MaidBossPro Blog — Running a Cleaning Business

Choosing Cleaning Business Software: What to Look For and What It Costs

Plenty of software claims to run a cleaning company. Some of it is generic field-service software built for plumbers and electricians. Some of it is a booking form with a calendar attached. Both can work for a while, but a house cleaning business has needs that generic tools rarely cover well. This checklist will help you tell the difference before you spend a weekend setting something up.

Start With What You Need

The case for using software at all is in Getting a Cleaning Business Off Paper From Day One. Once you are convinced, the next step is choosing well, because the tool you pick will hold every client and every home you have.

Before you look at any product, write down how your business works today. How many homes, how many teams, how often each home is cleaned, how customers pay, and what goes wrong most often. That list is the yardstick for everything else.

Does It Understand a Cleaning Job?

This is the question that separates cleaning software from generic tools. A cleaning job is not just an address and a time slot. Check whether the software can hold, on every job:

• The cleaning type: standard, deep, move-in / move-out, post-construction, recurring maintenance, office
• Bedrooms, bathrooms and square feet
• Pets
• Extras like inside the oven, inside the fridge, interior windows, baseboards, cabinets, blinds, laundry, linens, dishes, and walls and doors
• Entry notes: lockbox, key, door code, alarm, rooms to skip, products to use

Then check whether those details carry forward. If you have to retype the beds, baths and lockbox code for every visit, the software is giving you more work, not less. In MaidBossPro, a new job at a home you have cleaned before fills in from the last job automatically.

Does It Handle Recurring Work Properly?

Most of a healthy cleaning business is recurring: weekly, every two weeks, monthly. Look for software that keeps each regular client in a fixed slot and books their visits months ahead, not just a calendar where you drag appointments around by hand. Ask how it handles a skipped visit. Can you move or skip one visit without breaking the rest of the series?

MaidBossPro gives each recurring client a fixed slot (same day, time and team) and puts every visit for the next 3, 6 or 12 months straight onto the schedule. The Recurring Cleanings list lets you Change, Extend or Stop a series, and one visit can be moved or skipped on its own. How the right mix of recurring and one-time work shapes a company is covered in Recurring vs One-Time Cleans: Finding the Right Mix for a Cleaning Business.

What Do the Cleaners See?

Your cleaners will use the software more than you do. Check:

• Does it run on the phones they already have, iPhone and Android, without special devices?
• Do they see their homes in route order with a navigation button?
• Are the cleaning details, extras and entry notes on each card?
• Can they Start, Skip and Complete, and take before-and-after photos?
• Is there a time clock for clock in and out, lunch and breaks?

MaidBossPro's team app runs in the browser and installs to the home screen, with no app store, and cleaners log in with the company login plus a personal PIN.

How Does Money Come In?

Ask how a finished clean becomes money. The best answer is that it happens on its own: the cleaner marks the job complete, the invoice is created, and the card on file is charged. Also check for line items and sales tax, online payment by the customer, past-due follow-up, and whether an office or property manager can get one monthly statement for several locations. MaidBossPro does all of those.

Customer communication matters here too. Automatic reminders, on-the-way and arrived texts, two-way texting with the office, and a customer app where clients see invoices and update their card all cut down the calls that eat an owner's day.

What It Should Cost

Software pricing can be confusing, with per-user fees, per-feature add-ons and setup charges. Before you commit to anything, add up what the full system would cost with your teams and the features you actually need.

MaidBossPro keeps it simple with three plans:

• Start — $59/month. Includes 500 text segments a month, sent and received.
• Pro — $89/month. Includes 1,000 text segments a month.
• Crew — $199/month. Includes 2,000 text segments a month.

The team app and customer app come with every plan. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, and no credit card is needed to start. Compare plan details on the pricing page.

Test It Like a Real Week

A free trial is only useful if you test the right things. Put in five real clients with real details. Set their schedules. Build a day for a team, open it on a cleaner's phone, and walk through Start and Complete. Send yourself the reminder texts. If the software holds up through a pretend Tuesday, it will probably hold up through a real one. You can also click around the live demo before you sign up.

If you are moving from another system, the next article covers switching without losing anyone. For all the guides on running a cleaning company, visit the MaidBossPro cleaning business software page.