Question: I'm not satisfied with the cleaning power of my ProTeam vacuums, particularly the powerheads. What are your recommendations for vacuums?

Reply: Hello. As you may know, several major Maid Service Franchises use the ProTeam powerhead, so there exists a degree of controversy about the most effective package of cleaning equipment for professional residential cleaning teams

The biggest trap in offering sweat equity is that an employee will treat your promise of equity as a lottery ticket. Any employee does this when he or she likens the probability of a payout to that of winning the lottery. When this happens, he or she sticks the sweat equity in a drawer with the hope of winning, and continues acting like an Employee, not an Owner. For a founder, nothing is more disheartening than sensing that you may have wasted a share of your precious investment for no sweat.

If you have sufficient funds to buy a house cleaning franchise or start a company, and you are in the evaluation process, then this article is for you.

No matter the endeavor in life there's going to be bumps. Some are just mild irritations and others just take your breath away. You don't have to look too far to see that everyone gets them. For some, these challenges throw them in the corner and melt them down. For others, that proverbial silver lining is found in the cloud and they move onward and upward.

I spent my career managing large distribution centers for Fortune 500 companies and came to a point in life that I wanted to start a business. To prepare I took an intensive ten . . .

The names have been changed, but these are true stories based on real situations for persons interested in starting or scaling a house cleaning company. . .

Service Magic effectively turns every new house cleaning lead into an auction type situation, and that is bad for an industry already rife with idiotic pricing. By idiotic pricing, I refer to prices which are below the full cost of legally providing house cleaning services on an economically sustainable basis. . .

If you haven't yet started advertising with Google, then by now you've got to be feeling like the sorry soul standing on the empty station platform looking forlornly at the back end of your last train home . . .

The Google Adwords Jumpstart
It looked so inviting, the Google Adwords Jumpstart. We just had to try it. What did we have to lose, except for the $299?

I found the last 15 days of preparation and the first 30 days of operations the toughest in the entire undertaking of starting my own business. I had put off a lot of last minute details, which, added to the details I did not account for, made for some pretty . . .

House cleaning is as old as the original man. Even the cavemen did rudimentary cleaning of their caves, as they soon found that the remnants of food and feces left around the cave attracted animals of all kinds into their shelters.House Cleaning for hire soon turned into forms of indentured slavery. Whereas those with the money essentially bought . . ..

If your website fails to generate leads, then you're not alone, because for most small businesses, a lack of website traffic results in no ranking by search engines. And without search engine recognition, a website cannot begin to generate new traffic from internet searches . . .

When I accepted the position for the Alliance, I had a long talk with the HCA staff about "agenda." We all harmonized on this: Raise the level of awareness that house cleaning . HouseCleaning . is, indeed, a profession, and its potentials will grow remarkably through commitments to professionalism . . . Continue with HouseCleaning is a Profession.>>

Based on our annual mailings to maid service competitors, we found that over 100 of the total 200 to 250 maid service companies serving the greater Denver Metro Area gave up last year, and were replaced by about the same number of new maid service companies. Entrepreneurs are attracted to the maid service industry due to its low investment and high-growth . . . Continue with Maid Service Pricing.>>

So far, you have been successful because you clean well, are adept at managing client relationships, and have managed to grow through referrals. If you intend to expand into a scaledmaid service company, then you are moving into waters which for you are uncharted; your success in your new role will depend on your commitment to change, your financial resources, and your personal management and marketing skills. Firstly, you have to find a new way to add clients to compensate for lost accounts during the transition, and find new work from the outset to accommodate three persons, not just one. Secondly, you will have to demonstrate an ability to manage employees. If you fail on either count, then your new endeavor is sure to fail . . . Continue with Scaling a Maid Service.>>

We used to lament about the lemmings . . . that was before we developed a taste for them. Lacking barriers to entry, the maid service industry attracts anyone with enough money to buy an e-book, a bucket, and a vacuum. We once resented house cleaning competitor's low prices. Then we came to realize that, for an independent maid service company like ours, the situation presents a host of "marketing" opportunities . . . Continue with Maid Service Competitors .>>

For maid service operators, the cost of equipment and supplies is a pittance in comparison to the cost of labor. So some maid service operators don't bother themselves a lot with controlling equipment damages and losses . . . Continue with Maid Service Equipment.>>

The thing that really sucks people into the vacuum debates is that there exist almost as many models and brands as there are opinions about which model and brand one should buy. Given the intensity of the debates, it will come as no surprise when someone ultimately disagrees with HCA's three selections for professional residential maid service cleaning . . . Continue with Vacuums for Maid Service Companies>>

Micro filters provide filtration efficiency of 99.73% for particles .3 microns and larger, as compared to HEPA filters which can cost 25 times as much and have a filtration efficiency of 99.97% for particles .3 microns and larger. HEPA filters are great for critical clean room facilities which manufacture microchips and some types of medical supplies. But such facilities are equipped with systems for filtering facility air intakes and have airlock chambers at all entries . . . Continue with Filtering for the Maid Service Industry>>

Independent maid service companies aren't generally scaleable because operators lack the tools needed to effectively and efficiently manage over 25 employees and 50 assignments per day. Top flight maid service franchises have developed the tools needed for managing such volumes but, because they favor penetration, over scale . . . Continue with Maid Service Franchises>>

For maid service customers, our number of transactions has grown over the past four years from about 40 per week to over 250 per week and over the same period, our bad debts have actually decreased by over 75%. In fact, we have reduced our bad debts to almost zero by employing a few basic rules and procedures . . . Continue with Maid Service Collections>>

Putting together maid service operating forecasts is an important first step in deciding whether to create an independent maid service company or purchase a franchise maid service. Yet, too many entrepreneurs embark without bothering to prepare an operating forecast or understand the investment requirements and operating costs associated with a new venture. If such entrepreneurs had a better understanding of such elements before they embarked, those lacking funding might have second thoughts, and those with funding might make more intelligent decisions about pricing from the outset . . . Continue with Maid Service Operating Forecasts>>

You can buy books telling you what a low investment, high growth opportunity residential maid service can be. We believe that the 50% per annum failure rate for the industry speaks for itself. It is an attractive industry, but it is the potential for limitless scale and profits from cleaning nice homes, not the misconception about low investment, which makes it attractive. Most certainly the industry does require a low level of investment relative to many specialty retail, restaurant or manufacturing industries, and it has fantastically greater potential for scale, but it is irresponsible for experts to tout prospects for high growth and profits based on an operating model of operating from home with a cell phone and a bucket . . . Continue with Maid Service Low Investment Fallacy>>

For maid service professionals , don't underestimate your full labor costs. You are going to pay a load of money on worker's compensation, liability insurance, bonding, unemployment insurance, payroll taxes and DRIVE TIME. Labor costs are most important, but you should also add other marginal direct costs, including supplies. Also factor in overhead, equipment, and finally a profit margin. Most importantly though: know your marginal costs or every price you quote will be a bad price . . . Continue with this article.>>

It is easier to avoid hiring extra maid service employees under a different operating model involving the owner joining employees in cleaning homes throughout the start-up phase. Our plan does not envisage the owner ever cleaning homes. If a maid service operator always has a little slack, the company will have the resources to take on new work, and can grow faster than if it is always topped out. In the beginning, we also propose proportionately more slack for training new employees . . . Continue with Start-Up Forecasts Q&A>>

There is so much to know about chemicals. Here is just the basic primer for the cleaning professional. . . . Continue with Basic Chemicals>>

Clean a household kitchen guidelines for house cleaning professionals. Learn how to ensure that the kitchen is spotless and sanitary. . . . Continue with Household Kitchen >>

Clean a bathroom guidelines for house cleaning professionals. Clean the bathrooms thoroughly, and you've cleared half the hurddles to not being fired . . . Continue with Cleaning Bathrooms >>

Dusting guidelines for house cleaning professionals. Because thorough dusting impresses customers. . . . Continue with Professionally Dusting >>

Vacuuming guidelines for house cleaning professionals. Vacuuming high-traffic areas is what the homeowners do between visits, it's not what we do when we vacuum professionally. . . . Continue with Professional Vacuuming >>

Clean a bedroom guidelines for house cleaning professionals. If you are going to get the high dusting right in only one room, let it be a bedroom. . . . Continue with Cleaning Bedrooms >>

Guidelines for setting up a cleaning tray for professionals. Get there with everything you'll need to complete the job (for those who are tired of the apron baggage).. . . Continue with Setting up a Cleaning Tray>>

To the extent you qualify financially and from a management skills standpoint to purchase a maid service franchise , then you are likely also a good candidate for starting an independent maid service from scratch. I believe that the massive difference in failure rates between franchisees and new independents is largely a matter of adverse selection-that is, those entrepreneurs who are most thinly capitalized and could not qualify to purchase a franchise, end up starting an independent maid service and failing, not because they lacked the support of the franchisor, but because they were under-capitalized and under-qualified to manage any new business from the outset . . . Continue with Maid Service Horses for Maid Service Courses>>

What we can offer is what has worked for us, and our experiences in building a maid service company seem to be remarkably different from what is being sold as gospel by the house cleaning industry's gurus . . . Continue with Maid Service Gurus>>