I am wanting to start a office cleaning business. I just don't know where to begin. What I should charge. What I need do.

1) Buy liability insurance, maybe workers comp insurance especially if you plan to expand and hire others to work for you 2) Ck with each city, county, state that you plan to work if to see they require a business license and how much the license cost 2) When quoting prices for jobs look at a) how long it will take you based on what the customer wants done b) determine for YOURSELF based on your conversation(s) with your contact person for the customer and what they want as to how often you will need to clean to keep them happy - i.e. if they only want you in once a week and you think you cannot keep them satisfied by once a week cleaning and you need to clean more often i.e. twice or three times a week, maybe point this out to them. c) have them sign a contract specifying things such as who is to provide the cleaning supplies, mops, vacuum, transh can liners etc as these items can be expensive, put in an expiration, effective date. - you might want an atty to look over your proposed contract for any other items he/she considers proper. d) quote your price using some formula such as square footage of the office, number of trash cans, number of restrooms, etc. Good luck and keep in mind, your business can be as big or as small as you wish. I personally know of owners who want to do it all, not hire others so they have all the control and I personally have one friend who made his million(s) hiring others and working in as many as five or six states.

The city where I live requires a city business license. You will also want to get yourself and any employees bonded and insured.

Get a set of business cards. You can get 1000 quality cards for around $30, and some flyers and hit the bricks and meet your potential customers. Dress neat and clean and be ready to talk up your business.

Tell customer's that you will beat what they are paying now by $x or x% and that you will require an invoice of their current service, that way you will know what your competitors are getting paid.

Large real estate companies and call centers are a good place to start. They are all about keeping costs down.

In addition to the good suggestions above, you might also want to consider the following information.

This list is not meant to be complete. All of these suggestions are just general guidelines meant for a start to give you some ideas. For more detail, please ask about specifics.

1. Make sure that you know how to clean various types of surfaces correctly using the proper cleaning agents for each and knowing how to safely handle any of the cleaning agents.

2. Contact city officials to see if you are required to have any sort of license. Also, ask them if you are required to be bonded. Neither is a requirement where I live. I live in Rock Island, Illinois.

3. Get liability insurance. This is a must have. If you go to an insurance place that has many carriers you are more likely to find insurance that is the best coverage possible for the price you can afford. Some real estate firms have also gone into the insurance business. They are likely to have many carriers. If you are going to have any people working for you, then you are going to have to pay workmen's comp insurance. So, I would speak with the insurance agent as to whether you are going to have any employees.

4. Consider having a contract ready to protect yourself and to insure that you will be working for a specific length of time as in a number of months or a year. Also, it can spelled out in a contract as to whom is supposed to supply the tools and supplies needed for the cleaning.

5. Not every place that you work will have or be willing to supply the things that you will need to clean. Having a small truck, van or station wagon is a good thing to have because you are going to need to haul around everything that you might need. If you get into cleaning and maintenance of hard floor surfaces, you may need to haul around something like a buffer.

6. Check to see what others in the same vicinity are charging for their services. Consider charging a little less than they do so that you can give the customers a better price. You have to sell what you are doing for the customers. Talk yourself up to them.

7. Although not absolutely necessary, you might want to get listed in the Yellow Pages of a phone book. Choose a name for your business that would end up being towards the beginning of the alphabet, such as "Absolute Cleaning Service." I like to use a word such as absolute, rather than AA of AAA because I think that it says a little more about my service being something near the "top of the line" as far as the service I am providing.

8. Have business cards printed or print them yourself. If you design them yourself, then you will have more freedom of the designs that you can use. You don't need 500 business cards. You also have more options available in the design of your cards if you do it yourself. There is plenty of free, in the public domain clip-art available on the Internet to jazz up your business cards. Always carry your business cards with you and bring up your business in casual conversation.

Put either your name by itself, or your business name and your name on your business cards. You will also want to include your telephone number and maybe your email address. Your address is not necessary because you are going to other people's places. You also can put things on your cards not only on the front of them, but on the back of them as to the types of things that you do concerning your business that would also help in selling what you can do for your potential customers.

9. In case you may want to get some free advertising for your business, please read the following:

Advertising on the Internet does not have to cost a cent. I have been doing it for over two years. I have hundreds of ads on the Internet. They are all free. I get the most results from my Internet advertising. More so than from my Yellow Page ads in the local phone book. Although, ads in the Yellow Pages are still a good idea because of some people who do not have a computer, or if they do have a computer, are not on the Internet. The Yellow Pages are probably the first place that most people are going to look for services in their local area.

If you do a Google search for Clough Quad Cities, then you will find ads for my various businesses dominating the first three or four pages in the search. Do a search for the what I do, leave out my name, and you will still get the same result. All of these ads are free. If you take a look at how I have worded them, then you will get an idea how you could word yours, if advertising on the Internet is something in which you are interested.

10. Hang your small "shingle" (advertising flyer) out wherever you see a public bulletin board where business advertising can be placed. Grocery stores, quick mart type places, bowling alleys, Laundromats, etc.

11. Here is a short list of possible supplies. I'm sure that others could be added to it. Rubber or latex gloves, goggles, a respirator, (I'm serious about this one. If anyone knows what it's like to clean the inside of an enclosed shower stall with not much air flowing around while using a nasty-smelling cleaner, then I'm sure that you know what I mean.), small and large brooms of various kinds, dust pans, mops, [various cleaners abrasive and non-abrasive and also shining type products for wood, various metals, marble, enamel and other painted surfaces, vinyl, etc.] scrubbing/scouring pads and brushes, rags and paper towels, a step-stool, a shop-vac and a stand-up type of vacuum, squeegees for windows, various sizes of trash bags, etc.

12. What really does matter is your reputation and the references that you have. And, I don't necessarily mean references geared exclusively to what you have done in your cleaning business. Do an excellent job for someone, and the word will spread. Ask customers if you may use them as a reference.