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How to start your own cleaning service

10K views 42 replies 31 participants last post by  lisareis47 
#1 ·
Hello everyone,
I stumbled upon this site on accident. Still a bit confused on what's it all about. But if it's what I'm thinking, then I might be in the right place. I'm struggling to make ends meet here in my small town. So I was looking to offer services doing various tasks for my local community in order to make some extra income. Anything from babysitting, house cleaning and pet sitting. I don't work for a company. I don't even think there's a cleaning service in my town. So I'm looking to offer my services on my own. My question is, how do I start? I was thinking about putting up flyers around my neighborhood advertising my services, put an ad in a community-wide bulletin, or use social media, like facebook, to try to gain business. But I think the best approach would be to go door to door and talk with people. I'm a little afraid that some may just find this annoying and I might be wasting my time. Has anyone tried this with success? And another question. How much do you charge for cleaning services? I was thinking a flat rate fee of $50 dollars per cleaning. Or is that too much? I really need the extra income. So I'm sorta desperate here to come up with ideas. Thanks.
 
#4 ·
Oh yes, knew it well back in the 80's. Ok, not well, but I was there :thumbsup:

My ex sister in law's sister lived there.... WOW :yes:

Anyway... Yeah, you are kinda stuck. But I promise you, the 45 minute drive to Cypress would be well worth the trip. You could make $150-$200+ a day if you clean 2 houses in Cypress.

Is that possible to make the drive?
 
#6 ·
Well, let me do a little research. Is Tomball about the same distance?

Before I put any effort in to this..... how old are you? What cleaning experience do you have? Give me a little past experiences. If you would rather pm me the answers that's ok too. Atleast you answered where you are at so you are ahead of a lot of people. There are people from here that want me to help but until I know where they live I have to give generic answers... and I hate generic answers.
 
#7 ·
I'm 32 and living at an expensive apartment complex that I can barely afford on my own so that's why I am looking for extra income besides my job working retail. It's really hard to get decent hours. I still have longer on my lease and this is the only apartment complex I feel safe in which the others are very shady and not much less. I don't have any cleaning experience. I've mainly worked retail my whole life. So I know that might be an issue. But I'm very clean and organized. And I believe Tomball and Cypress are about the same distance but a Tomball might be about 10 minutes further from Brenham.
 
#9 ·
I always get a kick out of the people that come here and ask for help... then I tell them I will help... and they are to never be heard from again. Happens all the time. I think they are using the excuse of not knowing in order to not have to actually do any work. Then when I tell them I will help.... they run because it involves work! :laughing:

There is 1 thing for certain... the house ain't going to clean itself! :)
 
#10 ·
Hi there I am also going to be starting a cleaning business. My husband started it with a franchise named Coverall and that was rather pricey and I hated how much they took in royalties. But anyway, I'm deciding to do it on our own as a husband and wife crew at 1st. The problem is, I know nothing about commercial cleaning and he has no clue about the business portion of the business. I am very business savvy, but do not want to come off as the amateur I am. Please give me some advice.
 
#12 ·
If you can afford it, USPS.gov has a tool that allows you to mail directly to a neighborhood or mail route. If you want to target an area I would suggest doing that. Going door to door might be a waste of your time, most people work during the day and if someone came to my house in the evening asking to clean it I would be turned off right away
 
#15 ·
Hello there fellow Texan. There is always money to be made in cleaning! Good thing is that you are still in a relative small town. So I would say that trust and including getting the good word out goes a long way. You may want to charge at least enough to cover your cost. One person can only do so much. This is a elbow grease labor business. To get it right the first time is very important. Tell your clients what your cleaning specialty is. Don't take on more you can chew. You get busy once the word gets out that you do a good job. Be also efficient with your time. Getting engaged into a long conversation with a client can really compromise your time. Call that meet and greet, this are the areas that we are going to clean and get right onto it. Make sure your write down somewhat of a quote. I suppose it it also important to be careful when it comes to handling items around the house so that they don't break. A friend of mine started his cleaning company in Austin in early 2000 and know has 27 cars with 1 cleaning crew each. Some do it right and some don't see the big picture. The big picture is to be organized and efficient. My 2cents.
 
#25 ·
The cleaning industry has two primary market groups: consumer and commercial. The consumer arena consists primarily of residential maid services, along with carpet cleaners, window cleaners and a variety of other cleaning services required on a less-frequent basis. The commercial arena is dominated by janitorial services, which typically provide a wider range of services than maid services, along with other cleaning companies, such as carpet and window cleaners that target businesses rather than individual consumers. While it's recommended that you decide on a niche and concentrate on building a business that will serve your chosen market, it's entirely realistic to expect to be able to serve multiple markets successfully.

Before you leap into the cleaning business, it's important to look at it with 20/20 vision. Though technology has certainly had an impact on cleaning services, this is not a high-tech business. Nor is there any glitz to it. And there will be times when you'll have as much trouble as Rodney Dangerfield getting respect.

But the upside is that you can build an extremely profitable business that will generate revenue very quickly. Most cleaning service businesses can be operated on either a part-time or full-time basis, either from home or from a commercial location. That flexibility gives this industry a strong appeal to a wide range of people with a variety of goals.

Another positive aspect of the industry is that within each category of cleaning businesses are market niches and operating styles that vary tremendously. Salt Lake City janitorial service owner Michael R. says, "We offer a wide range of services to a very limited clientele. We have refined our customer base to a group that we feel we can best serve in a way that will allow us to maintain those customers permanently."

This means you can build a company that suits your individual style and talents. If you like doing the work yourself, you can stay small and do so. If your skills are more administrative in nature, you can build and manage teams to do the work. For people who like working outside, the opportunities in service areas such as window cleaning and pressure washing are abundant. Residential maid services offer fairly predictable hours; disaster restoration and cleanup can mean calls at all hours of the day or night.
Few industries offer this tremendous range of choices and opportunities, and the need for general and niche cleaning is expected to increase in the future.
 
#26 ·
I remember the first thing that I did to start my cleaning service was to find a place to set up my office and then was to get the right mortgage for it. It was kind of difficult for me to get the mortgage, but finally had applied in here. https://www.butlermortgage.ca/mortgages/ However, if you have enough space in your home and you have no much competitors, then you could easily set up your office at home.
 
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