Last updated on January 8th, 2024 at 12:11 pm
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Learn how to start a cleaning business that is successful and make money.
Starting a cleaning business can be very satisfying, and it provides different possibilities for you to grow and achieve financial prosperity
The need for professional cleaning services is continually on the rise, as individuals and businesses seek convenience and efficiency.
With a solid plan and dedication to exceptional services, you can establish a successful cleaning business that exceeds the expectations of your clients.
In this guide, we will walk you through the crucial steps involved in starting your cleaning business from scratch.
Table of Contents
Does It Cost A Lot To Start A Cleaning Business?
The good thing about a cleaning services business is that the expenses for running the business are incredibly low.
You can start a cleaning business from your own home and move your business once you start getting some profit.
When getting started, you don’t need fancy equipment, there’s no need for a loan or any need for expensive marketing.
Hiring an office administrator or a salesperson isn’t necessary, first, you need staff that directly generate revenue like cleaners.
Step 1 Research
When you’re looking to start any business, the first thing you should do is research.
It’s important to understand what your business is all about, only then will you be able to set your goals.
You can start by researching other cleaning businesses that offer the same services in your area.
You need to understand what they are doing successfully and also what they are not doing right.
If there’s a gap in the cleaning business then you can fill that gap.
Step 2 Write Down Your Goals
After doing your business research, write down your goals and what you want to achieve after a specific time.
Have a clear goal when starting your cleaning business, do you intend to do it as a full-time job or as a side job?
You should also decide if you’ll be working alone or if you want to have a few employees.
You can even start as a solo cleaner and later hire employees as your business begins to grow.
Decide if your cleaning business will be specializing in Commercial cleaning or home cleaning services or both.
Write down your business goals because it helps with future decisions, and you can avoid wasting time and making mistakes.
Step 3 Choose Your Cleaning Company Name
When naming your cleaning business, choose a name that sounds professional, easy to spell, and search engine friendly, and it must clearly state or describe what you do.
Make sure to check that your business name is not already registered and this helps avoid any legal issues with using another company’s name.
If your goal is to grow your cleaning business and then sell it, then it’s wise to avoid using your name.
Step 4 Register Your Business
Once you have figured out your cleaning business’ name and checked if it’s available, register your business.
This also depends on the country or state you live in and the laws in place about registering businesses.
Register your business name before making things like business cards or uniforms, this is to avoid any loss in case the name you choose was already registered.
Step 5 Get A License For Your Cleaning Business
Depending on where you are operating your business, make sure you find out if running a cleaning business requires a license.
This is because some places don’t require a license for a cleaning business and others do.
In certain industries, a license is required to show that you are legally permitted to conduct business in your city or area.
So it’s always a good idea to first check with your city to avoid any confusion or mistakes.
Step 6 Get InsuranceFor Your Cleaning Business
Insurance is really important when you are thinking about starting a cleaning business and it’s required if you want to start your business the right way.
General liability insurance is good because it protects you as well as your clients and it’s not that expensive.
Tip: It pays off to buy insurance from well-known companies because it makes your cleaning business look more professional and makes your clients feel protected.
Step 7 Start Marketing Your Cleaning Business
There are many resources when it comes to marketing your cleaning business and it doesn’t have to be fancy when you are just getting started.
As a new business, one of the first ways to advertise your cleaning business is through word of mouth.
It’s good to even start within your neighborhood and you don’t have to drive that far.
Another way of marketing is by giving out a few business postcards to the neighbors of a client you just did a job for.
Supporting other local businesses in your area is great because they will support you in return.
Having your cleaning business name printed on your uniforms is another way of advertising your business.
Your current customer reviews are a way of marketing and there are tools you can use to get your clients to leave reviews after you finish a job.
As soon as you finish and close a job, there are tools that you can use to communicate with customers, they get an email asking them to leave a Google, Facebook, or yelp review.
It’s really important to let your customers know that if there’s something that was not satisfactory then they can let you know.
Ask them to allow you to fix what wasn’t pleasing to them before leaving a review.
Having a website is a great advantage for your cleaning business because it makes your company look more professional.
Take advantage of social media and join your local town groups and when someone is looking for cleaners, you can recommend your cleaning services to them.
It’s important to track how customers found you, this will help you know what marketing strategies work better.
Once your business begins to grow, you can get more clients by signing up on platforms like Care.com, Handy and more.
Step 8 Purchase Cleaning Products
You can now purchase all the other physical products like cleaning tools that you’ll need for your business.
Your work uniform doesn’t need to be fancy, make sure it looks professional, this sets you apart from your competition.
You can buy essential tools for cleaning like cleaning mops and cleaning towels.
Step 9 Learn How To Properly Clean
If you are looking to start a cleaning business, you need to know how to clean properly.
You’ll need to know about different kinds of cleaning products and what products to use on what surfaces.
Invest your time into getting your cleaning skills polished, this is important because you can keep your clients satisfied.
How to price your cleaning services.
Price your jobs based on the amount of work you are going to do, some cleaning companies charge by square footage.
1. Meet with a client first and go through the house that needs cleaning, there’s no need to say your hourly rate upfront because it might scare them away.
2. After checking how much work needs to be done, calculate the hours it will take to clean the entire house.
3. From there add 20-30% more time to give yourself enough flexibility in case something takes longer to finish cleaning.
Most cleaning businesses charge their cleaning services separately, for example, house cleaning, window cleaning, roof cleaning, gutter cleaning, etc.
As a business owner, you always want to be upselling even when the customer hasn’t asked for it.
When a customer asks for a window cleaning quote, don’t only give them a window washing quote, instead quote everything that might need cleaning around a home like swimming pools, roofs, gutters, and more. This is a good way to let the customer know what other services you offer.
Offer clients a discount for choosing bundle cleaning, instead of cleaning just the house, add the roof, swimming pool, etc.
When people search for a cleaning company, they are looking for professionalism, good communication, and responsiveness, and following that will be your price because it will make your cleaning business stand out.
How much money can you make with a Cleaning Business?
Whether you are a solo cleaner or part of a team, the money you make depends on what stage your business is at.
You can make $1000 per day or more but it comes with a lot of hard work, commitment, dedication, and focus.
Mistakes to Avoid as a cleaning business
If you’re a business owner, you are bound to make mistakes when you first get started.
We put together some mistakes that cleaning business owners make and how you can avoid these mistakes as a new business owner.
Even if you do make mistakes, don’t be hard on yourself because it’s not the end of the world.
Things you need to pay special attention to as a cleaning business owner include the following:
Clients Follow up
As a cleaning business, it’s crucial to do customer follow-ups.
You can set up a system where you do period follow-ups with your clients to avoid losing your customers to other cleaning companies.
Checklist
Use a checklist for your cleaning services from the beginning, it helps to get things done faster.
A checklist comes in handy, once you finish your job, you get someone to inspect it and sign off your work.
Having a checklist for everything that you do can save you some trouble and you can run your business smoothly.
Service Agreement
A service agreement is important for your cleaning business and not having one puts your business at a disadvantage.
As your cleaning business starts growing, you will find yourself signing contract agreements with different clients.
As a business, you also need to have a company service agreement contract to protect your company.
Contractors make you sign a contract agreement to protect themselves and you should protect your business too.
The last thing you want is to lose a contract after spending money, you can avoid this by having your clients sign a service agreement.
With a service agreement, you can write down everything you are supposed to be doing for a client in that agreement, if any problems arise, you can back refer to your service agreement.
In Conclusion
Starting a cleaning business is not as easy as some make it seem but the good news is you can start as an individual house cleaner and hire more help as your business grows.
The startup costs of a cleaning business are low, the earning potential is high with hard work, dedication, and consistency.
You can easily grow your cleaning business into a 6 figure business by being professional in everything you do.
The success of your cleaning business depends on the following:
- Always make sure you are being consistent with your business Insuranceand that it doesn’t expire by making payments on time.
- Customers need to feel safe and you need to be transparent and assure them that your company can be trusted.
- Everything about your business will be based on networking, connecting, and supporting other companies.
- As your business grows, you will need to hire more help such as an office administrator and a salesperson.
- You can use software to communicate with your team members because you can’t call or text each other ten times a day.
- Always know that you have to collect data from the very beginning.
Start collecting data that has to do with your cleaning company from the very beginning and this helps you to know what strategies work and what don’t work.
