Cleaning Services - business guide
These businesses clean the interior of offices, homes and other premises. It also includes washing the exterior of a building. Dry cleaning services and laundromats also require municipal licensing.
Examples of businesses that do require municipal licensing:
Do
- Housekeepers
- Cleaners
- Residential cleaning
- Commercial cleaning
- Window washing
- Chimney and furnace cleaning
- Pressure washing exterior windows and walls
- Janitorial and caretaker services
- Laundromats
- Dry cleaning plants
Examples of businesses that do not require municipal licensing:
Don't
- Pest control and exterminators
To speed up the business licence approvals process, customers with a myID business account can receive a digital copy of their business licence via email. Customers applying for a new business licence or renewing an existing licence can use this service. To learn more about the benefits of a myID business account, please visit myID business account (calgary.ca).
Rules and regulations
Provincial licence requirements – pest control
Pest control businesses must register with Alberta Environment at 403-297-7602.
Provincial licence requirements – door-to-door salespeople
Certain business activities such as door-to-door solicitation of business services require provincial licensing as a direct seller. Contact Service Alberta at 1-877-427-4088 for details on obtaining a provincial licence.
When applying for your provincial licensing through Service Alberta, you will be asked to identify your business as either a prepaid contracting business or a direct seller.
A prepaid contracting business:
- Solicits, negotiates or concludes prepaid contracts in person at any place other than the sellers’ place of business, and
- Accepts money before all the work is done and/or the services are provided
A direct seller:
- Solicits, negotiates, or concludes sales contracts in person, at any place other than the seller’s place of business
You can present your provincial licence in person at the Planning Services Centre, fax it to the Business Licence Division at 403-537-3034 or email it to licencedivisionteam@calgary.ca.
Fees
For business licence fees, see the Business Licence Fee Schedule. The business licence fee schedule is broken down by licence type. If your business requires multiple licence types, the highest category fee will be charged.
These fees do not include the costs related to required permits to meet land use approval, or any third-party approvals or inspections that may be required to obtain your licence.
Apply
Prepare your application
Once you know how and where your business will operate, you’re ready to apply.
For a smooth application, make sure you know the following information:
- Business Activities
- Location of Business
- Fee payment at the time of application*
- Ownership
- Name of Business
- Contact information for the business and owner
- If you are applying online, a myID account
You will be contacted by a file manager to review your application and provide you with next steps.
Required
| Licence type | Land use | Police | Fire | Health | Provincial | AMVIC | ID card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning service | |||||||
| Fabric cleaning | |||||||
| Contractor | |||||||
| Furniture refinishing | |||||||
| Manufacturer |
Land use approval
All businesses in Calgary require land use approval. Each space in a building has its own specified, approved use that cannot be changed without an approval, permit or both.
To view the allowable uses within a land use district, refer to the Land Use Bylaw. To determine the land use district of a property, visit myProperty.
You can also refer to Commercial, industrial and mulit-residential for more information, or contact our Planning Services Centre at 403-268-5311 to investigate land use approval for your business.
Calgary Police Services approval
This licence type requires recommendation by the Calgary Police Service through the Police Information Checks unit. Approval is completed by the Calgary Police Service and is initiated on your behalf through your business licence application. Please note that previous police checks cannot be used as a substitute for this approval process.
You are required to provide two pieces of valid, government issued identification, one of which must contain photo identification (ID).
You can show your ID:
- In person at the Planning Services Centre:
3rd floor
800 Macleod Trail S.E.
Calgary, AB
- By email: licencedivisionteam@calgary.ca
- By fax: 403-537-3034
Please reference your Business ID (BID) in the email or fax.
Please note: for licenses requiring a statutory declaration or a City-issued ID card, proof of identification must be shown in person.
This approval generally takes about two weeks.
Acceptable forms of government issued photo identification include:
- driver’s license
- passport
- Alberta photo identification card (issued through registry offices)
- firearms license
- Nexus card
- permanent resident card
- Secure Certificate of Indian Status card (federally issued)
- aviation document booklet
- certified refugee protection claimant document
(For youth between the ages of 12 to 15 years old who cannot provide any of the listed photo identification options, a student photo ID will be considered).
Acceptable forms of government issued identification include:
- provincial health care card
- birth certificate
- marriage certificate
- immigration documentation (includes valid document issued by Immigration and citizenship Canada)
- citizenship card
- citizenship certificate
Fire Prevention Bureau approval
Provincial licensing approval
Certain business activities require provincial licensing in addition to your municipal business license. These activities have been identified as licence types on the chart above (see required approvals chart).
Contact Service Alberta at 1-780-427-4088 (or toll free in Alberta only at 1-877-427-4088) and provide details of the licence types you are currently applying for with The City of Calgary. Service Alberta will direct you to the appropriate provincial contact which will provide further direction in regard to fulfilling the provincial licensing requirements necessary for obtaining your municipal business licence.
Provincial licenses must be submitted to The City’s licence division to obtain the municipal license.
You can present your provincial licence:
- In person at the Planning Services Centre:
3rd floor
800 Macleod Trail S.E.
Calgary, AB
- By email: licencedivisionteam@calgary.ca
- By fax: 403-537-3034