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33 High-Profit Types of Cleaning Services: From Dust to Glory

Published on February 21, 2024

Whether you’re just getting started, or you’re looking to add additional services to your established business, it’s important to offer the right types of cleaning services to maximize profits for your business.

In this article, you’ll explore:

  • How to assess the profitability of specific services
  • How to automatically cross-sell and upsell existing clients
  • The most profitable types of cleaning services in the industry
  • Making your service offering selections based on your unique business needs
  • Packaging your most profitable types of cleaning services together for an easier sell

Use this expert insight to choose from the types of cleaning services that will generate the most profits for your business!

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Gradually Add Profitable Types of Cleaning Services to Your Business

First, before we jump into the top types of cleaning services, let’s talk about the importance of gradually adding services to your business.

Despite the common misconception, it’s important not to lose focus by offering too many services at once.

While your end goal may eventually be to become a full service cleaning business, it’s important to avoid offering too many services too quickly at once.

Consider offering a few of your best-selling, profitable services. Then, slowly add profitable services to your business as your team adjusts.

In turn, you can become known for a few niche services within your community, while also avoiding burning out or working your cleaners.

Select the Types of Cleaning Services Based on Profitability

In order to select the best types of cleaning services for your business, you’ll need to assess the individual profitability of each service.

Keep in mind, a reasonable profit margin for most cleaning businesses lies somewhere between 10-28%

By routinely assessing your profitability and pricing, you’ll be able to maximize profits and growth in the long-term.

In addition, Service Autopilot makes it easy to view individual profitability of clients and services—allowing you to eliminate countless hours of late night number crunching!

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1. House Cleaning

Dusting, mopping, vacuuming, and window cleaning are just a few of the endless house cleaning tasks businesses offer.

Kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms are just a few of the many areas of the home that basic house cleaning covers.

2. Apartment Cleaning

While pricing for home versus apartment cleaning varies, apartment cleaning is a lucrative type of cleaning service that many businesses offer.

Similar to house cleaning, apartment cleaning covers the same key areas, except it’s for small spaces.

3. Maid Service

While house cleaning and maid services are similar, there are some slight distinctions.

While house cleaning focuses on the deep cleaning of the visual things you can see, maid services tend to be less of a deep clean and more of a detailed clean on the areas needing the most attention.

For example, a maid service might assess that the oven and stove need a thorough cleaning, or maybe the bathroom shower needs a more thorough cleaning.

In general, maid services offer a more custom, individual approach to house cleaning for homes that might already have a general clean appearance.

4. Move In/Out Cleaning

Whether your clients are looking to sell their home, or they’ve recently purchased a new one, move in/out cleaning has them covered.

With this cleaning, your cleaners will focus on the tiny details that will leave properties appearing spotless.

5. Property Rental Cleaning

As tenants move in and out of rental properties, landlords and tenants will need property rental cleaning.

Whether a landlord is moving in a new tenant, or a tenant wants their deposit back, your cleaning business can focus on advanced techniques to make properties sparkling clean.

6. Post-Construction/Remodel Cleaning

Whether a home or apartment has just been built or newly remodeled, post-construction/remodel cleaning provides clients with a quick way to make use of their newly refreshed space.

7. Janitorial Services

Schools, businesses, and offices are among some of the most common spaces that need routine janitorial services.

From mopping to taking out the trash, you have your clients covered with your janitorial services.

8. Medical Cleaning

Due to the high-quality cleaning needs in hospitals and clinics, medical cleaning requires special equipment, expertise, and cleaning products.

9. Gym Cleaning Services

Did you know, there are more than 1 million germs per square inch in the average gym?

Even worse, the average treadmill has more than 74 times more bacteria than public water faucets.

For these reasons, gym cleaning is one of the top types of cleaning services you can add to your business.

10. School Cleaning Services

Classrooms, bathrooms, desks, floors, and more are all included with school cleaning services offered to both private and public schools alike.

From fewer sick days to improved overall health, school cleaning services are an essential service you can offer to your community.

11. Office Cleaning

Safety, health, and improved efficiency are among some of the leading benefits of professional office cleaning.

From cleaning floors and bathrooms, to sanitizing surfaces and taking out the trash, office cleaning is a great commercial service for many businesses.

12. Cleaning for Seniors

For seniors living alone, cleaning can become a challenging task. However, cleanliness is an important factor in maintaining their overall health.

With cleaning for seniors, you can help to:

  • Improve home air quality
  • Reduce respiratory issues
  • Provide a more hygienic living space
  • Minimize bacterial and viral infections

Housekeeping, disinfection, and deep cleaning are among some of the most common types of cleaning services for seniors.

13. Bathroom Cleaning Services

Even though bathroom cleaning services are typically included in house cleanings, standalone bathroom cleanings can be a popular one-time or commercial service for events and public spaces.

14. Disinfection and Sanitization Services

Disinfection and sanitization services reduce the remaining germs leftover after cleaning. Plus, these services can kill any remaining viruses and bacteria.

 While clients don’t need their homes fully disinfected every week, experts recommend a complete disinfection at least twice a year.

15. Chimney Sweeping

Since you can’t clean exterior windows or power/pressure wash during freezing temperatures, chimney sweeping can serve as a great add-on service during the cold winter months.

Though it’s not generally required to have a certification for chimney sweeping, it is highly recommended.

16. Holiday Cleaning

As the holidays approach, many clients seek out holiday cleaning services to make their homes perfectly spotless for hosting parties and entertaining guests.

From cleaning entryways and foyers, to immaculate kitchens, and sparkling clean bathrooms, holiday cleaning services are one of the easiest types of cleaning services to sell to clients.

17. Organizational Services

Organizational services are an excellent, customizable service you can offer to clients to help them declutter or reorganize their space.

From organizing pantries, to sorting messy bathroom cabinets, and even reorganizing childrens’ rooms, organizational services are a nice addition to your list of service offerings.

18. Cabinet, Closet, or Pantry Cleanout and Organization

If you don’t want to offer full organizational services, then consider offering cabinet, closet, or pantry cleaning and organization as a service.

19. Packing/Unpacking Services

Many businesses choose to bundle packing/unpacking services as an optional add-on with a move in/out cleaning package. However, you can offer this as a standalone service as well.

20. Freezer Cleanout and Organization

Even though freezer cleanup and organization isn’t necessarily at the top of clients’ minds, it is a time-consuming chore many clients don’t want to take on.

For this reason, freezer cleanout and organization is an easy upsell service you can offer to clients.

21. Kitchen Appliance Cleaning

Despite your best efforts, sometimes kitchen appliances need a little more cleaning attention than you can give them during routine maintenance cleaning services.

Whenever your cleaners notice some kitchen appliances needing a little extra attention, consider offering them a kitchen appliance cleaning as an upsell service.

22. Laundry Services

Seniors, families, and singles alike can all benefit from laundry services, even if it’s an occasional one-time service.

Washing, drying, and folding laundry might not be the first service that comes to your clients’ minds. However, it is an everyday service clients may consider adding onto their existing services.

23. Green Cleaning

92% of homeowners are searching for more sustainable solutions for their homes. Additionally, 62% of homeowners have made eco-friendly home improvements.

Which means, offering green cleaning services is a growing interest that your business can’t afford to miss out on.

Plus, even though the upfront cost of green cleaning products is higher, they tend to last longer—making them more cost effective than traditional alternatives in the long run.

24. Deep Cleaning

Whether clients are looking for a one-time deep clean or a recurring deep cleaning service, detailed cleaning services are one of the most popular types of cleaning services you can offer.

25. Housekeeping

Though housekeeping is similar to house cleaning, the main distinctive difference is that housekeeping focuses more on tidying up a space (and less on cleaning).

For this reason, housekeeping is a great add-on service for your routine maintenance house cleaning.

26. Carpet Cleaning

Even with the best routine house cleaning maintenance, sometimes carpeting needs a little more attention than what everyday services provide.

As a result, carpet cleaning can be a convenient add-on service you can offer to clients.

From spot treatments to carpet washing, carpet cleaning is a service that’s recommended every 12-18 months. However, homes with pets and children will likely need this service more frequently at 6-12 months.

27. Upholstery Cleaning

Whether clients have pesky stains in their upholstery throughout the house, or they just need a more detailed clean, upholstery cleaning greatly complements your everyday types of cleaning services.

28. Cleaning of Blinds

Over time, light dusting isn’t enough to fully clean blinds. As your cleaners notice debris and dust buildup on blinds, blind cleaning can be an easy upsell service.

29. Drapery and Curtain Cleaning

Even though your cleaners are likely already dusting drapery and curtains in their scheduled cleanings, more detailed drapery and curtain cleaning will be occasionally needed to remove excess stains and lint that slowly develop over time.

30. Wall, Ceiling, and Baseboard Cleaning

Whether clients have messy children and pets, or they just want their house to sparkle again, wall, ceiling, and baseboard cleaning is a convenient occasional service you can offer to clients.

While removing dirt and oil from walls, ceilings, and baseboards might be a part of your deep cleaning packages, you can still offer it as an upsell service.

31. Tile and Grout Steam Cleaning

Experts recommend steam cleaning tile and grout every 6-12 months.

Though tile and grout steam cleaning might be a part of your deep cleaning services, it’s also a great add-on service for other routine maintenance packages.

32. Window Washing

Although you likely already include interior window cleaning in your routine maintenance packages, you can also offer window washing to clean window exteriors too.

33. Power Washing

Power washing (and even pressure washing) can be a nice upsell service you can offer to clients who want the outsides of their home to sparkle just as much as the inside.

Whether you’re power washing the driveway, sidewalk, or porch, this can be a convenient upsell for clients.

BONUS: Packaging the Top-Selling Types of Cleaning Services Together

You can package (or bundle) your top-selling types of cleaning services to easily upsell and cross-sell clients into additional services.

Many cleaning businesses choose to package their top-selling services together using a tiered approach.

For example, these are the three basic tiers you could offer on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis:

  • Basic starter cleaning package
    • Windows (interior only)
    • Vacuum and wash hard surface floors
    • Clean the interior and exterior of toilets
    • Surface dusting (exterior surfaces only)
    • Scrub and dry sinks, showers, and fixtures
    • Vacuuming (no carpet cleaning or spot treatments)
  • Standard maintenance cleaning package
    • Clean mirrors
    • Furniture cleaning
    • Vacuum carpeting
    • Windows (interior only)
    • Vacuum tops of drapes and valances
    • Vacuum and wash hard surface floors
    • Clean the interior and exterior of toilets
    • Surface dusting (exterior surfaces only)
    • Scrub and dry sinks, showers, and fixtures
  • Premium deep cleaning package
    • Steam mopping
    • Furniture cleaning
    • Vacuum, edge, and groom carpeting
    • Vacuum tops of drapes and valances
    • Vacuum and wash hard surface floors
    • Window cleaning (interior and exterior)
    • Clean the interior and exterior of toilets
    • Dust items on furniture and lampshades
    • Scrub and dry sinks, showers, and fixtures
    • Clean mirrors, picture frame glass, and any other glass surfaces
    • Wipe down doors, door frames, door knobs and light switch plates
    • Wipe down ceiling fans, hanging light fixtures, and vents (if easily accessible)

Pro Tip! Automatically Sell Your High-Profit Types of Cleaning Services

The most successful cleaning businesses in the industry automatically sell their most profitable types of cleaning services using automations.

To start, use Service Autopilot’s automations to automate campaigns via email or text. Here’s how it works:

  1. A series of tasks are created within a workflow, set to run automatically
  2. The workflow’s actions are based on how clients respond
  3. Save countless hours and win more clients with your new automation

Additionally, you have the ability to build your own automation, or you can choose from a pre-built automation in Marketplace (which you can also customize).

Take a look at a few of the infinite tasks you can automate with automations:

  • Reports
  • 90-day surveys
  • Welcome clients
  • Service reminders
  • Past due reminders
  • Estimate follow ups
  • To do’s for your crews
  • Upsell and cross-sell campaigns

The benefits of automations are simple: eliminate repeat tasks, respond faster, and never forget another follow up.

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Start Selling These High Profitable Types of Cleaning Services TODAY!

To recap, the best way to begin selling these highly profitable types of cleaning services, it’s crucial to:

  • Automate cross-sell and upsell campaigns
  • Incrementally add services to your list of offerings
  • Gain valuable insight and feedback from existing clients
  • Routinely assess individual client and service profitability
  • Use packages and bundles to sell more services to clients

Finally, you have everything you need to start easily selling these top most profitable landscape services today!


Related: Cleaning Leave Behinds: 17 Delightful Ideas for Your Business


Originally published Feb 21, 2024 7:00 AM CT

Alyssa Sanders

Alyssa is the Team Lead of Creative Marketing at Xplor Field Services. Alyssa is an expert in field service industry trends, roadblocks, and solutions. When she’s not writing or creating engaging content, you can find her watching a new sci-fi series or shoving her nose into a good book.
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