Start a Commercial Cleaning Business

Everyone pictures residential cleaning; commercial contracts pay monthly, renew for years, and are won with a professional bid, not a flyer.

1. 1

   Pick a building type to own

   Small offices, medical suites, gyms, or churches. Medical pays more but expects bloodborne pathogen training; start where you can win and specialize.

2. 2

   Get insured and bonded

   General liability (around $500 to $1,000 a year) plus a janitorial bond. No facility manager signs a contract without seeing both certificates.

3. 3

   Form the entity and set your rates

   Register an LLC, get an EIN, and price by the square foot or by monthly walkthrough estimate. Know your labor cost per hour so a $600 a month contract never costs you $700 to service.

4. 4

   Build a professional bid package

   A one page scope of work, cleaning checklist, insurance certificates, and a monthly price. This is what separates you from the flyer-on-the-door crowd.

5. 5

   Walk into twenty buildings

   Ask for the office or facility manager and offer a free walkthrough and written quote. Property management companies are the jackpot; one relationship can hand you five buildings.

6. 6

   Nail the first ninety days

   Clean it yourself at first, do a weekly quality check with the client, and fix complaints same day. Commercial contracts renew on reliability, not price.

7. 7

   Hire a crew and add buildings

   Once you have three contracts, hire and train your first cleaner, document the checklist per building, and go win the next three. Your job becomes bids and quality, not mopping.