From Cleaning Employee to Contractor

It’s tough to go from being a cleaning employee to a contractor. Nobody is going to give you jobs, uniforms, cleaning supplies, insurance, or a paycheck. You have to go earn it all for yourself – and you get to set the new rules and pricing – and follow through on your promises.

Listen: From Cleaning Employee to Contractor

Watch: From Cleaning Employee to Contractor

How to Go From Employee to Contractor

How do you go from a cleaning employee to a contractor? There is a house cleaner that wrote into the show and they asked this question. I’m going to read it to you because there’s a lot to unpack and I don’t want to miss anything.

She says, “Hello. I used to help with house cleaning with a friend of mine, and it was her business. We would split up the tasks and share the cleaning jobs and she would pay me a small amount for each of the houses that I helped with. Then she got a full-time job and I stopped cleaning houses because of COVID, and my kids are at home and I’m watching them.”

Working for a Friend Can Be Confusing

“Well, that friend that I used to help is now asking me if I will clean her house for her. I thought about it, and it’s tempting to help her out. But there are a few hesitations that I have. If I clean for my friend, will this change our friendship now that she’s the boss? Before, it was a shared atmosphere where we divided the work. I value our friendship, but if I take on cleaning for her, I don’t want the friendship to go bad.

Question two. What do I charge her? I don’t want to come in too high or too low. I asked her what kind of a price she would give me if she was going to clean my home and the roles were reversed. But she came in on a price that was kind of low. I did a Google search and I asked another friend of mine what she charges for her home and it was a much higher price. Well, I don’t want to feel like I’m being taken advantage of.”

I asked her what she’s expecting in house cleanup and she listed the things, but she wasn’t very specific. She basically wants me to clean the entire house top to bottom every other week. Then she said it would be every week. Her prices are low and her answers are vague. What do I do?”

Going From Sharing Work to a Contractor

Interesting, because you said the shared work that the two of you did was divided, but it sounds like you were still an employee because you said she paid you a small amount of the money that was gained from those jobs. So, it sounds like you were an employee and you worked with her, even though, as a friend, you worked with her and she was still calling all the shots.

So, it sounds like from this particular email that you wrote that perhaps she’s wanting you to go from an employee, which you were, but then you quit, so you’re no longer her employee to a contractor.

You’re now a contractor, you run your own business, and she wants to hire you to come in and clean her home. So, I love that because what that tells me is this. She likes you, she trusts you, she appreciates the work that you do, and she knows you’re capable of cleaning her house. So, that we know right now upfront. So, yay for you.

Do You Want to Start Your Own Business?

So, the next thing that I want to focus on is I want to ask you this question. You are still experiencing COVID, you have kids at home, and it sounds like you are considering cleaning houses. So, are you considering it as a friend, or are you thinking about starting your own cleaning business?

Because if you come to her house, she’s not the boss. You said, “Would it change the relationship because she’s now the boss?” She’s not the boss. If you come to her house and clean, you’re an independent contractor. You are the boss.

You Call the Shots as Your Own Boss

So, you would be calling the shots. You’re the one that comes up with the price. You’re the one that comes up with your own bonding and insurance. You might’ve been covered under her before, but now it’s your own insurance and your own bonding.

So, you have to go out and get your own, if you don’t already. You have to pay for your own cleaning supplies. If you wear a uniform, you pay for your own cleaning uniform. You pay for your own vehicle expenses. You’re responsible to drive yourself to and from the job.

You Could Ruin Your Relationship With Your Friend

So, are you going to start a house cleaning business? Now, we can talk later about what types of customers you get, and right up front, you said, “I’m worried it will change the relationship between me and my friend.” I’m worried too, especially if she’s vague and has expectations, but doesn’t know how to communicate those.

I’m concerned about that too because I think that will ruin the friendship. I think you’re right on target with that. So, I wouldn’t work for your friend.

Decide What it is You Have to Offer

So, as a business owner, you have to decide, what is it that you offer? Now, you asked a question, it was kind of a fun question, “I asked her what she would charge for my house,” but we’re not talking about your house here. We’re talking about her house, and every house has different needs and different people that live in those houses with different lifestyles.

So, one person might be super tidy and only use a few rooms of their house, and another family who has three or four more children and a couple of dogs are going to use the house in a completely different way.

The houses might look identical on the inside as far as the layout of the home. So, square footage and everything, it’s all the same. But the way the people inside the houses live is going to be dynamically different. So, even two houses next to each other on a street that has the same guts on the inside of the house, you’re going to charge different prices based on a variety of different factors. So, the reason I bring this up is that I want you to go in knowing what is required to be a business owner.

Don’t Charge Your Friend

So, instead of just saying, “Yeah, I’ll help out my friend,” if you’re just helping out your friend, go over and help her out as a friend and don’t charge her. But if you take it on as a job, you are a business owner and you are expected to know what kind of chemicals go on what surfaces.

You need to be bonded and insured. You need to know what your price range is and when your prices will go up. You need to have expectations with the customer so that they know exactly what you’re doing.

We have a learning library called savvycleaner.com. It’s a savvy cleaner program, and I recommend that you come over and join us. It’s very inexpensive. It’s a couple of dollars a day, and there are training and certification programs. But the very first one, is cleaning right for you? It will walk you through all the nuances of what it takes to be a business owner that maybe you never thought of.

You Have Already Thought of Some Things as a Cleaner

You have thought of some of it because you’ve already been a cleaner for a while. But then it goes on. What is the territory, how far are you going to travel, and why do we have to stay in a certain geographic location?

Then it goes on to chemical safety and workplace safety and how to read safety data sheets and pH balances. We talk about pictograms and we talk about smart labels, and then we talk about a whole bunch of different things that I want you to know from maintenance clean to a deep clean.

What are special packages? What are you going to clean every time you come? What kind of satisfaction guarantee are you going to have?

The More You Know, You Won’t Be Taken Advantage of

The reason that I bring that up is that the more you understand your business, the less chance you have of being taken advantage of. That was a thing that you brought up a couple of times is, “I don’t want the relationship to go bad. I don’t want to lose my friendship. I don’t want to be taken advantage of.”

It sounds like you’re really concerned about those things, as you should be. As a business owner, you don’t want to be concerned about those things. Therefore, you put boundaries in place and expectations, and when you rise to the occasion and you meet those expectations.

Because if you don’t, you have to kick the money back to the customer because you have a satisfaction guarantee.

Come on Over to Our Learning Library

So, come on over to the learning library. We do have group coaching. We have network support. There’s a whole bunch of stuff over there for you. I will leave links in the show notes. But I’m really excited about the possibility of you having your own cleaning business.

But I want you to do it the right way because I don’t want you to lose your friends and I don’t want you to get screwed out of this, especially if you’re providing for the kids that live at your house.

Resources

Courses a-la-carte: https://savvycleaner.com/courses-a-la-carte/ 

Courses: SavvyCleaner.com/calendar-of-courses 

Savvy Cleaner Learning Library: SavvyCleaner.com/join 

How to Start Your Own House Cleaning Company – https://amzn.to/3c2imeJ 

How to Start a Cleaning Business – https://amzn.to/2MUXY6Y 

Start Your Own Window Cleaning Business – https://amzn.to/30hrbfs 

Your House Cleaning Business, A Blueprint for Success – https://amzn.to/2O7WcQe 

How to Start, Run and Grow a Successful Residential & Commercial Cleaning Business – https://amzn.to/3ecoK5K

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