Cleaning houses and properties that have been foreclosed upon can be a far dirtier and more specialized task than normal housecleaning. Your customers are banks rather than homeowners, and they will have different standards for cleanliness and likely will have each home cleaned only once. There may be no furniture in the home, and there may be significant structural damage. In those cases you may need to work around contractors who are repairing the damage, or even branch into the repair business yourself.
Price your services appropriately for your market. Banks may be more interested in flat per project or per square foot rates than in hourly rates. Determine what your competition is charging and ensure that you can price competitively or offer compelling services that would be worth a premium price. Also make sure that you can cover your costs, including the cost of subcontractor labor and supplies, as well as overhead costs such as taxes, insurance and legal fees.
Acquire the appropriate licenses, permits and insurance. For some jobs you may require hazardous materials training and equipment. Banks will want to ensure that you have liability insurance to cover any accidents that occur while you and your workers are on the foreclosed property, and that your workers are licensed and bonded. Check with your local authorities on whether regulations apply to your business, and how you can comply with them.
Market your business to local banks and real estate agents. Attend networking events for the local housing industry. Consider creating a website or writing a newsletter on the subject of cleaning distressed properties, in order to show your expertise and convey your authority in the subject to your customers. If you can, get a sales meeting with the regional manager of the bank that holds many foreclosure properties in your area and attempt to get a contract for cleaning a minimum number of properties per quarter.
Create a business plan for your company. This plan will not only help you to obtain financing, it also will help you understand your business and the costs and profits you can expect. You should investigate your competition, and elaborate on what makes your business different and exciting to your customers.
Be scrupulous about your accounts receivable. It can be difficult to determine who is financially responsible for cleaning a foreclosure, and you may find that the bank and the real estate agent disagree. Ensure your contracts are structured to at least cover your costs in advance, and that you know who the financially responsible party is. You may consider outsourcing your accounts receivable to an accounting firm so that you can spend your time working rather than collecting.
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