Coupons | Product Reviews | Contests | Articles | Forums | Search | Subscribe
Family Fun | Parenting Tips | Romance | Health & Fitness | Organic Living | Weight Loss | WAHMs
Welcome Momscapers!
Momscape.com is an award winning online magazine delivering
uplifting personal essays
from real parents - plus
practical guidance on parenting,
family fun,
romance,
travel,
health & fitness,
weight loss,
and more.
We invite you to share your
MamaWisdom and to help us
spotlight
products that make your life as a mom easier or better while you
enjoy our money-saving
online coupons and
family travel
discounts.
We want to help you enjoy the
simple (and fine) things life has to offer.
Subscribe to Momscape >
or
Get Our Daily Coupon Updates by Email
Bookmark and share Momscape with your friends:
Today:
Online Coupons
Today's
Favorite Coupons
All Online
Coupons by Store
All Online Coupons by
Category
Printable
Grocery Coupons
Product Reviews
Momscape's
Favorite Things (Blog)
Top-Rated
Mom Product Reviews
Family Fun
Activities & Crafts
Family Travel
Deals
Free Scrapbooking Ideas
Parenting Articles
Baby Tips
Toddler Tips
All Parenting Articles
Inspiration/Essays
Relationships
Marriage
Romance
Friendships
Health
and Fitness
Fitness Tips
Natural Living
Nurturing Your Spirit
Weight Loss
Professional
Family Manager Tips
Home-Based Business
Community
MamaWisdom Forums
About Momscape
Subscribe
Site Map
Links
Link to Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service
About us
Contact Us
How to Start a House Cleaning Business for Less Than $200
by Patti Page
Article Summary: How to start and run a successful house cleaning
business on a limited budget.
I started a successful house cleaning business in 1998. I am going to
share some tips that I think will be helpful to you when starting your
own cleaning business. I would like share what I have learned over the
years about the cleaning service business and hope that it will help
others that are thinking about starting a house cleaning business.
Advertising
Advertise in Local Paper: Start by running a text ad in your local
newspaper. Running the ad by the month is usually less expensive. Make
it short and simple. Something like " Professional, affordable house
cleaning services. Call for a free estimate"
Magnetic Signs or Lettering for your Vehicle: Having your business name
and contact information on your vehicle is a great way to advertise.
Magnetic signs can be purchased for as little as 60.00. We use the vinyl
lettering. The lettering looks much more professional.
Flyers: You can print nice flyers on your home computer. Hang flyers at
Hair Dressers, Laundromats, Restaurants, Bakeries, Grocery Stores, etc.
Put flyers on car windows at local groceries stores and businesses. You
can even go door to door in neighborhoods you would like to work in. You
cannot put them in mailboxes. but you can put them in the front door.
Door Hangers: Door hangers are a great way to get new clients. Pick the
neighborhood you would like to work in and hang the door hangers on the
doors. Door hangers are very professional looking and they really get
noticed. You can purchase 200 door hangers for as little as 64.00.
Business Cards: A great way to start getting your name out to the
public. Have some nice business cards printed and start passing them out
to friends and family members. You can also ask your local businesses if
you can leave some cards on their counters.
Referral Program: A great way to obtain new clients is through a
referral program. Offer existing clients a free house cleaning or
discount when they refer a friend. We offer a free house cleaning when a
client refers a friend and the friend uses our services three times.
Website: These days people live very busy lives so they use the
convenience of the internet to shop for the services they need. We
obtain 90% of our new clients from our website. You can purchase a
complete website for only $450.00.
Supplies
You can purchase all the cleaning supplies you need to start your
cleaning business for about $100.00. Home Depot or Sam's Club is a great
place to buy cleaning supplies . Remember most customers prefer that you
bring your own cleaning supplies. That way they don’t have to worry
about going to the store for cleaning supplies before you clean. Some
customers have special cleaners for certain appliances or floors in
their houses. These customers usually will have these cleaners on hand
for you to use. I almost always use the customers vacuum cleaner. That
way you don’t have to carry a heavy vacuum from house to house. I
usually use one mop for tile and linoleum and another just for wood
floors. Some cleaning services use a mixture of water, 1 tablespoon
vinegar and 3 drops of lemon oil. We use Zep Wood and Laminate Floor
Cleaner. We also use Holloway House Cleaners (floor wash, lemon oil and
Hexol cleaner and deodorizer.)
Supplies you will need:
window cleaner,
furniture polish,
clorox soft scrub with bleach,
anti-bacterial cleaner,
sos pads,
stainless steel cleaner,
wood floor cleaner,
bathroom cleaner,
mop,
broom/dustpan,
dust mop,
wood floor mop,
supply caddy,
grout brush,
small toothbrush,
cleaning cloths (terry and microfiber cloths),
step ladder
What to Charge
This all depends on the area you live in. Always charge by the job, not
by the hour. If a client knows they have to pay 85.00, they don’t care
if you take 2 hours or 5 hours. Also your clients will know what they
are paying upfront and won’t have to worry about added expenses.
Normally, for a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath you can expect to make 80.00 to
90.00 for each maintenance cleaning. You should charge between $150 and
$200.00 for the initial cleaning since the initial cleaning should be a
thorough cleaning to get the home cleaned well the first visit. For the
larger houses you can add 10.00 to 20.00 for maintenance cleanings if
they have 4 bedrooms and 4 baths. For spring/fall cleanings the starting
rate is 200.00 to 300.00. For move-in/move-out cleanings the starting
rate is 200.00 and up depending on if the client wants windows,
refrigerator and oven cleaned. You can add 20.00 to 25.00 each for
refrigerators and ovens. Window cleaning depends on the amount of
windows in a house. A word of advise: Make sure when you start your
company that you charge what you would charge if you had employees. Some
people make the mistake of under charging when they start out just to
get customers and then later on when they grow and need to hire help
they find they are not making enough money on their houses to pay help.
Also if you are too cheap, customers will think you are not experienced.
Don’t under price your work. Cleaning homes is very hard physical work.
New Construction Cleaning
If you decide to do this type of work you will need more equipment. You
will need ladders, window cleaning kits with long extensions, a shop
vac, etc. These types of jobs are usually 2 to 3 person jobs. New
construction cleaning requires a lot more cleaning. You may have to
remove stickers and labels from windows and bathroom showers, sinks and
toilets. Some require that you clean the vents to remove dust from
construction work. There will be ceiling fans to clean, scrubbing
floors, and cleaning woodwork to remove dust. New construction cleaning
rates depend on the area you live in. Normally they run from .12 cents
per sq.ft. to .23 cents per sq.ft.
Insurance and Bonding
You need to be an honest person and somewhat personable. People will
need to trust you to be in their homes. Most clients are concerned about
having someone new in their house, with good reason. You should be
bonded and fully insured. Liability insurance runs between 350.00 to
700.00 per year. For cleaning residential homes you should have a
minimum of 300,000 in liability insurance. Bonding runs around 100.00
per year. Note that this price is for one employee only. Each person you
hire will increase your liability insurance. It’s well worth the cost.
You can pay quarterly or yearly. You can purchase your bond through your
local insurance company. You will need to renew the bond every year.
*Note: if you hire employees and cover them under your insurance, they
must be an employee on payroll and not a sub-contractor. If you employ
them as a sub-contractor your insurance will not cover them. If they are
a sub-contractor they are required to carry their own insurance.
Taxes
I have listed a couple of resources that are very helpful with answering
questions about taxes for your cleaning service business:
Small Business and Self Employed One Stop Resource.
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/
Downloadable State Tax Forms
http://www.womanowned.com/Growing/Employees/
TaxIssues/StateTaxForms.aspx
Franchises
This is a link to some great information about Franchises and why you
don't need them.
http://www.build-a-business.com/cleaning_franchise.htm
Credit Cards
The easiest way to accept credit cards is through your website. PayPal
offers credit card services with no set up and only 2.9 percent per
transaction. Some clients will prefer to pay with a credit card. They
simply sign on to your website and make the payment. The payment goes
into your account immediately.
Gift Certificates
House cleaning gift certificates make great gifts for any occasion.
Birthdays, Anniversaries, Housewarmings, Weddings, Baby Showers,
Christmas and Valentines Day. I have a lot of requests for gift
certificates around Christmas. If you have a website you can email the
gift certificates to the recipient. Always remember to keep a record of
gift certificate sales. Some clients who receive gift certificates wait
several months to use them.
Hiring Help
If you start out cleaning the homes by yourself, you will eventually get
to the point where you need to expand your business. Start out with one
part time employee. Train her and let her take your place one day a
week. Then have her take your place 2 days a week and so on. This will
give you the free time that you need to market your business and obtain
more clients. After you get more clients you will be able to hire more
part time help. Eventually you will be able to stop doing the cleaning
yourself and just run the business end, which is the only way you will
be able to grow your business. When training new employees, always
either train them yourself or have a lead person train them.
Remember one of the most important qualifications for a cleaning service
is TRUST. A client has to know they can trust you alone in their home.
To succeed in the cleaning service business you need to be honest,
dependable and trustworthy. After you acquire a few cleaning positions
ask the clients if you can use them for a reference. Most of the time
they are more than willing to let you use them for a reference. This is
how you build your business and acquire new clients is through
referrals. Be dependable. Most clients will want to be set up on an
every week or every other week schedule on the same day of the week. Try
to always keep this same schedule unless the client asks you to switch
to another day. If you have to cancel a cleaning date, make sure you try
to reschedule at the earliest possible date to make up the cleaning.
Below is a quote that I read from someone in the cleaning service
business and I really believe this to be true.
"If you use Emotion and Love to drive your sales and your business, you
will create Loyalty Beyond Reason. And I promise you, you will build
relationships and enjoy a business that exceeds beyond your wildest
expectations".
About the author:
Patti Page is the owner of Page's Personal Cleaning in Cincinnati OH.
Website:
http://www.pagespersonalcleaning.net/cleaningarticles.htm
Email:
patti@pagespersonalcleaning.net
Subscribe to Momscape >
or
Get Our Daily Coupon Updates by Email
Moms are Raving About
> Tae Bo Kicks Billy Blanks Workout for Kids
> Collectopia Wacktivity and A Friendship Scraptacular
> Micro Spy Kit X2 Toy
> Bugaboo Chameleon Stroller
> Burt's Bees Baby Bee Skin reme
> Perego Primo Viaggio Infant Car Seat
> Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, by Ina May Gaskins
> Rocket Spanish
> NordicTrack 740 Stepper
> More Product Reviews