Foreclosure Clean Up Business Advice: How to Staff Foreclosure Cleaning Jobs for Profit

When you start a foreclosure clean up business, there are going to be times when you’re going to have to hire help. If you’ve never done this before, it can literally devour your profits and ruin your business reputation.

Following are a few things to keep in mind when hiring help to assist you in your foreclosure cleaning business.

1. Use a Staffing Agency: One of the easiest ways to hire workers – quickly – is to go through a staffing agency. Agencies like Labor Ready are ideal for staffing the types of jobs foreclosure cleaning companies handle because they specialize in providing staff in industries like construction, cleaning, lawn care, etc.

Going through an agency is beneficial because they handle all the upfront paperwork, employee screening, drug testing, etc. You tell them what you need and they supply the workers. You pay them and they pay the workers. You don’t have to worry about W2s, 1099s, checking references, etc.

While this is a simple, quick way to hire the help you need, it is not without its drawback.  One of the main drawbacks is that you’ll most likely be paying workers by the hour. Hence, if you misjudge how long it’s going to take you to do a job, it can eat into your profits. For example, if you’ve estimated that it’s going to take 7 hours to complete a job, but it winds up taking 10, then that’s more money out of your pocket.

And, if you have to pay say two workers, that’s six extra hours of work. If you’re paying each worker $10/hour, that’s an extra $60 – directly out of your profits.

Hence, you it’s important to be as precise as possible when putting together your foreclosure cleaning bid. Be sure to build in enough of a profit so that if a job runs over in time, it doesn’t eat up too much of your profits.

Note: When hiring labor from a staffing agency, ask about each worker’s work history with the agency, eg, how long have they temped through the agency; how many times have they been sent out in the last few months; what’s the feedback from other clients; etc.

The reason you want to do this is, recruiters work on commission (I know, I was a recruiter for over a decade). So it’s to their benefit to have as many workers on someone’s payroll as possible. Sometimes, they may not do their due diligence in checking a worker’s history. This is particularly true with day laborers, the kind of workers you’ll likely be using.

A worker could literally have walked through their doors yesterday and if your job order crosses their desk and it seems like a fit, they’ll send them out to you. This is before any background or reference checks have been done.

So be sure to ask. Remember, it’s your foreclosure cleaning businesses’ reputation that’s on the line.

2. Don’t Rely on Friends and Family: Many small business owners – and foreclosure cleaning business owners are no different — make the mistake of hiring friends and family.

This can be a huge mistake, for it can not only damage your personal relationships, but it can damage your business reputation as well.

Remember, you’re operating a business – your very livelihood. And, you’re not a friend or family member when you’re working. You’re officially the boss.

Some  friends and family can’t make the transition form “family/friend” to “employee.” For example, what if you have to ask them to redo something that wasn’t done correctly the first time. Or, if you have to ask them to stay later because the job is taking longer than expected.

What if they refuse?

See how easily this can cause problems.

It’s just too risky to mix business with personal relationships. Where possible, avoid it at all costs.

3. Pay a Fair Wage: Just because you may be able to get away with paying minimum wage, it doesn’t mean you should. Build a decent wage into your foreclosure cleaning bid so that you can fairly pay workers. Remember, this type of work can be backbreaking.

Paying a little more will give your company a good reputation so that when it’s time for you to hire, you will have loyal workers who will not only do a good job for you, but they’ll recommend others to you on that basis also.

If you keep these things in mind when staffing your foreclosure cleaning businesses’ jobs, you should have no problem hiring competent, affordable help – quickly.

P.S.: Learn more about how to operate a successful foreclosure cleaning business.Read how one foreclosure cleaning business owner makes up to $40,000/wk.

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Copyright © 2010 Yuwanda Black for Foreclosure Business News. Article may not be reprinted or reproduced in any manner without the express, written consent of the author.