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Starting a professional cleaning business is easy, but the more challenging part of it is keeping an excellent reputation. That is the part that requires hard work and real commitment. It is a nice thing being one’s boss as a janitor, but in the real sense – the customers are the main boss. Give your customers first class cleaning services, charge an amount more affordable than what your competitors charge, then you are on the very right track.

Before starting your cleaning business seek advice from professionals or experts in the business and read several articles or reference materials – online, business journals, news papers, reports, research works etc. Read some of the articles we’ve written before on this subject:-

How to Make Money From Cleaning Business

How to Start Cleaning Business in Nigeria

How to Start Small Scale Laundry Services

There are some corporate cleaning (Janitorial) companies already operating. Corporate Cleaning Service is an industry that has witnessed good growth in developed countries around the world. The cleaning industry is gradually making its way into Africa, especially South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana business scenes.

Professional Cleaning Service

Professional Cleaning Service is also referred to as/or called Janitorial Service. The person rendering the service is called a Janitor [jan-i-ter] – (noun) a person employed in an apartment house, office building, school, etc., to clean the public areas, remove garbage, and do minor repairs; a caretaker or a porter.

Starting a professional cleaning business in Nigeria is very feasible.

The industry has not been fully explored in Nigeria, which gives those who are willing to crab the opportunity to thrive well in the industry. The Corporate Cleaning Service has two primary market groups/consumers: Residential and Commercial.

1.    The Residential arena consists primarily of residential maid services, along with carpet cleaners, window cleaners, and a variety of other cleaning services required on a less-frequent basis.

2.    The Commercial arena is dominated by janitorial services, which typically provide a wider range of services than maid services, along with other cleaning companies, such as carpet and window cleaners that target businesses rather than individual consumers.

SEE ALSO: Services Offered By Process Outsourcing Companies

The Professional Cleaning (Janitorial) services is not just all about mopping the floor, there is more to it. Environmental concerns and new technology has taken the business to a whole new level that anyone who fails to catch up is not just left behind, but left out. Because of the size of the cleaning industry, it is recommended that you focus on an aspect of the industry and concentrate fully on building business in the chosen market, the possibility of serving multiple market groups is not limited.

Before jumping into the business, you should have a long term vision and must be in good shape physically and health wise. Your customer base must be refined to the market group you can serve best. Professional cleaning services can be operated on either part-time or full-time basis either from home or a commercial location.

For a business to be successful, many things have to be considered and sorted out. A good business person has to put some key things into consideration in order to avoid a deadlock at a point in the future. These key things are the factors that do have effect on every business; Big or Small, and they determine the life span of the business. The following are the key factors that will determine the size, quality and life span of the business, they are;

Capital: – with good and accurate feasibility study, and a well drafted business plan; you should not have problem determining the initial capital to start the business. The kind of service you want to render will also determine the capital you will raise. This is the major factor that do determine the size and strength of any proposed business.

Location: – a company should be sited strategically in areas very close to its targeted customers, this will give them the opportunity to come and make inquiries and a kind ease or relief knowing where to look for you. A business well located has a lot to offer the business owner, such as:

– giving you the opportunity to know you customers better

– it will also attracts new customers

– it will make it easier to walk up to customers within walking distance and advertise your service

– once a customer is physically close to your business, you have a far better chance of persuading them to patronize you

Register the Business name: – one big advantage of registration with state and local government is safeguarding your business name. No one else can register a business with that same name. This will also also make it easier obtain business insurance, or attract investors, since they will know you are not personally responsible for the company’s well-being. Another benefit of registration is receiving some legal protection.

Advertisement: – any business that is not recognized by people is as good as dead. There are many means of advertisement available today, most of them have generated positive results for a lot of companies that took adequate advantage of the various advertisement platforms to reach out to their target audience. Some of these means are:

– Complimentary cards

– Distributing of flyers or handbills in public places or a target location

– Pasting of posters

– Advertising on TV or Radio stations

– One-to-one mean of advert is not left out.

– Advertising on social media, such as on – Facebook, twitter, Instagram etc.

Staff required: – unskilled labors will do for a start, as the business expands in size in terms of customer base, professionals help will be sought in areas such as; accountant, customer care officer(s), receptionist etc. As the business grows the operator of the business will need to upgrade his skills and knowledge in his area of specialization. And there will be need to provide adequate training for the employed staffs as well.

Pricing: – ask around about the prices of other professional cleaning services in your area to help you in designing your charges. Without this, you may find it difficult to say what to charge. Your charges should be highly affordable in order to give you a fair chance to compete well with your competitors.

Market potential

These are you potential customers; they are the sets or groups of people that you refined your services to meet their demands. Some are listed below:

–    Household/Residential
–    Commercial premises
–    Industrial (Manufacturing) facilities
–    Medical facilities
–    Educational apparatus/facilities

Facilities/ Equipment Needed

–    Vacuum cleaner
–    Cleaning Chemicals
–    Mops of different kinds
–    Trash can liners
–    Micro-fibre clothes that come in varying colors
–    Soaps (Detergent and Laundry soap)
–    Buckets
–    Green cleaning products for tougher stains
–    Deodorants
–    Hand towels

Note:

–     For residential, it is best to use their products – this way they will not blame you for any chemical reaction creating a stain. You can also bring your own products if they don’t have any or don’t have a preference for what you use
–    It is best to personally be at the job site at first to make sure the customer is happy
–    Try to avoid talking to people as much as possible or calling during the time most people are working.
–    Always do your work as if you are been watched or monitored.

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9 Comments

  • John Popper December 8, 2015

    For a business to be successful, many things have to be considered and sorted out. A good business person has to put some key things into consideration in order to avoid a deadlock at a point in the future. These key things are the factors that do have effect on every business; Big or Small, and they determine the life span of the business. But using a Janitorial and Cleaning Facilities Management software is one of the requirement to be successful in this business.

    • Docadaku February 13, 2017

      hello John Popper what are the options available in Janitorial and Cleaning Facilities Management software.

      thank you

    • Lawrence I. Daniels June 8, 2020

      Hello John , thanks for great information.
      1) What are these Janitorial and Cleaning facilities Management Software and how dies one get it
      2) I want to go into Cleaning and Fumigation services and i want to add dry cleaning and laundry services to my service, what more professional counsel or tutorial can you give me

  • gbenga July 1, 2016

    all this your article are eyes opener but pls try to always add some visual pictures of some material need to carry out each work

  • thomas October 10, 2016

    Whether it is house cleaning, office cleaning, roof cleaning, move-in or move-out cleaning of any building, you can rely on professional cleaning services for the thorough cleaning of the place. They will definitely provide you the satisfactory satisfactory

  • Mitchelle December 7, 2018

    Thanks for this enlightenment. Looking forward to starting my own Jan business soon. Thanks but more visuals will be better.

  • Ajogu Egbe June 23, 2019

    Quite enlightening post. Knowledge that could have cost money trying to acquire. Thanks for the info

  • John james September 3, 2019

    Hw do i get d fm soft wear

  • Ajogu Egbe October 12, 2019

    Its really not easy to put this thing together. Though they look easy on writing, implementation is another ball game. I want to start a cleaning service and I thing this piece is a good head start

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