As commercial and residential construction increase year by year, cleaning services continue to be in high demand. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the industry will grow by 7% between now and 2028, which is faster than most other industries. Chances are, if you run a cleaning business, you’re just going to get busier and busier.
Every business owner loves to hear that, but it does bring challenges you can’t overlook: specifically, how do you manage a business that is getting increasingly complex?
Whether you’re looking for commercial or home cleaning software, you need something that will keep you organized and operating with maximum efficiency, moving from one property to the next. But how do you choose one that works for you? We’ve done the research for you.
Here are the top cleaning business software options for your small business:
What to look for in a great cleaning business software
The cleaning business is, at its heart, a field service operation, and as such you will have many of the same needs as other field service industries. But the cleaning business has a few unique needs, so look for work order software with three characteristics in particular.
1. Efficient scheduling
Cleaning businesses need software that does a good job of scheduling jobs. To be successful in this industry, you really need to pack your schedule as much as possible, so you’ll need a software with good technician scheduling that allows you to fit as many jobs into a day as possible — and provides you with a good top-down view of what all your cleaners are doing so you can easily figure out who’s available and who’s not.
2. Administrative tools
It’s important that your business be clean and well-kept — not just your customer’s houses and businesses. You need software that can help you keep everything in order, from taxes to insurance to day-to-day operations. Look for options that make it easy to run the administrative side of the house.
3. Ease of use
Your business involves constantly rushing from job to job, so the last thing you want is a complex system that is difficult to use. You’re going to want a simple interface that puts everything in front of you.
Also, since most cleaning jobs are fairly straightforward and there isn’t a huge amount of variation, you often won’t need the expensive, feature-laden versions that are out there. A maid service software program that will receive calls, track customer information, handle administrative tasks, schedule cleanings, and dispatch your cleaners is probably all you’ll need.
Our 5 top picks for the best cleaning business software options
Most field service management software options should meet your needs, but we chose the following five options based on how well they were likely to meet the needs of a typical cleaning business.
1. mHelpDesk
The reason mHelpDesk tops this list is because while they are a bit on the pricey side, we found this software option to be the easiest to use in all of field service management.
It organizes all of your invoices by jobs, and it has a bar of icons at the top of the screen that lets you easily access your invoices and see how many have been sent and which are overdue. They are further organized by date of issue, customer, balance, and if payment is due.
The software also has a mobile app that will help your cleaners on the road see exactly what their workload schedule is from their phones. You can easily switch to the next job when you’re done, and it even provides a Google Maps image of the destination.
mHelpDesk’s dashboard provides a good top-down overview of your business.
From a home office standpoint, the desktop version of the software has a dashboard that provides a good overview of what all of your cleaners are scheduled to be doing today.
Pricing: At $374/month, it’s certainly on the pricey side. But the good thing is that, for a small operation, that will cover all of your employees if you have 10 or less. After that, you’ll need to pay $35 per person, and you’ll need custom pricing past 15 users, which may mean you can get a better per-user deal.
Read The Blueprint’s full mHelpDesk review
2. Jobber
Jobber is perfect for a business that just wants something easy to use and inexpensive for managing their cleaners. Their desktop version is good for the ones managing the operation at the home office, while their mobile app helps cleaners keep on top of their jobs.
We like how this cleaning management software option organizes invoices, showing clearly what’s been paid and what hasn’t. You can sort invoices by “Awaiting Payment-Past Due,” and there’s a search bar so you can dial up the person you’re thinking of quickly. You can bill a job through the app, and can choose to invoice now or later via text message or email.
Jobber’s invoicing tool helps you organize invoices.
Jobber provides a great top-down view of your work orders, showing which jobs are active, as well as if there are invoices that need to be sent out. The app allows the cleaner to see the day’s schedule, and there are also handy functions for time sheets and clients.
The customer database is thorough, and displays clients in a simple list with their name, phone, properties, and status. Clicking on an individual customer will bring up other details.
Pricing: In terms of pricing, you’re not likely to do much better than Jobber. A license will cost just $29/month for one user, and only $99/month for up to seven users. And if you’re even bigger than that, you can probably afford the $199/month for up to 30 users.
Read The Blueprint’s full Jobber review
For Whom?
ZenMaid is primarily a cloud-based cleaning scheduling software that helps you schedule your employees for jobs, automate daily operations, and even helps bring new clients on board.
Key Features
Send work orders to your team in the field
Send reminders to customers
Automatically sends follow-ups after appointments
Billing and invoicing
Scheduling and dispatch
Work order management
Pros & Cons
They constantly improve the software
Simple to use
Easy to schedule
Missing hours when it comes to payroll
Difficult to find customers prior cleaning history
Pricing
Price: ZenMaid charges per employee a month. If you’re solo then you’re looking at $49/month and if you have just one employee working with you, it’s $58/month. 20 plus employees will cost $229+/month.
Free Trial : 14-day
Free Plan: yes
For Whom?
Deputy is well known as an all-in-one software solution, like Connecteam, as it allows you to manage just about anything from one place. Autofill shifts, track your budget, track hours, quickly find replacements, and more – these are some of the highlights of joining Deputy as a cleaning company.
Key Features
Autofill shifts based on your team’s availability, profile, & pay rate
See real-time attendance, including who is on-site, running late, or on break
Cleaners can easily clock in and out right from their mobile phone
Manage shift swapping and receive alerts for unplanned staff schedule changes
Attach PDFs, videos, and important documents to your posts so staff can see the latest company announcements
Pros & Cons
Easy to distribute shifts
Manage employees more efficiently
Training helps employees know who they can delegate tasks to
Suspectible to time lags
More features on iPhone than Android
Pricing
Price: If you’re just looking for scheduling or time clock then it will cost $2.50/user/month for the bundle of each feature. However, if you need scheduling and time clock together then it’s $4.50/month/user.
Free Trial: 30-day
Free Plan: No
For Whom?
DoTimely is a software designed to help professional cleaners manage their customer data, day to day schedules for employees, manage invoices, and collect payment.
Key Features
Scheduling and dispatching
Invoices and payment
Reports and dashboards
Real-time notifications for customers and employees
Customer information management
Pros & Cons
Helps keep businesses organized
Good amount of features
Timely customer support
Drains mobile devices battery
Prone to technical glitches
Pricing
Price: From $15 and $10 for any additonal user per month.
Free Trial: No
Free Plan: Yes
Conclusion
Cleaning business? How to choose the best software for cleaning business? Those who want to start a cleaning business or already running a small cleaning business knows that its requires time and money. The same things required in starting any kind of a new small business.