Starting a window cleaning business can be an attractive choice if you want to start your own business. The entry barrier, certification requirements, and startup capital are relatively low, and at the same time, it’s a billion-dollar industry that is still growing.
However, just because it’s a lucrative business opportunity, doesn’t mean that you’ll be guaranteed to succeed. There is still some legwork required to get started, and one of the key steps to success for your window cleaning business is to write a proper business plan.
Here, we will learn how.
Why Do You Need a Window Cleaning Business Plan?
A business plan is especially important if you want to secure financing for your window cleaning business.
However, even if you plan to finance your business by yourself, there are still various benefits of creating a business plan, including:
- Having a clear road-map to achieve success for your window cleaning business
- Exploring different types of services that you can offer.
- An opportunity to conduct comprehensive market research and competitive analysis
- Attract employees so you can build a high-performance team to grow your business
- Financial analysis for your window cleaning business, and financial profits
Window Cleaning Business Plan Template
1. Executive Summary
An executive summary is the opening section of a professional business plan, but typically it is written last, summarizing all the other sections after it.
The executive summary should be around one and a half pages in length, and include:
- A summarized description of your window cleaning business
- Your business’s unique value proposition. What unique benefits you offer that your competitors don’t/can’t
- Demographics data of your potential clients
- Organizational structure (listing your staff and management)
- Equity statement
- Cost to start the window cleaning business
2. Business Description
Describe the details about your window cleaning business including:
- What type(s) of window cleaning services you’d offer
- Whether you’ll perform the service by yourself or if you’ll run a team
- Your target customers
- Expected investment costs
3. About You
This section is especially important if you are trying to secure third-party investments. You should include relevant personal information such as:
- Full name, birth date, marital status, profession, the town you live in
- Educational information, applicable vocational training
- Professional career history
- Information about your partner (if any)
This section should elaborate on what makes you suitable for running this window cleaning business.
4. Market and Competitive Analysis
In this section of the window cleaning business plan, you should provide an analysis of the market condition and explain that the market in your area is not yet saturated. You should explain why your window cleaning business has the potential of winning your target client’s attention and grow your client base.
Also, describe key competitors in your area, and analyze why your window cleaning business can beat/strive alongside these competitors.
5. Marketing Plan
Describe how you will promote and market your window cleaning business. You should include both short-term promotional plans as well as a long-term marketing plan to achieve growth.
This section should also include budget analysis for your marketing campaigns.
6. Pricing Strategy
One of the most important decisions you’ll need to make when starting a window cleaning business is to establish your pricing strategy, and this can also be the most challenging aspect of your window cleaning business plan.
You should base your pricing strategy on your competitive and market analysis, discussed above, and if you are planning to provide different types of window cleaning services, you should detail the pricing for each.
A few things to keep in mind:
- The key is finding the right balance between being profitable but not selling your services too expensive as compared to your competitors
- You can always offer discounts to help promote your business in its earlier stage
- If you can offer more value than your competitors, don’t be afraid to charge more. You don’t always need to be cheaper.
7. Financial Planning
In this section, you should detail all the different aspects of your investment costs, including:
- Cost of purchasing new/used vehicle (to store your equipment and for transportation to your client’s property)
- Overall start-up costs, including:
- Preparation costs (training, consulting, market surveys, etc. )
- Permits and certifications required (will vary depending on your location)
- Taxes/fees/duties, registration costs, and others
- One-off startup costs:
- Business acquisition/licensing fee (if any)
- Marketing/advertising for the opening
- Launching event
- Investment
- Window cleaning investment
- Window cleaning scheduling and management software like fieldd
- Installation costs
- Office equipment
- Tools (i.e. vacuum cleaners)
- Supplies costs (wax, detergent, etc.)
- Ongoing marketing budget
8. Liquidity Plan and P&L Analysis
Will you always remain solvent? What is your liquidity planning? What will you spend out of your pocket?
Analyze the profit and loss projection with Google Sheets Profit and Loss template on liveflow. This should include expenses vs income, net income, net loss, earnings before taxes, and depreciation. This section should be based on your market research and should discuss aspects of how you intend to operate your window cleaning business.
Conclusion
While creating your window cleaning business plan might seem like a daunting task at first, especially if this is your first time starting a business, it will definitely help as a road map for running a successful window cleaning business. Not only the business plan can help you in securing financing for the business, but it can also act as your road map in achieving growth and success.
