Checklist
A CRM for cleaning companies when the quote lands mid-clean
The hoover's on. A quote request lights up. You can't stop, and by the time you're in the car you don't know if you're first or last.
A CRM for cleaning companies is the list you open in that gap, so the request isn't still a badge on the phone.
How the list fits your actual round
HSE's cleaning guidance tells cleaning businesses to comply with health and safety law. The questions at the end name the risks that page points to.
You aren't missing calls because you're careless. You're on a job that needs your hands and your eyes. Build the catch around the gaps you have: the walk to the car, the lunch stop, the end of the last house.
That's also why cleaning company software should be usable on a phone, with a short list, not a back-office suite you open on Sundays. If it needs a long setup before you can see today's quotes, it won't be used. The point of a simple list is that you can add a name and a postcode in a minute.
The badge on the phone isn't a colleague, and it won't quote the oven.
Ten minutes: set a reminder for the gap after the next house. That's when you'll open the list, not during the clean.
What the customer has been told to expect
Citizens Advice advises homeowners in England who are getting work done. The examples are building and home-improvement trades, not cleaners specifically. The questions aren't a cleaner script. The habit still matters: a written offer, and a real way to reach you.
A text that says "£20 an hour, let me know" is thin. Follow it with a written quote a person could rely on.
The page tells people to get quotes before they choose a trader, and to be wary of anyone who won't put the agreement in writing. A written contract need not use legal language. It should outline what's being paid for, and it can refer back to the quote. It tells people to agree timings and to take the trader's full contact details before work starts.
Your process should make that easy. Say which rooms, how often, whether products are included, and what happens if they cancel a week. You can still start with a short text from the car.
Ten minutes: take one old text quote and add the rooms, the price, and the first date in a follow-up you'll send.
What a quote commits you to
Business Companion's guide to supplying services sets out the standards when a trader supplies a service to a consumer. The questions at the end hold the clause detail, including complaints.
Write the quote so the price, the tasks and the date are deliberate, because a customer may rely on them.
Write these on purpose:
- Rooms or tasks included, and tasks excluded. Ovens, inside windows, and end-of-tenancy extras are where arguments start if you were vague.
- How often, and the first date.
- The price and what it assumes, such as a furnished two-bed flat rather than a house after builders.
- How they accept. A reply to the message is enough if you say so.
- How they reach you if something's wrong. Use details you check.
Don't promise a spotless result you can't define. "We'll leave it as we agreed in this quote" is safer than a flourish.
Ten minutes: open tomorrow's quote and add one line that says what isn't included.
Where a CRM for cleaning companies still misses requests
Count the doors, not the leads. A domestic cleaning enquiry can arrive through:
- A website form that emails one person.
- A Facebook or Instagram message.
- A missed call to the mobile in the van.
- A text from a current client who wants a friend quoted.
- An evening email while you're finishing a house.
That list is the doors you might have switched on. It isn't a count of how many firms win the job. You don't have that number. You do have the doors you chose to watch.
Pick the ones you'll check. Two is better than six. Say on the site which one you prefer.
Every door you keep must land on the same list the same day. A CRM is that list. Cleaning company software that only does rotas, and leaves quotes in a social app, hasn't caught the request.
Slow replies is the general version. The cleaning version is sharper because the work is physical and often inside someone else's home, so you can't stop to type a long email. The capture can be short. The proper quote can follow when you're parked.
Ten minutes: write the two doors you'll watch this week, and ignore a third until those two are empty.
A short capture, then a proper quote
Between houses, you only need:
- Name.
- Mobile or email, one of them.
- Postcode.
- What they want: regular clean, deep clean, end of tenancy, commercial.
- When they hope to start.
- Where the message arrived, so you can reply on the same channel once.
That's enough to know whether you cover the area and whether you've got capacity. It isn't a quote yet. Send a holding line if you can't price it yet: "Thanks, I've got this. I'll send a written price by tomorrow morning." Only say that if tomorrow morning is real.
Then, when you can think, send the quote with the fields above. Keep a copy on the lead, not only in the sent texts. If they say yes, the row becomes the job.
If they say no, close it. If they say nothing, use a single nudge and a close, as in how to follow up a lead. Don't invent a weekly mail to everyone who asked for a price.
You know the car-park version. Engine off. Three notifications.
You answer the one you remember and hope the other two were suppliers. They weren't.
Ten minutes: save that holding line in your phone, with tomorrow morning only if you mean it.
Personal details from a quote request
A cleaning quote usually includes a home address. That's personal information. GOV.UK is the overview. The questions at the end hold the duties.
The address is there so you can quote and, if they book, so you can attend. Don't use it for a purpose you didn't explain.
The daily version is plain:
- If you bring in another cleaner, that's sharing. Say so before you do. Don't forward a full enquiry to a group chat "to see who's free" if that chat includes people who don't need the address.
- When a quote dies, you don't need an alarm code. You shouldn't have collected one at quote stage. Collect access details only when the job is booked.
- If the number was wrong, fix the row. An accurate list is how you avoid turning up at the wrong door.
Put a line on the form and in the chat: your business name, and that you'll use the details to reply about this quote.
Ten minutes: add that one sentence above the form, or as the first line of the chat.
Evenings, weekends, and the website
People look for a cleaner when they're at home thinking about it, which is often outside your round. That's a pattern you can see in your own inbox. It isn't a national figure.
A form that waits until you finish the last house can be enough if your holding reply is reliable. A chatbot fits when you want the visitor to get an answer while you're still in someone else's kitchen. It can say which areas you cover, what you need in order to price, and that a person will confirm the figure.
It should use your words. Chatbot or contact form compares the two.
If you use a bot, forbid it from quoting a price you haven't approved and from promising a start date. Those are the promises a customer may rely on. A wrong price in a chat is still something you may have to stand by. The safe line is: "Tell me the postcode and what you need. I'll confirm the price in writing."
Our own tool answers website visitors at any hour in your words and shows who needs a reply. Saving leads into the CRM comes with the Solo plan. That matches the gap in a cleaning day.
It isn't a rota, a payroll, or a chemical safety system. HSE's page is where you start for the safety side. The CRM doesn't replace it.
The better end of the round is small. You park. You open one list.
Two new names have a postcode. You send the holding line. The price waits until you can think.
The hoover stays in the boot.
Ten minutes: write the one line the website is allowed to say about price: that a person will confirm it.
The catch list
Run this at the end of the round, and once more if you work weekends.
Quote-request catch list for cleaners
| Moment | What to check | Done when | Step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Between houses | New calls, forms and messages are on one list with a postcode. | Nothing is still only a badge on the phone. | 1 |
| Holding reply | Anyone you cannot price yet has a true time for the written quote. | You have not promised later today if the round is not finished. | 2 |
| Written quote | Scope, exclusions, price and first date are in the message you keep. | You could hand the same words to the customer and to a colleague. | 3 |
| Yes or no | Accepted jobs have a start. Refusals are closed. Silence has one nudge at most. | The list is not a graveyard of maybes from last month. | 4 |
| Address care | Only people who need the address can see it. Access codes are not on the quote. | You would be content to explain that choice to the customer. | 5 |
| Safety day | The round itself still comes first. You are not answering mail on a ladder or mid-task. | Messages wait for the gap, not the other way round. | 6 |
If step 6 and step 1 fight each other, shorten the capture again. A one-line note in the gap beats a perfect email you never send.
Ten minutes: run step 1 on today's phone before you lock the van.
A week to put it in place
Day one, choose the doors and write them on the website. Day two, make the list and move every open quote onto it, even the messy ones. Day three, rewrite one real quote so it has inclusions, exclusions, price and date.
Use that as the pattern. Day four, add the holding line you're willing to send from the car. Day five, run the checklist at the end of the round and see which step you skipped.
Fix that step, not all of them.
You'll still miss the odd message. The aim is that a miss is rare and visible, not normal and invisible. Cleaning quote requests are part of the job, the same as the clean. Give them a minute in the gap, a written offer when you can think, and a list that still makes sense on Monday.
Ten minutes: do day one now. Two doors, written where a visitor can see them.
Common questions
Do I need specialist cleaning company software?
You need one list for every quote request, a way to reply when you're on a job, and a record of what you offered. That can be a simple CRM. The label matters less than whether you use it between cleans.
What should a cleaning quote include?
What you'll clean, how often, what isn't included, the price, and when you can start. Business Companion says a service must be carried out with reasonable care and skill. Information you say or write, including quotations and promises about timescales, can be binding where the consumer relies on it. If you didn't agree a price, it must be reasonable. If you didn't agree a time, the work must be done in a reasonable time. The law doesn't imply a particular result in every case, but a promise you make can still bind you if the customer relies on it. Under the Provision of Services Regulations 2009, traders must respond to consumer complaints as quickly as possible and make their best efforts to resolve them, including emails, letters and returned calls.
What if the request comes in on a Sunday?
Capture it the same day if you can, even with a short note that a person will confirm the price on the next working day. Don't leave it as a notification you might see on Monday night.
Are domestic cleaning enquiries personal data?
Yes when they include a name, phone, email or address. GOV.UK says a business that stores or uses personal information must follow data protection rules, including information kept on customers and addresses on file. Keep it secure, accurate and up to date. Say who you are and how you'll use it, including if you share it. People can see it, correct it, ask for deletion, and ask that you not use it for certain purposes. Tell the ICO how you use personal information, and respond if someone asks what you hold. Misuse can mean a heavy fine or compensation.
Can the website answer while I'm in a house?
An AI chatbot can reply at any hour in your own words and put the lead on the list. You still confirm the price and the date. Don't let it invent either.
Why can't I answer mail during the clean?
HSE's cleaning guidance says cleaning businesses must comply with health and safety law. The page points to common risks: slips and trips, skin disease, back pain, work at height, and window cleaning. Those are reasons your attention stays on the work. Reply in the gap, not mid-task.