different type of cleaning business

hayleybeale

hello all
i know we have a ironing thread on here and people seem to also be talking about cleaning on there as well.

i would like to offer people in my area my services, with doing domestic cleaning and commercial cleaning with ironing added in if they want it.

i was wondering whether you would use the customers products or would you take your own, i am thinking of charging £10 an hour which about average around my area (Northampton) i have had my business cards delivered which cost pennies as they were from vistaprint and only had to pay postage.

I am stuck as to where to go from here. would you also make up flyers to house and office drop or just drop in the card? i have put a free ad on in the yellow pages and yell.com

my partner is already a car valeter so we have interlinked the names together and this will hopefully work as it begins with A and it is the second on the list.

any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks all. x

phizzimum

Domestic cleaning is easier to break into, as commercial cleaning can be a very cut throat business. Larger contracts are often done by one company on a regional or even national basis.

If your husband already has an established business and client base I would use this as a starting point. He'll probably know a little of their circumstances too - eg couples who both work full time or single men would be more interested in a cleaner than a stay at home mum.

In my experience, the key to a successful cleaning company is establishing a good reputation and earning people's trust. Your customers need to know that they can let you get on with the job without having to count the silverware when you leave! Commercial cleaning is usually done out of hours so you will need to be trusted with keys and alarm codes.

It's hard for people to trust a stranger but if you're recommended to them by a friend or neighbour then they probably won't have a problem with it. You can encourage clients to recommend you by offering a free clean/half price clean for every friend they recommend who takes up your services. If you have several customers in one road or area then it will mean less travel time and expense for you, so you could offer them a permanent discount.

Once you have a reputation for being reliable and honest you will end up with more work than you can handle!

I would suggest using your own cleaning products - that way you're more in control of the situation, you don't have to worry about turning up and finding empty bottles or waste time searching for things. If you're doing commercial cleaning you can provide toilet rolls (obviously at a price) This is one less thing for them to worry about and is a way of increasing your income as you can buy in bulk

picklepick

hayleybeale wrote: »

hello all
i know we have a ironing thread on here and people seem to also be talking about cleaning on there as well.

i would like to offer people in my area my services, with doing domestic cleaning and commercial cleaning with ironing added in if they want it.

i was wondering whether you would use the customers products or would you take your own, i am thinking of charging £10 an hour which about average around my area (Northampton) i have had my business cards delivered which cost pennies as they were from vistaprint and only had to pay postage.

I am stuck as to where to go from here. would you also make up flyers to house and office drop or just drop in the card? i have put a free ad on in the yellow pages and yell.com

my partner is already a car valeter so we have interlinked the names together and this will hopefully work as it begins with A and it is the second on the list.

any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks all. x

hi hayley

im just starting up in cleaning and ironing aswell.
ive placed an ad on a website for mums last week, and had some enquiries already
and ive set up my own website, it was free and pretty easy to do.
also ive put an add on gumtree, its free to advertise on there.

pm me if you want any details and ill send them over to you.

(dont wanna advertise any websites on here.... its not allowed)

cazac71

We already offer a domestic cleaning service(As well as bouncy castle hire),, does anyone do any other cleaning, ie wheelybin cleaning, windows, etc, any ideas?
I found office cleaning alot easier than domestic btw

Caz

picklepick

i think im going to offer cleaning inside of windows as part of my regular clean
is this unusual does anyone think?
maybe on a fortnightly basis instead of weekly?

any tips would be great!
picklepick

hayleybeale

thanks guys this is a realy help so are there any good tip sout there as i have a job to do on friday and dont want 2 miss anything a friend of mine has told me to polish the taps at the end, and hoover after you mop incase anymore bitsflicks on to the carpet, erm work from top to bottom of the house and from ceiling to floor, do one room at a time but do floors in whole house last. i would very much appreciate some more ideas as i am so nervous haha im a wimp!!