12 Services That Are Aligned With Cleaning

We speak in generics when we talk about offering commercial cleaning services. I saw a post recently in Facebook where the poster didn't know about Porter Services. I'm lost in the weeds being in this industry it occurred to me that someone new may not know about porter services or other similar services. Below are some common examples of services we've been asked to perform in the past, and you can use this as a guide to upsell your current offers.

Before I begin know that there are other services not related to cleaning that could be an opportunity for you. Cautionary tale....when I started in this industry, our cleaning company said yes to everything. If we couldn't say "yes", we'd do our best to figure out a way to do so. We offered everything. We offered cleaning services (more described below) and we offered unarmed security, parking lot attendants, light plumbing, light electrical (some of our cleaners did construction), maid services, junk removal, commercial landscaping, and even an in-home chef service. We truly were the jack of all trades and master at none. We weren't known to be an expert in anything. When we took over ownership of that company, I ran the numbers. 95% of our income was cleaning related. 5% were all of the others. The answer was clear: stop providing all of these other services, and focus on the majors. That saved us money in supplies, equipment, and marketing.

Below are 12 services related to cleaning. Be sure to check out our post on different niches that can be served. Note that the definitions for these services are mine, in that another experienced cleaner might have a different take. Don't limit yourself to a set mindset on these.

Janitorial Services

It's cleaning, often in the evening, to prepare that property for the following business day. It's cleaning all over including common areas, offices, restrooms, floors, etc. based on the scope of work (SOW) that the client wants you to do or what you need to offer to help that client's facility look better.

It's not always 100% in the evening though. We had a couple of past clients who limited access and we had to clean in the daytime under client supervision. These included a government facilities and even a credit union's HQ. 

Porter Services

Porters clean during the daytime. Their goal is to provide touch up cleaning on an as-needed basis and/or to fulfill a SOW that may not always be cleaning related. These other tasks might be to break down boxes from incoming deliveries, operate trash compactors, patrol grounds for trash, restock bathrooms, perform light common area cleaning, and even to provide some outside cleaning. Typically the porter is cleaning and recleaning the same areas over and over throughout the day. Most of the time our client requested a set schedule. 

Examples of clients that asked us to perform this service included schools, churches, office buildings, car dealerships, country clubs, residential communities, shopping centers, and more. 

Disinfecting Services

We provided disinfecting services prior to COVID. We ran into situations with prospects having issues with ringworm, norovirus, cold and flu outbreaks, and even a prospect needing disinfecting for MRSA. When COVID hit, it was easy to continue this service. 

Our services usually broke down into emergency disinfecting, to where there's a suspected or known infectious case, and preventative touchpoint disinfecting where we are disinfecting high touch points like door handles, desks, tables, chairs, etc. Either way, we created a risk assessment and action plan to tackle any pathogen. These services can be offered as a 1X or part of an ongoing program.

Specialty Floor Work

Specialty floor work covers a broad topic of floor work that goes beyond basic maintenance. We were on the more intermediate level of experience and held short of the more advanced work. We provided stripping and waxing, floor buffing, floor scrubbing, and carpet cleaning. We held short of polishing marble floors, resurfacing basketball courts, etc. 

Post Construction Cleaning (PCC)

We used to provide PCC. It's a fast way to earn great money at higher margins. I've found that once you got in with a contractor, you were set forever; they would always throw business our way. We stopped offering this because we wanted to focus on the recurring models vs. 1X. And we found that there were always delays, making scheduling a challenge. 

We worked with all sorts of companies like home builders, commercial builders, renovations, etc. 

Indoor/Outdoor One-Time Events

These are a great way to earn extra income, though it's usually one-time work. We would work with our client to create a game plan, going over cleaning logistics, and figuring out needs to make it all come together smoothly for our client. Some of these jobs required very little supplies or equipment. Others had us using multiple brute trash cans, purchasing disposable trash and recycle cans, organizing dumpsters, stocking bathroom supplies in portable bathrooms, and even using utility vehicles to move everything around. 

Past clients and prospects included pop-up concert events, farmers markets, and even a MLB All-Star Game. Typically there is a high up front cost requirement to get staff paid, but terms are often negotiable. 

Parking Lot Cleanup

While I consider shopping centers a niche rather than a service, I'm including parking lot cleaning as a service. Not all shopping center clients need their parking lot cleaned. While some parking lot contracts do require heavy machinery, some spaces can be policed for trash and debris. And many of these have trash cans on the outside that may need to be serviced. 

Past clients included some office buildings and shopping centers.

Snow and Ice Removal

Florida peeps, ignore this one. Some of our clients have requested we provide snow removal too. While this is common more so for landscaping companies, you're already serving the building and this could be a great way to pick up extra. We offered this service as manpower only. We charged a fixed rate, and if they could provide shovels and equipment, we'd knock it out the best we could. This was a great money maker for us though we eventually dumped it due to favoring the recurring model.

Past clients included residential communities, office buildings, and shopping centers. 

Char Services

If truth be told, I had no idea what this service offered for years, even after starting. My initial step into this industry was contracts, and a contract the company originally used referenced char services. This was back in 1997 and googling that term wasn't an option. I kept it in our contracts for years before learning what it was. In a tradition sense, char services are services performed by a cleaning company to remove trash only from a building. It's a service that's hardly even offered any more. In fact a quick google search turned up mostly crickets, though some companies are capitalizing on that search term (note to self: do the same). 

We currently serve one client who's property manager offers char services to their tenants. Someone come in and removes only the trash. They don't do anything else. So when we clean, hey, no trash to worry about. Makes our job easier. Not complaining here at all.

Consulting Services

This one is underutilized. We're cleaners. We all have a wealth of information to share with the world. I learned this when COVID hit. We doubled down in our marketing. One of the three main prospect types who visited our site were properties outside our service area, and some were international. So we had the opportunity to provide fee-based consulting around disinfecting and keeping their facility a little bit safer. Fast forward, we recently picked up an opportunity to work with one of Virginia's richest counties. They tout over 140 county government facilities and unfortunately those government contractors weren't operating using the request SOW in the county's RFP. We were approached to supervise those cleaning companies at each of these facilities and to track contract compliance. 

Remote Work

That seems to be a buzzword in these Facebook groups...create a business that's 100% remote, so that you can be in a different place doing your own thing without a care in the world. Maybe they read The 4-Hour Work Week by Ferriss and drew inspiration but if you're entrepreneurial minded, you'll always think about work. It's how we're wired. But it is possible to have remote clients if you have the right systems in place. 

About a year ago the State Department, also a former client, approached us with an opportunity to clean a US Consulate in an Eastern European country. Talking about remote. We'd have to hire, staff, provide supplies, and more overseas. We passed on the opportunity due to not knowing all of the needed logistics, though it was a nice one at close to a half-mil. 

One-Time Deep Cleaning

Like with residential, commercial properties have to move at some time too. You're in there performing this one-time job moving and cleaning, including elements of the above services like floor work. Past clients included property managers moving their old tenants stuff out to reopening of facilities due to being closed on account of COVID.