Strating a Cleaning Service need help

poet20052002
poet20052002: Hello my name Thomas and im soon within the year going to be starting a cleaning business i got the ein and business name i need help on what this takes to get this rolling i know supplies business license not needed in ohio. bank account heck i even have go fund me going to try to get funds but here my questions.

is it better to do yourself and with a friend at start or get it hire people get it going.

my credit score low but i have been paying my old stuff off is there anything i can get money grant or something that i can have to get this started?

anyone can help be appreciated
4 years ago Report
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theHating
theHating: Determine the structure of your business - is it a partnership? An S corp? You think you need a grant or a loan, do you have large contracts on the line?

You sound like you barely have a running car, which you better hope you do. If that's the case, you already have registered a business name and a tax id with the state and federal government, then you're pretty much set to operate as a sole proprietorship.

If you have more ambitious plans for your cleaning services that require more dough, a partnership would be a good idea, the two of you can lump funds together.

I have started many cleaning services, some for just $50 bucks. Ive joined proprietorships and I currently own a large interest in a partnership.

4 years ago Report
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theHating
theHating: You're overhead and down investments are gunna depend on what kind of cleaning you're doing.

Is it house cleaning? You probably won't need supplies, but it looks professional if you have your own.

Is it commercial office cleaning?

Is it department store cleaning? If so, you're gunna need at least $20,000: lawyers to draft the contracts, cleaning equipment, insurance, employees, insurance for said employees....

That's the other thing, do you have a contract written up? Are you prepared to sell contracts?
4 years ago Report
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theHating
theHating: Okay, assuming you have a model, structure, and a contract. Insurance is easy: if you wanna start cleaning bars, houses, and offices, you don't have to file for a sole proprietorship, and you can get cheap insurance from progressive, it'll probably cost ya $400 a year at the most, but idk about ohio. Still, it's pretty reasonable.
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theHating
theHating: Now that you are licensed, bonded by yourself, and insured, you have to market your self.
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theHating
theHating: Ohio may be different, but in California, you are guaranteed 3 clients for every 100 cars that you manage to stick a business card in.

1 in 30 of those clients will remain loyal to you.
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theHating
theHating: In other places up north, things tend to be more word of mouth.

Which makes a lot of compromises. Instead of passing out flyers, cards and running ads on the tv or the internet, facebook becomes the prime mover of business in a smaller community. You might have to use your keenest of spider awareness to scout out how businesses in your area are reaching potential clients.

One thing to do is act like a potential client. Search the area for businesses like yours and see where they post their advertising. Get in touch with them and listen to their salespitch, take note of how they sell their service.
4 years ago Report
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theHating
theHating: Okay, now that you're licensed, bonded by yourself, insured, marketing, selling your service, getting contracts, and billing your clients with professional invoices....

The number one requirement of the cleaning service is consistency. If you're inconsistent and inconvenience your clients, you will begin to have a reputation for being a lousy service.

You never want to be "just okay" or "sometimes he misses this and that" in the eyes of the people you meet and do business with.

The american way is to take pride in the work you do, and one thing I can tell you is it is non-existent anymore, so when businesses do find those serviceman and women who outperform all others, they tend not trust anyone but you. They will spread that word, in some cases, they will insist.

I have had the local towel boy pushing our bar-cleaning service towards other bars that dont have a service or have a service that does poor work. He came up to us one afternoon and asked if it was okay to do, we didn't ask him, he asked us if he could recommend our business. So...

4 years ago Report
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theHating
theHating: If you wanna make $100 an hour by yourself with only $50 initial investment, go get some professional squeegies, applicators, poles, towels, dawn dishsoap, a ladder, and wash windows.

You go to a storefront to sell your window service.

Price it by the window and quote him your bid.

Example: storefront has 10 windows, and you charge $10 a pane, inside and out. If he wants to heckle you down, offer a lower price. Sometimes you will have a storefront with high windows, charge $20 a pane if they are on the second story. $30 a pane if on the 3rd story of a building. $40 if fourth, and so on. In the window cleaning biz, it is acceptable to upcharge by the floor due to "health dangers" of being so high off the ground.
4 years ago Report
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theHating
theHating: You shouldn't need any kind of bonding, license or insurance if you run a small window service that doesnt have regular clientele, this would be like running a lemonade stand in your front lawn.
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The giant midget
The giant midget: I wish house building was that easy to start
On a little 150 new home subdivision you need at least 1 grand a day on insurance
4 years ago Report
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poet20052002
poet20052002: not window cleaning houses and apartments in ohio u dont need business license west virginia u do. it like housekeeping stuff im doing. if i hire go to get liability workers comp insurance
4 years ago Report
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theHating
theHating: You can still hire employees and operate as a sole proprietorship. You just have to pay them salaried wages.

If you pay them by the hour, you risk getting shut down by the state for not having workers comp. Hourly wages make the person an employee, so you gotta pay them salaries.

Tip: you can still work out an hourly rate and pay it as a salary. I. E. You hire someone and you pay them $10 PER HOUSE. If it takes an hour to clean a house, then you're basically paying them $10/hr. If it takes them a little longer to do it, you can pay the like $15 PER HOUSE, because it takes 1.5 hours to clean a house, you're still paying them $10/hr.

The biggest problem with hiring employees under a sole proprietorship is that liabilities dont just disappear just because you found the loopholes in the law. What you gotta be mindful of is the level of trust you have in the people you hire. Theft in the residential cleaning business is a real problem, so making sure you can trust the people you hire is an intuitive skill.

4 years ago Report
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theHating
theHating: Bottom line, you pay your employees SALARIES not hourly.

You get around this by calculating how long your work day is and paying a set amount each day, week, semi-week, month, semi-annual, etc..

Example: your two-man work day is one house, takes you and your partner 2 hours to do. You wanna pay him $10/hr so you give him $20 a day.

$20 a day is a salaried wage. You can also pay him at the end of the week - $140. Regardless of if it takes you an hour one day and 3 hours the next, you always pay the salary wage, not only does it work out in the end, but you wont be liable if your partner decides to claim an injury and sue you because the salary wage makes him a sub-contractor beneath your sole-proprietorship, essentially making him a sole proprietor and only accountable to himself to provide his own health coverage.
4 years ago Report
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theHating
theHating: Honestly though, I highly recommend getting business insurance at least, in case one of your clients decides to claim that you damaged something in her home. Its super cheap, makes you look more professional and responsible.

Breaking something in your clients home is not something you wanna do. Imagine if it was a large antique mirror that was worth 10's of thousands of dollars. Another thing to worry about is that your client may injury herself during or after you've performed your service. I. E. She slips on a wet floor, trips over a floor rug, etc. And if she sues you and you have no coverage.... Sad panda
4 years ago Report
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theHating
theHating: I used to get my business insurance through progressive, but, it doesn't really matter, cheap plans will cost ya about $400 - $600 a year. Honestly, you can operate without it probably in ohio, but you should make sure.

There is a difference between business insurance and workers comp, just to clarify. Workers comp is mandatory if you run an LLC or pay your employees by the hour.

Business insurance is mandatory in some states for cleaning businesses, specifically residential. Business insurance is about protecting your business from day-to-day operating liabilities. If you clean someone's house and then they call you up the next day to claim that you've ruined a rug with a cleaning agent, or broken an expensive vase, you don't want to be in the position of paying out of pocket. Beware, however, that making a claim will jack your rates right the f*** up, so... Ya know, be careful
4 years ago Report
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The giant midget
The giant midget: Holy shit
Before I even start putting a shovel in the ground, I must deposit 30 % of the projected cost of the subdivision to the local county or township bank account either bonds or letter of credit.
I must deposit 1 million in bonds or letter of credit to local trades unions to hire up to 10 employees, rates increase with higher amount of labour.
About quarter million in insurance payments yearly
Environmental protection insurance is about half million per year
Workers injury insurance is close to a million per year for about 10 employees

I should have gone into the cleaning business instead


4 years ago Report
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theHating
theHating: Lol midget, yeah, now that everyone sees how easy it is, they are all running their own cleaning business. Every month, a new cleaning company comes up, one goes down
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theHating
theHating: Residential is where it's at, in my opinion, you wont make shit cleaning offices, but a successful cleaning start-up can easily earn a 6 figure income with nearly $0 overhead.
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poet20052002
poet20052002: im hoping by 2021 i can get it started
4 years ago Report
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theHating
theHating: Good luck, never give up
4 years ago Report
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poet20052002
poet20052002: since we on here i know i dont need to put my personal issues but because i let myself go and such i have felt like giving up. i just wish sometimes god would take me now. i rather jump off a bridge in our town its just been hard to deal with
4 years ago Report
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Angry Beaver
Angry Beaver: There is no dog
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Bytr
(Post deleted by Bytr 4 years ago)
The giant midget
The giant midget:
Anti America
Who can that be?
4 years ago Report
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poet20052002
poet20052002: i dont know if im allowed to post my paypal and such im just hoping to get word out more to get help to fund it so i can start it so ill email to see if im allowed
4 years ago Report
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