How to Start a High Dusting Business

Are you looking for a lucrative niche business in the specialty cleaning industry?

Does this describe you?

✔️You like a physically active lifestyle

✔️You like working for yourself on you own terms with a flexible schedule

✔️You live in an area or are willing to travel to areas with commercial buildings

✔️You're looking for a moderately low start-up cost business with tons of potential for earning great money

✔️ You recognize the opportunity of doing something safer and better than the status quo

✔️Possibly you're looking for a great seasonal add-on service to your existing cleaning business

Then high dusting could be a great choice for you. SkyVac®️ High Dusting to be more precise.

The small, medium and large businesses in your area likely have the need for high dusting services by a professional cleaner.

Who Needs High Dusting?

• Manufacturing facilities
• Storage facilities
• Airports
• Retail malls, shopping centers
• Museums, trampoline parks, entertainment facilities
• Coliseums, event centers, stadiums, ballparks
• Churches
• Movie theaters, pavilions
• Hotel lobbys
• Historic buildings
• Residences
• and more

When ceilings and walls (including ductwork, high windows, A/C handlers, etc) sit for a period of time dust particles, food particles, lent, powders and a wide variety of contaminants will start to build up. These contaminants can fall to the floor and re-spread through the air.

There are many businesses that manufacture food and animal or other types of products that cannot take the risk of becoming contaminated. There are many federal, state and self-regulatory agencies that are committed to insuring the safety of certain industries. For example the FDA (Federal Drug & Food Administration) is the most commonly known organization who oversees food manufacturing conditions. There are many industry standards organizations that have been formed to self-regulate their respective industries. In almost all these cases facilities are required to abide by cleanliness guidelines or face penalties if not up to standard.

Traditional High Dusting

Traditional methods for high dusting include the use of ladders, scissor lifts and boom lifts to wipe, vacuum or blow down dust and debris that has accumulated in the high reach areas of buildings. Years of warehouse dust, manufacturing dust and debris sits on rafters, windows and their ledges, walls, pipes and ceilings in just about every high ceiling facility across the country.

In the past, companies have resorted to cleaning these spaces using various ladders and lifts. This method creates many challenges:

• Safety- Ladders create slip and fall hazards, lifts can be dangerous to move and position
• Prohibitive Costs - large machinery is costly to rent transport, operate or purchase. Skilled operators charge high hourly fees
• Inefficient - Ladders and large machinery is quite slow (compared to SkyVac methods)
• Tight fitting - large machinery is difficult to position in cramped, equipment filled buildings where obstructions prevent the operator from getting the job completed

A Safer Alternative

SkyVac's high-reach, long-reach and high ceiling cleaning systems are perfect to keep your team safely planted on the ground while performing these traditionally unsafe services. Click here to see a comparison of SkyVac's high dusting systems.

 

Combat Dust Allergens in the Home

House dust is a major cause of year-round runny or stuffy nose, itchy, watery eyes and sneezing for allergy sufferers. Dust can also make people with asthma experience wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath.

House dust is a mixture of many substances. Its content varies from home to home, depending on the type of furniture, building materials, presence of pets, moisture and other factors. A speck of dust may contain fabric fibers, human skin particles, animal dander, mites, bacteria, parts of cockroaches, mold spores, food particles and other debris. Of these, animal dander, house dust mites and cockroaches are the most common culprits. A person may be allergic to one or more of these substances, and, if exposed to the dust, will have an allergic reaction.

Tiny microscopic creatures called dust mites are an important cause of allergic reactions to house dust. They belong to the family of eight-legged creatures called arachnids. This family also includes spiders, chiggers and ticks. Dust mites are hardy creatures that live well and multiply easily in warm, humid places. They prefer temperatures at or above 70 degrees Fahrenheit with a relative humidity of 75 percent to 80 percent and die when the humidity falls below 40 percent to 50 percent. They are rarely found in dry climates.

As many as 10 percent of the general population and 90 percent of people with allergic asthma are sensitive to dust mites. Recent studies in the United States suggest that at least 45 percent of young people with asthma are allergic to dust mites.

Your opportunity is to offer residential high ceiling cleaning as a standalone or add-on service to your customer.

Clean Commercial Rafters and High Ceilings

• Facility vibrations can shake and loosen built up dust , which causes contamination to the production floor below.
• Piles of dust and dirt can become breeding grounds for mites, mold, bacteria, viruses, and other pollutants.
• Some dusts can become a fire hazard when built up on high surface areas. Numerous explosions have occurred when built up dust created an explosive dust cloud.
• OSHA & the NFPA can give violations and fines for having unsafe levels of dust on ceilings and rafters.
• HVAC systems can clog up with chunks of dust and debris that comes loose
• Debris can cause odors, break down the surface it’s on, causing rust or rot.
• Visible dirt collected on surfaces can make a workplace unattractive.
• To prepare surfaces for painting or other maintenance work.
• Prevent poor indoor air quality, which according to the EPA is a leading environmental threat and cause of airborne sickness.

Insurance

It's important that you consult with your insurance agent about proper insurance coverage for your business. 

Workers' compensation for small business is a form of employer insurance coverage that pays benefits to workers who are injured or become disabled as a result of their job. By accepting workers' compensation benefits, the employee waives the right to sue their employer for damages. This is paid for by the employer. Every state has its own workers' compensation laws.

Workers' compensation for self-employed individuals is an optional but often recommended coverage. Buying a policy provides you medical and partial wage coverage if you aren't able to work after an injury.

General liability insurance is something you should consider for your business. This type of policy typically covers you and your company for claims involving bodily injury and property damage resulting from your service.

 

Transportation

There are multiple ways to think about your business transportation needs.

• Will it be you solo or will you have multiple crews?
• How many services will you offer?
• What is your budget?
• What are your personal driving preferences?

You could consider the following setups:

• SUV or Small Mini Van - Possibly use a vehicle you already own, low startup cost
• Truck - Possibly already own or purchase used or new based upon budget
• Low ceiling or tall ceiling van - Great alternative for protecting your equipment but ramp likely needed for loading or unloading
• Open-faced flat trailer - Must have a proper vehicle to tow, easy to load and unload, no weather protection
• Closed trailer - More costly but better protection for your equipment
• Large boxed truck - More costly but offers lots of protected room for your equipment

Marketing

Aside from the actual physical work, one of the most important aspects of the high dusting business is pricing, marketing, earning new customers and retaining existing customers. We find that many people in this industry are good at doing the actual cleaning but less experienced or enthusiastic about getting the business.

There are both small and large high dusting projects. Residential and small commercial accounts are good day-to-day projects to tackle. Not as frequent but higher dollar-sized large commercial projects can be extremely lucrative.

It's important that you use a good CRM (Customer Relationship Management Software) to help easily track all communications and nurture customer relationships. You are likely to need software to manage your business with the back-and-forth interactions, estimates, quotes, scheduling, invoicing and payments aspect of the business.

Optionally, you could join us for a SkyVac Training Day (typically offered once per month in our Sanford NC, USA facility) where we train new start-ups and existing companies who want to add other services to their portfolio. We charge $75 for this full day workshop. It includes up to 2 people from your group and lunch. This fee is deducted from any purchase you make during your visit.

We've had customers from all parts of USA & Canada visit us over the years.