Another cleaning business

cavework

There is always the area of communal cleaning. A lot of estate agents and management companies are looking for this on a weekly or monthly basis.
It is a regular income for a cleaning company starting up and once you have this contract they are more interested in using you on the end of let cleans.
I must point out .. you HAVE to deliver the service and deliver a fantastic service.
I am adding a bit more, there are too many people who think that cleaning is an easy industry to enter.
Ebay has loads of sites who will flog you a 'business plan' for 50 quid and ' Bobs your uncle' you should according to them be raking in £££££££££'s.
What they don't tell you is it is hard graft .. you work yourself to start with, sometimes over 12 hours a day to build the business for a very small wage, you gain a reputation for being professional and build on it.

Sally_A

Just a note if you are planning on cleaning cars (or anything in the home like carpets, upholstery) - public liability does not cover the item you are working on, so if you get a bit of grit in your chamois leather and damage paintwork - tough wotsits. There are specialist insurers such as C amberford Law that will cover the cleaning risk, but it costs about 5x a standard PL policy. There is usually an excess of betwen £250 and £500 for Third Party Property Damage too. (TPPD in insurance speak).

pitkin2020

Sabka_Cleaning wrote: »

Hi, I've just started an office cleaning business after graduating from university but I'm now faced with a dilemma. I've got the domestic side of the business covered as I am doing cold calling and leaflet drops, but I have no clue about where to start with offices.

The idea to work with estate agents is fantastic, but the problem with most is, they already have a list of contractors in place, and although I can be added to the list for future reference, I am looking for something I can do now to market the business and get it heard about/ known.

You might sense the urgency in my post (planning on marriage next year so need to get this started ASAP)

There are no hard and fast rules a lot is do to with luck and who you know i'm afraid. Other than that you just have to keep reminding them you exist and wait. If they get let down by their current cleaner they are likely to call the last person they remember, regardless of what the list says. Drop in from time to time (not weekly) when your passing to drop them a business card, let them know your working in the area and if you can help them all they have to do is call.

pitkin2020

Sally_A wrote: »

Just a note if you are planning on cleaning cars (or anything in the home like carpets, upholstery) - public liability does not cover the item you are working on, so if you get a bit of grit in your chamois leather and damage paintwork - tough wotsits. There are specialist insurers such as C amberford Law that will cover the cleaning risk, but it costs about 5x a standard PL policy. There is usually an excess of betwen £250 and £500 for Third Party Property Damage too. (TPPD in insurance speak).

Spot on, this is the general rule of thumb for most PLI policies though as you should be deemed qualified enough to be doing the job. Getting the extra cover could be very beneficial in the beginning even if you are confident. When I was cleaning hotel carpets that are special order carpets one mistake and my business could have been wiped out overnight. Thankfully though as time goes on you weigh up the reward to risk ratio and decide if it goes wrong will I be able to survive it. If you are doing a lot of high end work then I would say definitely get the extra cover and reflect that cost in your price.

Mr_futuristic

Horace wrote: »

Sabka, I have already responded on your post and left a lengthy reply.

OP. I hate cold callers too - I even had a student leave a note on my door asking for cleaning work needless to say she didnt get any because I didn't know who she was.

I know someone who cleans carpets and he makes a point of ringing his clients to say that he is on his way, if he gets stuck somewhere then he rings and gives an estimated time he will be there or if he can't make it. He told me once that he had a clean booked at an old lady's house and he turned up at the allotted time and she wouldn't answer the door, he was all for phoning the police when he saw the upstairs curtains twitch, eventually she came down and let him in saying how surprised she was that he turned up on time and that as she had been let down before had decided to have a lie in. You should offer a great customer experience and that way you will get repeat business.

Thanks for your reply. Was some awesome tips and advice on there which I will be following

ikati5

Re house cleaning, I would never allow anyone into my home who was not fully insured or in possession of an up to date criminal records bureau check.

I am a domestic housekeeper, I advertised on gumtree and netmums when I was looking to pick up some extra work.

I have an insurance that covers me for the item I am cleaning at the time, it is £20 a month.

A friend of mine just moved from a rental property and despite 4 of us cleaning the place from top to bottom, the landlord insisted on having contract cleaners in and the bill was £300!

cavework

ikati5 wrote: »

Re house cleaning, I would never allow anyone into my home who was not fully insured or in possession of an up to date criminal records bureau check.

I am a domestic housekeeper, I advertised on gumtree and netmums when I was looking to pick up some extra work.

I have an insurance that covers me for the item I am cleaning at the time, it is £20 a month.

A friend of mine just moved from a rental property and despite 4 of us cleaning the place from top to bottom, the landlord insisted on having contract cleaners in and the bill was £300!

The contract cleaners would have full insurance .. H&S and COSH sheets for any chemicals used.
They would also have a reputation to uphold
They would be profesionals , having done this type of job many times before
£300 sounds fair and they would provide the Letting Agent with a bona fide invoice for work completed and be able to deal with any come backs from the landlord if the work was not up to standard.

Savvy_Sue

ikati5 wrote: »

A friend of mine just moved from a rental property and despite 4 of us cleaning the place from top to bottom, the landlord insisted on having contract cleaners in and the bill was £300!

When a colleague was told her end of tenancy cleaning wasn't up to scratch, she asked what the problems were and went in and rectified. She was convinced that the letting agent said this on principle, to keep hold of some of the deposit, as the things she was asked to rectify were either minor or had clearly NOT been done before she moved in. She got all her deposit back!

cavework wrote: »

£300 sounds fair and they would provide the Letting Agent with a bona fide invoice for work completed and be able to deal with any come backs from the landlord if the work was not up to standard.

I don't doubt that, but if the letting agent is sending contract cleaners in on principle, that ought to be flagged up beforehand, shouldn't it? And that seems to be what you're suggesting they're doing. Then ikati5's friend could have saved their time and effort!

cavework

My sons landlords gave them (shared tenancy) one chance for the clean by end of tenancy .. in the agreement they signed, if the clean was not up to standard then the Letting Agent would bring in their own cleaners and the cost would be deducted from their deposit.
The Letting Agents were totally within their rights to do this .
As a friend of a friends mother of one of the other tenants knew someone who 'did' carpet cleaning' and decided that our subcontractor (who is a professional) was too expensive they went with the 'no invoice and I hire the nearest Rug Dr'.. person
If they had used us we could have submitted a copy of the invoice and been in a position to argue with the Letting agent..
LA brought in their own carpet cleaner who re-cleaned the whole house .. the difference between us doing it and the LA's carpet cleaner?
We wuld have been £50 .. cheaper
loss to deposit after already paying guy with hired Rug Dr £100 cash in hand for bad job ?
£200 plus VAT
Pay peanuts?
Get Monkeys
It really is not worth the hastle of trying to clean a property yourself just to save a few quid on an end of tenancy unless you KNOW the standard your Letting Agent is expecting and that varies.
We rented a property a few years ago and it was cleaned within an inch of it's life including professional carpet clean..
Report from letting Agent?
The gravel on the front drive had an oil stain!!
I offered to go and buy a bag of gravel to replace the stained area (size of my fist) but .. they let that one go :rotfl:

Savvy_Sue

cavework wrote: »

Report from letting Agent?
The gravel on the front drive had an oil stain!!
I offered to go and buy a bag of gravel to replace the stained area (size of my fist) but .. they let that one go :rotfl:

:rotfl:

See, that's where I think the letting agent is taking the mick. They're within their rights to do their own clean if things aren't up to scratch, of course they are, BUT they should be doing a fair inspection and not using the least little smudge to withhold the deposit.

Mind you I don't think any of my sons have ever lost their deposit for the standard of their end of tenancy cleans, and having SEEN their standards I'm astonished! But that is 'student' accommodation rather than 'professional' tenancies.