Looking for info on Commerical . . .

[Porter]

Cleaning Service.

I wanted to know if anyone has tried or maybe currently in the business of providing commercial cleaning services. I'm trying to gather info on the start-up cost as well as a scale to determine my operational cost. What I mean by this is a way to price how much it will take to clean a certain office and then figure how much to charge to be affordable as well as profitable. I know specific numbers will vary by location, but I'm looking for general info for now until I really plan to make the jump.

The services I'm looking into providing are your normal office space cleaning job, buff and waxing of floors, shit like that. In the future maybe branching off into carpet and upholstery cleaning, but that's later on.

So if anyone can give me some first hand information or somewhere I can look, I'd appreciate it.

 

[nittie]

You don't need a lot of money mainly it's manual labor. To start up invest a couple hundred in basic cleaning material, mop, broom, etc. A average size building will bring you anywhere from 1000 to 1500 per month and you should buffer twice a month at best.

 

[Porter]

Thanks, any guess on how much a buffer will cost and what is the learning curve on one. I figure it ain't shit, but you still need a minute to figure out what the fuck is going on. I'll get to google things later on, but thanks.

 

[nittie]

You can rent a buffer, some places rent them by the day if you have more than 1 bldg try to schedule buffering on the same day. Most organizations own a buffer maybe you can borrow one from church, schools etc. It only takes a day to learn how to use one, you just want to keep it even so the whole floor looks clean. Bit of advice, it takes at least 2 hours to clean a bldg and you want to do a good job so you can get referrals don't over book yourself.

 

[Real1]

Buffers are one of the most stolen pieces of eqipment. The Pawn shops are full of them. You can get them for about $150. They range is sizes from 13 inches (in diameter) to over 20 inches. The larger machines usually cost more. Spend a day cruising the pawn shops...or check ebay. Just know that an out of state seller could sell you a decent machine for $50, but $100 shipping may kill the deal.


Machines can be high speed or low speed or multi-speed. Find a guy that knows floors and get him to teach you about floors and advise you which waxes, strippers, and buffer pads to use.

Commerical Cleaning is an industry that has some serious workforce issues. It's manual labor/low wages and thus high turnover. Some large companies either practice or have subcontractors that practice hiring undocumented workers and pay them under the table.