes a supplies guide for new cleaning businesses (Supplies for a Cleaning Business: A Full Checklist, updated October 28, 2026). Its advice: “Buy the core kit first, then add equipment as your jobs call for it.” That is sound, and the checklist tells you what a job calls for.
One detail changes the order. Our FAQ tells households that “First visits often start with a deep reset.” So the first job you take may well be a Standard Deep Cleaning, not a Standard one. The Standard kit gets you started, but add the scrubbing gear before you accept a Deep visit, not after your first one. Wait on the oven, glass and descaling items until you take a Move or Dream Home clean.
Pack for the stairs, not the car
“Hallway & Staircases Vacuumed And/or Mopped” is on the Standard list, which means it is on every tier. Whether you arrive by car or on foot, the kit goes up and down a staircase in your hands. That is our reasoning, not a Hometress rule, but it shapes what to buy: a vacuum you can lift with a hand free for the rail, a tote that keeps bottles upright, and a duster that collapses. Our guide to cleaning a Philadelphia rowhome describes the homes you will be carrying it into.
Two neighbors of this guide cover the parts it leaves out. How to quote a house cleaning job works through the drive and the parking. Safety for independent house cleaners covers chemicals and lifting, which matters once you have a bag of bottles and a vacuum to move.
Match what households are promised
The same Housecall Pro guide says “You don’t need eco-friendly supplies to start a cleaning business.” For a business that sets its own rules, fair enough. On Hometress the products and equipment households are promised are the default, so a kit copied from a general list may be the wrong kit. Before you buy or reuse a product, ask whether you could stand behind that promise for it.
Natural stone is where the product choice matters most. The Natural Stone Institute’s care page, read October 29, 2026, says: “Products containing lemon, vinegar or other acids may dull or etch calcareous stones.” It recommends “a neutral cleaner, stone soap, or a mild liquid dishwashing detergent and warm water.” It also warns that “Many commercially available rust removers (laundry rust stain removers, toilet bowl cleaners) contain trace levels of hydrofluoric acid (HF)” and that “All stones, including granite and quartzite, will be attacked if exposed to HF.”
The checklist does not tell you which homes have stone. “Attempt Removal of Rust, Lime, or Calcium” is the line where a general-purpose descaler can do real damage, so it is the one product to choose with the label in hand rather than by habit.
Where a platform fits
Hometress is a cleaning marketplace in Philadelphia. It is free to join, and cleaners carry their own insurance. If you can say yes to “Do you have your own cleaning supplies?” after reading this list, the application takes about five minutes. If you are still working out how to set up as an independent first, our guide to what to register before your first client is the place to start. Either way, the cleaner page has the current terms.