I am planning to start school this summer and I need to work also. I thought about cleaning houses (hopefully 6 houses) 2 days a week. I am married and can only make so much money to still be qualified for finanical aid. I was thinking if I cleaned house I could do it under the table and not have to file it on taxes. I need some advise from people that do this for a living. I need to know what chores you do at the houses? Do you supply the cleaning products or do you make the person supply their own? How do you decide how much to charge? I do live in a small town. And any other advise that might help me along the way.
My experiences with small businesses of this type are that you really need strong word of mouth advertising. Your first steps should be to advertise in your local newspaper or weekly coupon pages (almost every town has a small weekly periodical that accepts advertising for a reasonable fee).
You need to establish yourself as trustworthy and dependable with your clients so you can use them as references. People need to know the person they have in their homes is there to clean and not clean them out. You will be amazed how fast your name will spread through town once you have a couple of well established clients. People talk, especially if they have someone that provides good, reasonably priced services.
Get some business cards, either print them yourself at home with business card stock you can buy at any office supply store, or order them online. They are cheap and as you get clients be sure to give them some to give to friends. Keep your cards simple, have a phone number where you can always be reached (I can’t stress this enough) and get back to people quickly. If you’re not there to answer your phone and make appointments your potential clients will move on to the next business.
You should carry your own cleaning supplies with you (Lysol, Pinesol, Windex, towels, etc.) in a bucket with gloves and other support items. A vacuum is a definite plus, but if it’s not in your reach financially then it’s OK to ask your clients to use theirs just be sure you stipulate that up front.
Price aggressively but don’t undersell yourself. Be very clear going in what your services include. Time yourself on how long it takes to do things. For example an average sized room takes 5-10 minutes to vacuum or dry mop. Cleaning a bathroom takes 15-20. If you go in to a home and see it has 5 rooms and a bathroom you should figure a good hour to hour & 15 minutes to do just those tasks. It’s not unreasonable to ask for $20-25/Hour to start (depending on your geographical location), but the key is to make a mental note of how big the house is and do the math as you walk through it. If you’ve got a 10 room 3 bathroom house and you only charge them $20 you are underselling yourself. Be realistic, you’re not out to make a million dollars, but rather to bring in some extra cash with some schedule flexibility.
Let your clients tell you what they want and then go over it with them so you’re sure you both agree. A quick recap of "I will come in weekly on Wednesday to vacuum all the floors, clean the bathroom, empty the trash, and dry mop the kitchen floor for $30.", will set expectations right off the bat and make sure you’re customer is happy.
Don’t be afraid to sell other services along with your weekly duties. "For an additional $xx a month I’d be happy to dust for you every other week." or "I’d be happy to wash the kitchen floors, do the windows for and additional $xx". They’ll appreciate it and you’ll get a little extra business.
Your reputation is critical in this type of work especially in a small town. You need to be on time, courteous, and trustworthy all the time. Nothing will destroy your business quicker than bad word of mouth. Good luck!
