How to Start a Roof Cleaning Business?

The global cleaning industry is heading towards a golden age. Its market size will reach $88.9 billion at a CAGR rate of 6.3% by 2025. Hence, now is the time to fire up your entrepreneurial spirit if you have always dreamed of building your own roof cleaning business.

But, how to start a roof cleaning business? Most people give up on this question because they can’t figure out any details. Hence, I decided to write this blog to guide you and other entrepreneurs build this new business successfully. Let’s get started.

What is a Roof Cleaning Business?

A roof cleaning business provides roof cleaning services to commercial buildings and homes by removing dirt, leaves, branches, stains, and other dirt materials from the roof.

Apart from these services, this business is solely responsible for cleaning drains, rooftop impurities, exterior walls, and chimney exteriors.

A roofing contractor, cleaner, or household maintenance worker is the main resource of the roofing business. Generally, roof cleaners use light bleach solutions to remove difficult stains and take care of roof maintenance.

As roof cleaning typically lasts for two to three years, you may not need to visit that area for some time. So, it is better to prioritize this snowball effect during roof cleaning services.

Follow these 6 Steps to Start a Successful Roof Cleaning Business

1. Create Your Business Plan

   Before starting a new business, it is a must that you do appropriate planning to make things succeed. To be on the top of the competition, you need to take care of the following aspects of your business plan:

   • Startup costs: Generally, you need to purchase a pressure cleaner and some cleaning supplies on the initial level. So when deciding the costs, it’s better to check what other contractors are charging. To help you determine the cost of starting your business, here is the PDF spreadsheet. You can use it to calculate your startup costs.
   • Ongoing expenses: It is very much important to maintain equipment that is used regularly. Also, you need to keep the entire stock of cleaning supplies.
   • Target market: Next, you need to define the customers you want to target. In most cases, they are residential homeowners, apartments, or complexes.
   • Business Name: Naming a business is the most significant and most challenging decision for many business owners. Select the name that is readily available as a web domain, and it should be secure. Here are some resources available for brainstorming names:
     • VisualThesaurus.com (It gives you visual around keyword)
     • Shopify business name generator (generates business name ideas and checks domain availability simultaneously)
     • NameMesh.com (provides a startup company name generator)
     • Naminum.com (Let’s you generate names based on a theme)

2. Satisfy All Legal Formalities

   The next essential step that you need to take care of is the legal entity of your business. So, first of all, you need to define the common business structure types for your business.

   The sole proprietorship allows you to start your business alone, whereas if you go for a partnership, then you have an option to make one or two partners in your business.

   If your business structure is either LLC or corporation, it will protect your business from being personally liable if your roof cleaning business is sued.

   After selecting the business structure, you need to register your business with the local government to deal with various state and federal taxes. Also, you must have an employer identification number (EIN) during the registration process.

3. Get Necessary Permits and Licenses

   Failure to acquire necessary permits and licenses can lead to heavy fines. It can even cause your business to shut down.

   • State & Local Business Licensing Requirements

     In most states, it is necessary to obtain a roof cleaning license. There are specific state permits and licenses one needs for operating a roof cleaning business. To learn more about licensing requirements in your state, please refer to SBA’s reference to state licenses and permits.

     To get more information about local licenses and permits, please visit:

     • Your town, city, or county clerk’s office
     • Get assistance from one of the local associations listed in the US Small Business Associations directory of local business resources.

       Also, you need to sign a legal service agreement with your customers just before you start a new cleaning contract with them. The agreement helps you to clarify your points related to:

   • Customer satisfaction and expectations
   • Rules and regulations for payment processing
   • Service level expectations
   • Intellectual property ownership

4. Open a Bank Account for Your Business

   

   Managing the financial perspectives of the business is one of the challenging tasks for many business owners. They need to keep a record of the various expenses and even manage the income sources.
   Here are the best banks for small businesses:
   

    

   [Image source: Truic]Having a perfect and detailed account to manage all such things will be easy for you to file for tax and help with personal asset protection. One of the best recommendations is that you keep personal and business accounts separately.

    

   The reason is that if something unusual happens and suddenly your business is sued, it will not affect your personal account. Managing the financial perspectives of the business is one of the challenging tasks for many business owners.

   You have an option to opt for a business credit card that will maintain all your business expenses in one place. It also plays a vital role in enhancing your company’s credit history, which in turn gains huge profit margins.

5. Make a List of Equipment that You Will Need For Your Business

   As we all know, the roof cleaning business involves fewer upfront costs. You only need a simple pressure washer, detergent, and bleach. That’s it.

   Many homeowners and even roof cleaning businesses make a mistake by using a hose with too much pressure for cleaning a roof. They usually remove or clean chewing gum off the walkway, but they do more damage.

   Remember, roofs are typically flimsy and fragile, and to remove stains from them; you need a chemical cleaning system. Also, you need to spray cleaned at pressure with much more frequency than a garden hose.

6. Come Up With Optimal Roof Cleaning Methods

   Before starting a roof cleaning business, business owners must know the cleaning methods to clean roofs.

   • Using a chemical mix with the low-pressure application

     A chemical mixture of chlorine bleach and TSP (trisodium phosphate) is applied to a power washer specifically on low pressure to clean the roofs.

     Such a mixture has the real possibility to dry and rinse off immediately. So, the roof cleaning business worker needs to repeat this method to remove stubborn stains.

     Extra care needs to be taken off when your cleaners are working on exterior cleaning projects. The reason is that there are more chances of spreading chemicals that easily kills or damages plants on a large scale.

   • Using an eco-friendly algaecide with low-pressure application

     In this method, the workers make use of organic algaecide utilizing a power washer at low pressure.

     Generally, various application methods are available in the market for power pressure washers to apply the products. Moreover, it entirely depends on the cleaning products that your customer has.

     Most eco-lovers are addicted to using this method as it seems safe for animals, plants, and even humans.

   • Using a high-pressure power washer

     For cleaning the roof, you’ll need a pressure washer to remove the ugliness of stains and algae. It is solely responsible for creating more damage and thereby decreasing the roof lifespan.

     Many roof cleaning businesses do not recommend using this method as it requires only a simple pressure washer without any chemicals for equipment.
     These are the basic steps you perform when you are planning to start a new roof cleaning business from scratch. Now, let us see the concept of how you market your business and increase customers.

How to Promote & Market a Roof Cleaning Business?

Let us now focus on some of the techniques that make it easy to apply to promote your roof cleaning business.

1. Create an Attractive Business Card

   To create awareness about your business, you need to create an attractive business card specifying the relevant information about the roof cleaning services you offer.

   With such business cards, someone quickly gets an overview of your business and where you are up to. Likewise, you start distributing it to many people you know who likely need your roof cleaning services.

2. Start a Door to Door Marketing

   Once your business card is ready, initiate performing start door-to-door marketing, especially in your neighborhood.

   As per the recent survey, it has been found that many people are still unaware of the reason for cleaning the roofs regularly. So, you visit their home and provide them with the essential information about it and share awareness related to getting rid of such permanent damages.

3. Expand Your Service Area and Hire More Experts

   The next thing that helps you bring remarkable success to your business is expanding your service area. In simple words, include additional roof cleaning services like power washing services, window cleaning services, and other customized services.

   You need to hire cleaners who specialize in cleaning the roofs of high rising buildings as it involves making substantial profit margins. Likewise, you need to include people who are well-trained and not having a height phobia.
   These are some of the best techniques that you have an option to apply to boost the business and increase the number of customers in your business. Also, call past clients and offer additional power washing services, such as driveway pressure cleaning or exterior house washing.

4. Build a Business Website for your Roof Cleaning Business

   Social media accounts like Facebook pages or LinkedIn business profiles are not a replacement for a business website you own. Website builder tools like the GoDaddy Website Builder have made creating a basic website simple.

   Your Business Website is the digital version of your office. Ensure that you put relevant content on your website. The information will help clients know more about you and your roof cleaning services. Your website should be easy to navigate and mobile-friendly. Adding photos of your previous work and testimonials from previous clients will also help strengthen your reputation for prospects who are considering hiring you.

   It is a tremendous help in attracting and gaining new customers in your area and is a fantastic marketing tool that you can leverage through email, social media, and any other advertising strategies.

5. Get your business listed on online directories

   Online directories such as Google, YellowPages, Yelp, and Foursquare will make your business more accessible to new clients. People looking for service providers usually refer to these directories when looking for local companies.

   You can also go for directories like Angie’s List. All this will ensure that clients looking for roof cleaners find you first before your competitors.

6. Learn about SEO

   Businesses that appear on the first page of a Google search have more chances of acquiring customers than those on the second or third page. You can do this by making sure that your digital assets and content are SEO optimized. Many consumers feel that businesses on the first page are more known, credible, and trustworthy. Hence, make your commercial carpet cleaning business appear on the first page not just once or twice, but thrice by:

   • Registering on Google Business
   • Running paid ads
   • Getting listed on all major online directories
   • Ensure your website is search engine optimized. Use keywords that customers are using to search for carpet cleaning businesses

Conclusion

Our blog will be incomplete without mentioning field service software. Adopting FSM software will be a great addition to your newly established business. With cleaning job scheduling and dispatching software like FieldCamp, you can share all job details from one place, creating and dispatching invoices can be done in a blink of an eye, and track your field technicians in real-time.