Cleaning Business Success Story: From Taking the Leap to Building a Growing Women’s Team
Updated: 5 days ago
Two years ago, Yuri Rodriguez was cleaning houses as a subcontractor for another company. Today she runs DIQ Cleaning Services in Indiana with a team of five women, herself included. Her team works in apartment communities and student housing through PINCH.
DIQ commercial cleaning company logo
The call that changed her business
Yuri had started finding her own residential clients when she applied to PINCH. For a while, she didn't hear back. Then PINCH called about an apartment property in Indianapolis that needed a cleaning team right away.
The property needed five people. Yuri had three or four. PINCH said that was fine, and Yuri offered to start that same day. She went to the property and started working.
Learning to run a team, not just clean
For Yuri, the biggest change was managing a team. Cleaning houses, she worked with one or two people. Apartments meant a set number of units per day, more people to organize, and more supplies to manage.
At first she sent four people to each job. When she reviewed her numbers, the work wasn't paying off. She watched how her team worked, changed their methods, and focused on finishing more units in less time.
The results show in her first student housing job. Yuri and two team members helped finish a contract with eight units left. They completed all eight in 10 hours. Today, one pair on her team cleans six apartments in a day, and Yuri inspects every unit after it's done.
She made the same kind of change with supplies. In her first week on apartments, product costs were too high. Now she measures out the chemicals for each job herself, and her supply costs have dropped.
Photos that protect her team
Early on, a property would send Yuri 10 to 15 units, and only four would be ready to clean. With photos and videos in the PINCH app (Job Tracker), she could show which units weren't ready. She walked the property manager through the units to explain the delays.
Since then, the property sends units that are ready. Photos also help when maintenance visits a unit after her team cleans it. Yuri can show how her team left the unit. Her advice to other cleaning companies: document every job with photos and videos.
More time to grow the business
With PINCH, Yuri no longer handles paperwork and communication with each property office. When something comes up, she tells PINCH, and PINCH handles it. She still finds clients on her own and still cleans, but less. Her focus now is keeping her team working while she looks for new contracts.
Yuri works within 30 to 40 minutes of Indianapolis. Many of her team members have children, so she plans travel ahead and checks everyone's availability before taking a job farther away.
What's next for DIQ
Yuri's goal is to grow to at least 10 people and stop cleaning units herself. She also wants to offer more services. When a property needed emergency carpet cleaning, she bought a machine and did the job. For now, she is focused on growing in Indiana, with office cleaning as a possible next step.
Grow your cleaning business with PINCH
Do you run a cleaning company with a team of three or more? PINCH connects cleaning businesses with apartment, student housing, and commercial properties. We handle scheduling, invoicing, and collections, so you can focus on your team and the work.
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