What Skills Do You Need To Be A Cleaner For A Cleaning Business?

Being employed as a cleaner for a cleaning business is a fantastic and rewarding career, one which requires a few different skills to be successful. If you are interested in being a professional cleaner, learning these skills can be crucial, and include some of the following.

The necessary skills to have for a professional cleaner are time management, independence, versatility, and problem-solving.

Time Management

Time management skills are important to have for any position and any career. They allow you to make good use of your time to accomplish a significant amount of work. While this may not seem incredibly important to you as a worker, especially if you are paid by the hour, it is important to your boss. This is especially true if you are working as a cleaner, who generally work independently, as being able to work efficiently and effectively is going to be something that your manager is going to notice, allowing you to leave a good impression.

What does good time management look like?  

Prioritizing certain tasks

The first step to good time management is deciding which tasks need to get done as soon as possible and which ones can wait. If you as a cleaner are given a list of tasks that you have to do in a certain amount of time, being able to prioritize them may make the whole process that much easier.  

Problem-solving  

When you are working, being able to solve problems as they come along is going to save you a lot of time in the long run. It’s an essential skill to have and we will touch on it later in the article!  

Multitasking

When working as a cleaner, you are likely going to be given a list of tasks that need to be done and asked to do them all. While it may be important to focus while performing certain tasks, being able to multi-task is important, as it allows you to complete your tasks quickly and more efficiently.  

Goal Setting  

Another important aspect of time management is being able to set goals for yourself. If you can decide on what you want to get done for a day or even for the hour before you start, you are going to be significantly more likely to complete that goal at the end of the day. 

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Independence 

Generally, cleaners work in teams when they have large jobs that need to get done. However, that does not mean that these teams work together for the entirety of the job. Rather, it is important for each team member to have their responsibilities and to make sure that these responsibilities are fulfilled at the end of the day. As such, being able to work independently is a very important skill for any cleaner to have.

What does independence look like?

Independence looks like a few different things in the work environment. It includes things such as:  

• Working by yourself  
• Solving your own problems 
• Taking initiative  
• Self-monitoring  
• Taking ownership of your mistakes  

All of these ideas are but a small aspect of what independence in the workplace looks like, but practicing these ideas can make you a better and more independent employee!

Versatility

Working as a cleaner for a cleaning business is going to require you to have a wide range of skills and abilities as each job presents its challenges and needs. Because of this, it’s important that as a cleaner you can be versatile in your abilities, being able to do whatever is necessary for the job at hand.

Why is versatility important?  

As a professional cleaner, you are going to have to be able to perform a large number of different cleaning services. Very rarely, if ever, are you going to be hired to perform a single type of cleaning service. Instead, you are going to have to be able to do whatever is asked of you. This may range from simply mopping a tile or ceramic floor to providing a deep disinfecting of a room or an entire office. Thus, when it comes to being a professional cleaner, versatility is as important as it can get, allowing you to perform whatever tasks you may need to ensure that you are going to be successful at whatever you are going to be asked to do.

How can you increase your versatility?  

As it is simple as it may seem, the best way to increase your versatility on the job is to simply learn as much as you can both on the job and outside of the job. When you are on the job, learn as much from the other members of the team as you can, especially from the older members who have been there for a significant amount of time. When you are outside of the job, spend some time researching different cleaning methods and try to learn any potential skills that may help you on the job. This will increase your overall versatility on the job and will make you a more valuable asset to your company as a whole.

Problem-solving 

This skill ties in directly with the ability to work independently. Problem-solving is an important skill to have for any potential job, so operating as a professional cleaner is no different. Problem-solving is especially important for a professional cleaner because most cleaning crews rely heavily on their crew’s ability to work independently, hence, skills number two. By now, I am sure you understand that cleaning crews tend to work independently.

But what you may not be sure of is how this relates to problem-solving. To make sure this idea gets across well and effectively, we are going to dig more deeply into how problem-solving relates to a cleaning business and independence.

Why problem-solving is an important skill for a professional cleaner?

As we’ve discussed, as a professional cleaner, you are going to do a lot of your work independently. Because you are going to be doing most of your work independently, you are going to have to solve problems by yourself. Your boss and even your coworkers, are not going to like it if you have to come to them every time a problem arises. Instead, they are going to prefer that you take care of it yourself. Solving your problems is also going to be much quicker than if you had to rely on someone else to do so for you.

Check out this article to know how to get a business license for your cleaning business in South Carolina.

Frequently Asked Questions

What education do you need to be a professional cleaner?  

In a day and age when a four-year degree is necessary for almost any and every career, a professional cleaner is a rare gem. Most professional cleaners only need to have a high school diploma or an associate’s degree, which is a two-year program. Most on job skills that you will need to be a professional cleaner are skills that you are going to learn on the job in most cases.

What are the best college majors for professional cleaners?  

As you have just read, many professional cleaners only have high school diplomas and can do their job extremely well. However, some professional cleaners do have a college degree. So we are going to take a look at some of the best common college majors for those who hope to become professional cleaners:

Business  

Cleaning services are at their core, businesses. Learning how to operate these businesses can be an incredibly helpful skill to learn if you plan on operating your own cleaning business at any point.  

Economics

Just like a business degree, learning about the economy and how its run can be helpful for anyone who is entering the professional field.  

Accounting  

Accounting may be one of the safest majors that you can follow, as accounting is always going to be a necessary skill. Just as with any business, a cleaning business is going to have to file taxes, which is a skill someone with an accounting degree may help with. Thus, an accounting degree makes you that much more attractive to any potential cleaning business that is looking to hire an employee. 

What is the salary of a professional cleaner? 

Although plenty of professional cleaners do operate their own business, we are going to simply talk about the salary of those who do not own their own business, and instead, work for a professional cleaning company. The salary of a professional cleaner is going to change based on a few factors, including where you are, your necessary duties, and your previous experience.  

However, for the purpose of this article, we are going to keep this as simple as possible. The average rate for a professional warehouse cleaner starts off at about $9.00 per hour, which is on the low end of the professional cleaning rate. The average salary for a professional commercial cleaner is about $12 per hour, which is a bit more than a warehouse cleaner but is only in the middle of the professional cleaner scale. The third and highest professional cleaner rate is for house cleaners, which operate with an average salary of about $19 per hour, which is much higher than the other types of a professional cleaner.

To learn more on how to start your own cleaning business, check out my startup documents here.

Please note that the contents of this blog are for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. Any action taken based on the information provided in this blog is solely at your own risk. Additionally, all images used in this blog are generated under the CC0 license of Creative Commons, which means they are free to use for any purpose without attribution.