Contract work is the best work there is for a cleaning company or a trade business. Regular, predictable, and one good client often leads to the next site.
The hard part is getting in front of the person who decides. That’s rarely the MD. It’s the office manager, the practice manager or the property manager, and they’re busy.
An ICP helps you find those people, at the right sites, at the right time.
The sites worth going after
Start with what you can service well. Draw a circle round your base and only look inside it. Then focus on sites like these:
- Offices with 10 to 200 people
- Dental, vet, medical and physio practices
- Schools and academy trusts
- Managing agents looking after blocks or business units
- Gyms, showrooms and other customer facing sites
Each has a clear decision maker. Offices have an office or facilities manager. Practices have a practice manager. Schools have a school business manager. Managing agents have property managers.
Signals that it’s a good time
Contracts come up when something changes. Watch for:
- A company moving into a new office or opening a new site nearby
- Commercial units being let (agent boards and listings are a good source)
- New clinics, practices or gyms opening
- A block or business park changing managing agent
- Contract renewal season, which for schools is often ahead of the new financial year
A new site is the best one. Nobody has an incumbent supplier yet.
Where to find them
Apollo or a similar tool, filtered by location and those job titles, will turn up most offices. For the rest:
- Companies House, searched by location and SIC codes like 86230 (dental practices), 75000 (veterinary), 68320 (property management on a fee basis) and 93130 (fitness facilities)
- The government’s Get Information about Schools service for schools and trusts
- Commercial property listings and local business news for new openings
What to say
Mention the site, not the person. Never knock their current supplier.
Subject: Cleaning at Pydar House
Hi Claire,
Saw Carrick Dental has moved into Pydar House. We clean four practices within a mile of there, all out of hours, with the same team every visit and the paperwork your CQC inspector will ask for.
Would a free site visit and a fixed monthly quote be useful?
Paul, Fal Commercial Cleaning
Not the right person? Just reply and I won’t email again.
The rules, briefly
You can email limited companies, LLPs and public bodies (including schools) without asking first, as long as you identify yourself and make it easy to opt out. Sole traders and ordinary partnerships need to have opted in. A named manager is still personal data under UK GDPR, so keep only what you need and link to your privacy notice.
This isn’t legal advice, and the ICO is updating its guidance after the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, so check the latest before you send.
Get the template
Download the commercial cleaners and trades ICP. It covers site types, decision makers, signals, where to look, who to leave out and the rules, with spaces for your services, patch and accreditations.
Fill it in, paste it into Claude, Copilot or ChatGPT, and try:
- “List the types of sites within [area] I should target first and how to find each one.”
- “Score this site against the ICP and suggest who to email.”
- “Write a first email to this office manager using the ICP.”
Run a different trade? Build your own with the ICP generator.
When you’re ready, Waving sends plain text emails from your own domain, one at a time, with you approving each one before it goes.
Not your trade?
Build your own ICP in a few minutes. Free, no sign up, nothing leaves your browser.
Open the ICP generator