Thinking about starting a cleaning business? Go for it! Cleaning can be both lucrative (cleaning expert Kaite Pearse tripled her rate from $62 to $180 per hour just in seven years) and satisfying. Startup is quick and demand never goes away. Individual entrepreneurs don’t need much to get going; a reliable vehicle, a business license, maybe a website and a few good clients that will spread the word about your work.
Oh, and you’ll need tools and supplies too. Cleaning Business Academy posts an extensive list of what a housecleaner needs to get the job done. But why mess with buckets, mops and mini-grout brushes when there’s one tool that can do it all better and faster? Here’s all a cleaning business really needs to succeed.
One Machine to Clean It All
When people pay for professional cleaning they expect that dirt will actually be removed from their space. Mops however don’t remove dirt as much as spread it around. This is more than just an unfortunate inconvenience. Soils, particularly those found in restrooms and kitchens, can contain dangerous pathogens like E. coli, salmonella or shigella.
Try a No-Touch Cleaning System instead. Machines like this are 60 times more effective at removing bacterial contamination than mops. They can be used on hard floor surfaces, restroom fixtures and tiles and even carpet. And they’re fast. Conventional restroom fixture cleaning takes about three minutes of scrubbing, rinsing and drying. A No-Touch System system can clean and dry a fixture in just one minute. And like its name implies, there's no touching or scrubbing surfaces.
Throw in the Towel
Nothing looks less professional than a used pile of crumpled up, damp rags. Clients may justifiably fear that the same rag that just cleaned restroom fixtures was used to clean other spaces. Cross contamination is a real health threat and cleaning rags are notorious for accumulating and spreading soils and potentially dangerous contaminants.
Invest in a SmartTowel™ System instead. Available in multiple colors, they reduce the chance of using restroom towels in the kitchen or kitchen towels, which may pick up food-borne illnesses, as dusters throughout the space. SmartTowel™ Systems are designed to be folded into numbered quadrants. After one quadrant is soiled, the cleaner can flip to the next numbered quadrant, reducing the risk of cross contamination while getting more use out of a single towel.
Work Out at the Gym, Not on the Job
Cleaning is satisfying, but physically demanding. Muscle strains and injuries may keep even the most motivated entrepreneur from taking on more work. That’s why savvy cleaners invest in professional machines like No-Touch Cleaning Systems. This technology is easy to transport, carry up and down stairs and use. It gets jobs done faster allowing for more clients and repairs are easy.
Click here for more cleaning business tools and tips.
Amy Milshtein
Amy Milshtein covers design, facility management and business topics for a variety of trade publications and consumer magazines.
Her work has won several awards, most recently a regional silver Azbee Award of Excellence.
She lives in Portland, OR with her family and Clyde, a 15-lb tabby cat. Once an avid hiker, these days she finds herself on the less-challenging -but-still-exciting 'creaky knees' trails.