[lisa123]

hi everyone, this forum is fantastic.

I am just starting up as a partnership business with my friend. we are in the shropshire area.

we intend to clean domestic properties, offices, end of tenancy, ad anything else that we can realistically do.

We are also thinking about mattress cleaning and de-bugging, carpet and upholstery cleaning and oven cleaning, washing, ironing and other tasks which the clients may consider.

What type of insurances will i need for these tasks? and about health and safety, how do go about getting all the necessary risk assessment forms and all the information about that?
Is there anything else i need to know about the legal side?

sorry it's long, just been overloaded with info. 

Thanks, Lisa.

[sonya]

Hi Lisa, It's Sonya. THeres no straight forward answer when it comes down to insurance as everyones business is different. My advice is ring several companies up and tell them about the ins and outs of your business i.e office,carpet cleaning ect.. If you will be employing staff and im sure they will all be willing to give you a quote.
In reguards to health and saftey there is also no simple answer. Risk assesments are basically assesments of the site you are going to clean and detailing the potential hazards that may occure during cleaning and how you will; overcome them. It could be a wet floor terrible if someone slips..so to prevent this you would have on display a clear sign telling everyone that "cleaning is in progress" or "wet floor" sign. Basically there is no one template, but www.hse.gov.uk can help you out. Good luck guy's Sonya.

[lisa123]

Hi Sonya
Thank you for your reply and advice. It is greatly appreciated. 

I am just wading around in all the information at the moment.
I think we will start with the basic domestic cleaning and then add on services and different premises from there.

Best that we walk before we run, land up flat on our faces otherwise.

I have designed a card for shop windows and to possibly drop through letter boxes.

The jist of it is this:

Lisa's Cleaning Services[/color][/b]

Domestic and Office Cleaning in Your Area[/b]

Regular, Daily, Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly Based Cleans

One Off Cleans, Light and Deep Cleans
End of Tenancy, Communal Areas
Plus More....

Contact Us    NOW   For A Free Quote

Fully Insured and Federation Approved Local Business
Reliable, Friendly, Experienced Staff
(Text Quotes Accepted)

      Visit: www.....................                       Phone:.....................
      Email:.............................                       Mobile:.....................

any comments would be great, it says what we want, but looks a little boring. I think it will do the job.

Thanks, Lisa

[Jan K]

Hi Lisa!

Tells it like it is........you don't need anything flashy, just something that will jump out and bite people on the nose..........grab their attention when they are passing the shop.

I think it is fine, but remember it will probably be on postcard size card so you need as much info in a possible but not too small font, otherwise people won't notice it!!

Just my opinion remember, but you have to go with what feels right for you!!

Good luck!

Jan

[lisa123]

Thank You Jan. Do you think if i put a big '10% off 1st clean' it will attract attention?

The top of the ad where it says our name is highlighted in a green/blue colour, so it does stand out a little bit.

The font Size I have used is 11 and 12, Maybe I could enlarge it. It looks big enough, but then i have only seen it at close range

I have got the price for BIC membership, and Public Liability insurance. Would i need any other insurances?

I think then we just need cleaning supplies, think of uniform/no uniform, distributing our card up there.

Where do we get risk assessment, method assessment, coshh etc sheets from. We have decided it is cheaper to buy supplies from wilkinsons, although we maybe pursuaded to get them in bulk from ECS.

Any Suggestions?

[CMS]

I am not in the Domestic market at all so I'm not sure that my opinion counts but as someone who has had many years experience selling cleaning to the commercial sector can I make these constructive observations?

I would assume that the type of customer that would use a domestic cleaning service is a family where both partners have busy (and well paid) careers....................

Well, if they have time to read postcards in the local shop window they probably have time to do their own housework.

I would approach businesses with something that looks very professional and ask if you can put it on the firms notice board.

Lisa, if you are in Shropshire there is a load of suitable offices around the Town Centre. Inland Revenue and ERS (?) to name a couple. These are the notice boards that busy career women will be reading, not the local small ads in the Newsagents window.

You never know it could lead to some more work in the commercial sector too.

I may have got this completely wrong but that is the way I would approach it.

Good luck.

[lisa123]

Thanks for your advice CMS, I didn't realise you were just down the road in the telford area!!

You could be right there, maybe I should get into town and target the right people.

Busy loaded career people are my target client group from now on

As you have read on another of my posts, I am being completely thrown in the deep end with this massive house clean. What a better way to get noticed. This guy owns half the countryside village he lives in, i think i may have struck lucky