‘Cleanliness is next to godliness’, is a popular idiom we were all taught at the primary education level. Many entrepreneurs now create wealth by providing the essential service of ‘cleaning’ to either industrial, residential or individual clients. Cleaning services usually require low overhead costs and assures of high returns on investment.
There are different categories of cleaning operations. They include: office or industrial cleaning, home cleaning, fumigation, window (glass) cleaning, post-construction cleaning, floor restoration, and many other forms of cleaning services that serve different purposes.
It is important that you carve out a niche and work at it. Some cleaning companies focus on home services, and estates. They target estates and clean the surrounding environment and inside homes.
To provide this kind of service you may need to hire dedicated and trustworthy staff who can be trusted to render home services without loss to the client. Such home services may also include complementing your work with fumigation services, the extermination of rodents and other similar services.
Office cleaning is another big money-spinner. Many corporates outsource cleaning services, which offers a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to thrive.
Cleaning companies may provide ad hoc staff to work daily with offices, or agree on periodic cleaning services. Such cleaning services may include window (glass) cleaning, post-construction cleaning, fumigation and many other variants to keep the office environment neat and insect/pest-free.
Typically, all you require to start your own cleaning business is a vacuum, polish floor cleaner and, preferably, a car. With comparatively low overhead, little in the way of training required and a service which is always in demand, cleaning can be a rewarding business to get into.
Depending on the type of cleaning and client, cleaning service providers can earn between N150,000 and N1,500,000 monthly, or even more. Usually, it is a business you can start with less than N1million.
Two things are very important to keep in mind while offering cleaning services:
#1. We all know what a clean place looks like, so spare no expense to leave the place sparkling clean and ensure you hire and train staff who give attention to details. Ensure there is a supervisor who inspects the job and clears any speck before handing over the job to the client.
#2. The matter of Trust. Ensure you hire staff with integrity and who do not take away or destroy clients’ property.
If you can get these two aspects right, many other things will fall in place to reward your dedication.
You will have to do a lot of marketing, but for a small scale cleaning service, word-of-mouth and below-the-line advertisements like flyers and handbills will do.
You can also use your network and hire a marketing staff to go from office to office and from one residential area to another to win businesses. For a start, the marketer and cleaners may be on commission to keep the startup capital low, until the business is stabilized.
Cleaning services is a business that is raking in millions for entrepreneurs in advanced countries. Many Nigerians who relocate to American, European and Canadian countries find themselves hustling cleaning jobs to survive, so why not start up one at home and then scale up?
