[Chris Galloway]

Howdy!

I run my own window cleaning business, which im happy doing, but my other half is getting frustrated at work, and wants to leave.

So i was thinking of her running her own domestic cleaning business, and perhaps we can both do End of Tenancy cleaning together.

Can you offer some advice for a newbie in this field of cleaning, and enlighten me a bit more about what is involved.

thank you.

[suffolkclean]

Hi Chris
Thats exactly what myself & my husband do. We started this up when my husband got made redundant almost 2 years ago. While canvassing for window cleaning I was asked about regular domestic cleaning and took on our first customer.

We have over 100 window cleaning customers & provide one off spring cleans & end of tenancy cleaning. No longer providing the regular domestic cleaning as we had 4 members of staff and the organisation involved was full time for me for very little profit. When we are called asking about regular cleaning now I say we can provide a big spring clean but not regular.

There is much more money to be made in one off cleaning/end of tenancy cleaning. We also provide carpet cleaning I don't know if thats something you would want to do. So we provide the full package for letting agents we can do inside/outside windows, general cleaning & carpets which is a good selling point.

Although it is hard working from home with you both doing it together, but you are working for yourself and can choose when you want to work.  Good Luck
Barbara

[Chris Galloway]

I wasn't thinking of doing Carpet Cleaning, but i suppose its the natural progression, i'll have to look about the carpet section and see how to set something like that up.

Thanks for the advise anyhow. I will certainly look about on here and gain some tips..

[suffolkclean]

You don't HAVE to do the carpet cleaning its just another service you could offer. My husband did a course through PROCHEM it was £95 + VAT for the day, but then you would have to spend quite a lot n getting all the equipment & the machine

[Chris Galloway]

yeah but as i said its the natural progression. If your asked when doing a EoT clean, you may get asked to do the carpets? Bit stuffed if you cant, as outsourcing is not always a good idea. Perhaps hiring a carpet cleaner could be an option to start with, just make sure i have the necessary insurance cover for this.

I think i will look into doing the prochem course first, seeing as its cheaper than the NCCA. Then if its something i wish to continue i can do the NCCA later.

Apart from bombarding letting agents with my details regarding EoT cleaning, what other ways is there of advising prospective customers were out here and willing regarding EoT atm?

btw, thanks suffolkclean for the advise you have given so far, really helpful

[suffolkclean]

Hi Chris when we first started I posted information to around 10 letting agents and also emailed information too. from that I got work from 2 letting agents. Since then I've tried calling letting agents and they usually say 'we have cleaners at the moment but you are welcome to send your information in' which I have and never heard anything. I wouldn't contact too many at once so you can follow through the ones you do contact and keep records. Another thing I do is call the letting agent and say 'could I speak to the person in charge of the cleaning of your rental properties' if there not in take a note of the persons name so you know who to send info to.

The letting agents who use us also recommend us to tenants they know are moving out and they contact us direct too which is great. Its a lot of recommending same as you probably get on your window cleaning work. Your in a good position already as you can let all your customers know about the other services you can offer. We also tell window cleaning customers we can offer a one off spring clean, similar to end of tenancy cleaning but more stuff to move around when cleaning (charged at a higher rate)
Comming up for christmas is a great time for one off cleans as everyone wants the house nice and clean for putting up the decs and inviting all the family over, December was crazy for us last year.
Hope this helps

[Chris Galloway]

Can anyone suggest a good steam cleaning machine that is compact and can be easily mobile. You help would be greatly appreciated

[garyj]

You'll get to very different views on steam cleaners. I had on that cost about £1500 and I thought it was rubbish, Martin606 has one that cost about £100 and he swears by it. I found they do not live up to their promise and you cannot see what you are doing because of all the steam.