Starting a home window cleaning business can be both a very rewarding and highly lucrative form of business. However, to ensure the business is as successful as it can be, a high degree of planning and effort is needed before and during the process.
One of the first things to consider when starting a window cleaning business is to check the competition in your local area. Regardless of how good your planning is, if there is a high level of competition, it’s going to be almost impossible to get your new window cleaning business up off the ground.
The easiest way to see what the local competition is is to simply ask around. Ask your neighbors, your friends in the local neighborhood or even randomly knock on a few doors in every street and ask politely.
Related to seeing what competition there is, it is important to discover if there is a demand for a window cleaner. Many people may take the time to wash their own windows, or they may be more than happy with their current window cleaner and therefore will not be interested in a new window cleaner.
If the competition is low or non-existent and the demand is high, then the next point to look at is accessories and pricing. Before deciding on how much to charge, the first thing you need to do is price up all of your accessories and equipment. Adding together the cost of cleaning solution, water, bucket, ladders, sponges, chamois cloths and squeegees and then dividing it by x amount of weeks (depending on how soon you are looking to make a profit), will give you an idea of your overhead costs. However, bear in mind some of these costs are one off (such as the ladders), whilst others (in particular the cost of water and cleaning solution) will be needed to be purchased on a regular basis. Once this figure has been established, it should be divided between the number of houses to be cleaned per week. Adding on a percentage for your time and you should be left with a figure that would be suitable to charge. It has to be noted that this is only a rough approximation and in-depth figure work should be carried out to decide upon an acceptable yet profitable price to charge.
Whilst a lot of new companies set up websites to promote their business, the best way to market a new window cleaning business is by word of mouth. Tell all of your friends and neighbors that you are starting up as a window cleaner and ask them to tell all of their friends and neighbors. Give them a business card with your details on (these can be created, manufactured and delivered to your door extremely cheaply online) and ask them to pass one on to any homeowner they know. However, don’t be disheartened by a lack of response – handing out 100 business cards might only yield 10-15 customers – as window cleaning is a business that relies almost solely upon a good quality reputation.
Once you have customers, you can consider expanding out your service offerings. You can offer other services such as siding washing, gutter cleaning, screen cleaning and replacement, and more. You can also sell products, such as window cleaning solution, chamois cloths, solar window shades, blinds, and more. The sky is really the limit in how big you can grow your window cleaning business.