Private Home Cleaning New Business Start Up
Discussion
Finding employment is proving very tough despite so much effort, so many applications, a lot of speculative letters sent off, plenty of networking and contacting old colleagues and contacts etc etc.
My mates wife came to me last week with a suggestion about having this idea to start her own cleaning business and as she doesnt drive and I do drive and would I be interested in going into it with her and we share the cleaning and drive between jobs.
I just dont know ;-
a) whether domestic cleaning is a flier in these tough times in our race to the bottom on everything from job wages to a pint of milk although she said her target market will have the disposable cash for regular cleaners. she has all the good intentions but its not based on any facts.
b) if she doesnt learn to drive herself and get her own car and I land my dream job in the future (I really need one with a good pension, healthcare would be peace of mind and for future remortgaging applications a good regular salary really is needed, house improvements etc) that leaves her up creek without a paddle and could jeopardise our friendship/my friendship with my pal.
c) methods of payment - when I used to be self employed we would ask for payment on completion usually same day or on a lerger job it might be up to a week and we would want cash or a cheque. We got bitten on some cheques bouncing.
would you go weekly (probably 1 clean a week per house) potentially being an off putting point of nuisance for the customer or say 4 x cleans then one lump payment in arrears for those 4 visits? Then youre at risk of losing more money as I dare say like any business youll always get one or two trying to get work done for nowt.
I am thinking maybe do it part time, keep looking for the job I want and make it clear to her from the outset this is my position.
Ive been self employed before and it took a good year to get the business going and at its peak I was still not getting a solid 5 days of work a week every week.Whats the views of you guys on this?
My mates wife came to me last week with a suggestion about having this idea to start her own cleaning business and as she doesnt drive and I do drive and would I be interested in going into it with her and we share the cleaning and drive between jobs.
I just dont know ;-
a) whether domestic cleaning is a flier in these tough times in our race to the bottom on everything from job wages to a pint of milk although she said her target market will have the disposable cash for regular cleaners. she has all the good intentions but its not based on any facts.
b) if she doesnt learn to drive herself and get her own car and I land my dream job in the future (I really need one with a good pension, healthcare would be peace of mind and for future remortgaging applications a good regular salary really is needed, house improvements etc) that leaves her up creek without a paddle and could jeopardise our friendship/my friendship with my pal.
c) methods of payment - when I used to be self employed we would ask for payment on completion usually same day or on a lerger job it might be up to a week and we would want cash or a cheque. We got bitten on some cheques bouncing.
would you go weekly (probably 1 clean a week per house) potentially being an off putting point of nuisance for the customer or say 4 x cleans then one lump payment in arrears for those 4 visits? Then youre at risk of losing more money as I dare say like any business youll always get one or two trying to get work done for nowt.
I am thinking maybe do it part time, keep looking for the job I want and make it clear to her from the outset this is my position.
Ive been self employed before and it took a good year to get the business going and at its peak I was still not getting a solid 5 days of work a week every week.Whats the views of you guys on this?
I'm pondering about getting a regular cleaner - my partner says we don't need one but there's a lack of interest of cleaning the sills around the house, bathroom and kitchen on a weekly basis.
In your predicament and to the ease for customers, why not split the difference between a monthly arrears (increased risk) and increased nuisance on the customer (weekly payment) and do fortnightly? If you don't want to have to take a card machine about, you could get people to set up a standing order. If the person doesn't pay/cancels their payment, the biggest risk is you give that person a fortnight's worth of cleaning for free rather than a whole month?
In your predicament and to the ease for customers, why not split the difference between a monthly arrears (increased risk) and increased nuisance on the customer (weekly payment) and do fortnightly? If you don't want to have to take a card machine about, you could get people to set up a standing order. If the person doesn't pay/cancels their payment, the biggest risk is you give that person a fortnight's worth of cleaning for free rather than a whole month?
MikeStroud said:
ToothbrushMan said:
Finding employment is proving very tough ...
Then what have you got to lose ? You can still look for jobs even when working but at least you're trying something. Just do it.PS - I have just taken on a cleaner for a weekly 3-5 hours. So glad I did.
Is there really enough money in it to make it worth two peoples time.
I imagine there is enough work, everyone I know has a cleaner, we all seem to pay £10 an hour for three hours a week.
Our cleaner thought if there were two of them they could do more as it wouldn’t just be half the time but reality they didn’t she just earned half as much.
I imagine there is enough work, everyone I know has a cleaner, we all seem to pay £10 an hour for three hours a week.
Our cleaner thought if there were two of them they could do more as it wouldn’t just be half the time but reality they didn’t she just earned half as much.
ToothbrushMan said:
MikeStroud said:
ToothbrushMan said:
Finding employment is proving very tough ...
Then what have you got to lose ? You can still look for jobs even when working but at least you're trying something. Just do it.PS - I have just taken on a cleaner for a weekly 3-5 hours. So glad I did.
MikeStroud said:
£10 an hour. But she does the ironing now too. I agree with others that 2 people don't earn twice as much unless, one is doing the cleaning, the other the ironing or cutting the grass or window cleaning or something...
That could potentially be the USP. Not just "cleaner" but more "domestic support" as a one-stop-shop, much easier to have one company and bill to pay that covers Cleaning, Laundry, Ironing, Gardening, Windows, maybe even small bits of general "DIY" Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff