How to Start a Cleaning Business

The foundation formed when you initially start a business can determine if your business will fail or be successful. Moreover, thorough planning helps small business owners set a solid course when beginning a business while still being able to adjust to changing circumstances.

Starting a new business requires careful planning, critical financial decisions, completing a series of key legal actions, and the development of your brand identity. Moreover, business owners need to select the appropriate products and services and establish an online presence. Nonetheless, if you want to gain a competitive advantage, we can help you get started.

Do I Need Formal Training to Offer Cleaning Services?

Starting a cleaning business does not require formal training unless your state or city has certification rules. However, it will be best to get some personal lessons on professional cleaning services before starting operations. It would help if you also learned ways to prevent cross-contamination from one place to another.

Additionally, there are several cleaning certification courses where you can get vital information on professional cleaning guidelines, the cleaning industry, disease prevention, and chemicals.

Do Your First Cleaning Jobs Yourself

You may feel the urge to start staffing as soon as you begin your cleaning business operations, but doing most tasks yourself is one of the best approaches. After all, you have to be familiar with the nature and core of your business before successfully managing, especially when you are far away. One good way to get your first few customers is by making inquiries from family & friends either to clean their houses or for references.

Being committed to working and sourcing for your new customers will help you save costs and spend wisely. Instead of spending your part of the capital on staffing, you can save yourself a substantial wage as you determine the best practices for your business.

Handling your customers’ business yourself also helps you develop a positive reputation, and it helps your business maintain a good outlook. As your business expands, you can start employing workers and delegating tasks. You may also decide to assign tasks of regular clients to certain employees as you handle other areas of your business.

Create a Business Budget

People looking to start a cleaning business usually ask the following questions. Can I begin a cleaning business with no funds? How can I minimize costs? Is this type of business expensive to start? The response is that it will take some funds but can be far less costly than you may have thought!

Handling most of your cleaning jobs yourself may help you save money, but budgeting goes beyond the number of hours you work. Moreover, you have to invest in certain supplies and also cover the cost of fuel and vehicle maintenance for your company to succeed. Due to this, it is important to create a budget for your cleaning business, including the cost of replacing products and equipment if necessary. Categorize hiring and payroll expenses if you look to delegate labor, but you also have to make sure you set some money aside for taxes and insurance.

Select the Cleaning Equipment You Need

Brainstorm the types of equipment and cleaning products required to carry out your cleaning activities. Some of the cleaning items you will need include sponges, scrubbers, cleaning solutions, spray bottles, protective gloves, reusable and disposable towels, mops, and brooms.

You need to reflect on the type of cleaning products to purchase. Do you need to use bleach and other local cleaners, or you’d love to go for environmentally friendly products?

It would be best to figure out ways to prevent cross-contamination between your clients’ homes. You can do this by adopting strict sanitation measures and using disposable materials. All this planning is required when choosing the cleaning equipment needed to carry out your business operations.

Develop a Name for Your New Cleaning Brand

Any startup cleaning business requires a brand. Coming up with an ideal brand name is one of the most enjoyable aspects of starting a cleaning business. You can use part or all of your name, play on words, adopt a fun or quirky nickname, or create a name based on your geographical location. Other inspirations for developing a brand name can be from the particular type of cleaning services you specialize in, whether commercial or residential cleaning.

Nevertheless, your final brand name should have the following features.

– Your brand name should describe your business accurately.

– The chosen name should be memorable and easy to spell.

– The name must be unique and unused.

– It must have good pronunciation and sound.

– The name should have the potential to grow with the business.

You can check online for top cleaning businesses when trying to come up with a brand name. Suppose you encounter an existing company with the same name as yours. In that case, you need to go for another brand name to avoid the legal issues associated with using an existing business name. Fines and legal measures will inevitably surface even if you did it unintentionally.

If you encounter any challenges coming up with an ideal brand name, our business name generator can help ease your naming process by generating interesting and valuable name ideas.

Related: How To Name a Business

Get all The Required Licensing

It is important to register your business name as soon as you develop one. This will help prevent other businesses from using it. However, there are different requirements based on your state and local legislation. Therefore, it is important to be familiar with your local ordinances for businesses.

The two most common options for licensing are sole proprietorship and limited liability corporation (LLC). An LLC minimizes your volume of liability as an individual. Instead, it puts your company’s assets at risk. Typically, a sole proprietorship is a lot cheaper to create, and it offers full control over your company. A sole proprietorship can put an individual’s assets on the line if the business doesn’t yield enough profit.

You’ll need to obtain a DBA, meaning a DBA—Doing Business As—license to register your cleaning brand name. This license helps to establish your new business name and also helps to ensure that your business operations are legitimate.

Additionally, it is important to check if local law mandates businesses to obtain liability insurance, business insurance, or other legal protections. Working in customers’ homes is not 100% risk-free. Thus, business insurance can protect you and your patrons in case something bad happens.

Market Your New Cleaning Business

After choosing an ideal name for your cleaning business, purchasing all equipment, and obtaining the required licensing & permits, it’s time to attract clients. It is possible to market your business by simple word of mouth or through placements of online advertisements or in local newspapers.

You can print flyers, start a website, create an email campaign or invest in digital marketing to publicize your cleaning services. If you already have a client or two, you can request referrals if they are satisfied with your services. In addition, you can offer discounts or referral coupons to attract new customers and reward existing clients for bringing more contracts your way.

Provide a Quality Customer Service

The purpose of a cleaning business is straightforward- to remove dirt and polish shiny surfaces. However, when it comes to customer service roles, you must prioritize your customers’ needs. This implies being available to new and existing customers, quick response to service & quote requests, and good follow-up with clients.

To manage the technical aspect of your cleaning business effectively, you must find easy and convenient methods to reach your clients. It would be best to have tools like an email account, voice mail & phone system, social media accounts, and a website. The various channels mentioned can help improve your company’s customer satisfaction and outreach.

Automate and Organize Your Business Operations

As a business owner, the downside of handling all house cleaning work, obtaining permits and licenses, and restocking cleaning items is that it takes a lot of time. Aside from attending to clients’ needs and replenishing supplies, you must figure out how to oversee employees’ schedules, track your finances, process invoices, and plan for taxes.

You can easily organize and manage your business operations with cleaning software, unlike using a pen and paper approach. For instance, How would you infuse your employees’ schedules, payments info, customer lists, and account notes in one spreadsheet? Trying this may appear confusing and cumbersome, even on systematized sheets. Nevertheless, all-in-one software eliminates all of this confusion.

Furthermore, cleaning business software helps to improve your impression and engagement when marketing your business. You can utilize several functions such as marketing automation, requesting reviews, customer surveys, and many more. Keeping your brand automated, starting from your business software to the uniform worn by you and your employees, can greatly influence the reputation of your new company.

Setting Goals and KPIs

Setting goals for your business is essential for advancement and growth. However, to establish whether you are meeting these objectives, you must examine the appropriate metrics (key performance indicators or KPIs).

Tracking the correct metrics will provide you with the most information. Therefore, consider the following:

Employee productivity: How many square feet does your organization clean every hour, and how many staff members are assigned to the task? You may calculate the average employee productivity by doing the computation.
Customer happiness: This can be quantified with surveys that include the appropriate questions.
Complaints received: Do you receive many client complaints? Are they adequately resolved, or have you lost clients due to the issue?
The number of workplace accidents: Do employees have accidents while performing their duties? Are they properly outfitted with safety equipment, and have they received all the necessary training? For example, a cleaning firm with many accidents will need to invest more in employee safety.
Staff retention rate: a high turnover rate and a low employee retention rate are indicators of internal team difficulties. You might wish to conduct a poll to find out what your employees are lacking and how the issue might be remedied.

Create a Good Accounting & Bookkeeping System

It is not ideal to run a company using your personal bank account funds. Therefore, opening a business bank account is important to receive payments, oversee cash flow, and separate business assets from your personal assets.

Next, you need to allocate an expense for equipment, marketing, investments, gas, and any extra overhead. This is the financial plan you’ll have to follow monthly. However, you can make all necessary adjustments over time if required!

One of the most significant expenses you’ll need to cover is your paycheck. You need to create a pricing plan and then schedule an intuitive bi-weekly withdrawal from your profits to pay yourself and your staff(s) if you have any.

It would be best to carefully track all of your expenses and income to generate an accurate report whenever you’re required to file your taxes. For example, you’ll need to file business taxes with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) if you’re in the United States.

Train and Hire Cleaners To Expand Your Business

As your work progresses and expands, you may start feeling overwhelmed. This is a sign that the time has come to move out of your small home office and hire cleaners. Below are a few steps to take.

Reflect on the attitude you’d love to see in your employees, and how you can reach out to them.
Compose a job description to educate and help your potential employees understand the role & responsibilities associated with your business.
You can also design a job post and publish it on job-finding platforms like LinkedIn or other websites where you can find your ideal employees.
When applications start rushing in, shortlist the qualified ones and interview them. You can include a paid audition in your hiring process to see how candidates work.
Employ the best candidate and do everything possible to maintain their membership.

It is beneficial to put time & effort into training cleaners as it helps prepare them to work excellently in the field. You can also employ tools like employee handbooks, job checklists, and regular evaluations to keep your cleaners’ skills in check.

Conclusion

At this stage, we believe you now have a better idea about starting your own cleaning business. We’ve reviewed and mentioned all the necessary procedures and a few affordable alternatives to get your cleaning business up & running. If this is your first business, you need to consider starting a less expensive franchise to be able to get all the crucial training and support. After getting your first set of customers, you must do well to retain them by providing quality services and asking for referrals. One of the best ways to promote your business is to always keep your office clean. Now the broom is in your hand, and it’s time to start sweeping!