Albert Einstein once said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”. Have you considered that these challenging times might offer a great chance to boost your income? Is it time to look at expanding into cleaning?
The realities of COVID-19 bring the need for commercial and residential properties to be more hygienic, disinfected and sanitised than ever. This means a ton of business opportunity.
That’s why Rapid Solutions has many clients stepping into cleaning and sanitisation services. Understandably, their customers want to use contractors they’re already familiar with.
For those comfortable with diversification, it’s a no-brainer to take advantage of the increased need for cleanliness at ‘essential’ premises, other businesses and homes.
Could you be playing a part?
Achieving cleaning endorsement
Expanding into cleaning from, say, pest management or maintenance services isn’t as easy as buying cleaning products and heading off into the unknown.
It won’t be a simple extension of your current role – there are a few steps to take to protect yourself, your business and your customers.
However, these are achievable within little time and if you take the right path you could reap the financial rewards. Supplementary income might be right in front of you, waiting.
Expanding into cleaning services
First, you will need to add ‘Cleaning’ as a ‘Business Activity’ to your professional indemnity and general liability insurance policies via an insurance endorsement. It’s vital to protect yourself against insurance claims before you begin your new line of work.
When the pandemic hit, Rapid Solutions worked quickly with our insurer to update our cleaning endorsement so it references the Australian Government’s requirements.
Secondly, your job paperwork must specifically include a disclaimer, signed by the customer on every job: “this work is not warranted to protect against or eliminate COVID-19 (the “coronavirus”). See more on government health requirements in our website post here.
As for how to ensure something is COVID-19 clean, consider doing some infection control training and refer to our blog on how to run a COVID-19 aware business. The latter contains links to government websites that outline techniques.
Make sure you know how to tackle a job before you arrive there – have your treatment plan ready.
And, just as you would any other relevant business activity, you’ll also need to conduct a thorough chemical risk assessment then keep a clear record of the chemicals used.
Finding further opportunity
We know times are uncertain for property services workers. Even if you’re not interested in broadening your horizons into cleaning, think about upgrading your skillset now. It will help ensure you’re making the most of your business potential.
If you have more time on your hands, today really is the perfect time to upskill.
For example, should you get your pest technician licence in preparation for the summer peak season? Interestingly, there may be extra work opportunities now – we’ve heard that with most people working from home many are noticing the need for pest control.
And we all know work gets busier from September onwards when it comes to pesky termites. Maybe it’s time to undertake a timber pest manager course?
Or, perhaps your office managers or office staff need to increase their pest management knowledge? It might also be an ideal time for your team to finetune their reporting insights.
With social distancing rules making traditional face to face learning difficult, online training is a fantastic path to choose. Thankfully, Rapid Training already offers a complete online solution (one of the few that does), with our professional trainers available anytime to answer questions.
We’ve over 20 years’ experience in training, so we know what you need.
Call us now
Call Rapid Solutions now on 1300 309 169 to see if you satisfy the underwriting guidelines for expanding into cleaning. Seriously consider optimising the opportunity to boost your income. We’ll support your business moves in any way we can.
And know that we’ve got your back during these challenging times.
