How to Start a Cleaning Business: A Beginner’s Guide

Are you looking for a lucrative business idea? If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, you should consider starting a cleaning business.

Starting a cleaning company is the easiest small business one can start. It is a fun and rewarding side business with huge profit potential.

You get to work in people’s homes, helping them get rid of clutter and teaching them how to make their homes beautiful.

And you get paid good money for this service and build strong relationships with your clients along the way.

This article covers everything you need to know about how to start a cleaning business from scratch.

Is a Cleaning Business Worth Starting?

Starting a cleaning business is an excellent idea if you are ready to give it your all. Initial costs for starting a cleaning business are low, marketing is easy, and it always pays to clean.

You can start a cleaning business with little investment and expand as needed to offer more services, improve efficiency and grow revenue. You don’t have to invest a lot of time or money before you begin seeing returns.

Most importantly, cleaning is just about something everyone needs to be done, no matter how messy or quirky their living style is. And this means plenty of customers if you know who to market your services to.

There are countless cleaning needs in our society, and they don’t require many resources to fulfill.

Every day you pass dozens of buildings that need to be cleaned, and these are just the obvious ones that we see.

Many hidden places with equally demanding needs need a professional touch.

10 Steps on How to Start a Cleaning Business

Many people want to start their businesses but don’t know where to start.

Starting your own cleaning business can be a great source of income, but only if you follow the proper steps.

Check out these steps to help you get started with your cleaning business:

1. Decide on Your Type of Cleaning Business

You know you want to start a cleaning business, but you’re unsure which services to offer.

If you’re deciding whether to start a cleaning business or not, the first question you need to ask yourself is: “What services do I want to offer?”.

Will you offer residential or commercial cleaning? Or both? Should you offer apartment cleaning or only one-time move out/in cleans?

There are so many decisions to make, and here’s how to figure out which services are best for your cleaning business.

The choice of different cleaning businesses is nearly unlimited, but you have to narrow down your options to choose a specific business that is best for you.

If you are confused about how to go about deciding on the type of cleaning business you want to start, you can use Google to check for the best options available in your area.

Deciding on the type of cleaning you want to offer will help determine your business.

2. Create a Business Plan

The next thing you need to do is create a business plan. Why? Because starting a cleaning business is something to take very seriously.

Your investment in time and money could amount to nothing if you don’t have a business plan in motion before starting your cleaning business.

A business plan is more than just a dream; it’s a reality and the next step to bring your dream of owning your own cleaning business into fruition.

It is a step-by-step guide on starting, operating, and growing your small business. It will help you determine a target market, set fair prices for your products or services and more.

If you have your ideas in writing, you can test them against the marketplace. Writing them down will also make it easier to talk about your business idea with someone else.

3. Set a Reasonable Cleaning Business Budget

Starting your own cleaning business can be a lucrative venture. It will soon become more expensive than you initially thought, so it’s essential to set a budget for your business early on.

But how do you create an effective cleaning business budget when using employees or self-employment?

There is a lot of work involved in creating a budget, but it is worth the process to help you make important decisions that affect your cleaning business.

When you’re starting a cleaning business, it’s easy to get carried away and create an overly ambitious, multi-million dollar budget for your business.

But, like most things in life, balance is key. While I’m sure, you have a lot of great reasons to open your own cleaning company, setting appropriate budgets will help minimize future risk.

4. Decide What Cleaning Equipment to Purchase

You want to start your own cleaning business, but you’re not sure about the equipment you will need.

There are many different types of cleaning equipment available, and choosing the right cleaning supplies for your business depends on the area in which you will be working.

No matter what type of cleaning business you start, you will probably have a variety of cleaning tools and equipment that should enable you to do your job as well as possible.

Some items, like mops, are standard equipment for most commercial house cleaners and residential cleaning services.

Other tools might be used only on a rental basis from time to time, or they may be specialized or uncommon equipment that won’t be needed often.

5. Choose a Name for Your Cleaning Business

When starting a cleaning business, one of the most important decisions to consider is your name.

As a house cleaner, it’s essential that you find an outstanding name for your cleaning business. A good name can help your cleaning business stand out from the competition.

Your business name is your brand. With it, you have the opportunity to let people know what your business is all about.

It can be a name that creates an immediate perception, such as Unique Cleaning Service, or a play on words like Made To Shine.

Of course, you also want to choose something available for you to use and not taken by someone else.

What will you and your company be called? Is a catchy name necessary to become successful? While choosing a name is essential, you should focus more on representing yourself and your values.

Your business can focus on residential homes or small businesses, but what often sets apart these business models is the level of service they offer.

6. Setup Proper Licensing for Your Cleaning Business

Starting your own cleaning business can be a great way to earn an income and gain extra freedom. However, you will need to complete some procedures before getting started.

One of the most critical steps is ensuring that you have the necessary licenses and permits in place.

If your business is going to be professional, you will need a Professional License.

If you get caught operating without one and get fined,  the cost of the fine could easily exceed thousands of dollars.

Also, you could end up paying legal fees for someone else to get your business started.  So spending a few hundred bucks upfront on a license is well worth the investment.

However, the specifics for getting a license vary from state to state, and some businesses may not need one at all.

7. Get Cleaning Business Insurance

As with starting any type of business, running your own cleaning business comes with its own set of challenges.

One of the essential elements to grow and manage your cleaning business is to acquire the right type of insurance. It sounds simple, but it’s easy to overlook.

There are unique risks associated with running a cleaning service that should be considered when seeking insurance coverage.

Now you’re probably wondering how you can get commercial insurance for your cleaning business.

Depending on the cleaning service you are providing, specific insurance types may or may not be necessary for your particular business.

It is essential to understand the various types of insurance and what they cover to get your company started on the right foot.

You have various options to choose from when it comes to insurance. Here are some of the business insurance policies you can choose from:

• Health insurance
• Business owners’ policy
• Vehicle insurance
• Employment practices liability
• General liability insurance
• Workers’ compensation

8. Decide on How to Price Your Cleaning Services and Estimate Jobs

Deciding on how to price your cleaning services is a fundamental step in starting a house cleaning business.

The pricing structure you decide will affect the profitability of your business and how you bid on jobs.

The four pricing structures we review below are hourly, flat, room, and square footage.

Since cleaning is time-intensive and has a lot of detail involved, you can use any combination of the above pricing models.

The hourly rate is used mainly for one-off cleaning services. The flat rate is used mostly for continuous or recurring cleaning services.

The room and square foot rates are both price per unit area. The specialty service price is mainly for deep cleaning or restoration service jobs.

9. Start Marketing Your New Cleaning Company

Now that you have a good idea of what you need to start a cleaning business and an idea of the various services you can offer, it’s time to market.

It is vital to have a plan of action for marketing your services. You need to figure out how to start marketing your new cleaning company.

You may be wondering how to go about getting clients. First, you have to decide what type of marketing will best reach your target clients.

You may choose word of mouth for your first few clients and use signs placed in convenient areas to get the attention of interested customers or passers-by.

Honesty is the best policy when it comes to both marketing and service. Make sure that everything you say about your service is genuine.

If you have a good reputation, customers are willing to pay, and they come back regularly, you could soon have an effective cleaning business on your hands.

10. Hire and Train Cleaners to Expand Your Business

There’s no denying that hiring and training a team of cleaners can be a significant financial investment and a major leap from cleaning the whole building all by yourself.

However, hiring and training cleaners is vital if you want to reach that point where you have a business (instead of just a job) and avoid being stuck in the same position for years to come.

Higher profits are within reach when you bring people to handle the cleaning while focusing on other business aspects.

However, one of the challenges of running a cleaning business is coming up with an effective cleaning crew.

Nevertheless, if you have clients who expect a certain cleaning standard, you’ll need multiple cleaners.

Conclusion

Starting a cleaning business is an excellent way to start a home services business, whether you focus your initial efforts on residential cleaning or office cleaning.

However, starting a residential cleaning business may seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be.

With the proper preparation, you can get started with very little overhead, and some of the tools you need may be found in your own home.

Hopefully, you should be well-equipped with the knowledge to start your own cleaning business with this article. There’s no better time than now to get your business up and running.

RELATED: How to Start a Clothing Line Business

FAQs

How profitable is a cleaning business?

A cleaning business can earn profits ranging from $20,000 to $100,000, depending on the type of business.

How much should I charge to clean a house?

You should charge between $100 and $200 per house or $25 to $90 per hour for home cleaning. You may also charge per square foot, which should be around $0.05 and $0.10 per square foot, depending on the size of the home you’re cleaning.

How do you price cleaning contracts?

Multiply the required number of staff and their hourly wage by the number of hours needed to clean the building.

Is house cleaning business profitable?

Starting a cleaning company is, in the end, a very lucrative endeavour. It has modest initial expenses and can quickly be scaled up using basic marketing tactics. Also, a cleaning business is sure to benefit financially from the high demand for cleaning services.