WHAT IS A CLEANING BUSINESS’ REAL PROFIT POTENTIAL?

What is the profit potential of a cleaning business?

The profit potential for a cleaning business can range from $20,000 up to $100,000 [1], depending on a number of variables. The potential profit that a business can make will ultimately depend upon the niche that business is being operated within, the location the business serves and the ability with which the business can retain and attract clients.

Is a cleaning business profitable?

A cleaning business can be a profitable venture for small business owners starting out in their local area, however, it’s important for any new business owners to have a clear plan laid out in order to ensure that they can operate at a profit. Cleaning businesses are ideal for new business owners, as they offer a simple premise that can be scaled indefinitely, as long as a sound plan is in place.

Regardless of the niche that a cleaning business is operating within, the principle for how profit is made remains the same. A cleaning service is offered to the client at a fixed price (usually per hour or per item). This price is calculated by the business, taking into consideration the various overheads that the business has, such as travel costs, materials, and the time it will take to complete the work.

It’s crucial that cleaning businesses balance their client fees so that they can maximize their profit potential per job, whilst being able to compete effectively in their local niche.

How much does a cleaning business make a year?

A cleaning business operated by a single person can make up to $50,000 a year [2]. Some of the largest commercial cleaning businesses, with many employees, can make millions [3]. The amount of money that a cleaning business makes in a year will vary, depending on the niche that they are operating in and the level of competing businesses in their local area.

For example, a domestic cleaning business operated by one person may not be able to make as much money as a barbecue cleaning business. Whilst the domestic cleaning business owner may be able to charge as much as $40 per hour for their service, they will be limited by how much work they’re able to complete in a single day.

Meanwhile, the barbecue cleaner may be able to charge more for their service and, if they have the clients in place, be able to perform more services within a given day.

What’s the income potential of a cleaning business with one cleaner?

The income potential of a cleaning business with one cleaner can be between $20,000 to $50,000. This figure varies depending on the particular service being offered and the location that the business is operating in.

Take the example of a residential cleaning business that charges $30 per hour. If they can work 30 hours a week, for 50 weeks of the year then they may be able to earn $45,000. Of course, this doesn’t take into the cost of cleaning materials, advertising costs, tax, accounting, and any other business costs, such as insurance or training.

What’s the income potential for a cleaning business with a team of cleaners?

The income potential of a cleaning business can be greatly improved when there are more team members to share the load. This is a step that cleaning businesses can only take once they can guarantee that their work schedule is filled [4].

In order for a cleaning business to successfully expand, they must ensure that there’s enough work to keep all employees occupied. For this reason, it’s recommended that single-person cleaning businesses refrain from expanding until they’re regularly booking 40 hours of work a week.

Once a business has taken on a new member of staff, the overall profit potential rises. As the company now has more availability, more clients can be onboarded and more money can be made. In order for profit to be maintained, however, it’s important that new employees are paid less than what clients are being charged for the service [5].

What’s the average hourly rate to charge to clean?

Unless you are operating an incredibly niche cleaning business, it’s likely that you’ll be competing within your immediate area against multiple businesses. Potential clients will have the luxury of choosing the cheapest (or best-reviewed) business, so it’s important to consider carefully what price you are choosing to charge for your services.

The rate at which you charge clients for your cleaning services should be calculated based on your costs, travel expenses and competitor analysis.

What are some of the expenses I should expect in my cleaning business?

Cleaning businesses can be subject to a number of expenses that must be taken into consideration, as they can quickly accumulate and inevitably eat into your profit potential [6].

Depending on the niche that you are planning on entering, you’ll want to consider how much money you’ll be spending on cleaning supplies and fuel in order to get to your jobs. This is why you should select a niche carefully when first conceiving your cleaning business.

For example, a house cleaning business will inevitably require a greater variety of cleaning supplies in order to effectively clean the different surfaces that are presented in the home.

Selecting a narrower cleaning niche means that you’ll require more specialist supplies, but you may need to buy less as a result [7]. If you chose to just clean barbecues, then you’d only require a handful of products and tools to complete each job.

How can I calculate my salary as the business owner?

You can calculate your salary as the business owner by subtracting your overall costs from the total income you’ve brought in for the month. The figure you are left with will be the maximum salary that you are able to take for the month, however, it may not be in your best interest to take the maximum amount as your salary each month.

By paying yourself less than what you can, you may be able to spend more on expanding the business through more marketing, or set up the company to be on firmer financial footing [8].

Can a cleaning business make you rich?

A cleaning business has the potential to make you rich if you can manage your business efficiently and scale your efforts when necessary.

How much money your business makes and how much you pay yourself will inevitably dictate how rich you become as a result. When operating on large national scales, cleaning businesses can make millions of dollars for their owners [9], however with size comes the added costs and complications that are implicit with managing a larger organization.

It’s possible to grow a small local service cleaning business to a point where one person can earn up to $100,000. Whilst this might not constitute ‘rich’ when compared to the Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates of the world, it does equate to a comfortable living wage for most people, especially when you take into account that you’ll have full control over where and when you work.

What’s the success rate for cleaning businesses?

As many as 20% of new businesses fail in their first year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Business Employment Dynamics [10]. This may sound alarmingly high, however, it’s important to remember that this is a broad statistic that doesn’t take into consideration individual niches and industries.

The cleaning industry has been growing year on year for over a decade now, with a predicted overall income of over $46 billion in 2020 and more than 1.7 million people employed in the industry across the United States [11].

Why do cleaning businesses fail?

Cleaning businesses can fail for a number of reasons, but can usually be traced back to poor management and planning [12]. Whilst many new cleaning business owners may be confident in their ability to ‘get the job done’ by themselves, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll be able to manage and run a business efficiently.

Not having a proper business plan in place can lead to knee-jerk or gut decisions being made on the fly, which could lead to poor record-keeping and loss of financial control.

Many cleaning businesses fail due to not hitting the vital cornerstones of customer service. If you fail to provide a quality service, or worse still, provide a poor service, then you’ll not be able to garner the 5-star reviews and referrals needed to build your client business and establish a successful cleaning business.

Having a well-researched process in place will make booking and servicing new clients that much easier, so you can focus on getting the work done and providing an excellent service to your customers.

Is it worth starting a cleaning business?

There are more cleaning businesses operating in the United States than there have ever been before [13]. Considering the low barrier to entry, it’s not hard to see why.

Typically, cleaning businesses have low start-up costs. One-man cleaning operations do not require large quantities of stock, and overheads are also low. The flexibility that owning your own business is another benefit, allowing a new start-up to be managed around a child-care schedule or even a second job.

The drawbacks of starting your cleaning business should still be considered, though. Whichever niche you decide to work within, it’s likely that you’ll need to engage in your fair share of physical work. You should also expect to have to work hard in the first few months of operating in order to secure new clients and get a steady stream of income for yourself.

Tips On Making Your Cleaning Business Profitable

Keep Expenses Down in Your New Cleaning Business

One of the benefits of starting cleaning businesses is the low-start up costs required to get them off the ground. Despite this, it can be easy to unwittingly accumulate overheads, especially if you’ve not planned your business appropriately before launching.

Keeping your expenses down is one of the best ways of keeping your business profitable. You can do this by buying your supplies in bulk and only operating with a specific local area, to keep your fuel costs down.

Your Profit Potential Will be Affected by Your Rates

The amount you charge for your cleaning services will directly impact your profit potential. Charge too much and you’ll dissuade new clients from choosing you. Charge too little and you’ll attract more clients, but you may end up losing out on valuable profits.

Make sure you research the going rates that competing cleaning businesses are charging so that you can calculate your own rates accordingly.

Set Up Your Business for Long-Term Growth

In order to increase the profit potential of your cleaning business, you’ll need to set yourself up for long-term growth. You can do this by starting out with a rock-solid business plan that takes you from getting your first client, to expanding your service location in response to increased customer demand.

Successful Cleaning Businesses Work in a Niche Market

You’ll have the best chance of creating a profitable cleaning business by investing in a niche market such as barbecue or grill cleaning. Trying to crack an already competitive niche, such as house cleaning, would require considerable resources, as you’ll need to be able to outperform businesses that are already succeeding in your local area.

Collect Client Testimonials to Build Social Proof

The key to building your client base will be collecting reviews from happy clients. The more testimonials that you can collect, the more social proof you’ll have that your business can be trusted. Although word-of-mouth should drive valuable referrals, a wealth of glowing reviews can win over new clients who have never heard of your business before.

Create a Digital Marketing Strategy Based on Customer Search Intent and Interest

A smart digital marketing strategy can be the difference between you or your local competitor gaining the upper hand in the battle for all-important client bookings. You don’t need to be a marketing whizz to put together simple adverts for your business and you’ll find that costs will be affordable when targeting smaller local areas.

Deliver the Best Customer Experience to Every Client

Ultimately, your ability to increase the profit potential of your cleaning business will depend on the level of service that you’re providing. You won’t be able to expand your client base and build profits without providing a good service.

Without providing an outstanding service, you won’t be able to stand out from the crowd and drive the all-important referrals that make the difference between a cleaning business that’s just getting by, and a bonafide success.

Can you make money cleaning barbecues?

You only need to look at a few successful cleaning business stories to see that barbecue and grill cleaning is a proven niche across the United States. Barbecue cleaning is an under-exploited service in the cleaning industry that can provide business owners with a steady stream of income that can be scaled to include multiple employees and locations, as your client base grows.

The BBQ Cleaner is a profitable cleaning business opportunity that’s easy to operate with flexible hours and excellent support, offering many advantages over a traditional franchise or other business opportunities.

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References

[1] How Much Can You Make as a Cleaning Business Owner? - Cleaning Business Boss - https://cleaningbusinessboss.com/how-much-you-make-as-a-cleaning-business-owner/

[2] Average Yearly Income and Salaries for Cleaning Businesses - Cleaning Business Boss - https://cleaningbusinessboss.com/average-yearly-income-and-salaries-for-cleaning-businesses/

[3] Katie’s Story - Jobber Academy - https://academy.getjobber.com/resources/guides/how-to-run-cleaning-business/katies-story/

[4] How much does a cleaning business make per year? - Start Cleaning Business - https://cleaningbusinessboss.com/average-yearly-income-and-salaries-for-cleaning-businesses/

[5] What is the Profit Potential with a New Cleaning Business? - The Maid Coach - https://themaidcoach.com/what-is-the-profit-potential-with-a-new-cleaning-business/

[6] How to Calculate Overhead for Cleaning Businesses - FreshBooks - https://www.freshbooks.com/hub/accounting/calculate-overhead-for-cleaning-companies

[7] Why You Should Niche Your Professional Cleaning Business - Home Business - https://homebusinessmag.com/growing-a-business/diversifying-a-biz/niche-professional-cleaning-business/

[8] A 6-Step Guide to Setting Your Salary as a Business Owner - Gusto

[9] Why Start A Cleaning Business - Jobber Academy - https://academy.getjobber.com/resources/articles/why-start-cleaning-business/

[10] Table 7. Survival of private sector establishments by opening year - bls.gov - https://www.bls.gov/bdm/us_age_naics_00_table7.txt

[11] Commercial cleaning services industry in the U.S. - statistics & facts - Statista - https://www.statista.com/topics/2201/commercial-cleaning-services-industry-in-the-us/

[12] The Cold Facts On Starting A Cleaning Or Janitorial Service - IJCSA - ijcsa.org/The-Cold-Facts-On-Starting-A-Cleaning-Or-Janitorial-Service

[13] Janitorial Services in the US - Number of Businesses 2005–2027 - Ibis World - https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/number-of-businesses/janitorial-services-united-states/