Crime Scene Cleaning
The shortcut: Build referral relationships with coroners, police PIOs, and funeral homes before you spend a dollar on consumer marketing. Families don't shop for this on Google — they take the number a first responder hands them.
Industry: Cleaning & Maintenance
Investment level: Mid — $5,000-$15,000
Time to launch: 2-4 months
Best for: People who can hold steady around grief, follow a written safety protocol exactly, and treat private homes with respect on the worst day of someone's life. You're a fit if you've worked EMS, fire, military medical, hospice, or veterinary, and can be reachable on short notice. What you'll likely make: ~$4-$7K/month after expenses by month 4, and $8-$12K by month 9 if you've earned 3-5 steady referral sources. Full math is in Section 3.
Market Opportunity
Most people who need this service have never heard of it until a police officer or coroner hands them your card. The work is real and steady, but the door doesn't open through ads — it opens through the people who arrive at the scene first.
- US Janitorial Services (NAICS 561720), the parent industry: $112.0B in 2026, growing about 1.8% this year — IBISWorld Janitorial Services Market Size
- 62,099 cleaning firms across 66,471 establishments (2020 Census). Biohazard is a small slice of that, and most of the slice is 1-3-person crews working a county or two.
- The biggest national player, Aftermath Services, runs in roughly 50 markets — Aftermath locations. BioOne franchises run about 80 locations at a $35,000 initial fee plus 6% royalty — BioOne terms. Most counties still have no full-time local provider.
- Insurance covers the bill in most cases. Homeowner policies pay for trauma at home, auto for vehicle accidents, estates for unattended deaths when no insurance applies.
Target customer: You're not selling to the family directly. Your real customers are the people who refer the family — county coroners and medical examiners, police public information officers, funeral directors, property managers, and local NAMI chapters. The end payer is usually the homeowner's insurance adjuster, sometimes the estate, occasionally a landlord.
Why this is a good time to start: OSHA stepped up enforcement of the bloodborne pathogen standard in the early 2020s, pushing informal "guy with a hazmat suit" work out of the market in many states. Insurers now ask for proof of OSHA training and licensed medical-waste pickup before approving claims. If you arrive with documented training and a real waste manifest, you out-credential most local competition on the first call.
Start with this idea — free signup, no card required.
