House Cleaning - The Low Investment Fallacy

You can buy books telling you what a low investment, high growth opportunity residential house cleaning can be. We believe that the house cleaning's 50% per annum failure rate speaks for itself. It is an attractive industry, but it is the potential for limitless scale and profits from cleaning nice homes, not the misconception about low investment, which makes it attractive. Most certainly the industry does require a low level of investment relative to many specialty retail, restaurant or manufacturing industries, and it has fantastically greater potential for scale, but it is irresponsible for experts to tout prospects for high growth and profits based on an operating model of operating from home with a cell phone and a bucket.

We are not saying that entry into our industry requires investment. In fact, for those cleaning themselves, or employing just one or two others to clean with them, it is possible to get into the industry with just a hundred bucks, and we have nothing against someone else taking such an approach. It's just that we don't consider the growth or profit potential for such endeavors to be interesting. Rather, we believe that (in addition to typically damaging the industry's price structure) such entrepreneurs really end up just buying themselves a job cleaning houses, a job they will weary of before their enterprise reaches anything remotely sufficient in scale to become financially interesting.

Think of any such an enterprise as being the equivalent of Alice, the Maid, of Brady Bunch fame. I can imagine that the Brady's paid her, not like an architect mind you but nevertheless, reasonably well. Even so, was she really in business, or did she just have a job as a maid? What if she had bought herself a cell phone and dashed around the neighborhood during her lunch hours trying to line up work for herself and her sister for Saturdays-would that then have constituted a business? We like Alice just fine. It's just that we don't think of her as having been in business and, even when she worked for the Brady's, given her inability to scale, we didn't feel horribly threatened by her, as a competitor. If you intend to get into business for the cost of a bucket and start out by cleaning yourself, then imagine yourself as being Alice. If you are as committed and competent as Alice, have no further aspirations for growth and profits, and would be satisfied with her wages, insurance benefits and retirement plans, then the endeavor will be a success for you (as long as you find a family as nice as the Brady's).

I'm not trying to discourage you, but on the other hand we wouldn't want everyone just stumbling into our industry with their eyes closed, making a mess of the place. We dispute a lot of the hype being sold today--that a bunt through some miraculous metamorphosis results in a homerun, in the maid service ballpark. We already have enough companies in our industry bunting their brains out. If someone wants to start another maid service, let them bring their money and swing for the fence. To start a real scaleable maid service enterprise from scratch, expect to spend $50,000 (paying yourself zero) over the course of the first 12 to 18 months. Over that time, with some skillful management and a healthy dose of luck you likely will have passed operating break-even (not full payback of your investment), built a referral bank of 100 to 120 fantastic well-paying customers, and gathered a troop of 8 to 10 exceptional, well-paid, well-trained, loyal employees. A foundation will have been established, and round two can begin.

It certainly can be done a lot more cheaply over a longer period, but really it comes down to what value you put on your own time. For Hanna and I, we were both investment bankers prior to embarking on this venture. So we weren't really willing to go slowly for three to five years, paying ourselves a pittance cleaning houses ourselves, whenever necessary, while we were waiting for the company to grow. I know some believe you should do some of the cleaning work yourself when you first start out, but we never resorted to becoming fill-ins, even though opportunities presented themselves almost daily. It wasn't a matter of not wanting to get our hands dirty, it's just that our hands were already quite full, managing the monster. Given the chance to do it over, we could avoid some of the mistakes we made then and could have spent less than we did, but fundamentally, we wouldn't now take any less brazen approach to growth, or quality of service.

If we had it to do again, as a first step, we would try much harder to locate and buy an unprofitable maid service-one with at least OK prices, a half dozen employees, and about 50 to 100 customers clustered as best they could be in several nice neighborhoods. The only problem with such an approach is that you have to be opportunistic about it, or you will grossly overpay. Before we started Denver Concierge, we looked and actually found one such company, but luckily we refused to pay the $100K being asked for it (the price should have been just $30K). We hadn't yet learned that for such a company, the involvement of a business broker in and of itself, makes a transaction at any reasonable price untenable.

We were in a big rush anyway, so we decided instead to start a company from scratch. In retrospect, maybe we should have just spent the entire first summer looking for the perfect acquisition prospect, finding the perfect place to lease, organizing an office, pricing suppliers, organizing insurance, prepping vehicles, and developing simple systems for training, operations, accounting, payroll, and scheduling. We could have invited ten companies around to clean our house, developed marketing materials, scoped out competitor prices pay, and office locations. We could have done all that for the added cost of some rent, and tax-deductible house cleanings, and we would have been better prepared when we were finally able to acquire a going concern at a reasonable price. At the time though, we didn't understand that cleaning companies, like falling leaves, are plentiful . . . if you just wait for the autumn. Even had we understood, there would have been no waiting around for us; we didn't like the idea of earning nothing for an entire summer. Of course, that seems ridiculous now, since we didn't actually pay ourselves anything at all for the first two years anyway.

Ignoring all that as I'm sure most will, if you decide to start the venture from scratch, that is zero employees and zero customers, and if you plan to provide exceptional service from the outset, then we would endorse incurring extra payroll hours throughout the start-up period to train and keep full-time employees while you are trying to scramble together enough house cleaning assignments to keep them busy. Others might suggest that you employ them on a part-time basis at first-we believe such an approach puts you on the slippery-slope from the outset, because your employees will be running around looking for better employment opportunities during their days off. Instead of you sorting your employees, they'll sort themselves, and you'll quickly be stuck with the duds. Adverse selection of employees is an early slip towards mediocrity, and in our industry, mediocrity always ends badly.

Nostalgically, I remember on about the sixth day of our operations, when we got our first customer and packed off three eager, smiling, well-trained and over-equipped house cleaners (two of the three still work here). After that assignment, our newest phoned with glowing reviews, and signed on for every two-weeks. Well done . . . now it was just nine days of blanks before our next scheduled assignment! Those were the days.

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Chris Lude founded Denver Concierge in September 1999 and over four years grew it to become one of the largest independent house cleaning companies in the United States. Permission is granted to reproduce this article but credit must be given to the author. No part of the article content can be modified, and a link must be provided to: http://www.House-Cleaning-Alliance.com

House Cleaning Rates That Are Fair For Your House

The best way to work our fair house cleaning rates for your house is to use this format. I need to make it clear upfront that I cannot give you an exact price because I do not know: where you live, the size of your house, exactly what you want the cleaner to clean or what state your house is in right now. All of these things will affect the amount you have to pay.

However, I can tell you a way that you can find out what would be a fair price to pay for the work you want to have someone do for you. This is a formula that my girlfriends and I worked out and that we have tested. We were all happy with the estimates that we received when we asked cleaners to estimate for cleaning our homes.

First you have to recognize that there are three very distinctive types of cleaning company - those that are franchises and those that are independent. Then there are one-man-band independent cleaners. In our researches we could find no reason why we would not have employed cleaners from any one of these sectors. There are advantages and disadvantages with each type of cleaner.

Franchises are likely to offer the most complete menu of services. You will probably also be covered by their insurance policy if the cleaner breaks anything or accidentally stains your carpet. However, they probably also have the highest overheads and you will be paying for those. Independent companies are likely to offer roughly the same services as a franchise but it may be more difficult to get them to service your complaint if something goes amiss.

One-man-band cleaners often do not carry any insurance and may be a bit hazy about the services they offer and how much to charge for them. This may lead to differences of opinion about price at a later date. With these caveats in mind this is how you can get a fair estimate.

Look up house cleaning services in Yellow Pages. It may be under Cleaning, Domestic. Choose two or three franchise companies and two or three independents and invite them to visit your house to quote on the work you want done. You can find out if they are franchises or independents by ringing their number and asking them.

Next walk around your house with a pad and pencil and make a list of everything you would like them to clean. When they visit you walk them around the house pointing out what you would like them to do. Make a careful note of anything extra that they suggest.

Try to make sure that you request exactly the same services from each company. They will each try to offer you there own favorite extras. But the more you can keep your requirements the same the easier you will find it to compare their prices.

Ask each company how they will ensure that your house gets cleaned even when your regular cleaner is off sick or on holiday. This is really important because it is a sure-fire bet that the moment you plan to throw a party the cleaner will get sick - sods law. You need to take into consideration your "gut feeling" about each company. It is always easier to work with people you like and whom you instinctively feel to be honest. Then all you have to do is compare the estimates they give you and decide which company you would like to work with.

Molly is an busy housewife who has needed to move house many times because of the demands of her husband's job. In the process she has become an expert on cleaning and renovating houses. She also runs a discussion group to find better, more effective and quicker ways of cleaning houses. She tells you how to find fair house cleaning rates on her website http://HouseCleaningTimeSavers.com.

Start a House Cleaning Business With the Right Vacuum

When I started my house cleaning business, I had a business plan and goals. One of those goals was to be known as a professional service with top paying clients. Establishing a business plan helped me define who these top paying clients were and how I would win them as my clients.

At the time I started this house cleaning business, the upright vacuums with the tools-on-board were relatively new. When I saw my first bright orange German-made machine at the supply company, I fell in love and knew this was one way to stand out from the other cleaning services. Imagine my glee as I looked

over this sleek machine with the HEPA filter, dual motor and furniture arm that would allow me to complete a room without the additional time and energy needed to interrupt my routine and retrieve the canister.

This was a huge investment for me at the time, but I knew I could offset the cost with reduced cleaning time and acquire more customers by telling my prospects about this unique vacuum.

These features were important to prospects as so many people in my city had allergies and asthma and were concerned about the additional dust floating through their home by the usual vacuum cleaners.

With the dual motor, this vacuum turned off the beater bar automatically when it was placed in an upright position, allowing me to use the on-board tools without having to press a button. This is an important feature because it is so easy to forget to turn the beater bar off and this could wear the carpet while standing in one position and in some instances, even cause a burn.

One feature of this commercial brand vacuum that I was looking forward to was the 50ft cord that would allow me to vacuum whole sections of the house before having to re-plug. You know what I'm talking about; you just have a small section left to vacuum by the back window and the cord will not reach. This is

so frustrating that sometimes you end up not completing that section just because you do not want to take the time to re-plug for that little area. I knew this would be a problem when I started hiring employees for my house cleaning business.

This great vacuum lays flat to vacuum under beds and tables; what a time saver! Soon after I started using the vacuum in client homes, I realized another benefit. Those darn paper clips, rubber bands and other small objects that normally rattle around in other vacuums are sucked right in and immediately deposited in the vacuum bag. No more broken fan blades and no more stopping to get the vacuum head working again.

And my clients loved this machine. They were so impressed they told their referrals who then called to schedule an appointment and would always ask if I would bring the orange vacuum. This machine more than paid for itself many times over.

This orange machine has evolved over the years and the stability issue they originally had has been resolved. Many new brands have been introduced to the commercial industry.

Upright Versus Canister

As a professional house cleaner, you must have two vacuums. You'll need the canister for bare flooring and a good upright for carpets. You can invest in the back pack canister that you don't have to pull around, purchase used light weight floor canisters or even invest in one of the newer, super small hand held canisters that have the suction of the larger models.

In maintaining carpet quality and also keeping your repair bills down, you should consider a new, commercial brand upright with the tools. Why a commercial over any store-brands?

Commercial Versus Store-Brands

We're all familiar with the store-brands, but look at what you get with a commercial upright:

The unit lays flat to vacuum under beds and tables

Picks up paper clips, rubber bands and other small objects without clogging or stopping the beater bar. This is due to a unique design that filters the dirt through the bag and not the blower fan. Many store-brand vacuum repairs and replacements are due to this one design flaw that allows the dirt to be sucked into the machine through the fan.

Molded-in easy-carry handle allows the vacuum to be carried with proper weight distribution

35' - 50' cords allow more square footage to be vacuumed before the need to re-plug

Large capacity, top-fill bag for efficiency and increased time between changes

Superior air filtration along with the sturdier construction which prevents harmful dust and particulates from escaping through gaps in the vacuum cleaner body or around the filter seal.

Less needless features to pay for that only end up not working like dirt sensors, etc.

The furniture arm: this one feature alone I would pay extra for! This is the extension that you see on one side of the vacuum head on most commercial upright vacuums. I have never seen this feature on a store-brand. This one feature saved me from having to move furniture when it's not needed because the furniture arm loops around furniture legs.
Badded Versus Bagless

You'll find 75% of the store-brand uprights are bagless while 75% of the commercial brands are bagged. That's because the dirt receptacle on the bagless vacuums emit so much dust when emptied. The commercial vacuums and bags are designed to be air-tight and retain the dust.

HEPA Filter

The High Efficiency Particulate Air filtration system is a must have for those people with asthma, allergies and/or pets. These special filters alter the flow of the air passing through them in such a way that any particles contained in the air become trapped in the many tiny fibers which make up the filter. HEPA filters trap germs and other contaminants, which then die in the dry environment of the filter.

By having a business plan and goals, I was able to define what people were looking for and also define the niche for my house cleaning business. I also defined what products and equipment were right for my clients, set my rate to ensure a healthy profit and cost justified equipment that required a large investment.

What are your goals for your house cleaning business? To stand apart from your competitors and land more jobs, you have to define the type of clients you want to service and then offer what they want. If

you're selling your service on price alone, there will always be other cleaners that will under bid your price. Be unique and you'll be getting the first calls and the chance to sell what you have to offer.

Sign up for a FREE eCourse on running a successful house cleaning business. Learn about bidding house cleaning jobs in Special Report #5.

How to Price Your Window Cleaning Service

Probably one of the greatest mysteries for the new self-employed window cleaner is knowing what to charge for your window cleaning services. First you must remember that you are becoming a business and as such, your earnings go towards the cost of running a business as well as putting food on your kitchen table and a roof over your head. Now I've made mention on the home page about window cleaners earning $50/hr and up but you may be wondering how one prices actual jobs so that you can earn this kind of money from them.

Target Earning Goal

I usually tell beginners to set an earning goal of around 50$/hr for their first few months (up to a year) in the biz. If a new window cleaner can achieve this consistently, then they are well on their way to earning $60-$70/hr by their second year. Here's why. Even after you've calculated what to charge per window/job in order for you to achieve the return of $50/hr, you will be earning this as an unskilled window cleaner. That's right, until you've been cleaning windows for a while; technically you're still unskilled. But after you've acquired the skills to clean windows more professionally and quickly, your hourly return rate will increase.

I tell a story on my window cleaning tutorial DVD of when I first started out window cleaning and priced out a job where I ended up only making around $35/hr. The following year I returned to do a repeat clean at the same bid price but because of the improvements in my technique, my earnings on that job increased to $70/hr. Simply because I was now cleaning more windows per hour.

How To Price (bid) Jobs

After studying price ranges (for residential) across the North American market, I have determined that window cleaning companies charge anywhere from $4 per basic window in/out on the low end to $8 per window on the high end. Storm windows are usually priced much higher because of the amount of work, not just in cleaning them but also the time it takes to take them apart and re-assemble them. French panes (small cut ups) are often charged at $1 in/out to $1.50 in/out for each individual pane. The two things that will determine what you charge is how your per window price meets your earning goal and also what your market will bare.

Pricing commercial work is slightly different. Usually a per window price will be lower than residential work. Reasons for this include such things as level of competition in your, simpler window styles (usually), more frequent visits (sometimes by contract of weekly/monthly/quarterly etc.) In many cases you may be ask just to clean the outside glass only. Pricing of anywhere between $1 per pane side to $2 per pane side is quite common for ground level commercial glass but may need to be increased depending on other variables. (see below)

If you are looking at going after storefront work, it is often a good idea to set a minimum per service stop because some stores may only have a few pieces of glass. If you're aiming at getting many small stores in one area location, you may want to set your min per stop at around $15 and test the waters for going up from there. The one main characteristic in doing storefront work is that although you may make a smaller amount per stop, you plan to make it up in volume (number of stops per day). Some window cleaners prefer this type of work because a store front window cleaning route of weekly/bi-weekly/monthly accounts means consistent earnings throughout the year, even in the cold winter months.

Variables In Pricing

All the pricing guide info offered above is taking into consideration that the window cleaning jobs are pretty straight forward. But there are always going to be variables that may affect what you end up charging per job such as how dirty the glass is, what is the access to the glass like, do you need to use ladders or extension poles, any obstacles to make cleaning difficult, any stains or hard water spots to remove? etc.. In time you will even come across glass that is so corroded due to neglect that the only option is replacement. Just remember, whatever extra work you face on the job, make sure you charge for it.

Is Your Pricing Too Low/High?

A window cleaner who had been in the business for many years once told me that you should aim for landing around 70% of your bids. If you consistently win more bids than that then your prices are probably too low. Likewise, if you consistently land fewer bids than 70% then your prices may be too high. I would say this is very true when it comes to residential jobs and larger commercial jobs. The only time one should ignore this rule is when bidding storefront. Storefront is the most competitive area in window cleaning and many small businesses are price shoppers so be prepared to hear a lot of "no's" while canvassing for clients. Homeowners can be price shoppers too but don't feel bad if you lower your price to land some jobs in the early stages of your business. You gotta eat right? Plus, you can chalk everything up to experience in the long run.

Last Words

Don't be afraid to network with other local window cleaning companies. The good ones won't be afraid to share information with you and will encourage a healthy marketplace for everyone. But stay clear of those competitors that offer rock bottom prices. They may appear to be constantly busy but what's the point if they're not profitable, right?

Mark Strange is a professional window cleaner from Toronto, Canada. He also hosts 'Tool Talk', a YouTube video seris reviewing window cleaning tools. http://www.windowcleaningskills.com

Foreclosure Cleaning - Advice on What to Do and What Not to Do When Pricing Jobs

In most cases, when potential clients call you for a foreclosure cleaning job, they're going to want you to give them a rate over the phone. You should patiently explain that you have to view the property before giving an estimate.

Once you clear this hurdle, they're still going to want you to give them a rate immediately after viewing and assessing the job.

Don't.

Following is why.

Foreclosure Cleaning Jobs: An Industry with Thin Profit Margins

Most of the services offered by foreclosure cleaning companies have thin profit margins. This means you have to know what your direct and indirect costs are in order to price a job correctly. This is not only fair to your bottom line - it's fair to clients as well (even if they don't realize it).

Foreclosure Cleaning Pricing: Direct and Indirect Costs Defined

Direct costs are those expenses that can be defined in absolute terms for every job. These are things like how much you pay workers and the cost of supplies. You know these costs are exactly, which makes it easy to factor into a pricing model.

Indirect costs are a bit trickier. They are the costs that are not accounted for in your direct costs for a particular job. However, they are every bit a part of pricing a foreclosure cleaning job as direct costs. Hence, they should be factored into every estimate you give.

Some examples of indirect costs are annual business license renewal, phone, paper and toner for your printer, etc.

The inability to factor in indirect business costs accurately is a major reason so many new small business owners find it difficult to price jobs. Because they leave these out, they usually wind up undercharging and find themselves in the red -- and out of business -- before they know it.

How to "Accurately" Calculate Indirect Costs for Your Foreclosure Cleaning Business

The word accurately is in quotation marks because, by their very nature, indirect costs are not concrete. But you can get pretty close calculating them using some specific formulas and common sense.

Your largest indirect costs are pretty easy to calculate (eg, wages, business insurance, phone).

The intangibles are what will give you headaches, eg, gas for running around giving estimates and calculating how much time it's going to take to complete a job. The only way to figure costs like these out is to pull upon knowledge you already have.

For example -- take gas. To get a good idea of how much you're going to spend, calculate a certain number of miles per week. If you stay within a certain geographic area (say, 50 miles) then figure giving 1-2 estimates a week initially. At 100 miles per round trip, you can get an idea of how much gas you'll be using.

Once you do a foreclosure cleaning estimates, you'll get better and better and calculating costs -- and hence, raise your profits for each foreclosure clean up job you do.

May be reprinted with the following, in full: To learn everything you need to know about how to price foreclosure cleaning jobs, get the manual Pricing Guide for Foreclosure Cleaning & Real-Estate Service Businesses: How to Price Jobs for Profit at http://www.Start-a-foreclosure-cleanup-business.com

Hiring Professional Carpet Cleaners For Christmas Home - Some Important Tips

Before hire professional carpet cleaning service it wants to some research. For the get highest results ensure your professional carpet cleaner have an I.I.R.C. certification. With the expectation of visitors to Christmas, the approach of the festive season can be tipsy. Hiring the services of professional carpet cleaning lifts some of the burden off the Christmas household organizer.

CARPET CLEANING PRICES CAN BE NEGOTIATED WITH COMMERCIAL CARPET CLEANERS

Because Christmas is a time when numerous people are searching for ways to freshen up and clean their carpets and rugs, prices are most high during the festive season. Some companies offer to clean a room or hallway without charge, or offer free upholstery when contracted to clean an entire house. Ratings are generally given based on a "house sized" so be careful to read the fine print when looking for commercial cleaning services.

Commercial carpet services of cleaning normally apply the hot water extraction system of cleaning, using truck-mounted or portable extraction machines. The truck mounted extraction system is more costly than the portable machine but gives a more powerful carpet cleaning service. Cleaning solution is shot into the carpet at a high pressure than portable machines can get, and higher power suction extracts dirt and water which leaves the carpet drier than when you use a portable machine.

PROFESSIONAL CARPET CLEANER HOLD I.I.C.R.C. CERTIFICATION

Users should make sure their chosen professional carpet cleaner have an I.I.C.R.C. certification (International Institute of Carpet Restoration and Cleaning). Have an I.I.C.R.C. certification that proof for carpet cleaner that cleaners must have studied and completed formal examinations. Other questions to ask before hiring the commercial service could be:

* What kind of guarantee do they offer

* Are their technicians are fully trained in use of the machinery and chemicals

* What kind of chemicals is used in the process

* Will they replace furniture

* Do They Understand Customer Service?

* Which System Do They Use?

* Do They Have Good References?

* What Kind of Experience Do They Have?

Cleaning steps and stairs will probably incur an additional cost and can be fixed by step. Stubborn stains or flooring that are dirtier than the service considers standard will also add cost. Carpet and rugs can be very high quality off the standard price. Ask your friends and family for recommendations, ask for several quotes and negotiate with the carpet cleaning company to ensure a competitive price.

PROFESSIONAL CARPET CLEANERS ALSO OFFER SERVICES SUCH AS:

* Upholstery cleaning

* Protecting fabric from future stains and spills

* Controlling pests such as spiders, cockroaches and flies.

The Dirty carpets can be a health hazard, especially for people with allergies and asthma. Pollen, dust mites, chemical and nicotine may also be removed in a deep carpet cleaning commercial process. Homes with small children, animals or people who enjoy leisure activities such as arts and crafts in particular benefit from one year spruce-up using the services of professional carpet cleaning. Before entering the commercial carpet cleaners ensure they know exactly what services you want and you have a thorough knowledge of their services, prices and warranty. Brightening up the house for Christmas can be efficiently achieved using commercial carpet cleaning services.

Rapid dry now is a leading Carpet Cleaning Services company specialist of Carpet Cleaning.

How To Start Your Own Cleaning Service Business (Office Cleaning & House Cleaning)

House and apartment cleaning services are gaining in popularity. The main reason for this is due to families that have 2 working adults/parents in the home. The overworked family has no time for cleaning their home. Their need to supplement the family income creates the opportunity for you to set up a lucrative business.

Ten years ago, businesses of this kind were serving only the affluent - homes of the wealthy people where people didn't want to be bothered with the drudgery of house cleaning, and had the money to pay someone to do it for them. But times have changed, and today the market includes many middle-income families in every residential area across the entire country. The potential market among apartment dwellers is great also. All in all this is a business that has grown fast, and has as much real wealth building potential as any we can think of.

Cleaning services are generally associated with women owners, however, men are finding that they can organize, start, and operate very profitable home and apartment cleaning businesses just as well as women. It's an ideal business for any truly ambitious person wanting a business of his or her own, especially for those who must begin with limited funds. Actually, you can start this business right in your own neighborhood, using your own equipment, and many items you already own.

Many enterprising homemakers are already doing this kind of work on a small scale as an extra income-producing endeavor. There's a growing need for this service. Organizing your efforts into a business producing $40,000 or more a year is quite possible, and you can get started for $100 or so, always using your profits to expand and increase your business.

In most cases, no experience is required. Everyone knows how to dust the furniture, vacuum carpets, make the beds and carry out the trash. But you must ask yourself if making a house clean and bright is important and uplifting work. If you look on it as degrading or as drudgery, don't involve yourself in this business.

Pricing your services will always be a constant challenge for you. You will learn as you go. The pricing really depends on you, the services you provide and how thorough you are. To start off, your best bet is to figure out what you need to make ends meet per week. Then, divide that number by amount of hours you want to work per week. Then be sure to add any expenses you will incur by working that many hours (ie. Daycare, Gas, Cleaning Supplies, Insurance, Equipment Repairs, Etc.) Also count on a little downtime for traveling between jobs, sick days, auto breakdowns, etc.

As a general rule, you shouldn't charge less than $12.00 - $15.00 (USD) per hour, per person on a job (depending on where in the world you are located. Most cleaning companies will charge $20-$30 (USD) per hour, per person. This is just a guide, and some parts of the US or other countries may be much different.

Here is an example:

A 2-Bathroom, 3-Bedroom house with a Living Room, Kitchen, Dining Room, Hallways, Stairs and a family room, will approx. take 4 labor hours as long as there is not a lot of clutter (always be sure to notice the amount of clutter and how dirty/dusty the home is when doing an estimate and take that under consideration). Labor hours means the amount of time it will take multiplied by the number of people cleaning. For example... A 4 hour labor job breaks down like this:1 person-4 hours, 2 people-2 hours, 3 people-1.33 hours, etc.). I personally wouldn't recommend charging less than $15.00 /hr. Charging $15.00/hr would bring this job to $60.00 Per visit. Charging $20.00/hr would bring this job to $80.00

You want to be sure you charge enough to provide a quality service. If a prospective customer is trying to lower your rates, they are not worth having. It's ok to be higher than another company as you should never try to gain new customers by just offering the lowest price. Always sell the quality of your work rather than the price!

Customers will expect to pay more for cleaning services that offer a quality service and bring their own supplies and equipment. Make sure if you are using your own equipment, you put a lot of effort into finding the right products. Customers like name brand products being used in their homes and offices.

Customers will also expect to pay more if your company is insured. Insurance is well worth the investment to protect yourself and your company in the event something gets lost, broken, or damaged. It is also a wonderful selling tool.

Remember... Sell quality, not cost!

TIP::::: You should consider providing services in schedule friendly timing:

- Weekly is every week

- Bi-weekly is every 2 weeks

- Monthly is every 4 weeks (not the same as coming the 1st of every month)

As far as supplies and equipment is concerned, you should consider obtaining the following:

- Vacuum Cleaner with attachments, or 2 different vacuums

- Paper towels

- Terrycloth rags

- Furniture polish

- Glass cleaner

- Multi-purpose cleaner

- Bath tub/Shower cleaner

- Toilet Bowl Cleaner

- Abrasive cleanser (like comet)

- Sponges (consider using sponges with an abrasive side and a soft side)

- Feather Duster

- Caddy (to carry it all)

- And anything else you may need to perform the services that you offer

You also need an advertising campaign of some sort. Most people start out using the classified ads and the Internet. A listing on the Cleaning Service Directory (www.house-cleaning-services.com) is very inexpensive and can help you get leads quickly.

Another point to make is that customers are willing to pay a premium for cleaning services that are well established and well known. Be sure to advertise in your local newspaper and direct customers to your Web site. A Web site is a great place for potential customers to read more about your company, see your credentials, look at testimonials from your other customers and explore the other services that you may offer. A Web site also provides one of the most cost-effective forms of advertising that works 24/7! Getting your name out there will provide name recognition, and install confidence that you are a legitimate company that people can trust. To find out more about getting your company online, visit http://www.modernconcepts.org

You might also want to consider creating a flyer, such as the following:

HOUSE CLEANING / APARTMENT CLEANING

We do the work - You relax and take it easy.

You get the best job in town, at rates you can afford.

Your satisfaction is always guaranteed!

For more details,

Call Jane Doe: 123-4567 - ABC Cleaning Services!

Here's an idea for making a flyer....

Visit your stationery store to pick up a pad of "fade out" graph paper, a couple of sets of transfer (rub-on) letters, a glue stick, and if they have one, a Clip Art book.

Take these materials home and clear off your kitchen table. Take a sheet of graph paper, and temporarily tape the corners down on the table. Then take a pencil and a ruler, and mark a rectangle five inches wide by six inches long along the lines of the graph paper. This will be the overall size of your flyer when it's finished.

Look for a Clip Art piece depicting a harried housewife engrossed with either cleaning tools or in the act of running a vacuum cleaner, or some other household chore. Cut this piece out, and with your glue stick paste it in the upper left-hand corner of your rectangle. Then take your transfer letters and make the headline: HOME OR CLEANING. Next, type out the body of the message on ordinary white typing paper. Be sure to use a relatively new ribbon, preferably a black carbon ribbon, and upper case letters. Cut this strip out, and paste it onto the graph paper, centered just below your headline. Then use some transfer letters that are about twice as large as your typewriter type, and paste up the action part of your message: For details, call Sue: 123-4567. Cut out a couple of border flourishes from your Clip Art book, paste them under your action line, and you're ready to take it to the printer.

In essence, you have a professional advertising "billboard." You can check around in your area, especially with the advertising classes at your local colleges, but generally they'll do no better than you can do on your own, using the instructions we've just given you, and they'll charge you $50 to $100.

Once you have this advertising flyer completed, take it to a nearby quick print shop and have about 200 copies printed. You should be able to get two copies on a standard 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, and running 100 sheets of paper through the press should cost under $10. For just a few cents more, have the printer cut them in half with his machine cutter, so you will have 200 copies of the advertising flyer.

Now take these flyers, along with a box of thumbtacks, and put them up on all the free bulletin boards you can find - grocery stores, Laundromats, beauty salons, office building lounges, cafeterias, post offices, and wherever else such announcements are allowed.

Handling the customers...

When a prospective customer calls, have your appointment book and a pencil handy. Be friendly and enthusiastic. Explain what you do - everything from changing the beds to vacuuming, dusting and polishing the furniture and cleaning the bathroom to the

dishes and the laundry. Or, everything except the dishes and the laundry - whatever you have decided on as your policy. When they ask how much you charge, simply tell them, you'll need to see the home and make a detailed estimate for them. Then without much of a pause, ask if 4:30 this afternoon would be convenient for them, or if 5:30 would be better. You must pointedly ask if you can come to make your cost proposal at a certain time, or the decision may be put off, and you may come up with a "no sale."

Just as soon as you have an agreement on the time to make you cost proposal and marked it in your appointment book, ask for name, address and telephone number.

Jot this information down on a 3 by 5 card, along with the date and the notation: Prospective Customer. Then you file this card in a permanent card file. Save these cards, because there are literally hundreds of ways to turn this prospect file into real cash, once you've accumulated a sizeable number of names, addresses and phone numbers.

When you go to see your prospect in person, always be on time. A couple of minutes early won't hurt you, but a few minutes late will definitely be detrimental to your closing the sale. Always be well groomed. Dress as a successful business owner. Be confident and sure of yourself; be knowledgeable about what you can do as well as understanding of the prospect's needs and wants. Do not smoke, even if invited by the prospect, and never accept a drink - even coffee - until after you have a signed contract in your briefcase.

Once you've made the sale, the best thing is to shake hands with your new customer, thank him or her, and leave. A little small talk after the sale is appropriate, but becoming too friendly is not. You create an impression, and preserve it, by maintaining a business-like relation ship.

When you go to make your cost estimate, take along a ruled tablet such as those used by elementary school students, carbon paper, a calculator and your appointment book. Some people find it easier to work with a clipboard and ordinary blank paper with

carbon. Later on, you may want to have general checklists printed up for each room in the house, with blank lines or space for special instructions.

Whatever you use, it's important to appear methodical, thorough and professional, while leading the prospect through the specifics he or she wants you to take care of: "Now, you want the carpet vacuumed and all the furniture dusted and those two end tables, the coffee table and the piano polished as well, I assume?"

Simply identify the specific room at the top of the sheet of paper, then lead your prospect through the cleaning steps of each room, covering everything in it. Your implications of putting everything in "ready for company" shape will cause the customer to

forget about the cost, and hire you to do a complete job. Always have a carbon paper under each piece of paper you're writing on, and always look around each room one more time before leaving it; then ask the prospect if he or she can think of any special instructions you should note for that room.

Finally, when you've gone through each room in the house with the prospect, come back to the kitchen and sit down at the table. Take out your calculator and add up the time you estimate each job in each room will take to complete. Total the time for each room.

Be liberal, thinking that if you can do the carpet job in 15 minutes, it will usually take the ordinary person 30 minutes. Convert the total minutes for each room into hours and tenths of hours per room. Add the totals for each room to arrive at your total hours to clean the entire house.

Talk with your customer briefly, wondering how she can ever find the time to get everything done at home, especially when holding down a full-time job. A little bit of small talk, a quick mental evaluation of the customer's ability to pay, plus your knowledge that you can get everything done in four hours, instead of the six hours it would take most people.

Here is an example of a typical conversation between you and the prospective client:

"Well, Mrs. Johnson, you've certainly got enough routine cleaning work to keep you busy all day every day of the week! I certainly don't know how you do it, but any way, we'll take this whole problem off your shoulders, save you time, and actually give you time to relax. We charge $100 for monthly visits, or $80.00 for bi-weekly visits.

"I can well imagine how tired you are when you get home from work. If you're at all like me there are times when, faced with all this housework, you want to run away someplace and hide. Now, we'll take care of everything for you - keep the house spic and

span, ready for company, allow you to forget about housecleaning chores, and for a lot less than it's costing you now in time, work, and worry. And we guarantee that our work will more than satisfy you. So, would you like to try our cleaning service one time for $75 or do you want to save $15 a call and let us take over all these chores for you on a regular basis?"

Here you begin finding a place in your appointment book, and tell her: "Actually, I have an opening at 8:30 on Tuesday morning. We could come in every other Tuesday at 8:30, clean the whole house and have it done before you get home from work."

The customer agrees that 8:30 on Tuesdays will be fine. Then you ask her if she prefers to be billed with the completion of each house cleaning session or on a regular monthly basis. Point out to her that by engaging you on a monthly basis , she picks up

a free house cleaning every three months.

Now that you have your first customer, you want to fill in every day of the week, each week of every month with regular jobs. Once you have one week of each month filled with regular jobs, it will be time for you to expand.

Expansion means growth, involving people working for you, more jobs to sell, and greater profits. Don't let it frighten you, for you have gained experience by starting gradually. After all - your aim in starting a business of your own was to make money, wasn't it? And expanding means more helpers so you don't have to work yourself to death!

You can operate this business quite successfully from the comfort of your home, permanently, if you choose to. All you'll ever need is a telephone, a desk, and a file cabinet.

So, just as soon as you possibly can, recruit and hire other people to do the work for you. The first people you hire should be people to handle the cleaning work. The best plan is to hire people to work in teams of two or three - two for jobs not including dishwashing and laundry - three for those that do.

You can start these people at minimum wage or a bit above, and train them to complete every job assignment in two hours or less. Just as soon as you've hired and trained a couple of people as a cleaning team, you should outfit them in a kind of uniform with your company name on the back of their blouses or shirts. A good idea also would be to have magnetic signs made for your company and services. Place these signs on the sides of the cars your people use for transportation to each job, and later on, the sides

of your company van or pick-up trucks.

Each team should have an appointed team leader responsible for the quality and over all completeness of each job assigned to that team. The team might operate thus: One person cleans the bathrooms and kitchen, while the other person dusts and polishes the furniture and does the vacuuming. On jobs where you do the laundry and the dishes, the third person can pick up the laundry and get that started, and then do the dishes and clean the kitchen. By operating in this manner, your work will be more efficient and the complete job will take a lot less time. However, it is important that each person you hire understand that the success of the business depends on the "crew" doing as many complete jobs as they can handle each day - not on how much they get paid per hour working for you.

Your team leaders will check with you each afternoon for the next day's work assignments and gather the team together, complete with cleaning equipment and material, on the next day. Your team leader should be supplied with a stack of "hand-out" advertising flyers to pass around the neighborhood or within the apartment building before leaving each job site. A good supply of business cards wouldn't be a bad idea for them either, in order to advertise your services to others they come in contact with. The

only other form of advertising you should go with would be a display ad in the yellow pages of your telephone directory.

Design on paper a system of clean-up operation that can generally be applied to any situation, then drill your teams on speeding up their activities to make the system work even better. Just as firemen practice and practice, you should drill your people as a team in their cleaning activities.

Probably the biggest time-wasters in this business will be in the travel from job to job. For this reason, it's important to spread advertising circulars to the neighboring homes when you're doing a job, or to the apartments on the same floor when you're in an apartment building. As the organizer, and person assigning teams to jobs, it will behoove you to locate, line up, and assign jobs as close together as possible. Keep up efforts to cut the time it takes for your crews to travel from one job to the next. Work at lining up jobs all in one block, or in one apartment building.

One of the most important aspects of this business is asking for, and allowing your customers to refer other prospects to you. All of this happens, of course, as a result of your giving fast, dependable service. You might even set up a promotional notice on the back of your business card (to be left as each job is completed) offering five dollars off their next cleaning bill when they refer you to a new prospect.

Good luck!!

** Please note: You are responsible for running and maintaining your business correctly. The information provided here is for informational purposes only. We accept no responsibility for the information contained in this document. For this reason, be sure to use your best judgment and be responsible for your own actions.

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