Providing an apartment cleaning service is a great way of starting a lucrative business and offering a valuable service to individuals and owners who rent apartments often and have a high turnover rate.
Instructions
1. Start making contacts and set prices. The first thing you'll want to think about is the price you will charge per unit or apartment. You may call around to other apartment cleaning services and determine the going rate if you already don't know. Then, determine your own prices and try to make your service more valuable -- for instance, throw in a free carpet shampooing or create gift baskets for new tenants. Then, start making contacts by calling different apartment complexes.
2. Purchase cleaning supplies. Now you'll want to ensure that you have everything you need in order to get those apartments sparkling clean. There are many different cleaning supplies available, so start with purchasing those that you really need. You might want to purchase bleach, kitchen and bathroom cleaner, a toilet brush, sponges, towels for drying, baskets to store your dirty cloths in, a vacuum cleaner and extra bags, a duster, mop and bucket, mop solution, window cleaner and cloths, stainless steel polisher and any other type of cleaning supplies you feel you will need. These items can be purchased at sites like the third and fourth links in the Resources section.
Organize these supplies into easy-to-carry baskets available at that Container Store.
3. Create business cards and flyers. The next thing you want to do is start advertising your business so potential customers know that you're available to provide apartment cleaning services. You might create or purchase business cards and flyers. Vista offers 250 customized business cards -- you only have to pay for shipping and handling.
Hand these out where you might be able to gain customers. You could even place an ad in the newspaper to advertise your business.
4. Call apartment buildings and offer a free cleaning. In order to gain customers, you may need to show them why you're better than your competition. To do this, you could call each apartment building manager and schedule them for one free apartment cleaning. Make it clear to them that you will clean one unit (or one apartment) free to demonstrate the quality of the service you provide.
Another great idea is to offer discounts to current tenants of the apartment building by leaving a flyer on their door. A percentage off may be enough to have that tenant call your company and request a cleaning. If you do a great job, there is a good chance that the tenant will hire you to clean her apartment in the future! Think of other ways to gain customers with unique ideas.
5. Hire employees. If you plan to do cleanings on a large scale basis, you may need to hire employees. Put an ad in the paper and pass out flyers letting individuals know that you're hiring. Of course, you'll need to give them something to clean in order to prove that they can cut the mustard. When you've hired these employees, you'll need to make sure that they have their own cleaning supplies, gloves and protective masks to ensure that they are safe and prepared.
That's it. The rest of the work comes in when you start booking apartment cleanings. This is a great way to start a business and it can be very profitable for you. By following the steps above, you can create a great apartment cleaning business that will make you money.
