Whether you’re a one-man band, or you’re looking to start up a proficient cleaning business in your local area, there are a number of things that you will need to consider. Read on.
Cleaning businesses are an attractive option to stay-at-home parents who are looking for a part-time job to fit around school hours and are also ideal for those looking for a competitive market to push their way into. If something can get dirty (which is everything), the likelihood is that someone will pay you to clean it, meaning starting up a cleaning business is a fantastic opportunity. However, there are a number of things that many cleaning business start-ups might forget when they initially begin the business, so our quick list of things to consider should help to jog your memory.
Paperwork and licenses
Filing all of your paperwork and having a legitimate business plan is exceptionally important, as this will help to ensure that you’re not missing anything when you first set out on your business venture. Don’t forget to apply for the neccessary licenses and permits so that no one from your local regulators bugs you about the nitty gritty.
You want to focus on what’s more important early on – getting your first customer and grow your business.
Insurance
One of the main things many cleaning start-ups forget is having some form of insurance. While the likelihood of an accident is slim compared to warehouse jobs or other form of manual work, there are a number of occasions where insurance might be needed. For example, if you forget to put a wet floor sign up and someone falls over, or you damage the glass of a window you happen to be cleaning.
There are a number of different areas where cleaner insurance might be of assistance, and could help you out of a very expensive, legal procedures in the future. If you’re a start-up cleaning business, you must ensure that you take out some form of insurance – and in many cases, your firm might not be hired without it.
Your Target Market
The cleaning industry has two target markets – one being consumer and the other being commercial. Before you start up your business, you’re going to want to ensure you know which target market you’re going to be pushing towards. This is important in the beginning as you will be able to build the business within your chosen market, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t venture out to dominate both markets in the future.
Start small, and work your way up, and you will find yourself raking in more jobs than if you was to try and oversell yourself to do more than you can actually manage.
Qualifications
While the idea of a cleaner having qualifications may seem silly, if you are entering a particularly niche area of cleaning, particularly in a commercial environment, you may actually be required to have some form of qualification. If you area of operation involves residential homes, then the chances are the only thing you’re going to need to prove is that your business can be trusted.
If however, you’re looking to enter a carpet cleaning business or some form of niche cleaning operation, you’re going to need to be trained on how to use certain chemicals and cleaning solutions, and even certain types of equipment. This is all important things to consider when entering the cleaning business as a start-up, as you’re likely to have to invest in this.
Takeaway
Cleaning might sound easy, but as a business, things are pretty much the same as any other type of business: You need to take care of everything, from the actual service to accounting; you also need to get qualifications and training for improving your service and expanding your market; and so on.
Be patient growing your business, do your service professionally, gain trust and think big (e.g. expansion to other states, franchising, etc.)