Today’s modern family sees both parents working outside the home, schedules full of activities for kids and very little downtime at home. It’s no wonder that many families choose to have someone come in and clean their house so they can simply enjoy it during the time they do get to spend there.
Starting a house cleaning business is an easy way to dictate your own schedule and make an income on your own terms. But there’s a lot more to it than simply buying a broom and putting an ad out for your new services.
Keep reading to get a full guide to starting a cleaning business!
Lay the Groundwork
If you want people to take your new business seriously, you need to as well.
All new businesses need to make sure they have the proper certifications, licenses, insurance, and financial planning to ensure continuing success and growth.
1. Licenses
Most cities and states require a business license to do work within that area. If you’re planning on doing business under a certain name, you’ll want to register that entity with the federal tax administration to acquire an EIN, or employer identification number, and the state secretary as a DBA, or doing business as, name.
2. Certifications
While not strictly necessary in most states, having certifications of some kind within your chosen field of work gives you credibility for potential clients. There are a number of online cleaning certifications you can take for standard janitorial services, with specialty training into areas like green cleaning.
3. Insurance
Since you’ll be walking into and working in people’s homes, it’s absolutely necessary to have business insurance that covers you in case of accidents.
Whether it’s a cleaning product that damages furniture or flooring or something that goes missing in the home that you’re blamed for, covering your small business in case of a lawsuit isn’t just a good idea, it’s critical to keep your business safe. And in many cases, it will be a required measure for larger clients.
4. Financial Planning
From day one, either hire an accountant or find accounting software for small businesses that can help you keep track of income and expenses. You’ll want to be able to take advantage of every deduction you can, from purchasing supplies to the gas money used to drive to different locations.
You’ll also want to figure out how much you’ll charge, either per hour or per service, and what services you’ll offer.
Purchase Your Supplies
Once you have the groundwork laid, it’s time to purchase supplies. If you’ve done your homework correctly during the initial planning phase, you already know your budget, what you need, and any special services you’ll be offering.
The standard house cleaning includes general cleaning and floors. You can offer additional services like laundry, windows and yard care as incentives for your service, but remember to include the additional materials required into your budget.
Standard cleaning supplies include:
- Rags and towels
- Broom and mop
- Vacuum cleaner
- Scrub pads and brushes
- Protective eyewear and gloves
- Cleaning agents
If you choose to include specialty services, like carpet cleaning, you’ll need to look into specialized equipment, like this Rotovac for sale.
Advertise Effectively
You might have the best house cleaning business in your city – but if no one knows, you’ll quickly find your schedule empty.
Home-based services depend heavily on word of mouth advertising. Once you’ve established a loyal client base, you’ll start receiving referrals from satisfied customers who want to share their satisfaction with friends and family.
Until you get to that point, however, you’ll need to get your business in front of people who are likely to need it.
Besides connecting old friends, social media has created multiple ways to advertise on the cheap. The first step is creating a page for your new business and promoting it to your own circle of friends and family. You might garner your first few clients from your own friend list.
Next, create advertisements for your cleaning business from your new business page. For a few bucks a week, you can create targeted ads that will be shown to the demographic you request.
You can select target age and gender, location and even narrow your audience based on keywords and interest to make sure the people seeing your new ad are the ones looking for your services.
Stand Out in the Crowd
Let’s be honest – most industries come with a heavy amount of competition. As a small, home-based cleaner, you’ll be competing with bigger companies that can advertise heavily for their services.
Try some of the following strategies to stand out in the crowd.
1. Consider niches you can fill that set you apart. Offering green cleaning services that only use natural and chemical-free cleaners or additional services like window washing and outdoors cleaning might appeal to clients looking for more than a generic service.
2. Create a signature style that goes above and beyond. Besides offering additional services, having a signature move that impresses clients beyond your cleaning services makes you memorable – and garner more referrals. Think of the reaction a small bouquet of flowers left on pillows of freshly made beds or a plate of cookies waiting in their newly cleaned kitchen will bring.
3. Price your services creatively. Do your research and make sure your prices are competitive. Then, go beyond that and offer an additional service for the same price. If a client sees you offer more bang for their buck, they’ll likely choose your service.
Start Your House Cleaning Business Today!
You know what to do – now get brainstorming and go start your house cleaning business today!
Are you looking for other business articles to help get your new business off the ground and running? Check out the rest of this site for more!
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