As we are nearing the end of this painful recession, some of you may still be unemployed and so back by popular demand comes our “how to make money without a job” article.
This month, we discuss how you can start your cleaning business.
Cleaning is easy money making and very labor intensive if you don’t have a crew. There are three levels to cleaning properties; the first is at the amateur level…
This would be similar to the “Becoming a handyman” article. You would canvass the streets of your neighborhood and offer your services at a fraction of the actual cost of a major cleaning business. This would involve making fliers, distributing them and then taking on basic cleaning duties like vacuum, dust off, wood cleaning, and pressure washing. You can charge your average home a la carte or come up with ingenious package deals that would get you more work. EX: You charge $30 to vacuum, $10 for wood cleaning, $20 to dust off, $100 to shampoo carpet… or you can charge $140 for the whole house cleaning special, a $20 savings to the consumer for allowing you the opportunity to do the entire package at once.
The second strategy is a bit more complex, but generates more money for your time. You simply need to once again do a lot of footwork creating and distributing flyers, but in this case taking everything a step further. Create a website with SEO optimization for your location and business, have official business cards, start an LLC but make your business Residential cleaning only. Go to an online shop where you can purchase industrial grade products that are better than your average supermarket cleaner. This will give you a competitive advantage over the typical amateur cleaner and yet allows you to keep your prices relatively cheap. The website will simply help the presentation of your business if done correctly and can help maximize the exposure you have out there within your footprint. Making sure that you are reliable and flexible but also offer competitive pricing will make the difference between winning and failing at this concept.
The final stage to growing your cleaning business is to expand beyond stage 1 and Stage 2 by introducing your business to commercial properties. Teaming up with banks, retail stores, malls and other IT businesses in major business center buildings will not only lighten your workload, simplify your necessity to seek out deals but also lighten your workload as commercial property cleaning is much easier than residential. There is more square footage to do but a lot less per square footage than any residential property. You will need to ensure you are at a min a LLC, carry industrial products, are reliable and purchase bonding and insurance through your state. Once those are in place, simply get in touch with the realty property services coordinator for that business and ensure your pitch is strong and your costs low. Contracts are usually 12 months long and therefore make it easy to know your schedule and the money coming in.
Till next time…
