Cleaning

Cleaning is a necessary in every house and workplace, from dusting windows to

putting out the garbage. Having a clean living and working environment is crucial
not just for practical reasons, but studies indicate that it also has an influence on
mental health. Cluttered and dirty environments might make you feel distracted,
impairing your capacity to be productive.

There are several enterprises and possibilities available in the cleaning sector
across a wide range of areas. You may choose between specialty cleaning services
for windows and floors and home and commercial cleaning

Primary market groups

The cleaning industry has two primary market groups:

 Consumer
 Commercial
Consumer Area:

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.

Commercial Area:

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 is advised that you choose a specialization and focus on establishing a

firm that will service your chosen market, it is perfectly fair to expect to be able to
effectively service various markets.
Before you go into the cleaning industry, be sure you have 20/20 eyesight. Though
technology has had an influence on cleaning services, it is not a high-tech industry.

Advantage:
However, the advantage is that you may quickly establish a highly lucrative firm
that generates income. Most cleaning service enterprises may be run on a part-time
or full-time basis, from home or from a commercial site. This adaptability makes
this sector appealing to a diverse spectrum of people with diverse ambitions.

Niche marketing:
Another positive aspect of the industry is that within each category of cleaning
businesses are market niches and operating styles that vary tremendously. This
means you may create a business that reflects your own personality and skills. You
may stay tiny and perform your own job if you choose. If your talents are more
administrative in nature, you can form and manage work teams. Opportunities in
service sectors such as window cleaning and pressure washing abound for persons
who enjoy working outside. Residential maid services have generally consistent
hours; catastrophe repair and cleanup might result in calls at any time of day or
night.

Few sectors provide such a diverse range of options and prospects, and the need for
general and specialist cleaning is projected to grow in the future

Are you up to the challenge?

The necessary qualifications depend, of course, on the type of cleaning service you
decide to start. But for any type of service business, you need a determination to
make the business work, a willingness to please the customer and the dedication to
provide a thorough cleaning job.

Another critical requirement for the owner and the employees of any type of
cleaning service is honesty. "Clients must have total trust in the people who come
to clean their homes," This is important whether they're cleaning bathrooms every
week or carpets twice a year--or dusting and vacuuming an office at night.

 A maid service is probably the simplest business in terms of necessary

cleaning skills.

 Carpet cleaning businesses and other niche cleaning operations often require
the use of special equipment and/or cleaning solutions for which you must
be trained.

Aside from the ability to execute the task, a cleaning service operator must have
some fundamental business abilities. You must understand the administrative
 needs of running a business, be able to manage your time effectively, and be
able to develop connections with your staff and customers.

Is it better to have a franchise or run your own business?

 That franchisee will work closely with you as you establish your business
and get it to the point where it is functioning smoothly and profitably, which
is especially important in the beginning. However, after you have
established yourself and are financially comfortable, you may discover that a
franchise agreement is a significant disadvantage.
A franchise is the way to go for those who want to run their own business
but would rather select an opportunity that has proved successful for many
others rather than risk establishing their own system. Furthermore, most
franchises give a level of marketing assistance—particularly in the areas of
national advertising and name recognition—that is exceedingly difficult for
individuals to give.
 In the long run, running as an independent service will likely cost you
significantly less money than operating as part of a franchise. Furthermore,
as an independent, you are not bound by any pre-established formulae for
concept, name, services given, and so forth. This is both a benefit and a
disadvantage. You have the benefit of being able to do things your way. The
disadvantage is that you have no rules to obey. Everything you do is the
consequence of trial and error, from identifying your market to cleaning a
bathtub. As a sole proprietor, you must examine every facet of your firm,
 both before and during its existence, to ensure that you get off to a good start
and can adjust to market changes.

Financing:
If you need to buy equipment, you should be able to secure financing, especially if
you can demonstrate that you have invested some of your own money in the firm.

When it comes to generating funds, you have a variety of possibilities outside from
traditional funding. Here are some ideas:

1. Your own resources.

 Do a thorough inventory of your assets. People generally have more assets
than they immediately realize. This could include savings accounts, equity in
real estate, retirement accounts, vehicles, recreation equipment, collections
and other investments. You may opt to sell assets for cash or use them as
collateral for a loan. Take a look, too, at your personal line of credit. Many a
successful business has been started with credit cards.
2. Friends and family.
 The next logical step after gathering your own resources is to approach
 friends and relatives who believe in you and want to help you succeed. Be
cautious with these arrangements; no matter how close you are, present
yourself professionally, put everything in writing, and be sure the
individuals you approach can afford to take the risk of investing in your
business. Never ask a friend or family member to invest or loan you money
they can't afford to lose.

3. Partners. 

Using the "strength in numbers" principle, look around for someone who
may want to team up with you in your venture. You may choose someone
who has financial resources and wants to work side-by-side with you in the
business. Or you may find someone who has money to invest but no interest
in doing the actual work. Be sure to create a written partnership agreement
that clearly defines your respective responsibilities and obligations.

4. Government programs. 

Take advantage of the abundance of local, state and federal programs

designed to support small businesses. Make your first stop the U.S. Small
Business Administration; then investigate various other programs. Women,
minorities and veterans should check out niche financing possibilities
designed to help these groups get into business. The business section of your
local library is a good place to begin your research.
Location

A Home-based Location
Cleaning services are perfect candidates for this sort of arrangement, which is one
of the trendiest business ideas today. After all, your clients are unlikely to visit
your facility because all of your labor is done on their property. But that isn't the
only factor impacting your decision to work from home or a business site. Many
towns have rules that limit the type and quantity of commercial activities that can
take place in residential neighborhoods. Some states expressly prohibit the
operation of home-based enterprises. Others may permit such businesses but
impose limits on concerns such as signs, traffic, personnel, and commercially
marked cars.

Opening a Commercial Location

Many industry professionals think that in order to achieve genuine business
growth, you must move your operations out of your house and into a commercial
space. Certainly, doing so will help you project a successful and professional
image, but before you start looking for an office, consider what you'll need.

Your office space should be spacious enough to include a modest reception area,
work space for yourself and your administrative employees, and equipment and
supply storage. You may also want to include a washing facility and even a small
work room where you can perform basic equipment maintenance. Consider
providing for a modest break room, depending on the number of your crew.
Regardless of the sort of cleaning service you provide, keep in mind that the
possibilities of your consumers visiting your workplace are minimal. So, seek for a
property that satisfies your operating requirements and is in a relatively safe area,
but don't pay for a prominent address—simply it's not worth it.

Vehicles

Vehicles are as vital to your business as the location of your office since your work
is done at the sites of your clients. In reality, your automobiles are really your
mobile office. They must be carefully selected and well-maintained in order to
appropriately serve and represent you.

An economical automobile or station wagon should serve for maid service. You'll
need enough space to store equipment and supplies, as well as transport your
cleaning crews, but you won't be dragging about equipment large enough to need
the use of a van or small truck.

You can either provide vehicles or have employees use their own. If you provide
the vehicles, paint your company's name, logo and telephone number on them. This
advertises your business all over town. If your employees use their own cars--
which is particularly common with maid services--ask for evidence that they have
sufficient insurance to cover them in the event of an accident. Also, confirm with
your insurance agent that your own liability policy protects you under those
circumstances.

The type of vehicles you'll need for a janitorial service depends on the size and
type of equipment you use as well as the size and number of your crews. An
economy car or station wagon could work if you're doing relatively light cleaning
in smaller offices, but for most janitorial businesses, you're more likely to need a
truck or van.

For carpet cleaning services, you'll need a truck or van, either new or used, for
each service person and his or her equipment.

Employees needed:

For a Maid Service Business

Your initial staffing requirements will be determined by the amount of cash you
have, the size of the business you wish to run, and the volume of clients you can
realistically anticipate to service. Many independent maid services are founded
solely by the proprietor. Others will begin with the owner and a sufficient number
of servants. If you perform the administrative tasks alone, you may not need to
engage office staff right once.

For a Housekeeping Service

You may be able to start with no staff or perhaps one or two part-time staff. If you
have the funds and the business in place, you may need to recruit more people.
You may also think about hiring someone to manage the records and answer the
phone during the day; after all, if you're working all night, you need to arrange
some time to sleep. Consider hiring a marketing/salesperson, a customer service
manager, crew supervisors, and extra cleaning employees as your company
expands.

For a Carpet Cleaning Business:

 Depending on the strength of your pre-opening campaign and your startup budget,
hire at least one service person and possibly two as you're getting started, along
with an employee experienced in clerical work who can book appointments and
handle administrative chores. Though one person can likely handle most of the
residential jobs you'll get, you may want to consider staffing each truck with two
people: a senior technician and a helper. The helper can assist with the prep work
for each job (unloading equipment, moving light furniture, etc.), mix chemicals,
empty buckets, clean up afterward, etc. This will make each job go faster, which is
more efficient and cost-effective and also generates a greater degree of customer
satisfaction.

Pricing

Pricing may be time-consuming and tiresome, especially if you don't have an

aptitude for math. Don't speed through this procedure, especially at first. If your
quote is too low, you will either lose money or be obliged to reduce the quality of
your job to meet the price. If you overestimate, you risk losing the contract
entirely, especially if you're in a competitive bidding position. Remember that in
many cleaning circumstances, you may be competing with the client; if your
quotation is too expensive, he or she may say, "For that much money, I can just do
this myself.
During the initial days of your operation, you should go back and look at the actual
costs of every job when it's completed to see how close your estimate was to
reality. Learning how to accurately estimate labor and properly calculate overhead
will let you set a competitive pricing schedule and still make the profit you require.

Factors while setting the pricing:

To arrive at a strong pricing structure for your particular operation, consider these
three factors:

 Labor and materials. 

Until you establish records to use as a guide, you'll have to estimate the costs
of labor and materials. Labor costs include wages and benefits you pay your
employees. If you are even partly involved in executing a job, the cost of
your labor, proportionate to your input, must be included in the total labor
charge. Labor cost is usually expressed as an hourly rate.

 Overhead. 

This consists of all the nonlabor, indirect expenses required to operate your
business. Your overhead rate is usually calculated as a percentage of your
labor and materials. If you have past operating expenses to guide you,
figuring an overhead rate is not difficult. Total your expenses for one year,
excluding labor and materials. Divide this number by your total cost of labor
and materials to determine your overhead rate. When you're starting out, you
won't have past expenses to guide you, so use figures that are accepted
industry averages. You can raise or lower the numbers later to suit the
realities of your operation.
  Profit.
 This is, of course, the difference between what it costs to you provide
a service and what you actually charge the customer. Figure your net
profit into your estimate by applying a percentage of profit factor to
the combined costs of labor and materials and overhead. The profit
factor will be larger than the actual percentage of gross revenue you'll
end up with for your net profit. 
 Billing
If you're extending credit to your customers--and it's likely you will if
you have corporate accounts or if you are in the janitorial business--
you need to establish and follow sound billing procedures.
Coordinate your billing system with your customers' payable
procedures. Candidly ask what you can do to ensure prompt payment;
that may include confirming the correct billing address and finding
out what documentation may be required to help the customer
determine the validity of the invoice. Keep in mind that many large
companies pay certain types of invoices on certain days of the month;
find out if your customers do that, and schedule your invoices to
arrive in time for the next payment cycle.

The terms under which you've given credit should be clearly stated on your
invoice. Terms contain the due date of the invoice, any discounts for early
payment, and any late payment penalties. To avoid any misunderstandings, it's also
a good idea to provide the date the invoice goes past due. If you're going to impose
a late payment penalty, make it clear on your invoice that it's a late payment or
rebilling cost, not a financing charge.
Finally, consider using your bills as a marketing tool. Mention any impending
offers, new services, or other information that may entice your clients to utilise
your services more frequently. Even if the package is empty, include a leaflet or
pamphlet.

Marketing

Though the total market for cleaning services is tremendous, you must decide on
the particular niche you will target. If you want to do residential cleaning, do you
want to clean private homes, condos and apartments, or empty rental units? If
you're starting a janitorial business, will you focus on offices, retail operations or
manufacturing facilities? And will you target small, medium or large customers?
As a carpet cleaner, will you clean residential or commercial facilities or both?
And what services other than shampooing carpets will you provide?

Once you've decided on a market niche, you must then look at the geographic area
you want to serve. If you're starting a maid service, you want to be able to schedule
cleanings in a way that keeps your travel time to a minimum. The same applies to
carpet cleaners. Janitorial crews that must move from building to building have a
similar concern.

Research:

After you've identified what you want to do and where you'd like to do it, research
the demographics of the area to be sure it contains a sufficient number of potential
customers. If it does, you're ready to move ahead. If it doesn't, you'll need to
reconsider how you've defined your niche or the geographic area.
Part of your market analysis includes your costs to serve that market. A densely
populated market allows you to serve a greater number of customers because your
travel time is minimal, but it also means you'll be consuming more supplies. This
needs to be planned for as well as factored into your rates.

You can build a very successful cleaning business on referrals, but you need those
first customers to get started. Where are they? Indianapolis-based Bane-Clene
Corp. suggests you start by contacting the following groups:

 friends and relatives

 your neighbors
 former co-workers and employers
 social groups and clubs, including card clubs, bowling teams, athletic
leagues, lodges, fraternities, alumni groups, and neighborhood associations
 church or religious acquaintances

The Elements of Marketing tools:

One of your most important marketing tools is the image you project including:

 The way you and your crew look. Are your workers clean and neat,
wearing attractive uniforms or at least nice jeans or slacks?
 Your printed materials. Are your invoices and statements typed neatly or
computerized? Do the documents you produce display professionalism, or
do you damage your image by using handwritten bills and scrap paper for
notes?
 Equipment. Is your equipment clean and in good repair, or dirty, with loose
wheels, taped cords and in general disrepair?
  Integrity. Do you operate and behave in such a way that building managers
and owners are comfortable trusting you and your employees with
unsupervised access to their facility?
 Insurance. Having adequate business insurance, including liability, workers'
comp and bonding your employees, builds your credibility and image.
 Your vehicles. Are your company vehicles clean, running properly and
neatly marked with your company name and logo? A dirty, dented truck that
belches smoke won't impress your clients.

What are the risks?

We frequently speak about how essential the client experience is in a business –

especially for someone who provides cleaning services. When it comes to
sanitation and cleanliness, this is not something to be taken lightly – especially
because workplaces and homes should be safe places for people to come and mix.
During flu season, cleaning companies assist to ensure that premises are sanitized
and that employees may come to work without becoming ill. There is more at risk
here than just making sure your cleaning business has a good reputation; there are
lives at risk

Working with green products is another important component in ensuring the

success of your business. Despite the necessity to maintain clean, we must not lose
sight of the need of doing so in a sustainable manner by employing ecologically
friendly cleaning products and techniques. 46 percent of customers choose services
that employ eco-friendly items. It is critical to remember this green effort in order
to appeal to consumers who are becoming more eco-conscious, as well as to ensure
that your staff are safe and healthy while on the job.

Opportunities in the Cleaning Industry

Cleanliness will always be a necessity that never goes out of style. Additionally,
many businesses are looking to expand to more regions precisely because of this
demand! Considering what to specialize in? Check out some home cleaning, office
cleaning, and specialty cleaning business opportunities.

Residential Cleaning
The most powerful force propelling the household cleaning sector is simply a lack
of time. While house cleaning may have previously attracted to older retirees,
firms have observed that more clientele in their 30s-50s is now using house
cleaning services.

Commercial Cleaning

The necessity of providing a favorable and clean working environment is critical to

employee well-being. According to the Global Cleaning Industrial, Commercial
Cleaning is the most promising and profitable industry category in terms of market
share and growth

Specialty Cleaning

Let's face it: most of us have no idea how to clean our rugs and carpets at home, or
despite our regular efforts to vacuum the dirt out of the carpets, it just isn't the
same as hiring cleaning services to give everything a thorough cleaning.
Specialty Cleaning is a recession-proof business strategy — when it comes to
windows, floors, carpets, and other surfaces, we cannot exactly perform the job
without expert assistance