My husband and I have cleaned about 12-15 Post-construction jobs now.
Ranging around 2500-3700 sqft. including one Bank Building.

We have two contractors that use us pretty regular.
But they only build a house every 3 or 4 months.
(So we avarage about one house a month between the two of them.)

Can't make a living on that....[]
I want to drop my residential cleaning.
But is it really possible to make a living at doing just this?
Stability?
How many builders do you guys work for?
If I hit the pavement looking for new builders, should I have some kind of contract?

We are insured and experienced and I feel we are good at what we do, any ideas on how we should get our name out there?[?]
Any help is very appreciated please.......[]

i can imagine its just like anything else.
you need to get more contractors in order to
keep you busy on a daily routine. if you have two
contractors and they only build 3 houses per year.
you will need to market towards bigger contractors.
start calling all the contractors in the areas you
cover. start visiting some of them and bring
them your info..if they don't come to you, you will
have to go to them. you need to get out there...

I ran the buisiness on just post construction and commercial windows for a couple of years. It can be done but you have to really work the sales end.

My best form of advertising was a post card sent to the local builders association members list every month. This always worked for me.

In doing the houses, I found that the builders that do upscale work and only 2 to 4 houses a year will pay more and expect better work. I made the decision not to try and compete on cleaning the track home market. They wanted dirt cheap prices and were unrealestic in what they expect.

The better builders all know each other in the area so once you get in well with a builder ask them if they know anyone else looking for a cleaning compay.

As of the past couple of years I have stopped doing much post construction. It was hard to maintian cash flow with project based work. I still have a few upscale builders that we work with but don't pursue post construction anymore.

Showing up at job sites can work. Just stop in and see if they need any service. Also keep track of houses in the area and call up the builder and see if they mind if you walk the site and give them a bid.

As for contracts, I would always start with a written bid the first couple of times with a new builder. After I had a good history with them I would just quote a price per foot plus any specials. This can be done via email or fax. I would use this for confirmation to start the job. Be sure they know you have a call back rate for after the job touch ups. I have a three hour min. billing for call backs.

You can start with a new homes book from your local grocery store.

And what do you charge approx. per sq ft.? Just an idea. We get them occationaly. But sometimes bid to high?

The builder will usually tell you what they are paying. I typically charged 20cts per foot. This included windows. Call backs were extra as were extra detail such as lots of mill work or stone walls.

john