Idea #29: Manage your own cleaning service with a app.

Like I’ve told you in my previous post, I hate cleaning and what better guy to run a cleaning company than a guy who hates cleaning. This one is a bit similar to the last. Instead of trying to make an Uber for cleaners, I’ve looked into buying and owning a cleaning company. My competitive advantage is that I would build software to better manage the team and give our client updates of the job done via an app. 

This idea came with a mix of the previous idea and a mixergy interview I listened to a while ago.

Getting client 

I love what Eddie said in the interview. He called a bunch of businesses, mostly real estate agents and gave them a deal to clean their client’s home. He even offered them a discount if they bought a whole year of cleaning. A lot of them gave him a referral, which helped him get more clients. Answering the phone on off hour seems to have really helped him get more clients too. Users expect a voicemail and are enchanted to speak to a real human.

Getting worker (cleaners)

This is the hardest part, he said. At first, he contacted them on craigslist and was very lucky to find a good cleaner initially. He sent some of them to clean his friend’s home to get honest feedback on how good they were. 

He gives back 85% of his revenue to pay them to help with retaining his best one. 

The App

I’m not sure if most clients will want to install yet another app just to use your service. However, since it gives them access to the cleaner directly, that might be interesting for them. Here is what the app should do:

• the client can enter where they need cleaning via phone location or just entering the address,
• they can see when the cleaner is at the location,
• they can leave instructions,
• can drop messages to the cleaner, it allows the cleaner to contact them without them having their phone number
• and let them leave a rating when the job is done.

Closing though

Around the time I had this idea. I stumbled into the cleaning business owner that was selling his business. He was only selling it 20k and included mostly just the brand name and clothing. While 20k seems cheap, I thought it needed a client and staff to really be of some value.