Just starting new cleaning business HELP

The woman who helps me walked through the house, wrote down the tasks she will perform on a weekly basis (vacuuming, for example), on a month basis (washing basboards), every other month (wiping down kitchen and bathroom walls) and then gave me a quote for X hours at X dollars/hour - she is bonded and insured, by the way.

I pay her the same hourly whether she's cleaning baseboards or dusting - it's easier than having different rates for different chores. I pay her by the week and also pay her extra as a vacation (which she does not take) during the Summer and give her a Christmas gift. No one is "stealing" this woman from me!

Some weeks she is finished early. Other weeks she is there longer. It all depends on her time and what the house needs.

Hi, POTTYPAT!

What kind of cleaning proposal is it that you're wanting to write? Is this for commercial, residential or something else, please?

Thanks!

Can't spread the love to you for a while Judy... but a good answer. My wife had a residential cleaning company that she built up to almost 70 homes and has since sold it for a nice profit.

One of the methods that used was that she had a list of tasks printed up with a space beside it to 'check' if the client desired that to be done and next was a 'frequency desired' line. She had a carbon copy under it and left a copy with each customer after the customer signed it. She then made a file for each client...

Of course, this answer is assuming that the OP is going to be doing residential cleaning, although something like this could be used for commercial in some cases.

Don't know if this helped and then again the OP hasn't been back since Feb 26th..? SOoooo.

Stringer

Basically, you need to spell out what you are doing, when, how many days a week and for how much. This is for commercial since that is the type that you would generally submit a proposal for.

Good luck!
Stacy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HBF

Basically, you need to spell out what you are doing, when, how many days a week and for how much. This is for commercial since that is the type that you would generally submit a proposal for.

Good luck!
Stacy

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You are correct Stacy, however what I was referring to was residential and although proposals are not usually required in this market, getting something signed and having a set of 'specs' as I mentioned above is always a better way to do business. Both parties now know exactly what they are getting and what is an extra... thus an additional charge. Way too often it becomes a gray area and the client expects things that are not part of the job.

The opposite is true in commercial cleaning it is rare when an agreement with specifications are not required.

I do realize that I made an assumption that this was probably residential, POTTYPAT possibly you can come back and define exactly which type of market you are pursuing as Clough has suggested.

Stringer