The cleaning industry has two
main market segments, namely the direct consumer and
the commercial market. The consumer market is a
non-frequent market comprising maid services,
household servicing, window cleaning, carpet
cleaning and pool services to name a few. The
commercial market on the other hand is a larger
scale service offering, contracted on a regular
basis. Under general services could be janitorial
and maid services. This could cover offices,
restaurants, schools and hospitals among some. It’s
a business that doesn’t require that much of an
investment to start with and you can start on a
small scale scope.
It’s a business that doesn’t rely that much on
technological gadgetry. It being a service oriented
kind of business you must go back and focus on the
core. Your employees. Just take extra care on the
service that your staff must accomplish and do be
very thorough about it. Do remember that the special
care on the small details will enhance the whole
picture of the total outcome. Another important
thing is to find your niche market. You’d want try
to target a higher income family who can afford the
services you offer and not have the time themselves
to do the household chores. Let’s take a look at a
few of these businesses to scale:
1. Maid services – A vehicle (not necessarily
brand new), a vacuum cleaner, a few mops, some
industrial cleaning solutions which include dirt
removers and polish, a few rags, and a well
disciplined, hard working staff then you’re on your
way to start your cleaning business.
Congratulations!
Usually as the owner and conceiver of the business
you’d like very much to dig in with the staff with
the dirty work. Aside from the time you spend
cleaning you’ll be faced with the other chores of
doing customer relations, purchasing equipment and
accounting. As the business grows you will need to
focus on running the business instead of helping in
the workforce.
2. Carpet and Upholstery cleaning –
residential customers mostly just have their carpets
cleaned. Commercial clients would also require
maintenance of seats and couches in areas like
schools, churches, recreational centers, banks,
offices, hotels and terminals. If you’re in a major
city, you may need only a few clients to keep your
staff constantly at work.
Carpet cleaning services covers more than just
carpets. Wall cleaning, curtain and draperies, stain
removal, applying a fabric or surface protector,
carpet dyeing and restoration, odor removal and
flame-retardant treatment.
3. Janitorial services – This is a service
which covers cleaning of areas in the hospital,
office, hotels, restaurants, and theme parks among
some. Unlike the services which a maid does you may
typically find a janitor working at night and up to
the early hours of the morning. The reason for this
is because most employers for janitorial services
would rather that their cleaning not get in the way
of the office workers. So they much prefer having
the janitors doing much of their work when there is
hardly traffic from business hours.
