Setting Up A Cleaning Business! Where Do I Start?

businessboy

Im thinking about setting up a cleaning company in the west of ireland. I feel there is great demand for this type of service, which is currently not serviced.

I have a lot of ideas on how the business could expand and different types of services etc but just dont really know where to begin.

Another problem i have is pricing? Any cleaning companys i've contacted are not keen on giving prices out over the phone, instead they want to give a quotation.

Anyone any ideas or suggestions or links. All would be of great help.

ImDave

Do you have a specific niché / target market to aim towards?

keefg

Before you even start to set up the business you should do as much research as possible.

What is your target market? Residential or businesses?
Do a survey of this target market, find out who does their cleaning duties now.

In some cases (if it's a business) then they may have their own staff, in others, they may contract out the work.

On the pricing issue.....don't get too hooked up on what other companies charge at this stage, just concentrate on what price you can do the job for. There is no point in just undercutting a competitor only to find out after that you are going to make a loss.

As part of your market research, find out exactly what your (potential) customers requirements are. Then you need to calculate how many staff (if any) you will need and how long it will take you.

Get prices for all of your overheads, don't forget to include transport costs and public liability insurance and work out your pricing from there.

I am not sure if this is the same situation here but my auntie in the UK has her own cleaning firm and one of the things she has to pay for is chemicals training for her staff.

Cleaning sounds like an easy thing to do.....we all do it at home right? Things are different when you do it as a business.....you need the chemicals training to ensure you don't (for example) use the wrong type of cleaner on a food counter or if you mix the wrong types of bleach in a toilet you can cause some potentialy harmful fumes, or use the wrong stuff on the boardroom meeting table and strip the polish off it.

Like I say, these are requirements she has to follow in the UK so I'm not sure about Irish regulations. But be warned, we live in a litigious society and you will be sued very quickly for any damage caused.

Good Luck.

Lorelei

The chemical danger referred to is when people mix chemicals. You dont say whether you are going for residential or commercial. Whether you are going for daily office cleaning (this could also be one person cleaning for an hour a week), plant cleans, deep cleans, glass cleaning (insurance can be high), stone, marmoleum or wood floors, ceiling transportation or any other of the various areas. Without trying to put you down I have the impression that you've just thought "oh i can vaccuum my carpet, sweep, mop the kitchen floor and clean my windows". I have been in the industry since 1982 and there are still areas that I havent touched.
Be aware of the dangers - for exampel if you carry out a deep clean of a kitchen and fail to get the ducts clean properly leaving a build up of grease which causes a fire then you are liable.
Pricing a basic calculation is - cost of material and solutions for an area e.g. 1000 sq ft. Hourly rate for employees , how many sqft per hour, if using machines divide cost of machine by 10400 no of working hours in 5 years (write off time) divide again by approxiamte amount of sq footage the machine will cover per hour generally the manufacturer can give a guide. Should you however have hired the machien and at the start I would recommend same basics (hire of machine divided by area). You now have a base price per sq ft, add 20% for admin costs you will eventually need admin staff and you already have had them advertising, phone etc, your own percentage mark up profit (5 - 25%), Then you have your net price. if the competition is cheaper then your profit margin or your material costs are too high or you are paying staff too much (JLC rates for Dublin are € 9.50 per hr for a basic cleaner, for skills you may have too pay more).
You say the west of ireland and not a lot of competition - where in the west -do you have long journeys to get to sites? Are they remote? If so how do you get staff there?
I can assure you that there are a number of companies operating in the west - all of the biggies -Noonans, ISS, OCS, Resource and more.
As said I am in the industry, can source machines and will help where I can, make a go of it and maybe I can pass leads onto you. Tip for the moment try calling Galway Cleaning Supplies, Liosban Industrial Estate, 0915 65050, they are Prochem agents and can supply most types of machines and solutions from Prochem and if they are like all the rest of suppliers will have other types of machines and solutions. If you need any further advice mail me at lorelei.sls.gmail.com.
In your position at the moment I would think very seriously as to what part of the industry you are going for and possibly try and get some work experience, in glass, carpet, stone, industrial plant etc

vinolawless

You will have to start with domestic cleaning.There is alot of work out there in residential cleaning (alot of work for little money) but with small money.But you will learn what cleaning is all about.Doing domestic cleaning will help in dealing with people and getting better in doing cleaning itself (private people are very very fussy).To get there there are few very easy way.Get a nice google addwords campaign with 1k keywords and a budget of 30€ per day,that should be enough to get you 50 regular jobs in 1 year (180€ per job x 50 = 9000€).Invest in flyers, you should get 10k flyers for 250€.Never relax,find new ways daily and do not take other people advice,what makes sense in one trade doesnt make sens in cleaning.Within 1 year focus on commercial cleaning.Regular work with nice money.There is a nice competition in cleaning services out there like pristine.ie,aboutime.ie,rombiscleaning.ie.etc,but they dont do small jobs so that should be your thing.The hardest thing in a cleaning company is getting good workers.Very hard to find.Carpet cleaning is not worth doing it,there are loads of people out there charging 100€ per house and its alot of work to do that.

Lorelei

1. A start up spending € 912.50 per month on Google?
Residential cleaning € 180.00 per job average residential house takes about 6 hrs deep clean and 4 hours regular cleaning so thats between € 30.00 and 45.00 per hour nobody pays that.
As to carpets for € 100.00 per house it depends on equipment average house carpets done in 3 hours.
I dont like to criticise other posters but the last post is totally misleading and untrue.
By the way we have a lot of repeat customers and went into commercial in year 1. and work for 4 of the larger letting/property companies.
For the OP did you actually start in the business?

RUDOLF289

businessboy wrote: »

Im thinking about setting up a cleaning company in the west of ireland. I feel there is great demand for this type of service, which is currently not serviced.

I have a lot of ideas on how the business could expand and different types of services etc but just dont really know where to begin.

Another problem i have is pricing? Any cleaning companys i've contacted are not keen on giving prices out over the phone, instead they want to give a quotation.

Anyone any ideas or suggestions or links. All would be of great help.

Hello Businessboy,

have you considered going the franchise route ? With a franchise you have the advantage of a proven system, insurance cover (important from a liability point of view) cleaning products at a reduced cost (central buying).

I will send you a DM with details of a person I know that may be able to assist you.

Best of luck with your venture

Regards,
Rudolf289

Lorelei

Ref franchising having worked as operations manager for one of the largest franchises of the largest carpet cleaning franchise world wide I can assure that the advantages mentioned by Rudolf do not always apply.
I did not go the franchise route.
1. You don't necessarily get materials cheaper - my experience has shown the opposite to be the case. Remember the masteer franchisee is making his money. Also you do not have the freedom to shop around.
2. Insurance cover same applies most franchisees I have spoken to are paying 1,000 + I pay 550.00.
3. Most cleaning systems nowadays have been proved to work so no worries there.

The advantages with a franchise are name awareness, technical back up (although the back up I get from my suppliers is just as good), and normally a administrative system which has been set up with data bases etc.

Tony Macken

businessboy wrote: »

Im thinking about setting up a cleaning company in the west of ireland. I feel there is great demand for this type of service, which is currently not serviced.

I have a lot of ideas on how the business could expand and different types of services etc but just dont really know where to begin.

Another problem i have is pricing? Any cleaning companys i've contacted are not keen on giving prices out over the phone, instead they want to give a quotation.

Anyone any ideas or suggestions or links. All would be of great help.

if you google daily poppins in Cork you will find an opportunity to franchise a house cleaning business. They use all ECO products and an established successful business.

cadadju

Tony Macken wrote: »

if you google daily poppins in Cork you will find an opportunity to franchise a house cleaning business. They use all ECO products and an established successful business.

hi did u start ur cleaning business