The domestic and oven cleaning year
| When | |
|---|---|
| Busiest | spring cleaning season, before Christmas and around tenancy changes |
| Quietest | summer holidays and January |
Regular customers go on holiday and pause the service, and a clean you can't book is income you can't recover.
How to smooth it out
- Agree a holiday policy up front, such as one free skipped week and then a retainer
- Offer deep cleans, oven cleans and end-of-tenancy jobs to fill gaps in the diary
- Keep a short waiting list so a cancelled slot is filled quickly
- Charge a monthly fee for the regular clean, so a skipped week doesn't skip your pay
The buffer you'd need
Add your running costs to the bills you must cover personally, then hold two to three months of that in a separate account.
- Running costs: £212 a month (from the example in how to price domestic and oven cleaning)
- Personal bills: £1,400 a month
- One month: £1,612
Three months: £4,836
Make the quiet weeks useful
- Review prices and raise the ones that are too low
- Ask for reviews and update your photos
- Leaflet a new street, ready for the busy season
- Service and replace your kit
- Do the admin: records, receipts and insurance renewal
Regular customers on an agreed monthly price keep your income steady through the quiet weeks. The general guide has more: surviving the quiet months.
Run your domestic and oven cleaning in WorkWise
A repeat diary: Weekly and fortnightly slots that repeat themselves, with one-offs added around them.