First let me say this is an awesome forum. I have been lurking for sometime now and its been a great help!
My wife and I have been in the "process" of starting our commercial cleaning business for a while now and have finally got to the point of taking the leap from planning and prep to getting our first accounts. We registered as an LLC, have a 2 mil liability policy, got ourselves quickbooks, and have been doing as much research as possible. I have a few questions for you seasoned vets though that I am hoping you can help with! Any help on these would be great because we are still pretty new to this all.
1. Do you bill at the beginning of the month before you complete the work or at the end of the month after you have done the work? How about quarterly, semi-annual, or annual billing?
2. Do you use contracts? If so what type of cancellation terms are typical?
3. I have seen people suggesting pricing anywhere from 5 cents/sq ft upwards to 15 cents/sq foot. I understand that you should evaluate each job individually and determine costs, profit, etc.. but I am trying to at least know if I am in the ballpark. What is the real average out there per sq. ft.?
4. I have to be honest I am a bit overwhelmed by the amount of chemical manufacturers out there! Any specific brands that you can recommend or have had good luck with? I do have a Waxie distributor near me and a few others. Im also very interested in offering "green" as an option. It seems like its pretty popular right now and I don't think its a terrible idea.
My wife and I have been in the "process" of starting our commercial cleaning business for a while now and have finally got to the point of taking the leap from planning and prep to getting our first accounts. We registered as an LLC, have a 2 mil liability policy, got ourselves quickbooks, and have been doing as much research as possible. I have a few questions for you seasoned vets though that I am hoping you can help with! Any help on these would be great because we are still pretty new to this all.
1. Do you bill at the beginning of the month before you complete the work or at the end of the month after you have done the work? How about quarterly, semi-annual, or annual billing?
2. Do you use contracts? If so what type of cancellation terms are typical?
3. I have seen people suggesting pricing anywhere from 5 cents/sq ft upwards to 15 cents/sq foot. I understand that you should evaluate each job individually and determine costs, profit, etc.. but I am trying to at least know if I am in the ballpark. What is the real average out there per sq. ft.?
4. I have to be honest I am a bit overwhelmed by the amount of chemical manufacturers out there! Any specific brands that you can recommend or have had good luck with? I do have a Waxie distributor near me and a few others. Im also very interested in offering "green" as an option. It seems like its pretty popular right now and I don't think its a terrible idea.