While this is sad news for those who loose their homes, the surge in home foreclosures is offering lucrative job opportunities.

Many enterprising people are using this chance to earn money by cleaning foreclosed homes.

Keep reading to discover how you could make an income by starting your own foreclosure cleanup business.

Why is Cleaning Foreclosed Homes a Lucrative Opportunity?

Even in the best of times, houses are constantly being foreclosed upon; during economic hardships, multitudes of foreclosures are certain. Depending on the people who lived in the house, foreclosed homes can be left in a wide variety of different conditions. In almost all cases, homes that have been foreclosed upon would need at least minor clean up, some repairs, and basic maintenance before they could be put on the market. Since few banks have the resources or time to devote to cleaning foreclosed homes, these houses are left standing uninhabited, their condition worsening by the day. Not only are banks loosing money when they are unable to sell these foreclosed homes, but, in many areas, banks are fined daily when these homes and yards break ordinances and become eyesores to the community. Foreclosure cleanup businesses are great assets to banks since they not only alleviate fines, but also make it possible for the houses to be put on the market and sold. Banks are anxious to hire foreclosure cleanup businesses that can help them recover their losses, and are willing to pay top dollar for their services. Since so many houses are constantly being foreclosed upon, there is always a need for those willing to provide cleanup.

What Does a Foreclosure Cleanup Business Involve?

Depending on the area and previous owners, foreclosed homes may need minor maintenance work or could require a thorough cleanup. Outdoor projects include mowing the lawn, caring for plants, and repairs on fences and gutters. Indoor care can involve trash disposal, general household maintenance, carpet cleanup, and painting. Some additional maintenance jobs may include draining pools, winterizing the home, raking leaves, and shoveling snow. A foreclosure cleanup business can be operated by a family or friends, providing supplemental income or a full-time job. Starting a foreclosure cleanup business can be a great way for families to bond together while raising money to get out of debt, pay bills, or save for a vacation.

Earn an Income Cleaning Foreclosed Homes

In today’s economy, finding a secure job can be challenging. By providing cleanup services for foreclosed homes, individuals can discover a wonderful business opportunity that will always provide work. Since foreclosures abound during financial crisis, cleaning services may be in higher demand during a rough economy, providing work despite the overall poor job outlook. Often, banks are being fined one-thousand dollars for homes that break ordinances with their unkept appearance while foreclosed houses loose market value by the day. Since banks are loosing money when foreclosed houses are left sitting, cleanup services are in high demand and banks are willing to pay plenty of money to get the job done. In many cases, foreclosure cleanup businesses are paid between five-hundred ($500) to one-thousand five-hundred dollars ($1500) for each house they prepare for the market. If repairs are included, businesses can be paid an average of five-thousand dollars ($5000) for every finished home.

Advantages of Cleaning Foreclosed Homes

When cleaning foreclosed homes becomes your job, you will be in charge of your own business, giving you the opportunity to decide what hours you want to work and how many jobs you want to take on. If a bank presents a job that seems too overwhelming or outside your area of expertise, you will be free to turn the opportunity down. Cleaning foreclosed homes gives you the chance to either work full-time or only as a supplemental income to your current job. Cleaning foreclosed homes provides you with the advantage of managing your own hours, giving you more time to spend with family and friends. Many stay-at-home mothers and those who are retired may choose cleaning foreclosed homes as a way to make a profit without having a traditional job. Since cleaning foreclosed homes offers a lot of money, you can also expect a wonderful income!

How to Start a Foreclosure Cleanup Business

The first step to starting a cleanup business is to get a license that will allow you to do the work. A license can be obtained by contacting a local government office that will give you specific instructions. Depending on where you live, obtaining a license may involve attending some useful training classes such as hazardous waste removal. Decide who will be working for the business; will you hire employees, work with family, or perform the cleanup alone? When searching for help, it’s best to employ those who have skills such as carpentry or painting experience. Considering combined skills, determine what kind of jobs you will be willing to take on. Once you have your license and your work force, you’re ready to start earning a profit cleaning foreclosed homes.

Skills Needed to Clean Foreclosed Homes

At first glance, restoring a foreclosed home may seem like a huge undertaking; however, with even those with the most basic skills can earn money by providing cleanup. For the most part, general maintenance can be performed by anyone who knows how to do simple household jobs such as sweeping and dusting; many other skills can be learned through easy-to-understand books or programs. The “Foreclosure Cleanup Cash Program” guide books give general instructions about ways you can best provide cleanup to foreclosed homes. It can greatly help one understand the relative market and comprehend the business model that comes along.  If you are knowledgeable about home repairs, carpentry, or landscaping, you already have a lot to offer!

How to Find Jobs Cleaning Foreclosed Homes

With hundreds of foreclosed homes in your area, it should be easy to find plenty of work for your cleanup business. To gain attention to your services, you should consider sending out brochures, fliers, and business cards to local banks; in addition, you can choose to take out an ad in the newspaper or publish your business description online. By employing internet sites such as Facebook, you can easily promote your business with no cost.

How Much Will You Loose Starting a Foreclosure Cleanup Business?

The cost of cleaning foreclosed homes often varies depending on the job; however, few homes are expensive to clean. Depending on the services you offer, your start-up costs should only involve the small price of basic supplies such as furniture polish and cleaning solutions. After purchasing initial products, a cleanup business will bring in money that can go directly into your pocket.

Additional Jobs

Not only can you find jobs cleaning homes that have been foreclosed, but your business will also have the opportunity to branch into other home maintenance avenues. For instance, many houses that remain on the market for more than a few weeks will require some upkeep. To increase your income, check with local real estate agents and find out if they would be interested in your services.

Purchasing a Guide for Cleaning Foreclosed Homes

While opening a business that specializes in foreclosure cleanup can be a great way to generate income, it can seem like a huge task. Between questions about employee insurance, licenses, and general tasks, many people find themselves swamped and give up on the idea before they have even started. To get a good overview of job opportunities and to understand how your cleanup business can be the best possible, it is recommended that you purchase a guide about starting a foreclosure cleanup business. “Foreclosure Cleanup Cash Program” is a wonderful guide series that helps individuals step-by-step, giving them tips to turn their small cleaning business into a large-scale money-making profession.

In a world where jobs are often sparse, cleaning foreclosed homes offers a fantastic opportunity for individuals who aren’t scared to try something new. Consider the possibilities of opening your own cleanup service and start adding to your income.

Logos are as important because they are the visual through which your prospects connect with your cleaning business. It’s what identifies your business as a unique entity. It associates your brand with professionalism and builds trust.

A well thought, well designed logo for your cleaning company will prove to be a valuable asset when it comes down to promoting your services to potential clients. You want to imprint your brand on their memory to make the most of your advertising spending and your overall promotional efforts. And to do that you need a powerful logo.

This article is meant as an introduction to logo design philosophy in general and how it specifically applies to cleaning businesses. The goal here is to give you all the information you need when discussing your logo with a designer or when designing a logo yourself. That way you’ll both know what to ask for and what to expect of your designer.

Things To Keep In Mind When Coming Up With Cleaning Business Logos

Your Logo must relate to your cleaning business. This is very important and it’s exactly why a good logo can cost you several hundred dollars. Your logo must say something about your cleaning company. The obvious part is that your cleaning business name should be on the logo except if you’re going for a text-free one. What’s more important though is to somehow have your logo correspond to your cleaning company’s ethics, philosophy and business practices (i.e. Eco-friendly Cleaning Services).

Eye-Catching and simple. It goes without saying that your cleaning business logo must be eye catching. Some designers misinterpret this point and come up with extremely flashy and complicated designs. That’s old news. In today’s world, simplicity and minimalism is the best way to go. Simple designs are by far more eye caching and people relate more to them as they better match they short attention span.

Professional. Keep in mind that your clients don’t know you personally and they won’t hire you because you’re a good guy or girl. They need to know you’ll handle the job they have to offer professionally. Your logo is probably the first element of your cleaning company that your potential customers will get in touch with. First impressions are vital. Very hard to change down the road. Which is exactly why you do not want to risk with a bad logo design and to take this further, a bad flyer or advertisement (of any form).

Coloring. People associate colors with emotions. Picking the right colors maybe a detail but why settle for less if you can have more? Here’s an interesting site explaining what certain colors mean to people so you have a better understanding of the topic. You can consider any colors but one could argue that BLUE and GREEN or a combination of the two have a clear advantage. Blue is for inspiring confidence, trust and professionalism and green is to associate your company with freshness and harmony which easily relate to cleaning services.

Types Of Cleaning Business Logos

You can have a logo that’s text dominated or a logo that has no text at all. That widely depends on your personal preferences; it doesn’t directly affect the quality of your logo. Keep in mind though that less is more with logo design. Your logo isn’t a newspaper ad. You can go as far as including your cleaning business name and up to a slogan but that should do it. You have a number of options. We’ll demonstrate some of them below. Note that the following are not actual logos rather than simple designs demonstrating the variety of options available to logo design.

Text-driven design samples. Simple and elegant. No graphics whatsoever.

Text-driven design with a small slogan.

Starting from the top down:

1-2. Text-driven logo with a small icon implemented.

3. Logo containing both text and graphic as well as a company slogan.

4. Graphic based, text-free logo.

When considering your ideal logo design, think of what makes you special. Of what your strong points are, what you want your logo to communicate to your customers overall. Be it a modern, a classic or a retro design. Be it specific about the cleaning services you offer (house cleaning for example) or more general if you do both house and commercial cleaning. If you’re solely offering specialized cleaning services such as carpet or window cleaning, it’s a good idea to implement that in your logo so people can quickly associate your company with the respective market.

Where To Get A Logo For Your Cleaning Business?

If you don’t have graphic design skills yourself, you should consider hiring a logo designer to create a logo for you. Make sure you provide your designer with as much information as possible and don’t hesitate to ask for revisions if the designs don’t rise do your expectations. You can hire an independent contractor or a logo design firm for the job. Another option is to host a logo design contest using sites like Freelancer.com or Odesk.com. That way you can access tens or even hundreds of approaches by different designers and proceed with the one(s) you like. It’s a very cost-effective solution.

Starting a cleaning business in Delaware can turn out to be a very profitable endeavor for entrepreneurs. The industry offers a vast, $49 billion market to cash in and that’s likely to rise drastically in the years to come.

This guide will start with some basic information about the State of Delaware and the economic climate there in order to give you the spherical view necessary to make an informed decision.

The State of Delaware – An Overview

Delaware is located on the Atlantic Coast, Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. It abuts with Maryland to the south and west, with Pennsylvania to the north and with New Jersey to the northeast. The state has three counties, New Castle, Kent and Sussex. Delaware is the sixth least populous state with 897,934 inhabitants (2010 measurement) but also the sixth most densely populated among the 50 states. The capital city of Delaware is Dover, the second largest city in the state with a population of approximately 37.000. The most populous city of the state is Townsend, located in New Castle County. Not a single city has a population over 100.000 though.

Economic Climate

Delaware is the second least expensive of the 50 states. The gross state product of Delaware was $62.3 billion back in 2010 with the per capita personal income reaching the $34,199 mark which ranked the state 9th in the U.S. The average weekly wage was $937 back in 2005, ranking 7th in the nation. The average sales price for homes varies from county to county with Sussex being the most expensive and Kent the least expensive. Homes start at $178,000 and may go up to $300,000 (2011). Considering the per capita income metric, the wealthiest places in Delaware are:

• Greenville: $83,223
• Henlopen Acres: $82,091
• South Bethany: $53,624
• Dewey Beach: $51,958
• Fenwick Island: $44,415
• Bethany Beach: $41,306
• Hockessin: $40,516
• North Star: $39,677
• Rehoboth Beach: $38,494
• Ardentown: $35,577

source: wikipedia.org

Overall, Delaware is considered to be an ideal state for doing business. Notably, 63% of the Fortune 500 and more than 50% of all U.S. publicly traded companies are incorporated in the state. That’s mostly because of Delaware’s business-friendly corporation law.

Step-By-Step Guide: How To Start A Cleaning Business In Delaware

1. Learn the industry inside out and come up with a plan. Even if it sounds and is obvious, many people overlook the importance of familiarizing themselves with the industry they’re about to join. These are the people that either fail or don’t ever reach their full potential. You’re in the best website in the world regarding cleaning business start-ups, tips, supplies and resources so take full advantage of that. Bookmark us, follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook to stay up to date with the latest in the industry and don’t forget to sign-up for our newsletter. Hundreds of your competitors already do so! After you read this guide on how to start a cleaning business in Delaware, make sure you have a look out our full, comprehensive cleaning business start-up guide. It’s a 5-part guide that will let you in everything you need to know about the industry, starting and promoting your business, getting clients and more.

Then, you’ll need to make a plan. It is wise to keep all the resources you find online organized. Make a dedicated folder in your browser bookmarks and save all the sites you find with useful information for future references. Create a new desktop folder to save related to your cleaning business start-up files, forms and everything else you find online that’s worth saving. Make a list and write down everything that you need to do. Do not make the mistake believing you’ll remember everything when needed.

2. Business Start-Up Resources in Delaware. Starting a cleaning business in Delaware is very much like starting any other business. In Delaware, you can find both free and paid business training and counseling. Here’s a few of them for your consideration:

The State of Delaware – Entrepreneurial Services: This is a government service; key features include the evaluation of your business idea, guidance, support and resources.

Delaware Small Business & Technology Development Center: DSBTC offers free business start-up counseling. There are free training classes throughout Delaware.

Service Corps of Retired Executives: Score offers free counseling, mentoring as well as low cost workshops. You can find them in Wilmington.

YWCA Delaware: This is a non-profit organization helping women with business start-ups and financial advice.

You may also consider visiting the following resources:

SBA.gov Online Business Training: You can find various advice here on starting, managing and financing a business. There’s plenty of resources available, videos, forms etc.

Association of Small Business Development Centers: Another valuable resource for small business training.

3.  Financing your Cleaning Business Start-up in Delaware. Financing your start-up may be one of your concerns. You can get some financing ideas on Part II of our Start-Up guide. To get more information on financing your business with specific loan packages, you can visit Business.USA.gov. The state of Delaware offers carious business financing resources, centered around low collateral loan programs for small businesses. You can learn more about such opportunities here. Another option is to check the First State Community Loan Fund, based in Wilmington. It’s a non-profit Community Development Financial Institution providing small businesses with financing opportunities in Delaware. Such loans may go up to $50.000.

4. Choose a location for your Cleaning Business. Choosing the right location to base your cleaning business is of critical importance. You’ll want to get to know your clientele, their income capacity and several other factors in order to make a good choice. You can get some tips and advice by reading our article: Choosing a Business Location for your Cleaning Company. The local authorities in Delaware, DEDO in particular, can help you with site selection. They utilize CoStar Group’s database for property searches and best of all, they can do it all with confidentiality. Learn more here.

5. Coming up with a name for your Cleaning Business. Coming up with a great name is your first task. It is advised that you take your time with this process as your cleaning business is, after all, what you name it. The name you choose will follow you through your entire business career so make sure you get it right at first. Even though you could change the name down the road, it certainly wouldn’t be wise to do so having spent time and money branding it. You can get tips, advice and root cleaning business name ideas here: Cleaning Business Names.

6. Registering the name you’ve chosen and licensing your business. Having chosen a name for your cleaning business, you have to check with the United States Patent And Trademark Office to determine availability and possible copyright or trademark violations. Make sure your chosen name does not conflict with another entity’s trademarks / copyrights. Should you find that it does, you’ll have to come up with a different name. Registering your business name is a vital step; you’ll be making sure that nobody else can use the name you came up with. Furthermore, registration allows you to file for lawsuits as a business. Your next step, even though optional, is to register a trademark. Doing so will further protect your business name, much like other cleaning businesses are protected against you from the USPTO. To begin your business name registration, you can visit Delaware’s One Stop Business Registration and Licensing System. You’ll be filling for a DBA (Doing Business As) which will allow you to run a cleaning business with a name other than your personal name (should you choose so). To file for a fictitious name (DBA), you will have to determine the legal structure of your cleaning company first (see: Choosing a legal structure for your cleaning business).

For a general partnership or a sole proprietorship registration in Delaware, you’ll have to visit your county’s Superior Court Prothonotary’s Office. More information here. If you’re starting as a Limited Partnership, a Corporation, an LLC or an LLP, you’ll have to register with the Delaware Secretary of State.

Your business may (or may not) need specific licenses or permits to operate legally in the state of Delaware. The state’s one stop business registration and licensing system will guide you through the process of licensing your cleaning business and getting any special permits that may apply.

 7. Register the respective domain name. In order to secure your cleaning business’ presence on the Internet, you should immediately register the respective domain name from either GoDaddy.com or Namecheap.com. That way you’ll have it available when you decide to build a website to promote your brand and services and acquire more leads as a result. Domains cost as little as $5 and up to $20 a year, depending on the TLD (whether it’s a .com or a .biz domain for example). When considering domain names, make sure you go for a .com if available and if that’s not available, consider .net, .biz, .us. Securing your web presence is extremely important considering that a staggering 97% of US citizens search online in order to find local businesses.

8. Get your EIN (Employer Identification Number). The EIN, also known as the Federal Tax Identification Number, is used to identify your cleaning company as an entity. Every business needs an EIN in order to operate legally in the United States. Applying for an EIN is easy. You can apply online, by direct mail, fax or even via the telephone. Visit the IRS for more.

9. Taxation in Delaware. The next step into starting a cleaning business in Delaware, is to file for taxation with Delaware’s Department of Revenue. You may be required to register for several tax identification numbers depending on your legal structure like personal income taxes, employment taxes, self-employment taxes and excise taxes. You are also required to pay for the Unemployment Insurance Tax. Registering for business taxes with the State of Delaware is easy. The state incorporates a One Stop Business Registration and Licensing System. Which means that you use Delaware’s system to both register the name of your business and register for taxes as well as for special permits / licenses that may apply.

10. Get a bank account for your cleaning business. This step is required in order for the federal and state authorities to be able to tell your personal from your business transactions. Opening a business bank account will require a, relatively, small initial deposit as well as the completion of the above steps.

11. Get insured. This is another important step on your way to start a cleaning business. You are obliged by law to get liability insurance and pay the Worker’s Compensation Insurance. It is strongly recommended that you get bonding insurance as well.

12. Reporting Re-Hires and New Hires in Delaware. Should you hire a new employee or re-hire summon to work in your business, you are required to report that to Delaware’s New Hire Reporting program. Click here for more information.

13. Comply with Delaware’s wage and hour record keeping requirements. As an employer, you are obliged by law to keep records for three years for each and every employee containing the following information:

• First and Last name, the employee’s address and occupation.
• Pay rate and the amount paid to the employee each period.
• Wages paid and wage scales.
• Hours worked for each day and each week.

14. Further requirements. It is recommended that you consult with the local authorities about all the federal and state laws you and your cleaning business must comply with. Asking a lawyer is a great idea too. To have a first look on some fundamental federal and state law requirements of your cleaning business, click here.

This concludes our guide on how to start a cleaning business in Delaware. We highly recommend that you also read our step-by-step guide on starting a cleaning business to get a better look  inside the industry as a whole. If you’re looking to jump start into this business, we recommend you also read this.

The cleaning industry offers high profitability and a relatively low cost start-up among others. It’s a $49 billion a year industry with a bright future ahead considering the increasing demand.

We’ll start a guide with a couple of information about the State of Connecticut as is important to know the state you’re about to base your cleaning business to.

The State Of Connecticut – An Overview

Connecticut resides in the northeaster part of the United States, also known as the New England region. It abuts with Massachusetts to the north, the state of New York to the west and the south and Rhode Island to the east. The state is named after the Connecticut River, the major US river that bisects the state. Hartford is the capital and most populous city of Connecticut. Much of the southern and western Connecticut is part of the New York metropolitan area. In fact, out of eight counties the state has, three are included in the New York City combined statistical area, also known as the Tri-State Area. The most popular county of Connecticut, Cheshire, New Heaven County, is also included in the Tri-State Area.

Economic Data

Connecticut is one of the three least expensive states of the United States of America. It is also the 4th most densely populated state and the 29th most populous of all states. The state’s gross product was $237 billion back in 2010 and the per capita income (2010 measurement) was $64,833 ranking 4th in the US for that metric. The unemployment rate was measured at 9.0% in 2011. The wealthiest town in Connecticut is considered to be New Canaan; the per capita personal income there is $85,459, one of the highest in the United States. The state’s capital city however, Hartford, isn’t as rich. It’s among the 10 poorest cities in America and the poorest in Connecticut in terms of income per capita. The median price for purchasing a home in Connecticut is $226.000. The state is home to the most multi-million dollar house properties in the Northeast with 3,3% of all homes priced over $1.000.000. That’s only second to California.

Based on that data, starting a cleaning business in Connecticut can be an above industry standard, profitable endeavor if you choose the right location and attract wealthy clients that is only natural to assume they’re actively looking to outsource their cleaning needs and can afford to pay for cleaning services in the long term. However, to approach such clients, you’ll have to try even harder to market and brand your business as well as to offer high quality services.

How To Start A Cleaning Business In Connecticut Step-By-Step

Step 1: Learn about the Industry, Educate Yourself, Plan Ahead. This is probably the single, most important step in our guide on how to start a cleaning business in Connecticut. The basic rules of entrepreneurship apply in your cleaning business start-up as well. Learning as much as possible for the industry is essential. You can start from this very website, we’re the number 1 information and resource website for cleaning businesses in the world. Start your search from our 5-part cleaning business start-up guide and make sure you read the rest of the articles published on this website to learn how to get your first clients, which client groups to target, how to promote your business and expand your reach and so much more. You can bookmark us and connect with us on social media like Twitter and Facebook to always stay updated with the latest information, cleaning business advice, cleaning tips, new markets to expand etc. For a successful start-up, make sure you’ve got all the resources you need.

Step 2: Franchise or Independent Business? Financing your cleaning company. Most cleaning businesses start independently, however you may want to start a franchise instead. We cover this topic in Part III of our general start-up guide if you need more information. Financing is covered in Part II; in the meantime, you should know that the federal government has setup a website for financing seekers you can visit here.

Step 3: Find a name for your cleaning business. Finding the right name for your cleaning business can be a time consuming procedure but considering that the name you pick up will follow you wherever you go, for years to come, it’d be wise to take your time to come up with a great name that offers brand-ability, that it’s easy to pronounce and recall. Read our cleaning business names article for more information and tips on picking a great name as well as a couple of root name ideas for you to extract your own, unique name.

Step 4: Register your business with the state of Connecticut. After you come up with a name for your cleaning business, you’ll want to check the USPTO for availability and possible trademark violations. You can also do that by visiting Connecticut’s Concord data base. Following that step, you should register a trademark for your business using a reputable firm to handle everything for you and make sure the process is done properly. Then, and after you’ve determined the legal structure of your business, either by yourself or by consulting with a lawyer, you can proceed with registering your cleaning business with the State of Connecticut. You can do that either by paper filing, completing and mailing the application, by visiting the local offices at Hartford or online. For more information, filling fees, registration forms etc, visit this link.

Step 5: Register a Domain Name. This is obviously optional but highly recommended in order to make sure your cleaning business can claim the internet presence it deserves in the future. Try registering a .com domain that is an exact match to the name you’ve chosen. If that’s not possible because the domain is taken, go for the next best thing. Registering a domain is extremely easy and it only costs about $10 a year. We recommend GoDaddy.com for your domain registrations and we suggest that you get ALL the domain extensions that correspond to your cleaning business name, just in case. That means that you should register both the .com, the .net and the .us to say the least ( .us domains are only available to U.S. residents ). Having a website designed for your cleaning business is truly vital and goes a long way boosting your profits. It is estimated that 97% of U.S. residents search online for local business; those are numbers you simply can’t ignore. We can help you build, host and promote a website at the best rates you can find in the market. We can afford such rates because we specialize in website design for cleaning businesses. Learn more here.

Step 6: Pick Your Location. This step is very important. It can very much determine the difference between starting a successful business or a mediocre business or worse. Connecticut is home to several wealthy households (see the introduction of this guide) so managing to locate your cleaning business close to them would probably be ideal. The ideal comes with higher start-up costs however, no matter what you do in life.  There are, of course, other factors to consider. Are there any other cleaning businesses where you think of locating yours? How well established are they? Can you compete? Before deciding on this matter, make sure you thoroughly research the surroundings of your location keeping in mind the kind of services you want to offer, the radius of your operations and more. You can get more information by reading this article but ultimately, the choice is yours and yours alone. Think twice and think again before making up your mind decisively.

Step 7: Get an Employer Identification Number. This is required for every U.S. employer. The E.I.N. is used to identify your business as an entity. You can apply online with the IRS to get your E.I.N.

Step 8:  Taxation. Another important step in our guide on how to start a cleaning business in Connecticut. When you register your business with the state of Connecticut, you will get a tax registration number (CT REG). Next, you’ll be able to use the online Taxpayer Service Center. For more information visit CT’s Department Of Revenue. As an employer, you’re also required to pay the Unemployment Insurance Tax.

The income tax rates on Connecticut residents are divided into six tax brackets based on an individual’s income: 3%, 5%, 5.5%, 6%, 6.5% and 6.7%. The state imposes a standard 6.35% sales tax. There are a number of both items and services that are not subject to taxation in Connecticut but unfortunately, yet logically, janitorial services are taxable. However, casual janitorial service providers (three or fewer residences per year) are NOT taxable.

In the state of Connecticut, there are NO additional taxes from local jurisdictions. The maximum property tax credit in Connecticut is $500. Property taxes in Connecticut are quite high compared to average, with the state’s residents paying the second highest property tax in the U.S.

Step 9: Get A Business Bank Account. Getting a business bank account is another requirement of your business. You need this step to be able to separate your business transactions from your personal ones.

Step 10: Insurance. Getting insurance is mandatory. Liability insurance is necessary, bonding insurance is recommended as some of your clients will ask for it prior to hiring you. You are also obliged by federal and state law to pay the Worker’s Compensation Insurance.

Step 11: Report New Hires and Re-Hires. Whenever your hire or re-hire an employee, you must report that to the Connecticut New Hire Reporting Center, usually within 21 days of the date the hire or re-hire took place.

Step 12: Comply with Connecticut’s Payroll Tax Recordkeeping Requirements. In Connecticut, you are required to keep the following records at the workplace for a minimum of three years for each employee you have working at your business:

• Name, address, occupation and total hours worked per day / week.
• The beginning and the end of each work period.
• Total wages paid hourly, daily or weekly and total wages paid each pay period.
• Additions or Deductions to and from wages for each period.
• Overtime must be kept as a separate item.
• Work certificates for minor employees.

Keep in mind that you must check with the local authorities for possible, more requirements for record-keeping.

Step 13: Learn about and comply with Federal Laws and Requirements. You should seek legal advice to learn about further requirements of your cleaning business in the State of Connecticut and/or the County you’ll be locating your business. You can get a first glimpse on basic requirements here.

This concludes our guide on how to start a cleaning business in Connecticut. Good luck!

This means you should educate yourself as much as possible when it comes to the industry and its unique requirements as well as the State of Colorado laws and regulations.

This guide will start with some basic information about Colorado itself but feel free to skip that part if you’re familiar with that information.

The State of Colorado

The state borrow its name from the Colorado river.  The state is abut the states of Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and New Mexico as well as Oklahoma by a fraction. Colorado is the 22nd most populous state of the United States of America and, currently, the 8th most expensive in terms of cost of living. The capital and most populous city of Colorado is Denver. Notably, the state came in third in CNBC’s list of the “Top States for Business for 2010”, only outmatched by Texas and Virginia. Colorado’s State Gross Domestic Product is valued at $258 billion and the state’s per capita income (personal income) was $51,940 back in 2010, the 11th highest in the United States.

Overall, Colorado is a great place to start your own cleaning business.

So, how to start a cleaning business in Colorado?

1. Research, Plan, Educate Yourself

Doing extensive research and planning couldn’t but be the number one, most important step to take in our guide on how to start a cleaning business in Colorado. Any business start-up is a major undertaking and a thorough research is necessary before moving forward. To begin with, read our full and comprehensive guide on starting a cleaning business which will allow you to get a good glimpse inside the industry, why it’s profitable and how to get cleaning contracts and take full advantage of your prospects down the road. We also have a Cleaning Business Start-Up Resources Section for you to review in order to successfully launch and operate a cleaning business. Always remember that if you don’t act fast and pursue you education, if you don’t acquire the tools necessary, you’ll always be a step behind (or more) from your competitors who will. Make sure that you bookmark this website and any other website that is related to the industry for quick references in the future. We publish cleaning business tips, methods to getting more clients as well as cleaning tips and so much more you surely wouldn’t want to miss out. Subscribe to our RSS feed, follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook to make sure you keep up to date with the latest.

2. Perhaps You Need To Finance Your Cleaning Business

May be too soon to look for financing; assuming you haven’t finalized your decision to start a cleaning business in Colorado yet. However, keep in mind that you can visit the United States Business Portal to find financing opportunities. Reading Part II of our Cleaning Business Start-Up Guide will also let you in some financing ideas.

3. Come Up With a Great Cleaning Business Name

Finding a name for your cleaning business is essential. It will follow you anywhere and thus, you need to make sure you get it right from the beginning. Consider a name that can be branded, that is memorable and catchy. For relevant advice on coming up with a name, the things to look into before making a final decision and source ideas, read our cleaning business names article.

4. Register Your Business Name With The State Of Colorado

Before filing for a business name registration with the State Of Colorado, head over to the United States Patent and Trademark Office to check your name availability and whether or not it’s associated with third party trademarks. You can also search Colorado’s Records online for this.

Next, it’s highly advisable that you file for a trademark registration using a reputable firm to handle the paperwork for you. The process may take several months and you may be required to file again or alter some elements of your application letter. This is not a hassle free process and that is why you should probably hire a firm to do it for you, along with ensuring it’s done right of course and have someone hold liable if it doesn’t.

After you’ve done the above and assuming you’ve determined the legal structure of your business, you must file for a business name registration with Colorado’s Secretary Of State. You may find useful to check Colorado’s Business Start-Up Resources, here. To complete your business registration in Colorado, you’ll have to consult with your county authorities regarding special licenses or permits that may apply, zoning and environmental regulations and more. These may very much vary from location to location.

5. Register The Respective Domain Name

Ensuring your internet presence is vital. Use a domain name provider like GoDaddy.com or NameCheap.com to register the domain name that is best describing your cleaning business. Ideally, you want an exact match .com domain. If your business is called “Colorado Pro Cleaners” for instance, register the domain coloradoprocleaners.com. If that’s not available, try looking into the same, exact much domain in .net and possibly .us variation. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to register ALL the domain names that mention your registered business name; use one as your primary domain and have the rest redirect to that. Do this to avoid others from grabbing your domains and using them to for their own benefit taking advantage of your own branding. Obviously, getting a website designed is the next step; it will help you increase your reach and get more leads.

6. Location, Location, Location

Selecting a location to base your cleaning business is highly important and can very much determine your success. For business location selection tips, read Choosing A Business Location For Your Cleaning Company.

7. Get An Employer Identification Number (EIN)

This is mandatory. The EIN is used to identify a business entity much like the SSN is used to identify a person. To apply for an EIN, you simply have to visit the IRS and submit an online form, call or visit.

8. Get A Business Bank Account

As required by law, when starting a cleaning business or any other business for that matter, you must open a new, business bank account for the state to be able to tell your business from your personal transactions.

9. Get Insurance

You absolutely need to get liability insurance but it’s also advised to get bonding insurance as well (some clients will require bonding insurance). This step is crucial to protect yourself and your business from various troubles that may arise while operating. As required by federal law, you must also pay for Worker’s Compensation Insurance. Visit this page within Colorado’s official website to get more information.

10. File for Taxation with the state of Colorado

This is one of the most important steps of this step-by-step guide on how to start a cleaning business in Colorado.To file for taxation with the state of Colorado, visit this link. You’ll need to get a Sales Tax account to begin with. To find the respective forms and more information, go here. To find out what’s the exact amount of taxes you need to pay when selling your cleaning services you must further consult with the local authorities of the county your cleaning business is based to. You’re also obliged by federal law to pay the Unemployment Insurance Tax.

11. Reporting New Hires

Every time you hire someone to work for you or re-hire a former employee, you need to report the fact to the authorities; usually within 20 days the (re)hire took place. You should visit the Colorado New Hire Reporting Center to do that.

12. Comply with Colorado’s Payroll Tax Recordkeeping Requirements

As a Colorado employer, you are required to keep record files for a minimum period of two years about the following:

1. Your employees’ names, addresses, occupation and dates of employment.
2. Daily records of starting and stopping times.
3. The birth date of minors.
4. Any applicable credits taken
5. The rate of pay and net pay, deductions and gross wages

13. Comply with Federal Law Requirements

It is necessary to comply with all federal laws and requirements of your cleaning business. It’s crucial that you ask for advice from the local authorities and follow their instructions to the letter. To get a first glimpse on the most important requirements, read Federal and State Law Requirements of your Cleaning Business.

This concludes our guide on how to start a cleaning business in Colorado. Good luck with your endeavor.

Starting a cleaning business in California’s largest cities is indeed a challenge but the higher the difficulty, the higher the prize. However, there are regions in the state and several cities / towns you could start a cleaning business just as easy as you would anywhere else.

You’re reading a comprehensive, step-by-step guide on how to start a cleaning business in California, please bookmark this site or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with the latest news in the industry, business tips, promotional methods, new markets to expand your reach and much, much more.

California’s Economy

California is generating the largest GSP (Gross State Product) in the US. As of 2010, the GSP is about $1.9 trillion. At the same time, California is rated as the 9th richest state in the United States in terms of median house income ($61.000 per capita). If California was a country all by itself, it would be the 8th largest economy in the world, ranked 34th globally population-wise. The state’s economy is highly based on aerospace, manufacturing and education as well tourism. A notable fact is that in 2012, there were a little more than 660.000 millionaires in the state of California. That’s more than any other state.

So, how to start a cleaning business in California?

1. Research, Learn and Plan ahead. Starting a cleaning business in California is a major undertaking. Any business start-up is. In order to make the most out of your efforts, make sure you research the cleaning industry thoroughly and learn as much as possible for the market you’re about to enter. Starting from this very guide on how to start a cleaning business in California and expanding your read to our 5-part Cleaning Business Start-Up Guide. Then, you might want to take a look on our Start-Up Resources (Part V of the guide) in order to give yourself a head start and avoid common, amateur mistakes. At this point, you can hopefully see it’ll take some planning to get things done and some attention to make sure you don’t miss anything important. Go ahead, take notes and bookmark useful sites you find in order to have quick references when you need them.

2. Financing your cleaning business start-up in California. We talk about ways to finance your cleaning business start-up in Part II of our start-up guide. You may also visit the United States Business Portal financing page to find more information.

3. Come up with a name for your cleaning business. Finding a suitable name for your cleaning company is a task that requires your full attention. You should take your time and not rush into a decision. Your name will follow you anywhere and as such, it’s one, very important aspect of your cleaning business start-up. You can find and read our article on cleaning business names right here. Within the article, you’ll find guidelines on selecting a good name for your business as well as root name ideas to help you come up with your very own, unique name.

4. Register your business name with the State of California. The first step to take is to head over the USPTO website, the United States Patent and Trademark Office to check whether or not someone else is using it already. Next and final step is to register your cleaning business name with the State of California. To do that, you may visit the California Secretary of State. While there, you’ll find a “Name Availability Inquiry Letter” which you’ll have to download, complete and then mail in order to further make sure the name you picked and want to register isn’t violating any third-party trademarks and existing names. You’ll also find forms to reserve a name for your business as well as information on the state’s Priority Telephone Support (should you choose to pay for that). If you are in a rush and need the state’s authorities to prioritize your name search, you’ll have to pay a $4.00 fee for a single name availability search as well as an extra $10 as a reservation fee.

5. Get a domain name. Getting a website down the road is extremely important for your business branding and increasing leads to your California based, cleaning business. You may do that at your own convenience, even though it’s highly recommended that you instantly build a website, even prior to printing flyers or business cards. In any case, you should hurry up and register a corresponding domain name by using a service like GoDaddy.com or NameCheap.com.

6. Think of the ideal place to locate your cleaning business. And that doesn’t only mean a county within California. You must choose wisely and based on the type of your services, volume of work and other needs you specify for yourself. For more information on picking up the ideal location for your cleaning business, read this article. We also recommend you download and read the report found in Public Policy Institute of California about Business Location Decisions and Employment Dynamics in California.

7. Determine the Legal Structure of your Cleaning Business. We recommend that you seek out professional attorney assistance to determine the legal structure of your business entity. To get a first clue, you may read our article on cleaning business’ most popular legal structures. Small cleaning business usually start as sole proprietorships, the simplest and cheapest form for doing business.

8. Get an EIN. This is one of the most important steps in our guide on how to start a cleaning business in California. The EIN (the acronym stands for Employer Identification Number) is the number used to identify your cleaning business as an entity. Applying for an EIN is very easy and can be done online by visiting the IRS website.

9. Open a Business Bank Account and get Insurance *. The opening of a business bank account is required by law for every business operating in the United States. This is because the State needs to be able to tell your business from your personal transactions. Insurance is also mandatory. You must get liability insurance to protect yourself and your cleaning company. It’s highly advised that you also get bonding insurance; some clients will ask for it. You also need to pay the Worker’s Compensation Insurance as required by federal law.

* Disability Insurance. California is one out of six US States that require an employer to have Disability Insurance. This type of insurance exists to provide partial wage replacement coverage to eligible employees for non-work related injury or sickness. You may find more information here.

10. Register your Cleaning Business with the State of California. All sole proprietorships and private partnerships based in California are required to register at the County Level. This includes Fictitious Business Names, also known as DBAs (Doing Business As). The cost is no more than $50. Most (not all) California counties accept online registrations so if you’d like to register that way, visit the website of the County you’re interested in and submit the appropriate form. You may find a list of them below:

Corporations, LLPs and LLCs must register with California’s Secretary of State.

To complete the registration of your cleaning business in California you’ll also have to consult with the county / city authorities, for various business licenses, permits, zoning and environmental regulations and other restrictions that may apply to your case. These greatly vary from location to location.

11.  State of California Taxes. The sales tax in California is county-based. To find the exact amount of taxes you have to pay for selling your cleaning services, you’ll need to get in touch with the local authorities. To be eligible for taxation, you’ll need a Tax ID from the State Franchise Tax Board. For more information and downloadable forms, you can visit California’s Tax Service Center. You also have to pay the Unemployment Insurance Tax.

12. Report New Hires. You are required to report new hires or re-hires within (usually) 20 days of the hire or re-hire date. To do that, you can visit the State of California’s Employment Development Department.

13. Comply with California’s Payroll Tax Recordkeeping Requirements. In the State of California, you (as an employer) are required to keep payroll records for a minimum period of three years. These records can either be kept in your cleaning business’ offices or at a central location within the state. These records must contain all your employees names, SSNs and occupations as well as their addresses, the birth dates of minors, total wages paid in a payroll period, time records, the total hours worked, the applicable pay rates for the payroll period including the value of board, lodging, and other compensation, an explanation of the piece rate or incentive plans and finally, meal period schedules and split shift intervals.

You are required to provide your employees with notification to inspect those records within 21 days of your written or oral request.

14. Comply with Federal Law. Familiarize yourself with federal laws and requirements of your cleaning business. While it’s mandatory to ask the authorities for these and apply their instructions to your cleaning company, you can get some insight on some federal requirements of your cleaning business by reading this article.

This concludes our guide on how to start a cleaning business in California. Feel free to post questions or comments below.

We mention such local services in our Cleaning Business Start-Up State Guides.

Before going ahead and selecting a location, make sure you verify that your cleaning business won’t be violating special zoning regulations that may apply there. Again, consult the local authorities for this matter.

Choosing a Business Location – Determine your Activity

When choosing a business location for your cleaning company, the first thing you need to determine is the business activity you’re going for. Will the customers come to you, do you have to go to your customers? Will you have employees?

What’s for sure is that you WILL have to go to your customers to perform cleaning services. That fact alone must be generating some thoughts regarding your ideal business location. No matter what type of services you’ll be offering, you will have to travel distances to perform your services. As a general principle, you need to make sure your business is rather close to your customers, otherwise, you’ll lose both time and money traveling to and from your customers’ location back to your office. Especially as your business grows and you’re getting more cleaning contracts, having to travel long distances may not be a cost-effective solution should you locate your business far away from your prospects.

Choosing a Business Location for House Cleaning Oriented Services

If you choose to start a house cleaning business, you should make sure you’re close to population centers and have easy access to neighborhoods by walking or driving to them. In this case, running a home-based business rather than obtaining commercial space and offices may be the best way to go in terms of operating costs and overall convenience. However, most residential areas are not zoned for commercial businesses. You’ll have to consult the local government to find that out as there might be tight restrictions and zone regulations in place. When choosing a business location, make sure you determine whether or not you’ll be hiring employees as if you do, running a home-based cleaning business is probably not the right path to take anyway.

Choosing a Business Location for Commercial Oriented Services

When choosing a business location for your commercial cleaning services, there’s a great number of things you’ll have to consider. To begin with, determine if you’ll also be having customers to come to your offices to discuss and sign cleaning contracts. While this may seem odd, It does happen when it comes down to rather “big” and long-term contracts with commercial clients. While this is more likely to happen with large businesses that hire you, it’s not unlikely that small business owners who want to outsource cleaning to you for a long-time, will want to inspect your offices and get to know you better.

For this reason, you should consider locating your headquarters on a pedestrian heavy, popular downtown retail location. While physical proximity to your prospects is ideal in this case, obtaining a location that is easy to access by driving to and only relatively close (by other than walking, transportation means) to your prospects would be good enough as well.

Of course, choosing a business location in such a way works both ways. Not only will your prospects have easy access to your offices, you’ll also gain an advantage by not having to travel long distances to get to most, if not all of your clients. While this may not sound as a big deal, saving gas and time of your daily transportation needs will definitely increase your profit margins.

Other Factors for Choosing a Business Location

There are several other factors you have to consider when choosing a business location for your cleaning company:

Pedestrian Heavy Locations: Choosing a pedestrian heavy location to base your cleaning business comes with a very positive side-effect. Signs. People see your brand, they start to recognize you and talk about you. This works extremely well down the road getting you word of mouth advertising and more prospects as a result. Make sure you’ve got your phone numbers on your signs for people to take note.

Employees and Storage Space: If you plan on hiring employees, make sure you take that into account when choosing a business location. You’ll need a large enough space to house your manpower. If your cleaning company is doing well, you’ll need to both hire more employees and increase your storage space for supplies and equipment. Ideally, you’ll want to predict that when choosing a business location so that you do not have to move when your business grows. If you’re using company vehicles to carry your employees and equipment to client locations, you may want to consider having a parking spot as anything else could prove to be cost-heavy in the long term.

Proximity to Competitors: Choosing a business location that is close to competitor companies isn’t always a bad thing. If there’s a large market, it shouldn’t be a problem at all. If however, the market is small and your competition has already established a name in that market, you should probably be searching for alternative locations unless you think you can do a lot better than them. Competition can keep you alert and force you to improve your services, become more cost-effective, implement new marketing strategies etc. Getting a website and optimizing it for local leads is a great way to increase the business you get and at the same time, a great way to tell how advanced your competitors are in terms of marketing their services and brand name.

Taking all the above into consideration along with local authorities’ suggestions, you should be able to make an informed decision when choosing a business location for your cleaning company. Again, make sure predict (as much as possible) your future needs on workspace and storage space, take ease of access into account (pedestrian heavy locations, driving access, proximity to prospects) and determine the market size to decide on whether you should or shouldn’t locate your business close to a competitor. Remember to ask the local government for special zoning / environmental regulations that may apply to your cleaning business.

Good luck choosing a business location! Did we miss something? Feel free to comment below.

Its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River. The state of Arkansas is the 32nd most populous and the 29th most expensive region of the United States. The capital and most populous city of Arkansas is Little Rock, located in the center of the state.

Arkansas Economy

The State of Arkansas GDP (gross domestic product) climbed to $103 billion for the year 2010. Thus, its per capita household median income (in current value) was $35,300 in 2004.  The state produces both agricultural and industrial products and is home to several global companies headquarters like Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods and J.B. Hunt (all located in the northwest corner of Arkansas, where the state abuts with the borders of Missouri and Oklahoma. Eastern Arkansas has recently became host to several automobile parts manufacturers who’ve built factories there to support their plants in other states. Arkansas also has a strong income from tourism. The rate of unemployment, as of August 2011, is 8.3%.

According to Forbes.com, Arkansas ranks 21st for “The Best States for Business”, 9th for “Business Cost”, 22md for “Regulatory Environment”, 40th for “Labor”, 9th for “Growth Prospects” 34th in terms of GDP and the states positive economic change of 3.8% rank the state number 22 in the United States.

For taxation and State Law Requirements, please read on.

So, how to start a cleaning business in Arkansas?

1. Research, Learn, make a Plan and Succeed. Before entering the cleaning industry, you need to make sure you’ve learned everything you possibly can about it. This is highly important to successfully launch and operate your cleaning company. You are nearly there by reading this guide but make sure you also check the Cleaning Business Start-Up Guide (Five Parts) as well as the rest of the posts in this very blog in order to get an insight on both start-up requirements AND high-end business tips to widen your potential and grow your business down the road. You might also find it useful to explore the Cleaning Business Start-Up Resources which is actually the 5th part of the Start-Up Guide, containing valuable e-books, software and generally everything you might need to start your cleaning business. Last but not least, don’t let your reading of this guide or any other guide to go to waste. Write a list and plan ahead, bookmark the sites of interest for quick references whenever you need them.

2. Financing your Cleaning Business Start-Up. In Part II of our Start-Up guide, you’ll find several ideas on financing your cleaning business. Another great resource is the United States Business Portal.

3. Naming your Cleaning Business. Coming up with a great name for your business is a highly important task, take your time and consider your options and definitely don’t rush into a name you’re going to later regret. Here’s a small guide on cleaning business names, along with several root name suggestions for you to come up with your own.

4. Registering your business name with the State of Arkansas. After you come up with a great name for your cleaning company, you should check with the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) to see if the name you had in mind is already being used or if there could be a possible conflict with already registered names. The whole process can be done online. Having done that, the next step is to register your name with Arkansas Secretary of State offices. In Arkansas, sole proprietorships or general partnerships that don’t use the same name as their owners’ are required to file a “Doing Business under an Assumed Name Certificate“.

That aside, both domestic and foreign corporations must file an Application for Fictitious Name with Arkansas Secretary of State. Domestic corporations are also required to register with the County Clerk Office (where the registered corporation is located). The only exception to that rule is the corporations located in Pulaski County.

Arkansas Secretary of State

Arkansas County and City Government

5. Location is Everything. Choosing where to locate your business is one of the most important decisions you have to make prior to starting your cleaning company. To that extend, you may use the Arkansas Small Business Technology Department Center which offers mapping services in order to help business owners determine a suitable location for their start-up. By visiting the Arkansas Local Governmnet page, you can get access to local authorities that usually know what locations are available and can also offer you advice and useful tips on picking up the right place to locate your business. Since the final decision is up to you, it’s recommended that you read our article about choosing the right location for your Cleaning Business.

6. Determining the Legal Structure of your Cleaning Business is another important but rather technical step. You’re likely to need professional attorney and accountant assistance but you can get a first clue by visiting our guide on legal structures. Small cleaning business start-ups tend to start as sole proprietorships due to this structure being extremely easy to establish and run.

7. Get an Employer Identification Number (EIN). This number is used to identify a business entity and and it’s mandatory for every employer. You can apply for an EIN online by visiting the respective page of the IRS.

8. Get Insurance and open a Business Bank Account. Getting liability and bonding insurance is essential for your cleaning business. Bonding insurance is optional but some businesses will require it prior to signing a cleaning contract with your company. Opening a business bank account is required by law. You’ll have to separate your business from your personal banking transactions.

9. Taxes in the State of Arkansas. If you’re starting a cleaning business in Arkansas, you must register under the Gross Receipts Tax Law. There’s an accomplished application required for a sales tax permit and a $50 non-refundable fee in order to register a new business. A 6% state sales tax must be collected and remitted to any applicable city and county sales taxes. There is also a short term and long term rental tax and vehicle rental tax that may concern you as a cleaning business owner. You can visit the Arkansas Business Tax Registration page for more information and downloadable forms.

As a business owner and employer, you’re may be required to pay Workers’ Compensation Insurance as well as the Unemployment Insurance Tax in the local authorities of Arkansas.

10. Get an Arkansas Business License. Your Arkansas Business License is the main document required for conducting fundamental business operations and necessary to be able to pay your taxes to the state. To apply for a permit to start a cleaning business with the state of Arkansas visit this webpage or get in touch with the local authorities by phone, mail or your own presence there. They will also familiarize you with other licenses or permits that may apply to your case depending on the structure and size of your business, your exact location, special environmental permits etc.

11. Report New Hires. Operating a cleaning business in Arkansas (or any other state in the US) forces you to report new hires and re-hires, usually within 20 days of the hiring or re-hiring date. Visit Arkansas New Hire Reporting Center for more information.

12. Comply with Arkansas Payroll Tax Recordkeeping Requirements. The State of Arkansas requires employers to keep a minimum of three years records containing the following information:

• Employee Names and Addresses
• Employee Occupations
• The hours worked each day, each week
• Pay Rates
• The amount paid each period

13. Comply with Federal Laws and Requirements. You must comply with all federal laws and requirements of your cleaning company. You can get a quick glimpse on what’s required of your cleaning business by visiting our introduction guide to federal law requirements of a cleaning business. Make sure you ask the authorities for clarifications and further instructions.

14. Register a domain name, get a website. Brand and promote your business at a rate you can afford at a given time using offline methods. Do not neglect your online presence though. Make sure you register a domain name and get a website to increase leads and get more cleaning contracts as a result.

That was our complete guide on how to start a cleaning business in Arkansas, US. If there’s anything you need to ask, please leave a comment below.

Arizona is host to many Fortune 500 companies; taking advantage of the state’s competitive tax rates, warm business environment and skilled workforce.

Taxes and Cost of Operations Overview

The state of Arizona applies a tax rate at 5.6% per sale. The state capital, Phoenix adds an extra 0.7 to that should you base your business there rising the total state tax rate to 6.3%. All other Arizona countries impose an extra tax to the state’s 5.6% as well; consult the local authorities to find out how much that is.

Cost of Operations

Industry Week Magazine ranked Arizona number one for the lowest workers compensation and benefits back in 2008. Up to this day, Arizona has one of the lowest wage rates in the United States which combined with the relative low taxes and low infrastructure costs, make Arizona perfect for business operations. The State started a program imposing significant business tax reductions and other tax credit incentives back in 2005 which are both expected to increase Arizona’s competitiveness regarding tax rates.

Cost of Living

Arizona doesn’t impose taxes on food destined for home consumption (some cities in the state do though). There are no gift of inheritance taxes and no taxes on medication prescribed by a licensed physician or dentist. However, there’s an 18 cents tax per gallon on gasoline which is on top of the respective federal tax. Generally speaking, Arizona is not that expensive to live compared to most States, although there have been complaints about electric bills in Phoenix from time to time.

So, how to start a cleaning business in Arizona?

1. Research and Learn. Prior to starting your cleaning business in Arizona, you should to some research on the industry as a whole to better understand what you’re getting into. You can start by reading our step by step guide to starting a cleaning business. You may start from Part I which is an overview of the market and analyzes personal qualifications. Then we suggest that you follow up with this guide (opens in a new window – all external links are) which also comes with resources and tools for your cleaning business such as janitorial bidding software, premium logos bundle, cleaning contract forms, cleaning invoice templates and more. Make sure you BOOKMARK everything that you find useful in a separate folder in your bookmarks menu; you ARE going to need that!

2. Financing. If you need help financing your cleaning business in Arizona, visit the United States Business Portal to find aid.

3. Picking the right location is vital to your business and financial success. Arizona has Site Selection Services in order to provide you with the support and services needed to properly evaluate the business opportunities in Arizona.

4. Coming up with and Registering a name for your cleaning business with the State of Arizona. Coming up with a great name for your cleaning business may be time consuming but it’s not something you want to stay clear of. Take your time and come up with something memorable and brand-able. Check our cleaning business names article for help and root name ideas.

After you come up with a name for your cleaning business, follow these steps:

• Verify the name you want on the Arizona Secretary of State’s database you can find here.
• Verify the name you want on the Arizona Corporation Commission’s database available here.
• Verify the name you want on the U.S. Patent and Trademark office’s, Trademark Database available here.

If all checks out okay, the time has come to register your cleaning business name:

While the State of Arizona does NOT require businesses to register Trade Names, it is advised that you do so. To register your business name and get a DBA (Doing Business As), simply visit the Office of the Secretary of State. Your new name or trademark will not be approved by the Secretary of State until he has received the application and the respective fees. Until you get your approval, do not pursue any advertising, including printing business cards. For more information and downloadable forms, click here. Note that if you need a federal trademark as well, you’ll have to visit the US Patent and Trademark website (find the link above).

5. At this point you’ll need to determine the legal structure of your cleaning business. To do that, you’ll need a professional attorney and accountant, however, you can get a first glimpse by reading this article.

6. Get a Business Bank Account and Insurance. Opening a new business bank account to make your business transactions distinct from your personal ones is another requirement. Then you should acquire liability insurance and while it’s not law-breaking not to, you should also get bonding insurance. Bonding insurance is useful for making your business look trustworthy to the eyes of other business owners who are looking to hire you.

7. Comply with all Federal Laws and Requirements. You should comply with all federal laws and legal requirements of your business. You may find more information on federal law requirements by reading our guide found here. However, you should also seek an attorney’s assistance to deal with such, rather complicated, matters.

8. Registering for State Taxes. The tax range of Arizona starts at 2.87% (Lowest) and rises up to 5.04% (Highest) depending on your income level. The State of Arizona imposes income tax if your income is at least $15.000. Married taxpayers who file jointly are only paying taxes if the adjusted gross income is at least $11.000. For taxpayers who file as head of the household, as a single or as married who file separately the respective amount is $5.500. No special handling nor action is taken for capital gains by the State of Arizona, they are taxed with regular rates. Only regular tax credits apply (school tuition, tax credit on public school, tax credit on family). If you have income from other states, it is still taxable in Arizona. However if you’re double taxed, you may be eligible for a tax credit.

To register your business for Arizona State Taxes, visit this page. Also visit the General tax information and Forms page. As an employer you must also pay the Unemployment Insurance Tax and of course, the Worker’s Compensation Insurance.

9. Get an Arizona Business License. There’s no generic business license in Arizona. Some businesses need to obtain a single license, others may need more. It all depends on the type and volume of your business as well as from the local restrictions and regulations of the city or town your cleaning business will operate from. You need to get in touch with the local authorities to learn about the local laws and restrictions that may apply in your case. If you need further assistance than that the local authorities can provide you may visit the Arizona Small Business Ombudsman.

10. Report New Hires and Re-Hires. As required, you need to report new hires and re-hires to the Arizona New Hire Reporting Center within 20 days of the day the hire or re-hire took place.

11. Adopt Workplace Safety Standards. As required by federal law, you need to comply with workplace safety regulations. You may visit the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health for extensive information regarding the matter; they will guide your cleaning business to full compliance.

12. Adopt Environmental Standards. You may not need environmental licenses or permits but it’s always wise to double check. Visit the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality for compliance assistance.

13. Comply with Arizona’s Payroll Tax Record Keeping Requirements. To fully comply with those, you’ll need to keep payroll records that show the hours worked for each day worked and the wages, salaries or compensations paid to each individual employee for no less than 4 years. The State of Arizona (via the Industrial Commission) may reduce the recordkeeping requirements for small businesses that are found to be unreasonably burdened by the requirements.

14. Brand your Business, Grow Strong. Getting a professional logo for your business, a domain name to build a website on, distributing flyers by door to door as well as putting other marketing techniques into use, all will greatly help your efforts to grow your cleaning business and allow for more leads and eventually cleaning contracts.

Hopefully, you enjoyed this guide about how to start a cleaning business in Arizona, Feel free to browse through the rest of the website, I’m sure you’ll find lots of interesting articles for your cleaning business. Good luck in your endeavors!

While I’m not a lawyer, I’ve done the best I could in terms of research and writing down my personal experience regarding the legal obligations of a cleaning business. This guide’s only purpose is to provide you with a general idea on various legal aspects on starting and operating a cleaning business in the United States.

You should, however, consult with a professional attorney and an accountant for such matters and others that may have missed my attention.

Keep in mind, legal matters are extremely complicated and they require professional care to their full extend. So while you can get a first clue on what’s going on by reading this guide, you should definitely hire experts to help you with all the paperwork, fill you in regarding various procedures, your obligations, the requirements of your business etc.

Federal and State Laws

Getting to know the United States Federal and State laws can be an extremely time consuming endeavor, not to mention the difficulty in understanding the technical terms they come with. Nevertheless, with the help of an attorney and government or local authorities, you can get a full glimpse on what’s required of your cleaning business. Here’s a few notable requirements you’ll need to comply with when operating your cleaning business:

1. Every business operating in the United States must be issued all the necessary licenses and/or permits and fill all tax-related forms necessary to legally operate. Every business owner is obligated to visit the local authorities of the State(s) his business will operate in to fully understand and comply with federal and state laws that apply. You may visit our State Guides to find more detailed information regarding individual State requirements and various regulations of that State.

2. Before hiring an employee, all businesses are required to obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. The EIN is used to identify a business entity. This is often referred to as Form ss-4 or as an Employer Tax ID. This step is mandatory for reporting taxes to the IRS. You can apply for an EIN online here. You may also call the Specialty Tax Hotline at 800-829-4933.

3. To comply with IRS regulations, you are obligated to keep records of employment taxes for at least four years. The three types of Withholding Taxes are described below:

• Federal Income Tax Withholding (Form W-4). Every employee you have must provide you with a signed withholding exemption certificate (Form W-4) on the date of employment or before the day of employment. You will then need to submit that form to the IRS.
• Federal Wage and Tax Statement (Form W-2). You will have to use this form to report wages paid and the taxes withheld for each employee. You’ll need to to complete one Form W-2 PER employee you have and pay a salary, wage or compensation to. You will need to send Copy A of Form W-2 to the SSA (Social Security Administration) by the last day of February. If you file electronically, you have an extra month to send Copy A of Form W-2 (by the last day of March). These are used to report wages and taxes of your employees for the previous calendar year. Moreover, you should send copies of Form W-2 to your employees by January, 31 of the year following the reporting period. For further guidance, visit the Employer W-2 Filing Instructions and Information page.
• State Taxes. Depending on your location, you may have to pay additional state income taxes. Visit our State Guides to learn more per individual state.

4. As an employer you’ll be responsible for paying the Unemployment Insurance Tax (UI Program) under the Social Security Tax. This tax provides unemployed individuals with temporary payments. The UI rates and the amount of taxable wages are determined annually. New employers pay 3,4% of wages for two or three years. Each employer may only pay up to $434 per wage per year. Which means that if you have 3 employees the maximum UI tax you’ll need to pay is 3 x 434 = $1302. Each employer is notified of the new rate each December. You’ll need to consult our State Guides to find out how to pay the UI Tax in you State if you’re required to.

5. If you’re a new employer there are certain federal and state tax filling requirements that apply. Each quarter, if you’re paying wages that are subject to income tax withholding, social security and medicare taxes, you must file IRS Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return. If your cleaning business is still small (annual income tax liability of $1.000 or less), you may file IRS Form 944 instead of 941. You must also file IRS Form 940, Employer’s Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return, if you paid wages of $1,500 or more in any calendar quarter, or you had one or more employees work for you in any 20 or more different weeks of the year.

6. Federal Employment and Labor Laws are the next piece of the puzzle. You can visit the United States Department of Labor for detailed information regarding this, extremely important, matter. Once there, make sure you visit the section about Equal Employment Opportunities as well.

Note that there’s a regulation about Workplace Posters under which you’re obligated to have posters in the wall that let your employees know of their rights and their employer’s (you) obligations and responsibilities. Note that posters are subject to updates; you’ll have to download, print and place on the wall the newest versions of these posters. You can download them here.

7. Federal Law requires employers to verify each employee’s eligibility to work in the United States. Thus, within three days of hire, employers must prepare an Employment Eligibility Verification also referred to as Form I-9. This form is NOT submitted to the Federal Government. You will have to complete and keep an I-9 form for a period of three years after the date of hire and one year after the employee’s termination of employment in your cleaning business. The ICE (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agency conducts workplace audits to ensure you do keep the I-9 form as you should AND that your I-9 matches the Government’s records. You can download the I-9 form or get further instructions on completing it by visiting the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. If you need help verifying a newly hired employee, you may use E-Verify (you’ll need to register).

8. If you’re hiring employees, make sure to register with your State’s New Hire Program. Under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, you are obligated to report newly hired employees as well as re-hires within 20 days of their hire or rehire date. Visit our State Guides to find out where and how to register with your state’s New Hire Reporting Program.

9. If your business has employees, you are required to obtain Worker’s Compensation Insurance coverage through a commercial carrier. This can be done on a self-insured basis or through the State Worker’s Compensation Insurance program.

10. If you’re business operates in either of the following states, you’ll also need to obtain Disability Insurance. The states that require you to obtain disability insurance (as of May 21, 2012) are the following: California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island. Disability insurance requires you to provide partial wage replacement insurance coverage to eligible employees for non-work related sickness or injury.

11. Make sure you are regularly keeping records of tax and labor information. Certain federal guidelines require you to set up record keeping anyway. You may read this guide on tax recordkeeping and this guide on labor recordkeeping. Finally, take a look at your State’s Recordkeeping policies through our State Guides.

12. You should adopt Workplace Safety Practices as described in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Quick Start Guide. This is a step-by-step guide aiming to help employers to identify and comply with OSHA requirements on workplace safety that may apply to your cleaning business.

13. Depending on the type and volume of your business, you may have to comply with certain environmental policies and/or get relative licenses or permits. See our State Guides for more information regarding your State’s environmental regulations and make sure you ask specifically for those when you get in touch with local authorities.