Unattended Death Cleanup

First 30 days

Get OSHA bloodborne pathogen training, a written exposure-control plan, biohazard waste disposal account, liability insurance, and state/local compliance review. Build a simple site around three services: unattended death, suicide cleanup, and biohazard odor removal. Do not use horror-movie language. Use calm, factual copy and answer the phone.

Call funeral homes, victim advocates, apartment managers, probate attorneys, sheriff non-emergency desks, and restoration companies. You are not asking for bodies. You are offering the cleanup nobody on their team wants to explain twice.

Days 31–60

Buy PPE, disinfectants, containment supplies, HEPA air scrubber, ozone or hydroxyl unit where legal and appropriate, and a cargo van setup. Create estimate templates with minimum charges, hourly labor, waste disposal, odor treatment, and materials. Photograph only permitted non-identifying damage for documentation.

Run small paid search campaigns for high-intent terms in a 40-mile radius. Answer every call live or use a 24/7 answering service.

Days 61–90

Formalize referral relationships. Bring donuts to property managers; bring competence to funeral directors. Add subcontractors for flooring, drywall, and contents removal. Track close rate, average ticket, gross margin, and response time. Your moat is not glamour. It is showing up calmly at 9:40 p.m.

Typical operators report minimum job charges around $1,500–$3,500, with larger decomposition or flooring-removal jobs often landing in the $5,000–$15,000 range. A small shop doing 2–4 jobs per week can become meaningful fast, but volume is uneven and on-call response matters. Labor, PPE, disposal, insurance, vehicle costs, disinfectants, and lead generation are the big expenses. Gross margins can look high, but net margins usually compress once you include paid search, after-hours labor, medical-waste disposal, and slow insurance collections. A practical first-year target is fewer jobs done perfectly, not a van full of bad estimates.

• Bloodborne pathogen and hazmat training: $200–$1,500
• Full PPE kits and respirators: $500–$2,500
• EPA-registered disinfectants and sprayers: $400–$2,000
• HEPA air scrubber: $900–$2,500
• Ozone or hydroxyl odor unit: $700–$4,000
• Biohazard waste containers and disposal account: $300–$1,500 setup
• Cargo van or enclosed trailer setup: $5,000–$25,000
• Liability insurance and bonding: $2,000–$8,000/yr

Within 48 hours, build a one-page website, Google Business Profile, and call-only ad for “unattended death cleanup near me.” Then visit 20 apartment managers, 10 funeral homes, 5 probate attorneys, and 5 restoration contractors with a one-page service sheet and after-hours number. Your first customer will likely come from someone who already has the problem but no vendor. Keep the pitch simple: discreet, compliant, insured, fast. Follow up every three days for two weeks.