AIBU to start a cleaning business?

[Modernstoneage]

I'm thinking of starting a cleaning business, hiring one person at first. But just want to know the demand for domestic cleaner in and around the London area. Trying to get an idea on how much demand there is?

There is always demand in London, but you will have a lot of competition. Prices need to be decent for people to consider you. I worked as a cleaner with a small company a lady ran from home, paid £15 an hour, she was doing really well income wise and had built up a good rep within months. It’s all about advertising, word of mouth and good offers to reel people in. Make yourself stand out from the other companies, catchy slogan, web page, free clean after x amount of cleans type deals etc etc. Experienced cleaners who know what they’re doing and have great references are so important in getting this right. Good luck!

Thank you! That's very helpful, I have often wondered if prices are perceived too low (to try undercut competitors) then does that mean its perceived poor quality. Thus will be something starting from scratch as I've only ever really cleaned at home, and I ensure the place is spotless. Made me think its something I can replicate elsewhere and scale once successfull.

So much demand in London if you’re good! If you can get a few clients to recommend you somewhere like NextDoor you’ll have clients queuing up.

If you’re SE I’d be very interested!

I wouldn't do any deals. A good cleaner is coveted. I pay mone £12,/ hour but I'm not in London.
Turning up on time and doing the full time hired for is important.
Will you bring your own equipment or use what's there? Your own cleaning lotions and potions? My cleaners have always used mine and I've always asked if they want something in particular.
Go around with each client on first visit to find out what their expectations are, and don't over promise - you cannot clean a four bed house properly in two hours for example.
I don't want my cleaner to do bed linen or anything to do with my clothes. But I do expect her to do the bathrooms and kitchen floor each visit.
If you do jobs like clean the oven, fridge and windows all the better.
Reliability, thoroughness and being trustworthy are essential.

I did it. There will be demand good cleaners are always in demand. Don't price yourself too low. There will always be someone cheaper if you set a good rate but you have to make a living. Imagine your working day as being 9-5 so that's 8 hours, but realistically you will only be able to clean for 5 to 6 of those depending on travel and hour tired you are.
Your charge should reflect those lost hours. Take into consideration that you won't get holiday pay. Then you need petrol, insurance, book keeping and products you will achieve a better result if you take your own stuff. I've turned up to places where all they have is a crappy j cloth and anti bac.
You need to be charging around 15.00 an hour. Someone will be here shortly who pays their cleaner 10 p/h citing that its more than minimum wage but its not by the time you take off your expenses and down time between cleans.

I think it may be worth you joining a agency for a bit first.
That way you get to see how the job suites you , what different clients expect , how to deal with difficult clients etc without the cost of insurance , advertising , and all that goes with setting up a business .

Have you had any experience of running a business ? if not it would be worth you joining some on line classes about it so you can learn about book keeping, insurance , COSHH regs etc

Thank you everyone. I have run a business before and that did quite well and I sold it off, so I want a challenge in something different that (hopefully I can scale).

Main takeaways sofar:
Trust/trustworthiness
Correct pricing.
A robust strategy and understanding my customers needs thoroughly.

Many people have built up a successful cleaning business by starting as a self employed cleaner and then as the business builds up, employing other cleaners and once you have enough clients, you won't have to do any of the cleaning yourself, or maybe just for holiday, sick and perhaps maternity cover, so you earn your salary by the difference in the hourly rate between what your clients pay and what the cleaners earn, not from hiring yourself out as a cleaner.

However, you'd need quite a lot of clients to get to that position. Did your previous business employ staff or was it just you?

There's a lot of advice about employing people on the HSE website for health and safety obviously, eg risk assessments and the HMRC about tax and NI for employers and employees and the differences between employing cleaners and being an agency for self employed cleaners, although a lot of 'self employed' agency workers only hold this status so their employers can avoid NI and employment rights and HMRC are cracking down on this, so it's best to avoid that route from the start.

Definitely work as a cleaner first if you've never done this as a job so you learn what is a professional standard so you can do end of tenancy cleans, which I imagine can be quite lucrative, and also how long it takes to clean effectively when you're having to do it fast enough to earn money at an efficient rate, not just keeping your own home clean in your own time. Might also get an insight into how other agencies work so work so you can gauge good and bad practices and if you end up charging what seems like a high hourly rate, be able to explain why it is that high, because you don't cut corners that others do, eg cash in hand, false self employment. Also look into rules for making sure people have the right to work in the UK, especially after Brexit.