Times have changed!

[mcs]

I remember back in the 90's when i ran my business that it was easy to talk to a "live" person when looking for janitorial accounts. What i have encountered over the past few weeks is discouraging. Seems like everytime i try to make contact with a potential client i get voicemail and even worse after i leave a message no one returns the call. I have tried to stop in at places and do some "cold calling" but havent had anymore luck with that. Most places have either eliminated the cleaning of their facility or they have an employee taking care of it. Kinda has me steering towards just doing residential work and if a commercial account is thrown my way will place a bid on it. Cleaning in the residential sector seems way easier, less hassles and more money especially in the form of cash.

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[Mike M]

I think you are right about cash flow.

Anything residential pays faster than commercial.

I have a feeling that a lot of management decisions about cleaning has been centralized. You would need to find the person in charge of making those decisions. As you can see that isn't always easy. It doesn't hurt to ask local managers though. Many times they can lead you in the right direction.

[Gavin]

getting past gatekeepers and talking to the person making the decisions is  the trick.

I think residential pays quicker, but seems to me that there are more cutbacks in the residential sector then the business sector. I'm sure it varies by area though.

[micky navarro]

when i was actively cleaning, nearly 100% of whatever cleaning i did was residential, except for a 5 year run when i did industrial/commercial environmental remediation!

residential services are 100% better, when it comes to consistent cash flow!!!

now that i no longer can actively clean, and have a few commercial floor cleaning accounts, it reminds me of why i hated doing commercial all these years.
business owners are more the begger type than home owners. they always pay way too late, if they pay at all, then they always ask for "favors"!

residential all the way if you want to survive in todays business economy, but even this has become very difficult with the "whores" in the business, and the "diy'ers"!

[mcs]

I agree. Im switching my efforts to residential and if a commercial one comes along then fine. Just desigend a flyer and have an ad here in the local paper running for the next month. Hope to get a job or more out of that, lol. I picked a bad time in this economy to start a biz but then again i had no choice. All thats out there are $9 per hr jobs working for others. I cant live on such little money. I kinda made a joke on facebook that i am wasting my time looking for a better paying job and cleaning accounts. I should be focusing on looking for a sturdy cardboard box and a street corner to live on. I think its in my immediate future 

[Infamousdave]

MCS, don't give up on the residential accounts. My wife makes a good living cleaning 2-3 homes per day for the last 8 years or so. She ran one ad in a weekly shopper type paper for 2 weeks when she started and within a few months between the ad and word of mouth she filled her schedule up and has been full or overfull ever since. She now works every other saturday just to keep up and not have to turn down referrals from clients. The residential work has been pretty easy to pick up.

Get a few accounts and then do exceptional work and you will soon have all the referalls you can handle.

BTW, she never ever lowballed to get her first accounts. I didn't know anything about the cleaning business at the time and I thought she was nuts when she told me that she was going to close her daycare business and start a cleaning business and that she was going to charge $25/hr. She showed me and then raised most of her clients to at least $30/hr. She has held steady the last few years because of the economy but she still does OK because most of her clients also supply thier own cleaning supplies so she has almost nothing for over head.

[mcs]

MCS, don't give up on the residential accounts. My wife makes a good living cleaning 2-3 homes per day for the last 8 years or so. She ran one ad in a weekly shopper type paper for 2 weeks when she started and within a few months between the ad and word of mouth she filled her schedule up and has been full or overfull ever since. She now works every other saturday just to keep up and not have to turn down referrals from clients. The residential work has been pretty easy to pick up.

Get a few accounts and then do exceptional work and you will soon have all the referalls you can handle.

BTW, she never ever lowballed to get her first accounts. I didn't know anything about the cleaning business at the time and I thought she was nuts when she told me that she was going to close her daycare business and start a cleaning business and that she was going to charge $25/hr. She showed me and then raised most of her clients to at least $30/hr. She has held steady the last few years because of the economy but she still does OK because most of her clients also supply thier own cleaning supplies so she has almost nothing for over head.

Thats great Dve & Thanks. When i started my biz the 1st time around back in 1994 i got about 25-30 houses per month to clean anywhere from $50-$80 per job. Your right, residential is mostly word of mouth and thats how i got 95% of what i had before. Hoping my current ad and some flyers i posted around the area helps get things going for me. Continued success to your wife. Sounds like she is doin fantastic in the business...

[mcs]

Got a call for a house cleaning job last night and did it today. 3 hours of work for $75 cash. Wish i could do this atleast once a day 5 days a week. Screw the commercial stuff for now. Goin all out on residential cleaning.   

[Infamousdave]

If it were me I would get some flyers or doorhangers made up and start hitting the area around your 1 account. The more condensed your accounts are in location the less time it takes you to get from one to the other.

Even better yet, start some sort of referral program that will motivate your client to refer you to thier neighbors and friends.

[ChemBright]

If it were me I would get some flyers or doorhangers made up and start hitting the area around your 1 account. The more condensed your accounts are in location the less time it takes you to get from one to the other.

Even better yet, start some sort of referral program that will motivate your client to refer you to thier neighbors and friends.

Good advice!

[CACBServices]

For me the best financial model is a balance of commercial and residential. Here are some of the pros for me when it comes to commercial. Commercial may be slow pay, and as long as they are consistent in their slow pay cash flow is stabilized so winters aren't so hard. I also find commercial carpet cleaning is usually a twice a year thing. Most all my residential is one time per year if that. Commercial janitorial, with carpets, upholstery and windows added at a discounted price seems to be a good thing for my business. When I get them staffed and up and running they are fairly low maintenance, yet modest profit while I'm doing other stuff in the evenings. They can be a headache to get started or when staff leave or fail. Because this work happens mostly during non-business hours I have fewer concerns about contact between my staff and my commercial decision makers. When I find someone who is really good with people and really good at cleaning, they go to my residential work where customer interaction is the norm. Everyone else goes to my commercial work.

[mcs]

For me the best financial model is a balance of commercial and residential. Here are some of the pros for me when it comes to commercial. Commercial may be slow pay, and as long as they are consistent in their slow pay cash flow is stabilized so winters aren't so hard. I also find commercial carpet cleaning is usually a twice a year thing. Most all my residential is one time per year if that. Commercial janitorial, with carpets, upholstery and windows added at a discounted price seems to be a good thing for my business. When I get them staffed and up and running they are fairly low maintenance, yet modest profit while I'm doing other stuff in the evenings. They can be a headache to get started or when staff leave or fail. Because this work happens mostly during non-business hours I have fewer concerns about contact between my staff and my commercial decision makers. When I find someone who is really good with people and really good at cleaning, they go to my residential work where customer interaction is the norm. Everyone else goes to my commercial work.

Good point, commercial work is good for more stable income. The residential comes and goes. I get calls from people the day of the cleaning that need to cancel for that day cause something came up. That usually never happens with commercial work. There are pros and cons with both i guess.

[CACBServices]

If you get to the point where you hire people to take care of your residential account ine problem to manage is them 'stealing' the account. Home owner realizes they can pay less by paying your staff more. The account disappears and the staff tells you they are not interested in any more hours. Anyone that joins my payroll sign a Covenant to Not Compete. It's a bit harder to steal a commercial account, especially big ones because of needed insurance, ezperience, equipment, etc only now tbat I have a bunch of commercial accounts am I looking at residential maid service.