Starting a cleaning business is a great idea. The beginner’s costs are low, and the potential for profits is high. Now that workers are returning to the office and spending less time at home, there is less time to clean and keep up on the chores they used to be able to do during the workday. With the return to the office comes regular cleaning/janitorial needs, deep cleaning and sanitizing services are still crucial for many businesses.
When you’re looking to start a new Small business or startup company, to earn some extra cash, one of the best options is to start a cleaning business. The good news is that there are almost no operating costs, and there’s reliable demand for cleaning businesses. A cleaning business has smaller up-front costs than many other industries. Since little capital is needed, you have an opportunity to start quickly. You have to put in time rather than money to succeed.
Types of Cleaning Business
1. Commercial cleaning: associated with janitorial services for factories, warehouses, retail, and commercial outlets. Perhaps you want to help out business owners in your area by offering commercial cleaning services as a cleaning business. You can narrow this down even further by catering to specific businesses, such as:
- Offices
- Rental properties and foreclosures
- Retail shops
- Hotels
- Restaurants
2. Residential cleaning: private homes and residential apartments. Take the burden off of busy homeowners and renters by offering your stellar cleaning services. You can provide general housekeeping services, such as wiping down appliances and countertops, cleaning bathrooms, and sweeping and mopping floors.
3. Special cleaning: involves special services, such as deep cleaning. Is there something you can offer that would give your business a competitive edge? It’s okay to think outside of the box here. Washing windows, cleaning swimming pools, and steam cleaning furniture or upholstery are just a few examples of what you can offer clients.
4. Vehicle Cleaning Services: Don’t just limit yourself to building cleaning, consider vehicle cleaning and detailing services for cars, and motorcycles as well. If you’re worried about the expense of renting or purchasing a shop, don’t be. Bring your cleaning expertise to your clients! Mobile services are growing in popularity and are more convenient for you and your customers in the long run.
How To Start A Cleaning Business
1. Select A Business Name
According to Forbes research, as a cleaning business owner, just like any new business in the planning stage, you’ll need to put time into deciding on the name of your business and its corresponding logo. Your cleaning company will be around for the long haul, so the name and logo should be something timeless.
You should learn how to choose the right business name properly because choosing a cleaning business name that reflects your services and values while exploring your creativity. After this be sure to hire a good graphic designer to create your company logo so it looks professional.
Remember that reinvesting your profits from your cleaning business back into your company is the key to growing successfully. The profits that you are making should go towards buying more equipment, paying more staff, and advertising more.
2. Register Your Cleaning Business
Before you can launch your cleaning business or startup company, you need to register it. You need a business license to open a company bank account, apply for loans, and pay staff. You must choose a company structure. You should learn about the types of business structures.
You need to pick the right company structure best suited for you regarding liability and taxes. You can choose between a sole proprietorship or limited liability corporation (LLC) to start. The benefits of owning an LLC are that you cannot be held personally liable should an employee get hurt at a job site.
In addition to transporting equipment, you may also need to provide transportation for your employees. But even if you expect employees to find their own way to the job site, a qualified individual from your company should oversee the transport of the materials and make sure they get from the office to the job site. A transportation budget should be an early consideration.
3. Business Plan
No matter how simple your idea may seem, every business needs to have a business plan, and a one-page business plan may be perfectly adequate for your needs. Regardless of its size, though, creating a business plan before launching can benefit you in a number of ways.
More established businesses have revenue, a business credit profile, and meet other lending requirements. Startup businesses, on the other hand, don’t yet have a proven track record but can still acquire funding from some lenders with a business plan, projections, and other documentation.
4. Choose Your Niche
Choosing a niche gives your business a direction and purpose while allowing you, your management team, and your staff to become experts in your field. Your niche helps you determine your target market, marketing strategies, and processes & procedures that help you find and keep new customers.
Providing flexible, customer-chosen options for residential services can be a good niche service as well. Advertising your services to homes with young children is a good way to build up a client base because families need consistent services.
5. Know Your Market
When you’re looking to start a cleaning business, you should research the other businesses in the area and the services they offer. If they’re working in the same market as you, what extra services can you offer? You can also look into offering incentives on your pricing to encourage repeat customers.
Part of your research must include reading reviews on Yelp and Google to see what people’s main compliments and complaints are. If customers want more flexible options, you can fill that gap in the market.
You have to think about every stage of operating your cleaning business. If you hire help you also must think about the employee experience. From day one, you and your employees need cleaning supplies, transportation to and from job sites, and training for specialty equipment.
6. Good Marketing
You’ll want to advertise your services in places where your clients congregate, online or in person. For cleaning family homes, you can advertise on websites like JiJi or put up fliers in local businesses. For commercial cleaning services, you’ll be looking into signing larger contracts with property managers. You can start looking into who owns various properties you think are in need of better cleaning services, and reach out to the owners to pitch your services. Asking what they need and finding a way to carry out that need will serve you well in the long run.
7. Decide on your Service Price
Before publicizing your hourly rates, it’s essential to check what your competitors are charging. Check competitors in the cleaning business based on location, services, target clients, distance to the job site, and whether it’s a one-off job or a consistent client. You can offer house cleaning estimates to potential clients to better understand how much a job will cost before starting. Experts at step-by-step business suggested that a good practice so as to not waste your time is to charge a flat fee for the estimate, and if they book you, credit the fee back to their bill.
