If you dream of one day being your own boss and setting your own schedule, starting an oven cleaning business may be an appealing route towards achieving your goals.
However, you must consider every aspect of your new oven cleaning business before getting started. While this can seem daunting at first, our handy guide will help you through the process and is backed by decades of hands-on experience.
1. Make an Oven Cleaning Business Plan
Before you start your business, you will need to conduct extensive research into how you will operate. Your business plan needs to include:
- What services you will offer
- How you’ll stand out from your competitors
- Where your business will be based
- How much you will charge customers
- Marketing techniques to generate leads
- Projected profits and losses
Crucially, you’ll need to decide whether you join a franchise or set up a business on your own. If you opt to join a franchise, the franchiser will use their experience to help you with your business plan, taking the guesswork out of your proposal.
Sometimes, you can buy an oven cleaning business outright and essentially pick up where the previous owner left off. This can include a company van, cleaning equipment, and most importantly, the customer database.
Paul Leney bought the Ovenu Lancaster franchise when the previous owner retired. Looking back on his decision, he said, “At the time of going through the motions of becoming a franchisee, the cost of the initial outlay was quite scary, but we needn’t of worried, our diary had plenty of work already booked, and we were earning a lot more than our previous jobs.”
If you are buying from an independent business owner, pre-existing customers may not automatically instill the same level of trust in you as they did in the previous owner. However, if you take over a franchise business, customers will be more likely to trust you from the start, as franchises have standardised training and practices.
2. Get Oven Cleaning Training and Equipment
Professional oven cleaners disassemble ovens to thoroughly restore all their parts to new condition. If an oven isn’t put back together properly, it can damage its performance or even result in it stopping working altogether.
Training by experienced, successful oven cleaners is essential for a new oven cleaning business to flourish. Independent business owners will need to find a training course on their own and vet potential trainers’ credibility.
On the other hand, members of the Ovenu cleaning franchise benefit from a five-day training course, with knowledge underpinned by decades of tried and tested methods. Our course is particularly unique as we deliver real-world experience to all of our trainees. On the final day, they’re paired with an experienced franchisee and complete jobs for real clients.
Finding the Right Tools for the Job
To clean ovens to a professional standard, you’ll need high-quality cleaning equipment and the knowledge of how to use it. Some cleaning products contain toxic and caustic chemicals, which can be damaging to the environment both inside and outside your client’s property.
Independent business owners will need to research the best products to use themselves. Investing in a set of tools that later perform poorly could be a costly mistake.
Franchisees benefit from using cleaning products that have been proven effective by countless other franchise members. Ovenu’s signature heated process tank was first developed in 1994 by Ovenu’s founder (and former engineer) Rik Hellewell, and has been updated over the years for superior performance.
Furthermore, Ovenu has a signature range of core products, free from caustic soda and harmful ingredients, exclusively available to franchisees. As they’re designed by us, we can keep costs low, and on average, our franchisees spend just 3% of their annual turnover on supplies.
3. Check Your Legal Requirements
When you start a new business, you need to register your company, get the appropriate licences and business insurance, and handle all your paperwork. This is usually fairly time-consuming and can be very confusing. Failing to take the appropriate steps in setting up your company can also have serious repercussions.
A significant benefit to joining a franchise is that they handle your paperwork for you, so you can get on with running your business without worrying about legal compliance. They can also help you find the best insurance for your company.
All Ovenu franchisees have access to a client experience management system. This streamlines communication and ensures all franchisees are adhering to the Data Protection Act and General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
4. Deploy Effective Marketing for Your Oven Cleaning Business
Without customers, a business won’t last long, and without effective marketing, potential clients won’t be able to find your company. Different businesses and territories will require different tactics, including:
- Flyers
- Social media
- Blog posts
- Print and digital advertisements
- A company website
- Branding, including uniforms and car livery
A key component of effective marketing is consistency – something independent business owners may struggle to deliver due to time constraints.
Ovenu benefits from having a central marketing team, generating leads, and boosting franchisees’ visibility. They’ve adopted a multi-channel approach to attract 40,000 visitors to their websites every month, including:
- Print media advertisements in home and garden magazines
- Display ads on premium directory websites, including Yell.com
- Manufacturer referrals
They also have retained experts specialising in search engine optimisation, social media, and advertising – something an independent business may struggle to afford.
5. Manage Your Clients and Your Schedule
One of the biggest benefits of running your own business, as a franchisee or independently, is deciding when and where you work. Effectively organising your schedule can cut travel time between jobs and maximise time available to help customers.
As your experience grows, you’ll naturally become better at managing your business and building your relationship with clients. You don’t need to have a background in management to get started.
Ovenu franchisees can draw on the wealth of experience of their fellow franchisees through the extensive company support network, available via WhatsApp and Zoom. Sandra Gee launched Ovenu Lytham in 2019, and found it “reassuring that, should I have a question or need some advice, I can often find the answer from my fellow franchisees… had I been on my own, not only would it have taken up a great deal of time, but I may have ended up seeking costly professional advice.”
Start Your Oven Cleaning Business Today
With the right tools and know-how, you can start an oven cleaning business, take back control of your schedule, and become your own boss.
Launching a company independently does give you complete oversight of your business, but it does mean you have to do everything yourself. All of the marketing, product research, paperwork, and scheduling fall on your shoulders – and that’s before you even begin cleaning ovens.
Joining the Ovenu oven cleaning franchise gives you all the same benefits as creating an independent company, except with expert training, advice, and a business model that’s been proven successful dozens upon dozens of times.