HOUSE CLEANING IS MORE PROFITABLE THAN YOU THOUGHT
Starting your own business will be an amazing way to take control of your life, boost your income and find an occupation which will allow you to support yourself and your family on your own terms. A house cleaning business may be an excellent example of a potentially lucrative, extremely useful business that’s not difficult to get started and has a huge opportunity for growth. Benefits of Owning a Housecleaning Business
Every business has its own advantages. If you’re considering opening a house cleaning business, you must consider potential advantages as compared to the effort required to confirm you make the choice that’s best for you and your family.
- A house cleaning business doesn’t need many workers. In fact, you’ll be able to start your business completely on your own. Later, once your client base grows or once the homes you’re asked to clean become more difficult, you can consider hiring a lot of people.
- Because you’re on top of things of your hours and therefore the amount of labor you accept, you’re able to customize the business to fit your lifestyle. this implies that if you wish to only work while your kids are at school, you have this feature.
- House cleaning is an extremely in-demand service each for people who simply need the occasional help and for those who can need regular house cleaning services.
- You’ll be able to customize your services using your own abilities to form yourself stand out from different house cleaning services. Not only will this appeal to customers, however it makes the business a lot of interesting and fulfilling.
- Because house cleaning needs little preparation and no necessary licensing, you’ll be able to begin a small house cleaning business quickly and easily to immediately speak to an income loss or gap.
Winning Potential
A house cleaning business can be an incredible method to create pay. There are a few roads that can be taken to amplify benefits and increment your client base.
The house cleaning needs of your customers can go from a one-time requirement for unique occasion or regular cleaning to a customary relationship requiring a few cleanings per month. Filling your calendar with both guarantees predictable work and, consequently, salary.
Offering particular administrations, for example, concoction free cleaning, aroma free cleaning or full range administrations including dishes and clothing can engage a more extensive scope of clients, expanding your business opportunity.
What to Know Before You Hire a Housekeeper
Finally hiring a housekeeper can bring such a sense of relief, but only if you’ve done your homework. It’s important to find someone who is trustworthy, particularly if they will be cleaning your home while you’re at work or running errands, and will take their time to do the job properly. Ask around for referrals and consider the ins and outs of using a sole proprietor or hiring a larger cleaning company before you commit to a housekeeper.
Independent Workers vs. Cleaning Companies
A number of housekeepers work as sole proprietors of their own business, but you might be more comfortable with a larger cleaning company that hires their own employees. There are pros and cons to both: A benefit to hiring a cleaning company is that they are responsible for screening the employees to ensure that a background check comes up clean. On the other hand, if you want the same person cleaning your house every week, you should choose a sole proprietor—turnover tends to be higher with cleaning companies, and they might send someone different each time.
Find a Referral
The best place to start looking for a great housekeeper is to ask your family and friends if they have a company or person that they use and love. One of the great things about using a cleaning service is that they have multiple people who might work out well for your needs. A lot of services will allow you to try out different housekeepers until you find one that is perfect for your needs.
Interview Candidates
Take some time to come up with real questions, and make sure that you’re thorough with the interview. Ask questions about what they enjoy about their work. Why did they choose housekeeping as a line of work? Check references, work history, and criminal history. A lot of services will do these things in advance, but be thorough and check out the results.
Decide on a flat fee or an hourly fee
When considering hiring a housekeeper, one of the things that you might have to decide is if you’re going to pay by the hour or pay a flat fee, though the housekeeper or company might have their own non-negotiable policies.
7 Steps to Cleaning Business Success!
If you’ve already opened your cleaning business and bought your house cleaning insurance, you’ve taken a huge step forward and that deserves a big thumbs up. But now, you might be wondering how to make your business grow to become a success in the industry. Your potential clients have plenty of house cleaners to choose from, so you want to make your business stand out from the rest! Here we’ll look at a few tips to help your house cleaning business flourish.
- Offer Personalized Service and Fair Prices
Spend some time giving free estimates. This will help you see a potential client’s home to work out how much time it will take to clean. Don’t charge the same price for a large house and for a small apartment. Clients will go running to a cleaner they believe is giving them a fair deal. Sit with the client to find out what they want. According to surveys, customer experience with a company has a huge impact on how likely they are to be repeat customers, and that holds true for you, too. Sitting with your clients to understand what is important to them gives them this personalized service and shows that you care about them and their needs, allowing you to develop a pricing plan that is fair to them and worthwhile for you. And when you need to raise your prices? They’re more likely to understand.
- Manage Your Time Carefully
To be a success, you need to fill up your schedule. Working on your time management will benefit both you and the customer, as expectations are clear and match reality. Schedule your jobs in a way that allows you to fit more than one job in each day. Slots starting around 10am won’t leave you enough time for an afternoon customer as well. On the other hand, starting at 8am will allow you to finish by lunchtime and go to another customer afterwards–or even take some much needed time off. It also means that your customer won’t have to have their entire day blocked off. Always be on time and efficient to keep to your schedule and keep your customers satisfied.
- Find Your Niche
In a crowded market, it can be difficult to make a place for yourself. Spend some time looking online at reviews and social media to see what clients wants and what competitors are offering. Then, create a niche for yourself. Perhaps you guarantee all of your products will be environmentally friendly. You might be able to offer flexible scheduling, such as evening or weekend time slots. Perhaps you work more on marketing with a weekly newsletter or blog posts with free cleaning tips, introductions to your cleaning staff, and product reviews. Having a niche will give you a unique place in the market.
- Use Quality Products
Cheap products may save you money to begin with, but using more expensive quality products will help you attract a unique clientele that will benefit your business in the long-run. Using non-toxic and ecologically friendly products is better for the furniture and doesn’t leave any irritating fumes or smells around the home. These safe and healthy alternatives are better for both your cleaner and the client. Keep learning about new products through suppliers, from industry publications or from trade organizations to stay on top of your game.
- Treat Your Employees Well
Your employees are key to the success of your business. To offer a cleaning service that stands out, you need to attract the best and most professional cleaners. Some ways to encourage your employees to stay with you include:
- Spend time on training; show them how to clean windows, scrub a sink and more
- Don’t micromanage – show trust and respect once you’ve trained them
- Offer perks such as paid sick or vacation time to employees have shown their loyalty
- Provide bonuses for quality work
- Spend Time on Marketing
Don’t become complacent once you have a solid client base. You need to spend time on marketing to ensure you always have new clients. There are many ways to advertise your business to the right markets. These include:
- Networking – Networking may not cost money up-front, but it can lead to business opportunities immediately or down the line. Let people know what you do.
- Contact real estate agencies or home builders – Make contact with companies who might refer you to others. This gets you right out in front of the competition with a potential client before they are even in their home.
- Advertise around the community – This is a great way to find local jobs. Put up flyers, pay for ads in local brochures or magazines and get your name out at local community events. This will help you build brand recognition.
- Focus on the Business Aspect
Building a successful house cleaning business is not easy, in terms of the cleaning itself or the business aspect. Businesses need to be run professionally to be successful. For your house cleaning business to grow and expand, you need to take care of much more than just cleaning. Make sure you have a business plan in place, that you’re filing taxes as you need to and that you have the insurance you need to grow and thrive.
Price Your Cleaning Services for Profit
- Let’s talk numbers.
Most cleaning companies base their prices on the market average. They simply look at what their competitors are charging… and charge less.
DON’T DO THIS.
You’ll end up working for pennies – or robbing yourself blind. Your prices need to be based on two things:
What are Your Overheads?
Before you put a dollar-value on your services, you need to figure out what it costs to run your business.
- Cost of supplies
- Employee wages
- Drive time and Fuel
Always factor in your employees – even if you don’t have any. This will help you when you grow.
Also, it’s a good idea to remind yourself that you are an employee of your business. Even the CEO of Amazon is an employee of his own business.
Example: Let’s say you have 2 employees ($22 per hour), with 15 minutes of drive time ($3 to get to the property) and your supplies amount to $3 per hour.
That means you need to charge at least $28 per hour… just to break even!