A Home Service Business is the perfect business to start on a shoestring budget. They can be started for very little. Plus, they are a great choice since they are in high demand!
I can tell you with absolute certainty that a service business is the one true business that anyone can start with No Experience & No Degree Required.
You could start making a daily income in very little time. I have personally done this with service businesses and my family has done the same thing many times over.
When my dad was struggling with income after my parents were divorced, he said to himself “what is the fastest and cheapest way I can start a business and make really good money”. It was a service business. You can read more about this type of service business in a post I wrote here: How To Start A Cleaning Business
Angie’s List & HomeAdvisor (ANGI) Exceed over 300 Million
There is a compelling reason why Angie’s List & HomeAdvisor exceed over 300 Million per quarter and their actual corporation “ANGI” is in excess of 4 Billion Dollars, YES Billion with a capital B! They make their Lion Share of money from Service Businesses.
If you want to experience the lasting satisfaction of starting your own service business – then check out these “3 Profitable Home Service Businesses”.
Let’s dive in and see if one of these service businesses are perfect for your new full time or side income hustle.
#1 House Painting
Great Profit Margins
A local house painting company can do extremely well. I know many painters including a childhood best friend. He works for a small business.
My friend Scott always tells me how busy this two-man shop is.
He is always posting pictures on Facebook of his location and is proud of the work he does. His boss continues talking about expanding and hiring more workers but seems to like the way things are. It just proves there is room for expansion – if you really want to go in that direction. Here is an actual post my friend Scott added on Facebook while working in a Downtown Chicago high rise.
You never know where your service business will take you next!
Back downtown working at that expensive condo, here are some night-time views (awesome) – Scott F.
HomeAdvisor reports hiring a Painting Company ranges from $963 – $2,742 with a National Average of $1,780.00. For an entire 2,300 SF house, expect to charge $4,000.00 – $11,000. This is accurate data as it is taken from reported 42,300 HomeAdvisor members.
If you lack the confidence in your painting abilities, check out the free workshops and videos at HomeDepot.com. You can get completely educated in this industry for free.
House Painting Start-Up Basics: Business Flyers and Cards, Cell Phone, Sign Magnets, Painting Supplies – Brushes, Rollers, Tarps, Buckets, Ladder, Rags, Tape, Appointment Book, Van or SUV.
#2 Window Cleaning
$211 Average Window Job
This is a specialized niche where you typically don’t see an abundant of service vehicles driving on the street like Landscapers, HVAC Companies or even Painting Businesses. But, can you imagine getting window jobs from delivering flyers in your local area and from having a large sign magnet on your vehicle? I sure can!!!
HomeAdvisor reports the typical range for window cleaning is $149 – $293 with an average cost of $211. Smaller jobs are reported to start at $80 with larger home prices reaching $421.
Do you have a fear of heights? If you answered no, you could target high rise buildings. The hourly rate is a minimum of $85 per hour!
Per CostHelper.com, the cost is typically anywhere from $2 to $7 per window. In addition, Angie’s List members have reported paying an average price of $266 for a full house window cleaning.
Window Cleaning Start-Up Basics: Business Flyers, Business Cards, Cell Phone, Sign Magnets, Squeegee, Ladder, Buckets, Rags, Cleaning Solution, Appointment Book, Vehicle.
#3 Carpet Cleaning Service
A Major Industry
There are approximately 56,000 janitorial businesses in the United States and close to 8,000 of these businesses are carpet cleaning. They make up a part of this $45 billion dollar industry. $5 billion dollars of the industry is carpet cleaning!
Do you think there is an opportunity to make money in the niche? Definitely.
HomeAdvisor reports the cost of hiring a Carpet Cleaning Service ranges from $121 – 233 with an average cost of $176.00.
Carpet cleaning is another industry where I had hands-on experience. What can I say…? I worked a lot of jobs in my lifetime!
Working for the family cleaning business included commercial carpet cleaning for businesses. I also worked for a carpet cleaning company called Zero-Rez. They are in the top 5 in the industry.
Zero-Rez wasn’t the typical cleaning model of extracting the dirt from carpeting. They have a unique process of cleaning carpets. No hard chemicals or solution and soft water with easy extraction.
The most common carpet cleaning method is extraction. It involves using hot water, carpet cleaning solution and a powerful wet/dry vacuum for suctioning the dirt.
The Top Carpet Cleaning Brands vs. No-Name
A few of the biggest carpet cleaning companies are Chem-Dry, Stanley Steemer, Service Master and Zerorez. However, upon searching “Carpeting Cleaning Companies Near Me” on Google, I have not even heard of the majority of the companies listed.
After doing the searching, I noticed Yelp at the top of the search engine results pages. Therefore, I decided to take this one step further. I clicked Yelp to see if there were any major brands listed like Chem-Dry. Nope!
Here are the Yelp results:
As far as I am concerned, every single carpet cleaning company listed is a mom and pop shop or a small local business.
Personally, with these kind of results, it almost makes me consider starting a carpet cleaning business!
I know what you are thinking… “But look at all of that competition?” That’s A-OK! Many businesses, also mean solid demand!
To get new customers, all you have to do is have a better marketing strategy than your competition.
The incredibly great news is this: You are not competing with the big Amazon’s or Walmart’s of the world, it’s just a few locals. You can beat them!
Sales Tip: When I used to carpet clean for Zero-Rez, I used to up-sell a carpet rake for $20.00. My partner and I used to up-sell additional rooms to carpet clean while on the job too. It wasn’t a hard sell since we were already on the job. We would simply offer these services or products and often at a discounted rate.
Side Note: With a previous marketing client, our contact Kelly was the director of marketing. On one of our monthly meetings, she told us about her husband starting a carpet cleaning business. Flash forward to 3 months later on another meeting, Kelly informed us that she was leaving her job to work full time with her husband. She said the business was exploding!
Carpet Cleaning Start-Up Basics: Business Flyers, Business Cards, Cell Phone, Sign Magnets, Carpet Cleaning Machine or Rental, Cleaning Solution, Rags, Appointment Book, Vehicle.
Marketing Ideas
How to get customers for my new Service Business:
- Delivering Flyers to Neighborhoods
- Facebook Business Page
- Pay Per Click Advertising
- Word of Mouth / Referrals
- Car Sign Magnets
- Online Business Directories
- Passing out Business Cards
TIP: Referral Strategy: Customers love getting referral fees! Create square shaped business card. The square shaped business card will offer a referral fee for your customer and a special discount for their friend.
You want to make sure the business card is unique and either rounded in design or square. You need to make sure they stand out! Also consider applying magnets to the back of each card for your customers refrigerator.
You will be surprised how many people would be willing to give you a referral while knowing they are getting 50 bucks and helping out friend or family with a good service and a 10% discount too.
CONCLUSION
It’s clear that service businesses are in demand and profitable. If you are looking for a side income hustle or even want to branch out and go full-time, it is a possibility. Having a thriving service business is a path many started before you and grew beyond their expectations. As long as you do good work, referrals and word of mouth become a big part of this business. That costs you nothing!