The Best Home Business Ideas

One of the most lucrative types of business to start, if you live in or near an area where the primary industry is tourism, is a cleaning business that specializes in cleaning vacation rental properties. Unlike residential or commercial cleaning, the hours that you work will be more determined by guest arrivals and departures (typically 10:00am departures with 4:00pm arrivals), but the amount that you earn will be significantly higher than what you will make doing strictly residential cleans, and once you establish yourself as an excellent cleaner, you can easily transition from condominiums into cleaning the more luxurious rentals, most of which pay several hundred dollars per clean.

 Of course, there are distinct differences between residential cleans and hospitality cleans:

• You will need to be extremely fast and your cleans will need to be excellent the first time. Being called back to redo a clean, or having arriving guests complain about the quality of your clean, can effectively ruin your chances of advancing to the high dollar properties.
• You will have multiple beds to change, typically with sofa beds, bunk beds, and trundle beds, which require more effort to strip and remake.
• You will have to empty the garbage, the refrigerator, the cabinets, and remove all personal items left behind by previous guests. And, since many vacation rental owners leave personal items in their homes for guests to use, you will need to learn the property and learn what belongs and what doesn’t. (This isn’t nearly as hard as it sounds, since most cleaning contractors are “assigned” properties that you will clean on a regular basis, and therefore, you’ll know what belongs and what doesn’t.)
• You will be asked to restock certain amenities, such as starter bottles of shampoo, conditioner, guest soaps, etc.
• You will be asked to promptly report any maintenance issue that you observe, and you may even be asked to perform some very minor maintenance tasks, such as replacing light bulbs, etc.
• Vacation rental properties are sometimes left in a far different condition than a residential home. Most guests will leave full garbage cans, unmade beds, and leftover consumable items all over the house. There will even be times when a property is “trashed,” meaning that guests will have left an unreasonable mess, may have damaged the property, or worse. At such times, you can request extra time and extra money for the clean, and the extra is usually charged to the departing guest.
• You will most likely be required to carry certain types of insurance on your “cleaning company,” although typically this insurance is only a couple of hundred dollars every six months, and you will easily make that money back in a few cleans.
  

There are also some excellent benefits to hospitality cleans, too:

• If you are associated with a management company, they will normally launder the linens, and have fresh linens (sheets, towels, etc.) ready and packed for you to use on the turnover days.
• While you may be extremely busy on the weekends and during peak tourism months, if you are a really good cleaning contractor, you will easily make more than enough money to take time off during the slower periods.
• Vacation rental properties normally do what is called a “deep clean” at least once or twice per year. This deep cleaning process is a lot like a spring clean in your own home, however, the pay is normally several hundred dollars for even the smallest property and can run into the thousands for a large, luxurious property. Deep cleans are done during non-peak seasons and you will have a lot of flexibility on the days and times that you work on “your” deep cleans.
  

Sound like something you might be interested in? If so, the easiest way to start is to contact vacation rental companies in your area, or advertise online at sites for vacation rentals by owner, Craig’s List, or even in your local classifieds. There is always a shortage of qualified cleaners in areas that cater to tourists, so you will have no trouble at all getting started, and, even better, most established vacation rental companies will actually “train” you on your first few cleans. Best of all, cleaning vacation rental properties can be one of the most lucrative cleaning businesses to start, and you will quickly find that you can easily expand your business to include as little or as many cleans as you want to perform. This obviously translates into you decide that your income can be as much or as little as you choose!