If you know how to dust, wash-up, vacuum and polish there is a huge demand for cleaners!

• You can work for either domestic or corporate clients. Think: who cleans the small offices in your neighbourhood?

• Register with an agency like Mrs Hunt’s Staffing or organise your own schedule. 
• Registering with an agency ensures a constant flow of clients and less hassles when it comes to negotiating hours and pay.
• If you go through an agency you will need to have a valid work visa if you are not an EEC national.
• References and a CV will help show your experience in cleaning or working for others. 
• If you go it alone, start by advertising with a card in the window of your local newsagent, or put an advert in the local paper. 
• Look out for adverts from people wanting cleaners and ask around in your neighbourhood.
• One person’s tidying can be another person’s interfering – make sure you know what your person wants. 

• Talk beforehand about breakage because accidents happen (agencies will have insurance for this).

• If you and your friends get enough demand, you can turn your work into a small business.

• To market a cleaning business, advertise in the local and regional press and also contact local estate agents and letting agents.

• You could also go into a more specialised form of cleaning, like carpet cleaning, but this may call for transport and special equipment.

• £5.00 - £10.00 an hour depending where you are in the country. Office cleaning is similar.

• For total cleaning (where you clean a house after people have moved out) you can charge £100-£200 depending on size and complexity of job.

• One typical quote for a team of 4 people taking half a day is £140 + Vat.

• Carpet cleaning is similar - £120 for a 2-bed house taking half day.

• Agencies should give you the training, uniform (if necessary), and cleaning products you will need.

• You will need to be able to travel easily. If you haven’t got a car or access to good public transport, concentrate on finding local work. 

• If you do carpet cleaning you will need to buy (or lease) a cleaning machine and buy the cleaning fluids. This could cost you about £1,500.

• You should get basic instructions if you’re with an agency. 

• Take extra training like how to valet clothes or care for leathers and jewellery and you could get extra – better paid – work.

• You’re not tied to a desk.

• Working privately, you might find there’s enough work available for you to choose your own hours.

• Some employers may just treat you like a servant. Know your boundaries and communicate them with the employer up-front, for example “I am happy to clean the children’s rooms, but will not take on any child-minding duties”. Be flexible and move onto another job if you are unhappy.

• Going into business is always a risk. 

• More specialist work may require some financial investment at the start and you may not get your money back. 

• In times of recession, services like carpet cleaning are seen as a luxury. This means you could find it hard to get that work in economic downtimes.

• Emergency cleaning. Armed with a mobile phone and cleaning equipment in your car, you could offer an emergency cleaning service where you will rush over to a house that has had a plumbing disaster or similar and needs the place to be spotless in a hurry. This is something you could charge a premium for.

• Cleaning up after builders. Get friendly with some local building companies or painters and decorators and offer a cleaning service that makes their work look tidy and clean when they’ve finished. Offer an hourly rate or a total price per job.
• Curtain and upholstery cleaning. You can offer general cleaning once a year or so for houses with a lot of soft furnishings and also specific cleaning of stains. You will need steam cleaners, special fluids and, possibly, a good relationship with a local dry-cleaner to do this. Advertise in areas with large, expensive houses that are likely to have a lot of curtains and sofas that will need attention.

For more ways to make money from working in other people's houses check out our pages on house-sitting and laundry.