[bennieblanco]

Hello ,
I am about to start my own cleaning business. Some people are talking about cleaning bids. Where would I be able to find such bids and how much to bid on project ? Like I said just starting so I need some help in getting the numbers right so I would not get eaten up by old school cleaning business owners. Right now I have 3 cleaning lady's ready to start. What should I pay them and how much would supply cost me? Also I am not sure what direction to start at . Residential or commercial?

I am in Tampa Bay Florida.

THANK YOU

Best regards

[spudnick]

Get out and talk to people leave them business cards, I am finding out that commercial is my best bet cause the residential has a lot more to dust and work around and they also call and reschedule a lot where as commercial is pretty much set and you know what your getting, just checking out some of these other boards I am seeing that a lot of the help is getting paid anywhere from $7.00 to $10.00 an hour.
Hope this help and good luck
spudnick

[Fr_Chuck]

I would hope you have worked for some cleaning company to know what is exactly invovled in the work. What equpment you will need and how long certain jobs take.

But if you are working on your own, remember you have to pay all of your own taxes, including unemployment taxes, so close to 30 percent of what you make will be paid in taxes, But you will write up a letter saying what services you will provide, exactly, and what charges are made for those services.

[Stringer]

"-so I would not get eaten up by old school cleaning business owners."

That be me...

Fr Chuck is correct I would hope that you have some experience working for a cleaning company in some form of management and sales...

Otherwise, a lot of new business owners fail because "they no not what they do."

[cleaningsuccess]

Hi Tampa Bay,

I determine what to charge my clients by shopping my competitors. I get quotes periodically from cleaning companies that offer the same services as I do and are about the same size as my company.

How much to pay - again shop your competition, I phone into companies about the same size as mine and ask what they pay their sub-contractors / employees. They are usually looking for people and are willing to disclose this information. I pay my cleaners very well, as once I find the ones that do great work and are reliable I want to keep them.

Supply cost - this will depend on the area of the market you want to focus on. Residentially you can have your home owners supply their own materials, which is very common, so no cost. Commercially it can vary, as some companies will have their own supplies and some will want you to bring them in.

Determining the market you want to work in is a bit more difficult. Both residential and commercial can be competitive. I choose residential because the majority of ladies that work for me want to work during daytime hours, and if any issues come up I didn't want to have to deal with anything in the evening as I am a mother of two and need to be home in the evening.

Hope that helps you and all the best. If you are interested in developing a website for your business in the future visit my website for a FREE - how to eBook. It's the information I used to develop my site.
Take care, Terra
Www.startingmycleaningbusiness.com