Tips on starting a residential cleaning business?
I would like to start cleaning homes in the evening. I am looking for tips on getting started. I would like to make a quote sheet for customers but I am unsure how much to charge for certain services. I would love any advice regarding the quote sheet or anything thing else I need to consider when starting my business.
My friend and I did this for 14 years 11 together and the last 4 on my own.I don’t know how many people will want you in their home in the evenings, but here goes. Call the other cleaning companies in your area and get their prices and ask about what they charge extra for and what’s included in weekly cleaning. Then underbid them. DO NOT do anything extra for free or they will come to expect it and put more an more on you each time. DO NOT EVER give a price quote, without looking at the job first. We charged $10 extra on the first cleaning anyway to bring the house up to our standards. They are ALWAYS worse then they appear once you get into it! We ripped ourselves off a couple times not bidding enough on a job! It’s not fun, so be careful! Leave the price open for adjustments if necessary! An oven or doing a fridge will take one person about an hour so always charge extra for that. Don’t do windows, that’s a whole other can of worms! We put two flayers on one sheet of paper with a coupon on the bottom for $5 off their first cleaning. Then we told them they could get $10 off for each referral job we got. Business will spread fastest by word of mouth. Once you’re established, you can get rid of the people you don’t like working for and just keep the easiest jobs. Don’t forget to raise your prices after you’re well established as you’ll be more popular than the services if you’re honest and do a great job! There is good money to be made and a flexible schedule too. Oh and we gave the weekly people a better rate than the once in awhile’s too! Good Luck! PS the prices I spoke of are old, you may need to adjust for today’s times.
perhaps you can get a quote sheet from a large company i don’t want to mention any names here but you should know who i am speaking of.
anyway, since you work by yourself you can lower the prices of the large company. however, be advised, you need some kind of insurance to protect you. what happens if you break something for example. and a lot of people will not want you in their homes unless you are bonded. so if something was stolen, they would be protected.
just cleaning houses is not as easy as it used to be.