CHAPTER 17 -: This is Chapter Seventeen of The Complete Guide to Starting a Cleaning Business. Buying the best cleaning supplies and hiring the best cleaner in town isn’t enough to get you started on the cleaning job. The quality of cleaning services is often measured by how quickly workers can get to the job site. In other words, the mobility of your cleaner and equipment is of the utmost importance. The reason is the very nature of the cleaning business. People will knock on your door and ask you to clean their homes, offices, and workplaces.
Why do you need a car for your cleaning business
Everyone When you do a deal with a customer, you can’t buy equipment and move it to your customer’s home or office. In order to ensure efficient business operations, you should store all products and equipment in your head office or warehouse.Once the contract is signed and the completion date of the cleaning project is scheduled for you, you are responsible for the transport of all products and equipment with staff. who will use it at the site location.
If you think you can rely on public transport or the personal transport of your employees, you are wrong. Most often, you will have to transport very heavy equipment and therefore cannot be transported without the presence of vehicles from a specialized cleaning company.
What type of vehicle is best for a cleaning business?
The type of vehicle you need to transport personnel and equipment is a van, truck, or station wagon. In other words, your business needs to buy heavy vehicles where you can safely store and transport all of your employees and equipment. If you want to give your vehicle some modern sophistication, you can even purchase one of the powerful and stylish SUVs available on the market today. However, they are a great way to grab the attention of people on the street and also provide much needed transport comfort for your tired and hardworking workers.
Ultimately, the type of vehicle you purchase will depend entirely on the type of equipment you are carrying and how much equipment you will need to complete a specific client mission. Since the workload varies from client to client, it is always desirable to have variety in your vehicle collection. You can use an SUV for some lighter, easier tasks like cleaning carpet in a suburban residence. Perhaps you could use a van to transport ” heavy artillery ” when providing a full cleaning service in a large mall.
How much should you spend on a vehicle?
However, you are strongly advised not to overspend on vehicles as it will overwhelm you financially in the early stages of your business. Not only are vehicles expensive, but their maintenance is often quite expensive. Not only do you have to clean the vehicles and keep them well stocked with fuel, but you also have to pay for repairs and other rather expensive maintenance that can lead to financial hardship, so caution should be exercised when purchasing vehicles.
One of the biggest mistakes future entrepreneurs make is spending a lot on vehicles. From their inexperienced perspective, cars are symbols of a well-established business, and the more extravagant a car, the more people will be curious about the cleaning company it belongs to. This may be true for companies that have spent a lot of time in the industry, but not for newcomers to the industry.
Never try to be too flamboyant or show off in your business dealings. If your craving for glitz and prosperity gets in the way of your professional conscience, you’ll dive into hot water up to your knees. The price range for a typical pickup truck is $ 10,000 to $ 35,000 .
Factors to Consider When Buying a Van or Truck for Your Cleaning Business
There are some additional features that you can include in the van. For example, you can request special luxury options such as exquisite carpeting, reclining bucket seats, and modern windows and doors. There are many options to choose from, but you need to invest wisely.
If any of these luxury features aren’t benefiting your business or keeping your equipment safe, you don’t need to spend your hard-earned money on it. In case you have equipment that can get dirty or dirty easily, it is recommended that you invest in parquet. In this case, do not opt for the carpet because it does little to prevent your van from getting dirty. Plus, rugs are much more difficult to clean and maintain regularly than hardwood floors.
When buying a van, space should be your top priority. If there is not enough space inside the van to store the necessary equipment, then it is not worth starting with such a large amount of money in the vehicle. There should be enough space to clean items such as hoses, brushes and other accessories used in commercial vacuum cleaners. This requires you to invest in changing the interior of the van to your specifications.
Ideally, you should install racks and shelves in the vans. Most vans don’t come with racks or shelves, but it’s worth paying a little extra for a van that has all of these features installed from the start. Most cleaning companies buy cars with preinstalled features, so if you know someone who can install racks and shelves in a van at a very low cost, you are free to buy cars without these features.
How many vehicles do you need for your cleaning business?
The type of vehicle you buy also depends on the nature of your cleaning business. Cleaning, utility, upholstery and carpet vehicles differ from each other for obvious reasons. For the first year of your business, you can count on a four-wheel drive van. This will be a time when you don’t have a busy schedule and the influx of customers will be relatively low. Therefore, having only one vehicle that is spacious enough should allow you to run your business operations quite smoothly.
Plus, having a car early on saves you a lot of money. A vehicle is not something you can buy, it is simply stored in your garage. You need to keep it moving to keep it active and functional. It is always better to run out of a vehicle and possibly lose your contract than to have a surplus of vehicles and waste money on unnecessary maintenance costs.
As your business grows and operations grows with your customer list, you will find that being tied to a single vehicle like a 4 wheel loader will no longer help you overcome the daily hassles of it. the transport of your vehicles. …
When it comes time to switch to other vehicles, always look for those that use more gas. This will save you an incredible amount of money and significantly reduce your annual expenses. If your business is carpet cleaning and you need a car that you will install a truck mounted unit for, your best option would be to purchase heavy vans, which weigh well over 1 ton.
Filling in legal loopholes when purchasing a vehicle for your cleaning business
Before purchasing your vehicles, you must do your homework and legally. Any vehicle you purchase for your cleaning business must be officially registered with the state or municipality using commercial plates. If you think you can just use your personal car with a standard nameplate, you are mistaken. For your information, it is prohibited to place advertisements on a vehicle or even to use the vehicle for commercial purposes if it does not have an advertising sign.
If you don’t do this correctly, you run the risk of your cars being confiscated by law enforcement, and the next thing you know, you won’t be able to transport your personnel and equipment to your designated jobs. In other words, there is no way a cleaning company can operate without road transport. If you are trying to rent vehicles from transport agencies in the event of confiscation of your own vehicles, you will face huge costs which are seriously damaging your business finances.
Obtain insurance for the vehicles of your cleaning company
After registering your vehicles, you must insure them. Insurance is absolutely compulsory for your vehicles. In the event that your car is involved in a traffic accident and suffers irreparable damage, insurance is the only thing that will help keep your business afloat. Again, vehicles are essential to the existence of your cleaning business, not to mention its success already. Don’t compromise on the quality and functionality of these vehicles. As soon as a vehicle breaks down or runs out, you must replace it with another vehicle with immediate effect.
Depending on the type of business you run, you can ask your employees to use their own modes of transportation. In these circumstances, it becomes imperative for you to insist that your employees also purchase insurance for their vehicles. If your cleaning staff injure or damage their vehicles in a traffic accident, their mobility will be compromised. You will have no choice but to arrange additional transportation for them until they fix their car or buy a new one. This will again lead to another set of unnecessary expenses which only slows down the development of your business operations.
Make your car an advertising tool for your cleaning business
As an owner In the cleaning service industry, you should not think of vehicles as mere modes of transportation. Rather, they should be viewed as mobile billboards for your business. Once you have registered your vehicles on the commercial plates, you can advertise your vehicle, this is your chance to market your business on the streets and make your business really attractive.
The first thing that you should have on your car is your company logo. Place it on the car in such a way that it looks attractive and sets it apart from other cars on the streets. Find a nice little place on your car to display your business name. Try to use a font and color that looks formal and professional. It will give the impression that the car is owned by a successful and successful business, and we have established a cleaning business.
Finally and especially; You must include your company details on the vehicle. Make sure these details are clearly visible. It is one of the cheapest and most effective marketing strategies for your business. That being said, make sure you don’t go overboard with the logo, design, and information. You can even insert a subtle and catchy marketing slogan if you want.
Vehicles are so important to the success of your cleaning business that you will eventually find that you need to appoint a manager to manage the transportation activities of your business. While focusing on the brush and mop, keep your eyes on the wheels of the business.
