August Focus: Domestic Cleaning Service 

Decide on which Services you would like to Offer

Within the home cleaning industry there are many ways to operate your business. As suggested before, you could begin working for an agency and later step away from them to work for yourself as an independent. Or, you could begin working as an independent and work towards setting up an agency to have others work for you. You could purchase a franchise (although this training manual is designed to help you avoid having to do that), or you could set up a corporation through which you will run your business. Some will treat this business as a hobby whereas others will get fully involved and work their whole lives in the industry.

How far you want to go depends on your ambition. The reason that the industry is flourishing is because of overworked, dual-income families who are seeking to free up their weekends for more leisure activities. There are also many new homes being built and an aging population in search of less work and once again, more leisure time. It is fashionable to be able to purchase the best of everything, therefore couples now both work long hours in the chase for cash. This has basically created the size of the home cleaning industry and has kept it running for the last 20 years. In Australia, Canada and North America the industry is thriving.

Cleaning services for the home don’t just stop at weekly maintenance cleaning of the interior surfaces. They range from general house cleaning to Spring, Carpet and Window cleaning, to blind cleaning, to chimney cleaning. You could then add to your services wall and ceiling washing, post-disaster cleaning (fires and floods), post-construction (renovation) cleaning, post- and pre-party preparation, house sitting /watching, pet sitting /watching, garden and outside patio maintenance, laundry and valet service. And finally, office cleaning, estate sale preparation and cleanup (vacate cleans), and car or boat cleaning.

You could do the following exercises to work out what you want to offer to your client base.

You will need to work out what surroundings you would like to work in. Can you picture yourself:

• Working in people’s homes?
• Working in a corporate or office setting?
• Working in a variety of settings, corporate and private?

Write down your answer:  I see my business providing cleaning services for: ……………………………………………..

Then, think about the services you would be most happy and most skilled to offer:

Yes                     No

General house cleaning                             ____              ____

Spring cleaning                                       ____              ____

Window cleaning                                     ____              ____

Vacate cleaning                                      ____              ____

Strata cleaning                                       ____              ____

Renovation cleaning                                _____             ____

Blind cleaning                                         ____              ____

Chimney cleaning                                    ____              ____

Wall and ceiling washing                           ____              ____

Post-disaster cleaning (fires and floods)      ____              ____

Post-construction (renovation) cleaning       ____              ____

Post- and pre-party preparation                 ____              ____

House sit/watch                                      ____              ____

Pet sit/watch                                          ____             ____

Garden and outside patio maintenance        ____             ____

Laundry and valet service                        ____              ____

Party hosting, reception                          ____              ____

Office cleaning                                      ____              ____

Estate sale preparation and cleanup          ____              ____

Property management                             ____              ____

 

Ask yourself, of the previous list, what were the services you could offer right now, and what would you like to add on later when you have the skills?  Now?  Later?

What other skills do you have that you could add to your service that has not already been listed above? eg: alterations and repairs, ironing, pool maintenance etc.

It is a goal of many people to start their own business, but when they realise how much is involved they feel overwhelmed and lose their enthusiasm. However, getting a business off the ground can be done if you plan well and set realistic goals that can be accomplished step-by-step. Write out an action plan and break it down so that each part of the way is just the next step – the big picture won’t overwhelm you then. If you do things this way, you have a much better chance of success and may actually fulfill your dream of running your own cleaning business.

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You can read in next article about: Getting Started With Your Own Business