Starting A Cleaning Business

[2dads]

Sorry to hear about the set backs mate but you bounced back and killing it!!

 

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[Fasted]

Sorry to hear about the set backs mate but you bounced back and killing it!!

Cheers buddy, hope things are good with you.

 

[Joejordan95]

How’s the work going now @Fasted ?

 

[2dads]

@Fasted - how is it going buddy!?

 

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[MattR82]

These 8 bar steam pressure cleaners look great. I know some cleaners using them and it saves a huge amount of time, not to mention being a better quality clean without a need for chemicals. Something like 2k USD give or take.

 

[Fasted]

I’ve been “lurking” on here the last few days, it’s been a while. Didn't realise it’s been that long since I’ve posted an update.

The road to my first £10k month is on. Currently hitting £7.5k revenue last 3months which includes around £1k cash.

One full time staff, a couple of part time staff and me. I’m a double full time staff. There is no rest for the wicked.

I’ll do a proper update once we hit £10k revenue. Should be within next 2-3 months.

Keep pushing.

 

[Fasted]

These 8 bar steam pressure cleaners look great. I know some cleaners using them and it saves a huge amount of time, not to mention being a better quality clean without a need for chemicals. Something like 2k USD give or take.

How much?! Absolutely not mate!

 

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[Fasted]

@Fasted - how is it going buddy!?

Yes mate we still about it

 

[savefox]

Congrats on your success mate

 

[Fasted]

Congrats on your success mate

Thanks mate. Long way to go…

 

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[Fasted]

I’ve been “lurking” on here the last few days, it’s been a while. Didn't realise it’s been that long since I’ve posted an update.

The road to my first £10k month is on. Currently hitting £7.5k revenue last 3months which includes around £1k cash.

One full time staff, a couple of part time staff and me. I’m a double full time staff. There is no rest for the wicked.

I’ll do a proper update once we hit £10k revenue. Should be within next 2-3 months.

Keep pushing.

£9k revenue in June. Not quite £10k yet but it's too long without a proper update.

The good

- My business has been growing each month pretty much organically
- I currently spend very little on marketing each month. Loads of scope for more marketing, google ads etc
- My reviews are good my customers are happy with the cleans, very few complaints
- Lots of repeat business. Property managers, builders, airbnb hosts starting to send me more work without me begging for it
- Options to grow into different niches. My revenue is split between deep cleans, airbnb changeovers with linens/towels, regular cleans right now.
- I'm getting better at managing my team of 6. Some do 20-30hrs a week, a couple only do like 6 per week. They're improving all the time, becoming more "switched on", more efficient.
- It's not perfect, but staff travel via public transport for regular cleans, communicated with all customers that hoover/mop would not be provided for any regular cleans going forwards to accommodate this, they arrive with micro fibre cloths, glass cleaner, general spray, bleach, in a rucksack and they're good to go
- Despite a revenue level that still leaves a lot to be desired, and at times a relatively thin margin off the back of that, I'm at the point where I don't have to physically carry out these cleans anymore. I can work on rather than in the business a lot more. And physically I get a break because at times over the last few months it has been brutal on the body.
- I now have some savings, £15k, to put towards growing this further. Not a lot. But, "I'm a dangerous man with some money in my pocket" (Bruno Mars, 24k Magic, 2016)
- I'm signing up to the "INSIDERS" after posting this.

The bad

- None of my cleaners drive. They were flat broke when they started working for me, some of them have only been living in the UK for 6 months. So of course they don't have wheels. To be fair I was also pretty much flat broke when I started too. Which is why I started cleaning in the first place I guess. One of my cleaners does have an international driving license. But in my opinion he basically can't drive in this country (we tried and it was terrifying for both of us). So I'm now going to have to put him through driving school if I want to spend time on rather than in my business. Shit margins on regular cleans, despite him being my hardest worker and us having a solid relationship AND me also employing his wife he could quite easily find other work once I've put him through driving school. Not to mention the fact the fact of RTAs driving in first 12months in a new country. So yeah.
- My attempts to find cleaners that drive have been unsuccessful. I could find 25 cleaners by tomorrow morning that want to travel via public transport to earn £50 a day. But the drivers are like gold dust in my city it seems. I've tried increasing the hourly rate to lure them in, didn't work. The staff that I've had over the last year or so that do actually drive have been, for one reason or another, impossible to manage. So I'll have to recruit from within to get some loyalty from staff then give them work vehicles
- Competitors playing games, wasting time, putting up spam leads on the sites i use to get leads, spamming my inbox with BS, calling me with BS. I'm over it now, to be honest I'm quite flattered, but can still be relatively annoying.
- Overall confusion about how to proceed. Great - I don't have to do the cleans anymore and can start to grow this. But how to execute with a small cleaning team that doesn't drive and slim margins. If I'm gonna ever earn big money from this we have to grow BY A LOT. Loads of staff, loads of regular cleans, with bad margin. So I've started looking at what a lot of the other guys are doing here on the Forum - higher end carpet cleaning with ads, external cleaning, gutters etc. Got me thinking that I'm missing out on that massively and I should be doing that as well. But if I invest in carpet cleaning equipment (I do have 2 Rug Doctors right now, but they're shit), or external cleaning equipment, run some ads (which I've never done before which is also worthy of note) and start carrying those out for myself with much better margins, how will I have time to grow the regular cleaning and deep cleaning, how will I have time to manage staff, deal with these airbnb hosts/property managers that like to spam my phone all hours of the day etc etc. So yeah really confused about how to proceed right now. I know I can grow this to a lot more, it will take me some time, but is it a valuable use of my time with the current problems I'm having with staff/margins etc?

The ugly

- UK tax law

 

[savefox]

(I do have 2 Rug Doctors right now, but they're shit),

Throw them away and look into VLM carpet cleaning. It's perfect for commercial carpets. I'm making like $300 per hour cleaning offices with an Orbot Vibe

 

[Fasted]

Throw them away and look into VLM carpet cleaning. It's perfect for commercial carpets. I'm making like $300 per hour cleaning offices with an Orbot Vibe

Will check it out man thank you. Still need to go through your thread properly

 

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[Spenny]

Cool thread mate, not sure how I missed this one.

@EthanH does pressure washing for driveways & patios as well as gutters. I think he's also looking into roof cleaning as well. He might be able to give you some insight.

 

[MattR82]

Throw them away and look into VLM carpet cleaning. It's perfect for commercial carpets. I'm making like $300 per hour cleaning offices with an Orbot Vibe

Encap vlm and commercial glue down carpet is awesome.

 

[3amintheuk]

Sounds like you're doing a great job! I'm not too far from you so can imagine the challenges with making it work in Manchester.

Have you tried approaching housing associations for regular work? If I were dropping flyers I'd also be looking at areas with concentrations of bungalows and/or looking to partner with companies that provide carers. Those options may bring in leads that don't have the option to pay a premium price but could provide regular work at volume. If I were looking to charge more, I'd look at carer services that are priced higher so you know customers have the funds available.

There are a few comments in the thread about violating Entry but in my area I know multiple people looking for a cleaner who can't find anyone competent. The people they've hired are unreliable or lazy. Heard a story recently where an elderly lady walked in on her cleaner, feet up on the couch and watching YouTube videos while charging hourly.

How is figuring out the tax situation? I had my first conversation with an accountant about VAT recently and it was... an experience.

 

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