How to Start a Maid Service

More women work outside the home than ever before, and kids have schedules as busy as their parents have. That leaves less time for household tasks. This can be a profitable idea for a person looking to start a home-based business. Here's how to start a maid service.

Things You'll Need

• Cleaning Supplies
• Vacuum
• Brooms
• Mops
• Dusters and Rags

Instructions

1. Decide how you will operate your business-by yourself or with employees. It may be best to start on your own as you build your client list and hire help when you need it.

2. Decide if you will work under your own company or under a franchise. Both have benefits. A franchise can offer marketing and staffing support functions. They can also hinder you with defined service benchmarks and other business details. Going it on your own is going to require you define your own standards, marketing strategies and business operations, but it can be very rewarding to work for yourself.

3. Start collecting equipment. Depending on how large you decide to start your business, you can start for relatively little investment. You will need cleaning supplies for a number of surfaces, including stainless steel, concrete, marble, hardwood, ceramic tile, granite, Formica, glass, and other surfaces. Be sure to ask customers if they have a preference on product usage. You will also need supplies such as a vacuum, rags, brooms, mops, dust mops, dusters, buckets and trash bags.

4. Use your vehicle to your advantage. An economy car or station wagon should be large enough to transport equipment and staff (if you have them). If you do have employees working for you that will be traveling separately, you may have them use their own vehicles. This is quite common with maid services. Paint your cars or have your car outfitted with signs to advertise your maid service all over town. A local body shop or sign shop can fix you up.

5. Set up a pricing structure. Meeting with clients to see their property is a great way to do this. You can see what kind of work they want done and quote based on labor and materials, overhead, and profit. Labor and materials are the supplies and people needed to conduct your service. Overhead is anything non-labor. Profit is the money you make after labor, materials and overhead. Factor these into your pricing structure. As you gain more experience with this, you will be able to provide quick estimates based on similar properties.

6. Start getting customers. The best places to start are with people you know directly and indirectly. Determine a geographic area that you are willing to service (to minimize travel time between properties) and start networking within that area. Great sources of business are friends and family, churches and organizations that you belong to, former employers and co-workers and neighbors. Running an ad in the local classifieds can get you some additional business after starting with your network.

7. Establish a business network. Distribute your business cards out to everyone you meet. This type of networking gets your name out there. Work with other local businesses in a cooperative manner. Ask a local dry cleaner to let you set cards out on their counter. Offer to give out coupons for them. Salons, grocers and other merchants may be willing to assist you as well.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure your staff has adequate insurance if they are using their own vehicles.

• Check with your insurance agent to be sure your policy protects you in case of an employee accident or property damage.

Resources

• This is a great resource for someone wanting to learn about starting a maid service. It has an extensive resource list at the end.