Starting a new business is no easy task, but with a bit of planning and effort, you can turn your dream into reality.
One such business that is in high demand is carpet cleaning. The beauty of this type of business is the low start-up costs and the flexibility it offers you.
However, before you jump into this business, it is essential to consider the income and salary you can expect.
In this article, we will discuss the various aspects of carpet cleaning business income and salary, including the factors that can affect your earnings.
How Much Income Can You Expect From A Carpet Cleaning Business?
Traditionally, many factors have severely limited the potential earnings of a career in carpet cleaning.
Although society has made tremendous strides in recent decades, there is still a lingering stigma associated with the profession.
This can lead to potential clients underestimating your abilities, which in turn can limit your income potential.
Fortunately, however, the carpet cleaning business is becoming more and more in demand. This can lead to increased income potential as clients seek out quality carpet cleaning services.
Even though some may complain about the high initial investment in equipment and other costs, the income potential for a carpet cleaning business is often quite high.
Depending on what stage your firm is at, the average yearly income and pay for a cleaning business will differ.
As you build your client base and reputation, your firm can initially earn between $30,000 and $50,000 per year. Once you hire more cleaners, you can earn between $50,000 and $70,000.
Commercial cleaning firms have the potential to earn even more, with the average pay ranging from $70,000 to $100,000 per year.
In the following sections, we take a closer look at how the potential income of a carpet cleaning business is affected by the number of cleaners.
Potential Income From One Cleaner
Your carpet cleaning business has the potential to earn between $30,000 and $50,000 per year when you start to get clients as you initially get it up and running.
Remember that this estimate is made before any costs have been paid and before you’ve planned for taxes.
Assuming that you only have one cleaning specialist working for you, your monthly income will likely be between $2,500 and $4,000. For a year, this averages out to about $30,000.
In the US, a household cleaning business’s typical hourly charge for each cleaning specialist ranges from $25 to $40.
Once you’ve secured a few clients and are starting to fill your cleaning calendar, this hourly rate will add up quickly.
For example, if you were charging $30 per hour and cleaning all of your clients’ homes for a combined 30 hours per week, you would be making around $900 per week, or about $46,000 per year if you never took a break or vacation.
You should be aware that when you first start your cleaning service, you won’t be cleaning as many hours each week because you won’t have many clients yet.
Research suggests that most cleaning firms begin working approximately 20 hours a week until their business grows. Typically, 20 hours per week translates to 5–6 clients.
You could work up to 40 hours per week after your cleaning schedule starts to fill up and you’ve developed a following of repeat customers.
This would be equal to 11–13 customers each week. This is the most cleaning professionals should handle at once.
When you are the only cleaning professional, the costs are reduced, but your availability is also limited.
Depending on how much work you put into marketing and expanding your clientele, this stage of your business can often run for a year.
Your business and income can increase fast if you focus more on advertising.
Potential Income From a Team of Cleaners
After your clientele has increased and your weekly schedule is full, you may want to consider hiring additional cleaners to help.
Since you would have been cleaning for these clients for some time now, they are more likely to be repeat clients and referred customers.
With a team of cleaners, you can extend your workweek to 40 hours, which will mean less stress and more money. You can expect an annual income of around $100,000, depending on the size of your team.
However, since you must pay your cleaners as well, expanding the workforce will increase costs. Therefore, it’s crucial to find the sweet spot where the benefits of hiring additional employees balance the drawbacks.
You should pay your staff around 70% of what you charge the client. For example, if you charge $40 per hour, your cleaners should make around $28 per hour.
This competitive wage will attract qualified workers and keep them happy enough to stay for a long time.
After some time, you can consider entering the commercial cleaning market since this type of cleaning has higher margins and involves a large number of repeat customers.
This can also help you grow your clientele further, focusing less on marketing and expanding your business with new services, such as window cleaning.
How Much Can You Make Cleaning Commercially?
Focusing on commercial cleaning has the most potential for financial success when running a carpet cleaning service.
Commercial buildings are larger, and you can charge higher rates for contracts. This means earning the same amount of money for doing half the work.
Once they have clients, commercial cleaning businesses typically make around $150,000 per year. And if you can get into the larger contracts, such as those for hospitals and schools, the margins are even higher.
It’s normal for a cleaning business owner to switch their focus from residential cleaning to commercial cleaning once they’ve built a successful domestic cleaning business and employed extra cleaning specialists.
Commercial cleaning can be more reliable and provide a wider range of income for your company.
If you secure clients with large commercial buildings, your contract might involve a much higher cost than what you were asking for domestic cleaning.
For example, cleaning a five-story office building once a week might cost $1500 per month. To equal, that amount per month in domestic cleaning often involves cleaning 15 homes weekly.
We suggest giving time to commercial cleaning only after you have hired extra workers due to the scale of commercial facilities.
It would be challenging to clean a huge office complex in a reasonable time if you only have one cleaning professional on your team.
How much does a Carpet Cleaner make in a year?
According to Service Monster, The average carpet cleaner in the United States makes less than $35,000 annually.
In some states like Boston and Alaska, where service demand is high, salaries can be up or close to double what they would.
However, many people living outside these areas may make considerably less money even if they’re working hard enough because there aren’t as many opportunities available compared to other parts of the country.
Are Carpet Cleaning Businesses Profitable?
It depends. If you give all your profits to the company that gave you a franchise, then the answer is no.
However, if you use your profits to reinvest in your business and grow it further, then yes, carpet cleaning businesses can be quite profitable.
The key to success in the carpet cleaning business is to focus on building a high-quality team of cleaners and investing in reliable equipment.
You can attract new customers and grow your business over time by providing excellent service and consistently delivering results.
A standard carpet cleaning franchise also has higher startup expenses in fees and overhead. It would be easier and much more cost-effective to start your own carpet cleaning business and build it up from scratch.
With careful planning and hard work, you can make a great living in this industry and enjoy all the benefits of running your own business.
How Much Should You Pay Yourself As A Carpet Cleaning Business Owner?
Now for the tricky question: how much should you pay yourself as a carpet cleaning business owner? Here’s a mini-guide to help you decide.
1. Calculate Your Expenses
To begin, total up all of your costs. Factor in everything from cleaning materials and business license applications to gas and electricity bills.
This will give you a realistic idea of your monthly expenses, which can then be used to calculate how much you should pay yourself.
After working for a while, you’ll have a better idea of how much everything will set you back, allowing you to stay on top of your finances and adjust as needed.
2. Find Your Net Income
Now take the amount of money you spend each month and deduct it from the amount you make each month.
For example, if your overall income was $4,000 and your monthly costs were $500, the net income would be $3,500.
One of the most common mistakes young business owners make is failing to save money for expansion.
You shouldn’t necessarily pay yourself the highest possible salary each month, as it’s more important to build up a reserve of funds that can be used for future growth.
Patience and discipline are key when it comes to managing your carpet cleaning company and building a stable income. With some smart planning and a focused approach, you’ll be well on your way to success in no time.
3. Decide The Amount To Save
At this stage, you should know your goals and ambitions for the future.
Do you plan to grow your workforce before the end of the current financial period or before the end of the year? Do you plan to invest money in marketing to acquire new customers?
Keeping all of these considerations in mind, you can figure out how much money you need to put away each month to have the total amount you want at the end of the year.
Similarly, if you’re going to buy commercial cleaning supplies at some point in the future or if you’re going to invest in a new vacuum cleaner, you need to save up for those expenses too.
Suppose your net income is $3,500, and you want to put away $1,000 every month. In this case, your monthly salary should be $2,500.
This may not seem like much now, but as your team grows and your marketing efforts bring in more customers, your monthly income will increase.
As a startup, it’s important to think long-term and set yourself up for success.
Carpet Cleaning Insurance: A Necessity for Any Business Owner
Keeping costs down is important if you want to maximize your profits. However, while saving money is always nice, you shouldn’t compromise on insurance.
The costs associated with even one successful personal injury or property damage claim can add up quickly, so it’s absolutely essential to have the right insurance coverage.
As a carpet cleaning business owner, you’ll need general liability, property, and workers’ compensation insurance.
General liability insurance covers you in the event that an accident causes damage to someone else or their belongings. This might include damage to floors, furniture, or electronic equipment.
Property insurance protects your business property, such as vehicles and cleaning equipment, against theft or damage.
It’s important to choose a policy that adequately covers the value of your property so you’re not left paying out of pocket in the event of a major loss.
Finally, workers’ compensation insurance is required by law in most states and provides coverage for medical expenses and lost wages in the event that a worker is injured on the job.
As a business owner, you are responsible for keeping your team safe and protecting your company from financial loss.
Investing in the right insurance is one of the best ways to do this, so be sure to talk to an insurance broker today and get the coverage you need.
What Are The Monthly Expenses In A Carpet Cleaning Business?
Every business faces some financial expenses each month, and carpet cleaning is no exception.
As a business owner, it’s important to understand the various costs you’ll be paying in order to manage and grow your company effectively.
The first expense you’ll need to think about is equipment. Depending on the type of services you offer, this may include vacuums, materials like cleaning chemicals or deodorizers, and specialized tools or equipment.
Another big expense is advertising and marketing. You’ll need to reach out to potential customers in order to build your client base, so investing in a robust digital marketing strategy or purchasing online ads can be well worth it.
Finally, you’ll also need to pay for utilities, insurance coverage, and any other expenses related to operating your business on a daily basis.
Your monthly expenses can be as low as $100 or as high as $10,000, depending on the size and scope of your carpet cleaning business. The key is to manage these costs carefully so that your company can thrive long-term.
Wrapping Up
Running a carpet cleaning business takes dedication, hard work, and careful financial planning.
Whether you’re just starting out or have been in business for years, always be mindful of your monthly expenses and keep them as low as possible.
As technology is growing, many businesses use carpet cleaning business software to keep all their finances in one place and perfectly organized.
With the right approach, you can build a successful and profitable company that provides quality services to your clients.
Daleyza knows a lot about carpets! She has worked with carpets for over 7 years and can help with things like putting them in, keeping them clean, and replacing them. She really likes carpets and spends most of her time learning about new ways to work with them. When she’s not learning about carpets, she enjoys reading books. She’s really good at helping people choose the right carpet for their homes and making sure they’re happy with it. If you want to know more about carpets, Daleyza is the person to talk to!