How to Start a Dryer Vent Cleaning Business

With both residential and commercial applications, a dryer vent cleaning business can be a wonderful opportunity to become self-employed. It is a service that every building will need at some point in time. It also requires a specific skill that not every business owner or home owner has in their skill set. The benefits of having a clean dryer vent are clear. Lower energy costs, a lower risk of a fire developing, and an increase in the lifespan of the clients all come from an affordable service that you can provide if this is your business.

What Do You Need to Get Started?

The first thing that you are going to need to do is register your new business venture with your local Secretary of State. This means you will need to apply for a business license and this usually happens at your County Clerk’s office. Some jurisdictions also allow an online application process that will allow you to create your new business name and fill out your new business forms.

Part of this process also means applying for what is called an Employer Identification Number through the Internal Revenue Service. You are required to have this number for all of your business documents, including your financial accounts. It is how you will be identified when you file your taxes every year. You do not need to have employees to have that EIN, but hiring just one employee requires you to have one in place.

As a final introductory step, you will also need to have insurance. Some jurisdictions may require that this insurance also include a surety bond. Surety bonds act like a line of credit. They can be accessed by a customer who files a claim against the dryer vent cleaning work that you do.

You Will Need Specific Skills

Dryer vent cleaning is a specific skill set that may require training on your part before you can begin your business. You may also need to apply for additional licensing for permits in order to conduct business on a daily basis. These all have added costs to them, but that also means that you have the chance to charge a premium labor rate because of it.

Although a dryer vent cleaning business could be run out of a home office, it is better to have a small commercial retail space so that you can store equipment off-site. Leasing a space and having at least one company vehicle is a small monthly charge to pay – one that will often be taking care of by the profits that come in from your work.

At this point, it is important to make sure that you have a comprehensive business plan in place. There are going to be some hard times that you face as you get your business to start growing. How you react to those hard times will be dictated by the quality of the business plan you have created. If you know what you need to do to attract new customers or upsell existing customers for more services, then your dryer vent cleaning business will be better positioned to succeed into the future.

You will also need cleaning equipment to get the job done. Personal protective equipment, like dust masks or gloves, will help to keep you safe as you are working. They also may be required by the laws of your local jurisdiction before you can get to work. Look to purchase directly from distributors that service dryer vent cleaning businesses so that you won’t have to pay full retail price on the food items.

Let Your Community Get to Know You Better

If people don’t know what kind of services you offer, then they really have no motivation to hire you to clean the dryer vents. Some people might not even think that it is a job that needs to be done. By networking throughout your local community and getting to know business owners and homeowners who might need your specific skill set at some point, you can show them immediately what the benefits of having a clean dryer vent can be.

The best way to show a potential customer what the value happens to be in your service is to break it down into dollars and cents. If you can show people that you can save them money by cleaning out the dryer vents on a regular basis, then hiring you becomes the common sense thing to do. You’ll make money and they’ll save money.

Do You Need to Hire More People?

Because you have a specific skill set, any employees that you may hire may need to go through a rigorous testing process before you can actually employee them. This might include background checks, credit checks, child abuse registry checks, and even a drug test. This is because your people will be going into homes and businesses that might put people at risk. If an employee does something inappropriate on the job, it is your business that will be at risk. Having these effective checking measures in place might be the law, but it’s also common sense.

It’s also important to make sure that you price your services at inappropriate target point. You will likely have competitors within this industry in your community. If your prices are not competitive with theirs, your potential customers will look to the competition’s prices first before they look to you for the dryer vent cleaning needs. The same is true if you price your services to low. You might be trying to undercut the competition, but the end result might be a reputation of poor service instead.

It takes some effort to know how to start a dryer vent cleaning business, but once you get this business off the ground, it can be immediately profitable. Only 5% of businesses that start today will still be in operation five years from now. By following tips like these, you can reduce your risks of becoming part of the 95% that failed.