Starting a cleaning business

Starting a cleaning business: the software you actually need.

A cleaning business is a recurring-booking business. The software that matters is the software that gets the first quote approved, turns it into a fortnightly booking, reminds the customer the day before, and gets you paid. Here is what to set up and what to leave alone.

The short answer

A new cleaning business needs four things from software: one inbox where calls, texts and website enquiries land; a quote the customer approves by text; recurring bookings with a reminder the day before; and an invoice with card payment plus a review request after the clean. TradesBackbone covers all four and names cleaning as a fit; Relay is the lighter option if you book by conversation and do not need jobs and dispatch. Both have a free plan or trial.

What a new cleaning business needs from software

  1. One inbox for every enquiry. A cleaning enquiry comes as a text, a form, a Facebook message or a call while you are mid-clean. If those land in four places, one of them gets missed. See missed call text back.
  2. A quote they can say yes to from their phone. Walk the house or ask the questions by text, send the quote, and let them approve it without a call back.
  3. Recurring bookings with the reminder handled. Weekly and fortnightly cleans are the business. The customer should get a reminder the day before, automatically, and a cancellation should be one reply.
  4. Payment and the review. Invoice on completion, pay by card on the link, and a review request the day after with the Google link in it.

What to skip in year one

  • An instant-quote calculator on your website. They are sold hard to cleaning companies and they mostly produce arguments about square footage. Quote by conversation for the first year; you will learn your real pricing faster.
  • Crew-tracking and GPS software. With one or two crews you know where they are. Buy it when you cannot.
  • A payroll and HR platform. Not a software problem until you have staff on payroll; then it is a payroll problem, not a CRM problem.
  • A marketing suite. Before-and-after photos a few times a week from one calendar is the whole content plan. SynthPrism schedules that on a free plan.

What we would start a new cleaning business on

Cleaning sits on the line between our two CRMs, so here is the honest split.

TradesBackbone, if you quote per job and want jobs, invoices and photos

Built for home-service shops of three to twenty-five and names cleaning as a fit: customer contacts and job history, scheduling and dispatch, estimates approved by text, invoicing with card payments, automated follow-ups, and job photos (before-and-after, in the record). Recurring service is on the Pro plan. Web and Android; iOS is built and in App Store review. Free trial, no annual contracts. TradesBackbone pricing.

Relay, if you book by conversation and do not need job costing

One inbox for email, SMS and chat, contacts and a pipeline, follow-up sequences, a public booking page with reminders, and review requests. Lighter than TradesBackbone, without jobs, dispatch or job photos, so it fits a solo cleaner who books by text. Free plan to start. Relay pricing.

ReputeLift, for reviews from day one

A new cleaning company has zero reviews and the customer is choosing who to let into their house. ReputeLift asks every customer by SMS or email with your Google link, no gating, opt-outs enforced on every send. It does not pull reviews in from Google or post replies for you. See review automation.

Mycel, the business memory, joins from month two; the new-business hub explains where it fits.

Set it up in an afternoon, in this order

  1. Start the trial on whichever CRM fits, add your business number, and connect the website form to the inbox.
  2. Write the missed-call text in your own words and turn it on.
  3. Send yourself a quote for a fortnightly clean, approve it from your phone, and turn it into the recurring booking. Check the reminder timing.
  4. Run one invoice with a test card.
  5. Set the review request delay and confirm the Google link opens your listing. If any step is confusing, tell us; that is the feedback that shapes the next version.

For what we automate for an established cleaning company, including cancellation waitlists and deep-clean campaigns, see cleaning company automation.

Where we are, honestly

Martello Systems is a small team, led by Artie, directing an engineering fleet. The products are live, run our own business, and are still young; some corners are rough. Early customers get a direct line to the team and shape what ships next. There is no early-user discount. If you want the most polished cleaning-specific platform on the market, a bigger vendor is the safer choice and we will say so on the call.

Starting a cleaning business? Fifteen minutes with the team that builds the software

Fifteen minutes with Artie, the founder. Tell us what you are opening, how customers will reach you and when you expect the first job; you leave knowing which product to start on, what to switch on first, and where to send the feedback that shapes the next version.

Book 15 minutes with Artie
Questions

Questions people ask

What software do I need to start a cleaning business?

One inbox for calls, texts and website enquiries with a text back on a missed call; a quote the customer approves by text; recurring bookings with a reminder the day before; and invoicing with card payment plus a review request after the clean. TradesBackbone does all four; Relay is the lighter fit for a solo cleaner who books by conversation. Instant-quote calculators, GPS crew tracking and marketing suites can wait.

Should a new cleaning business use TradesBackbone or Relay?

TradesBackbone if you quote per job and want jobs, invoices and before-and-after photos in the customer record. Relay if you book by text, do not need jobs and dispatch, and want the lightest possible inbox with a booking page. Both have a free trial or free plan, so trying each for a week costs nothing but the afternoon.

How do I handle recurring cleans without a phone call every week?

Set the clean up as a recurring booking once and let the system send the reminder the day before. In TradesBackbone that is recurring service on the Pro plan; in Relay it is the booking page plus reminders. A cancellation becomes a single reply rather than a conversation.

How do I get reviews when I have just started?

Ask every customer, the same way, the day after the clean, with the Google review link in the message. Never gate or filter who is asked. ReputeLift does exactly that by SMS and email with opt-outs enforced on every send, and both CRMs can send a request after a completed job.

What does the software cost for a new business?

Each product publishes its own pricing on its own site and we link to those pages rather than repeat the numbers, because the live page is the one that is true. Every product has a free plan or a free trial you can start today without a call, and none of them requires an annual contract. There is no special new-business discount and we would rather say so than invent one.

How mature is this software?

Live, running our own business every day, and still young. Martello Systems is a small team, led by Artie, directing an engineering fleet, and the products are shaped by the people using them. Early customers reach the team directly, and what they ask for is what ships next. If you want the most polished option on the market, a bigger vendor is the safer choice and we will tell you that on the call.

Can you set it up for me?

Yes. The studio's done-for-you service sets up the stack around your business, writes the first-reply, follow-up and review messages with you, migrates any contacts you already have by export, and runs it month to month. It is quoted on a 15-minute call; see the pricing page. Most new businesses start self-serve and call when the volume outgrows the owner's phone.

Related
15 minutes with Artie

Fifteen minutes with the founder. No sales rep in between.

Pick a time and it lands on Artie's calendar directly. You will get a confirmation by email and, if you leave a mobile number, a reminder by text. That booking system is the same one we run for clients.

  • Bring the thing that is slipping: missed calls, quotes nobody chased, reviews you meant to ask for.
  • Leave with a straight answer on whether it is worth automating, and what it would cost.
  • If it is not a fit, you will hear that too.

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