Can anyone help with Janitorial Services?

January 16, 2026

by a searcher in New York, NY, USA

Is anyone looking or currently operating in this industry that is open to sharing their experience? I've heard some stories on the typical podcasts and the space looks interesting given the recurring service nature. It's also one of the few service verticals where multiples haven't gone ballistic (yet..) Is the low barrier to entry and high labor turnover just a nightmare not worth dealing with? Any particularly attractive verticals or operating systems to look for?

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Reply by a professional
from University of Akron in Charlotte, NC, USA

For me, janitorial falls into one of the most highly volatile and demanding industries. Low paid, low skilled, transient labor model who operates with relative autonomy and little supervision. It can be a nightmare for the owner at smaller organizational size with limited resources. The only way to insulate yourself would be at scale but it doesn't reduce the dynamic. It just shields you from it. Operationally it falls into the same or similar dynamic of a restaurant which is one of the hardest and most demanding operating models. I usually advise to avoid but at scale it is more viable.

Reply by an investor
from University of California, Berkeley in Bend, OR, USA

Hi Joao, one of our companies is janitorial and we love it. We acquired it over four years ago and it is doing great. That said, it is very operationally complex. We have 100 employees in dozens of facilities every single night. There are a million challenges that come with that as you can imagine. My recommendation in janitorial would be to buy BIG. You need a company that has a solid middle management team in place, otherwise you will spend years doing just that...(ask me how I know!)

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