Start a House Cleaning Business

The home cleaning business is an easy business to start. There is no shortage of work, the payments are decent, and there is scope to grow. Working couples generally don't have enough time to clean homes regularly. The same applies to single men, professionals and elderly people. All of them need help outside help to keep their homes clean.

Training and equipment: You don't need any special training to start a home cleaning business. What you need is a pleasing personality and a readiness to work. You also need to buy the tools of your trade and cleaning supplies. These include sponges, buckets, spray bottles, towels, SOS pads, mops, disposable rubber gloves, toilet brush, squeegee, etc. You also need cleaning supplies like bath cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, window cleaner, all purpose cleaner, soft scrub cleanser, furniture polish and wood floor cleaner. You also need dusters and cleaning cloth. These you can create from your old, discarded dresses. All this should not cost you more than $100. The most expensive item on your list is the vacuum cleaner. You can initially rent a vacuum cleaner, and buy one once you have earned enough. The costs can go up sharply if you want to get into carpet, sofa or wall cleaning. You may have to invest up to $10,000 depending upon the equipment you buy.

Charges and income: You have two options in home cleaning business. You can charge by the hour or charge a flat rate. The flat rate is a better option because the client is not concerned with the time that you are taking to clean the house. You can charge a little extra the first time that you clean the house. This is because you would need to spend more time. Your subsequent visits should be cheaper. The cleaning charges vary from neighborhood to neighborhood and from city to city. Generally, the cleaning charges range from $50 to $175 depending upon the area to be cleaned and the condition of the home.

The charges are higher for move-in/move-out cleanings. You can easily charge $150 for such cleanings. You can even add $ 20 extra for refrigerators and ovens. You must make sure that in your eagerness to get business you don't charge small amounts. This will create problems for you later on when your company grows. You must always remember that cleaning homes is back breaking work, and must get the just compensation for it.

At times you may be tempted to take up assignments to clean up newly constructed buildings. In such cases, you must make sure that you have at least a couple of people to assist you because the volume of work is very large. It involves removing stickers from windows, tiles, sanitary fittings, scrubbing floors, cleaning woodwork, removing paint stains etc. In such cases, you need to charge at least 15 to 20 cents per square foot.

Earnings and income: If you clean two homes and charge $100 per home you can easily make around $5,000 per month. These figures can go up sharply if you hire help for your home cleaning business, and take up more work.

Hiring Help: Don't hesitate to hire help if you find that your home cleaning business has started growing. Individuals who make the mistake of taking up more work than what they can do end up doing a poor job. It's better to train a helper and let him/her do your work once a week. Raise it to two days a week till the helper reaches a stage where he/she can do the work independently.

Advertising and publicity: You need to attract customers to your home cleaning business. For this, you need to advertise in the local newspapers. Don't use the display section, which is expensive. But use the classified advertising section. The rates are less here. Put magnetic signs on your vehicle, making sure that your contact number can be read easily. This is a convenient and affordable mode of advertising for magnetic signs can be bought for less $75. The lettering also looks quite professional.

Another useful advertising vehicle is flyers. Use hot colors to print your flyers and display them in saloons, Laundromats, restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, etc. You can even push some flyers into homes from where you expect to get business. Of course, you have to make sure that you don't invade people's privacy. You can also distribute business cards in marketplaces or shopping malls to spread word about your business. Don't forget referrals. Offer a discount to all those clients who recommend a friend. You will find that your business grows exponentially. Websites are another good place to advertise your services. These don't cost much, and can be used to showcase your products.

If you do your work honestly you will find that you have more work than you can handle.