As the owner of a rental property, the two most important aspects of your business are the quality of service you provide to your customers (tenants) and the quality of time you give to your business. Far too many rental property owners see themselves only as landlords and not as business owners. This attitude can impede the current state of the rental and the future prospects of their investments.
Property owners who want to succeed must recognize the need for balance between their role as investors and their role as landlords. They must determine which tasks demand their direct input and which ones don’t. If a rental owner does not make the distinction between things they should do themselves and things they should let others do, they will impair their own effectiveness.
What are the things that you should never do as the owner of the property? If you do not have ready answers to this question, you may be costing yourself invaluable opportunities. This is because every maintenance task in your rental offers you the chance to either act as a handyman or as a business owner. The difference is that businesses have processes and employees. Their owners know they should not do everything themselves.
And one area where this is often reflected is in how you manage cleaning in the rental. Keeping a rental property clean is one of those jobs that appear deceptively simple. Owners often think they can do it themselves and do not need the help of a professional cleaning service for this task. But there are two things that are wrong with this way of seeing the issue:
- First, cleanliness is at the core of the quality of service a landlord delivers to tenants. Something as critical as cleaning should not be left to chance. It should be handled by someone with the highest level of competence.
- Second, every minute a landlord spends cleaning is a minute they could have used to develop the business. The owners sacrifice the time they should have dedicated to improving their processes of cleaning a home.
From a business standpoint, it makes no sense for landlords to have anyone other than a professional cleaner clean their rentals. The value of doing so exceeds the small cost of hiring a professional cleaning service.
What are the benefits property owners can gain from hiring a professional cleaning service for their rental properties?
The benefits of hiring a cleaning service for your rental business
1. It offers opportunities to improve the business
Everyone becomes better at whatever they give their time to. As a landlord, if you give your time to cleaning, you are going to get better at it. Conversely, if you give your time to networking, marketing, improving your sales funnel, and solving tenant issues, you will get better at those things. As a landlord, you must determine what you want to get better at. What you get better at determines the future of your business. Should it be cleaning the rental or managing the people who clean the rental?
2. It saves the business more money
The number one reason why rental property owners think they don’t need a cleaning service is because of the cost. But hiring a professional cleaning service is actually an investment that saves property owners money in at least four ways:
- Quick turnover: A cleaning service helps rental property owners achieve lower vacancy rates. That is because the service can clean the rental the same day it becomes vacant and have it ready for the next tenant in less than 24 hours.
- Tenant retention: Tenants are more comfortable in a home that is professionally cleaned on a regular schedule. Happy tenants will stay longer in a property. Using a professional cleaning service can boost tenant retention and improve the bottom line
- Wear and tear: Most landlords underestimate the role of lingering dirt in wear and tear on a rental. Dust that clings to surfaces or materials makes them more susceptible to wear. And amateur cleaners may use cleaning products that may damage the materials.
- Direct savings: Landlords do not have to waste money on buying cleaning products and equipment that will eventually be underutilized. Cleaning services have machines that landlords would never think to buy and they can therefore deliver better results.
3. It sets a standard of professionalism
Tenants like a home that is well run; where the owner or manager does not handle all the maintenance themselves. They know the property will be more efficiently managed. The landlord’s attention to the home, as demonstrated by hiring a competent cleaner, sets a precedent for how tenants are expected to manage the home. Furthermore, a professionally cleaned home attracts higher rents and better quality tenants. Better quality tenants will care for the rental better.
Finally, cleaning services can be trusted to deliver top-notch cleaning that reaches all the unreachable corners of a home. The effect of using a cleaning service is that property owners can make the best first impression with prospective tenants. Stepping into a home cleaned by a professional cleaning service will be like walking into the rooms of a five-star hotel.