Based on the report published by Grand View Research in 2020, the projection for the cleaning business’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR) will increase to 6.1% from 2020 to 2027. After the pandemic, the increasing awareness of hygiene and wellness played a significant role in driving the market growth within the industry. 

Whether you’re a cleaner trying to expand your clientele or looking for an opportunity to start your entrepreneurial journey in the cleaning industry, today can be the right time to start your business plan! 

In this post, we will share some essential things you need to consider before starting your cleaning business. From niching down your business in the cleaning industry, how to streamline your booking process, and start expanding your market and retaining your clientele. 

Starting Your Cleaning Business

The cleaning industry is one of the work fields that doesn’t require a college degree to get started. You can start a cleaning business for a relatively low cost by doing a one-man operation with you being the only person to engage in the physical work to get things done for your client.

While it doesn’t guarantee a fast profit in a short time, starting your cleaning business will give you some perks, including the flexibility of running your gig and expanding your network to secure new clients for your business. 

However, starting your journey as an entrepreneur can be tough. Sometimes you need to get into some trials and errors to make it right. You often have to lose money in the process too. 

Knowing the necessary basic things to consider before starting your business is a must to minimize failure. While no one can guarantee it won’t happen, it’s better to lose a bit to give room to grow for your business and your experience as a business owner than to lose everything that gets you stuck and get you to square one. 

What to Consider Before Starting Your Cleaning Business

Generally, starting your cleaning business will be similar to starting a new venture in other industries. However, there are a few considerations to have before starting a business in the cleaning industry. 

Here are some things you need to consider before starting your cleaning business! 

#1 Conduct research on the cleaning industry and niche down

Despite the high demand for the cleaning industry, starting a cleaning business can be competitive. As an entrepreneur, you need a strategy to make your business stand out compared to your competitors. Niching down is one of the ways to differentiate your business from others, and it can also increase your profitability in the process. 

There are a few types of services in the cleaning industry that you can consider starting. And these include: 

• Residential cleaning service is quite popular in the big city. It covers house cleaning service, which demands less cost than other types of business in the cleaning industry. You can start your own business by using the equipment you have at home. And since your clientele for residential cleaning are most likely homeowners, sometimes you don’t need to spend extra cost on the equipment since they already have the essential cleaning tools like vacuum cleaners or sprayers at home. 
• Commercial or janitorial cleaning service is a cleaning business that offers services for non-domestic cleaning needs. If you decide to take this route, you will need to prepare yourself for the B2B type of business where you deal with corporate or institutional clients. While the cost to start a business in commercial cleaning service is higher than house cleaning service, it also gives you perks to generating a more stable income as the deal is mostly done through a long-term contract through a procurement process. 
• Specialty cleaning service can be an option if you have enough resources to do your market research and startup fund since specialty cleaning service requires a higher cost than the other types of service. Depending on your business’s market, specialty cleaning services may vary from regular window cleaning to high-end services like vehicles or pool cleaning. 
• Dry cleaning or laundry service is another domestic cleaning need with a high competition rate in the big cities. However, you can also be more creative with your offer by adding a pick-up service to cater to clients with a busy schedule or a same-day service with premium rates. While equipment lease is available to fulfill your business inventories, you can also start your business by using the washing machine you have at home. 

Knowing your industry and recognizing the market needs will help you decide the suitable type of cleaning business you can start. It will also help you define the cost you need to start your next venture in the cleaning industry.

#2 Finance your new cleaning venture and create a business plan

Creating a business plan will help you think through the key elements of your cleaning business from the start. An agile business plan for your business will give you direction on how to run and manage your business moving forward.

Break down the content of your business plan into a few action plans, from the overview ideas of your cleaning business, budgeting, operations to pricing and marketing. Think objectively about what’s important for your cleaning business when it’s just started, and be prepared for some contingency plans if it doesn’t work out. 

Whether you want to finance your cleaning business out of your pocket or you want to invite investors for your new venture, having a clear business plan can help you with it. Apart from using your business plan as a compass for your new venture, you can also use it to persuade new business partners to work with you and see the potential return of investment for the business in the future. 

#3 Calculate the budget and purchase the necessary cleaning equipment

Starting a cleaning business is relatively low cost. However, there are two major expenses that you need to budget when defining your pricing: supplies, equipment, and transportation. 

Depending on the services you offer to clients, you can minimize the cost of supplies and equipment by providing residential cleaning services for homeowners using their cleaning supplies and equipment. 

Alternatively, you can also purchase your cleaning supplies in bulk through retailers. Some suppliers can also give you a retaining discount, which can help you minimize the cost. You can also spend your extra budget to purchase your cleaning equipment, especially if you choose a specialty cleaning business. Otherwise, you may need to add an additional expense for equipment rentals in your cleaning business. 

Apart from supplies and equipment, you also need to add the transportation expense to define your pricing. Unless you rent a space and let your clients come to you, you need to calculate whether the transportation cost should be born to the clients or it’s worth including it in your pricing. 

#4 Register your cleaning business

The legal parameter in the cleaning business may not be necessary if you start small and run it individually. However, it’s also safe to register your cleaning business at the early stage when you start generating a decent income through your cleaning business. 

Protect your business by purchasing insurance, and you can register your business with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as a sole trader if you’re self-employed and based in the UK. Otherwise, you can register it as a business partnership or set up a limited company. 

Every country may have different regulations for business registration. Do your own research on how to establish a business in your country and collect the necessary documentation to complete the legal requirement for your new business venture. 

If you have enough budget, you can also take an alternative option and look into becoming a franchisee for a more established cleaning business brand. While you may need to follow the regulation set by their headquarters for the business, you will only be responsible for the operation of the business without having to create an outline for the business policies and procedures. 

#5 Streamline the booking process for your cleaning business

To ensure optimal resource utilization, you need to streamline how you want your cleaning business to operate in detail, from the booking and invoicing process to the payment methods. 

Setting up a standard operation procedure on how you run your cleaning business can help you manage your business better, while at the same it can also maintain your customer experience to increase customer retention for your business. 

You can list your cleaning business through platforms like Cleaner Book to get more exposure and expand new clientele. In addition to that, you can set up a business calendar on Calendly to enable your retaining clients to book your service online. 

According to the UK Payment Markets Summary in 2021, at least 72% of adults in the UK use online payment, while 54% utilize mobile banking for their digital transactions. With this statistic, you can also take advantage of accommodating online invoicing and payment for your cleaning business’s customers. 

InvoiceBerry is an invoicing software suitable for cleaning businesses. It allows you to set up online invoicing and payment by integrating it into various online payment methods like Paypal, Stripe, or Square. 

#6 Find your market and maintain top-notch customer service for your cleaning business

Attracting the first client for your cleaning business is always the hardest. However, once you get your first client, there is one way to expand your clientele, and you can do it through top-notch customer service. 

Word of mouth is still the best way to market your business, and you can do it digitally by adding a referral program to your existing client. 

Offer a discount code that they can use for the next booking with you for any new client referred by them. You can set up a discount code on InvoiceBerry to automate the referral program for your retaining customers. 

#7 Start marketing your cleaning business

Now that you have completed the basics to start your cleaning business, it’s time to run a marketing campaign to advertise it! 

You can buy a domain and create a business website to establish your online existence. Adding a blog section on your business website can also give you some advantages, from boosting your website traffic, to personalizing your brand while also marketing your service and specialties. BlogHandy is a blogging platform that allows you to incorporate a blog section to your business website just by adding two lines of code. 

In addition to that, you can also use social media marketing in your strategy. There are many social media platforms where you can gain exposure and expand your clientele, from advertising your business into the local groups on Facebook or humanizing your brand through Tiktok or Instagram. 

You can also allocate a budget for offline marketing to create business cards. Not only does it help you network with your potential customers, it will also give them a hint of your overall business. Business cards can also be a very effective marketing strategy if you’re targeting the local market.

Conclusion 

The cleaning industry is a promising line of business, which you can start at a low cost. Whether you want to start it individually or collaborate with a business partner, it is relatively easy to establish a new cleaning business. 

Creating a business plan for your cleaning business can help you outline the necessary inventory for your business, as well as the procedure you want to apply to run it. You can also get your business listed using some online booking platforms to gain more exposure, and use various software to streamline your operation. 

InvoiceBerry is invoicing software for cleaning business that comes with various features, from invoice template customization, discount code generation to integration with many online payment platforms. 

So, do you have what it takes to start your cleaning business now?