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Ideal Target Market for Residential Cleaning and Commercial

12K views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  liamrj 
#1 ·
Hi There,

What is the ideal target market for getting hired for residential cleaning? Is it true that you will deal mainly with women instead of men? How old are they and what is the ideal income, house hold size, living situation, best time to reach them? what are best ways to reach them?

I assume they are mothers with children who are at home, while husbands are at work, doing things like shopping, going to the gym, taking care of children, running errands, etc.

Cheers!
 
#4 · (Edited)
I'm having a big debate right now. I can't seem to settle it. I would greatly appreciate it if you can convince me to choose one or the other and do it forever.

I can't decide between doing residential or commercial cleaning. I am under the impression residential is easier in the long run because I don't have to buy heavy duty floor equipment. Maids' hourly wages are paid 3-4 bux more than light duty cleaners and that will kill my bottom line. My goal is to stay 40% margin. I need a full comparison between the two and I've already been researching for six months. Just when I thought I was ready to settle with commercial cleaning (office and retail), I get this crazy idea that I can be very wealthy with residential based on companies that are out in the market. I mean, it's all about setting up the business model the right way. I just don't know what to think. So confused. Any help would be appreciated.


My main concerns:

1. I want to go into residential cleaning because I assume margin's are higher than routine light duty cleaning for office and retail - 1 point commercial cleaning
2. From looking at other local companies, maid's are paid $15 per hour and light duty cleaners are paid around $11. -- 1 point commercial cleaning
3. I don't have to do proposals for house cleaners, but I will have to do it for commercial - 1 point residential
4. Making one sale in commercial takes 3-6 weeks. I'm under the impression that a sale in residential is a lot quicker? However, I don't know the selling process for residential. How long does it take and what is the flow chart?
5. If I pay maid's $15 per hour per maid for residential cleaning, it doesn't count payroll, employment insurance, pension benefits, etc. It's too damn expensive.
6. Why does it seem like all residential companies have two maids working together for every home? What is the reason behind that? Does it save time only or money too?
7. Which market is more saturated? Residential or commercial? Which one is easier to get into? Which one is there more of? After reading tons of industry reports, adding residential cleaning into the equation has confused the heck out of me. And I'm not even counting industrial cleaning.
 
#10 ·
You've been professionally cleaning since grade 1? :blink: What company hired you at grade 1?

When a bid is put in by any company in the world the pay rate for the worker is included... otherwise how could anyone come up with a bid? You've got to know your pay rate, insurance broken down per job, per week, per day per hour.... some people might not break it down that far but it might be part of the reason they don't make as much money as they could if they did. You gotta have every single cost added in to that bid. One bottle of window cleaner costs me $ .01 so in my price I add $ .01 window cleaner per visit.... yes it needs to be THAT detailed. Mine are anyway.

Everyone wants to do it because that's where the money is at. Problem is... it ain't cheap to do. And once you pay all the fee's and set up the entire operation then you need to sell it to franchisees. Where will you find them? And once you sell it you will need to do some hellish marketing to help your franchisee get customers. But there is dang good money once you get all that figured out.

Now back to my question... who hired you in grade 1? Did your parents own a cleaning business?
 
#11 · (Edited)
I have family members who are hoarders. I developed an insecurity when my friends used to come over in grade 1 so I used to clean my own house. Starting in grade 10 I volunteered cleaning my church every few months on Saturday mornings at 6:30am. It was brutal. Vacuuming, sweeping, mopping stair cases and concrete floors. It took about 2-2.5 hrs. I did it for about 5-7 years. I enjoyed it because it was peaceful and I was able to think about things in my own life after it came a routine.



Is there any advantage to having set prices for cleaning commercial spaces instead of bidding for each customer differently? Is it hard to go this route because you need to have a very specific target of people? Can I be profitable without doing any VCT floor care or carpet cleaning? OR, can I just do carpet cleaning and VCT floor care without general commercial cleaning and be profitable?
 
#12 ·
So you have no real cleaning experience. Once you get out in the real world you will understand what I mean. If you actually want to start a cleaning company you need to work for a few other cleaning companies to learn how to clean... right now you have no idea how to clean. Now if you was coming to work for me I would love that because it means you don't have bad habits... yet.

For example... what supplies do you need to clean a shower and how long would it take you? Not a 1st time in shower... a shower that is cleaned regularly.
 
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