Cleaning Up Profits

The continuing growth of families with 2 paychecks is a good indication home cleaning and maid services are booming. Two paychecks also mean that time is limited for busy families. In fact, more than their cleaning skills or the type of cleaning equipment they use, the success of maid service is premised on two factors: time and convenience. With both husband and wife working, neither of the couple has the time nor the energy to do housework.

Plus, the principle of delegated labor simply suggests that"...if the work that needs to be done can be farmed out to someone who will do it for less than what you can earn given the same amount of time needed to do the job, it is better to pay someone else to do the job for you. If for anything else, doing housework fits that description.

A CLEAN SYSTEM - Knowing how to clean a house well is no guarantee of success in the house-cleaning business. The key to a successful cleaning business is good organization and systematic process that lends to an efficient cleaning routine. Most maid service operators recommend the team system, with two to three maids in a team who visit the same accounts, homes or businesses, every week or every day.

Teams divide their chores, rotating tasks among team members, from one account to the next, in order to reduce monotony.

GETTING STARTED - In finding clients you need to target your advertising efforts, in terms of both the demographics and geographic's of your service area.

Although maid service is no longer for the rich, it is not for low-income markets either. You must be aware of where your prospective accounts are located, on which zip codes to focus your efforts. When setting up your rate structure, consider your hourly fee per employee and estimate how long a cleaning will take.

Provide a base rate while allowing for optional services at extra charge. When meeting with clients for the first time, try to up sell additional home and cleaning services.