The Biggest Mistakes New Cleaning Business Owners Make (and How to Avoid Them)
- Rica Casey
- Mar 1
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 13
Starting a cleaning business is exciting, but many new owners unknowingly make costly mistakes. Avoiding these pitfalls early can save time, money, and frustration. Here are five common mistakes and how to steer clear of them.
Mistake 1: Underpricing Services
By far, underpricing cleaning services is THE number 1 mistake cleaning business owners make. Many beginners price too low to attract clients, but all they receive in return is burnout and low profits.
One way to determine your minimum price is to do market research in your area. Determine what other businesses are offering, and how much they charge. Look up the 5 biggest competitors and determine the average of all of their prices for comparable services. This will be the rate that you should hover around.
However, many other factors determine what price you charge; particularly your cleaning business's overhead. You have to determine your monthly expenses and determine how to make your monthly service prices cover the expenses PLUS add a profit margin.
The book Cleaning Profits Made Simple makes it easy to find out what your monthly expenses are (including common bills). This useful and easy-to-read guide plainly lays out the common expenses of a cleaning business, as well as offers ideas for packages. Of particular mention is a helpful pricing formula to assist you in pricing your cleaning services.
Mistake 2: Not Having a System for Client Management
Without organized scheduling, invoicing, and client communication, chaos ensues. Use a customer management system (CRM) or scheduling tool to stay on track.
CRMs are essential for key business operations. Some reasons why a cleaning business owner should have a CRM include:
Improved Scheduling & Job Management – Keep track of client appointments, assign jobs to cleaners, and reduce scheduling conflicts.
Automated Invoicing & Payments – Send invoices, track payments, and automate reminders for overdue invoices.
Enhanced Client Communication – Store client details, send appointment reminders, follow up on service feedback, and nurture leads.
Centralized Client Information – Keep all client interactions, notes, and service history in one place for better personalization.
Performance Tracking & Reporting – Monitor revenue, track cleaning team efficiency, and analyze client retention trends.
Streamlined Operations – Reduce manual admin work by automating repetitive tasks like appointment confirmations and invoice follow-ups.
Mistake 3: Overextending Without Proper Scheduling
Women, especially, have a tendency to overextend ourselves in our personal lives, so it's no surprise that it happens easily in our cleaning businesses.
It makes sense, though. You're ambitious and are working incredibly hard to meet your financial goals in your cleaning business, so you take on client after client, especially if the jobs seem easy enough. Then you get to a point where you need help, and that comes with the stress of scheduling.
Taking on too many clients without a structured workflow can harm service quality. Plan realistic schedules that balance workload and efficiency. In addition, be sure you allow ALL employees, including (maybe especially) yourself as the cleaning business owner, to handle life outside of work. This means balancing challenging and easy jobs, big houses and small apartments, and teams and individuals properly.
Aim for balance so that you and your employees can be physically, emotionally, and mentally healthy to allow one's self to show up in other parts of their life with ease.
Mistake 4: Neglecting Marketing and Branding
Word-of-mouth is great, but an online presence is crucial.
What happens when your referrals increase, yet you have no web presence? Nowadays, we as a society rely on social proof to determine our purchasing decisions. When you consider that people are allowing strangers into their home to clean, they have to be confident that their trust can be well placed in you.
Start with a professional website. Your website is your business card, your business's reputation, and the first impression that potential clients will have of you. You ever accidentally click on a website and it looks extremely amateurish? It doesn't lead you to trust that the work will be of high quality, does it? Invest in website design that, at the very least, gives potential clients knowledge of what you do, how you do it, and why you do it, as well as a way to contact you.
In addition to a professional website, ensure that you claim your Google My Business page. Most people automatically turn to Google to check out service providers' reviews. You don't want to miss the opportunity to be found locally because you do not have this business essential set up.
Mistake 5: Lacking Contracts and Policies
Without clear agreements, misunderstandings arise. Have contracts outlining payment terms, cancellations, and service expectations to protect your business. The Branding Bridge offers a free document that outlines terms and conditions that address some of the most common issues in the cleaning industry.
The Branding Bridge's Checking for Quality guide is a FREE resource to help cleaning business owners. The guide includes:
A 60+ point cleaning checklist
Starting prices for add-on cleaning services
A list of common cleaning products that are used
Terms and conditions for cleaning agreements
Payment policy for cleaning services
Cancellation policy for cleaning services
Media release clause for taking before and after pictures of cleaning jobs
Pricing formula to help price cleaning services
Did we mention all of this is FREE?!
Grab your copy today at The Branding Bridge's store!
Starting a cleaning business can be difficult, but The Branding Bridge offers solutions to make your entrepreneurial journey smooth and enjoyable. Visit our store to see what templates, guides, and eBooks for cleaning business owners that can help transform your cleaning business into a money making machine! stan.store/thebrandingbridge
Comments