HAPPILY EVER AFTER!
Hiring a house cleaning service is supposed to make your life easier, not more difficult. The relationship between client and server should be a "win-win" alliance, and here are some tips for making it so.
Finding Good Help is a Major Challenge.
Whether you’re managing a business or simply your household, you know how true that old cliché still is today. And when you do find good help, there is an even greater challenge in keeping it.
When it comes to hiring anyone in the service business — be it a plumber, electrician, or whatever, it’s amazing how hard it sometimes is to reach someone. Have you noticed how long it takes for some service providers to get back to you when you leave a message — if they ever bother calling you back at all?
Use the responsiveness to your initial inquiry as a gauge of what to expect in the future. Any house cleaner, be it an individual or a company, should get back to you within a reasonable time. The promptness — or lack thereof — should serve as a signal with respect to the kind of reliability you might expect should you decide to hire this individual or company.
Good help is hard to find. It’s even more difficult when recruiting help is not your full time job, as it is with professional house cleaning companies. Furthermore, background checks and criminal history investigations are more difficult for private individuals to undertake than for companies who have developed and utilize a systematic screening process in connection with their hiring practices.
Hiring a reliable cleaning company (instead of trying to find an individual house cleaner), which in turn bears the burden of finding, training and managing its help, can relieve you of that ordeal. Another side benefit in choosing a company over an individual house cleaner is that a reliable company will take care of its personnel’s social security taxes and accept responsibility for workers’ compensation claims — resulting in less hassle and added peace of mind for you.
Define the Job
When interviewing a potential cleaning service, it’s important that both you and your cleaner clearly agree on what will be included for the quoted fee. Generally, your house cleaner is not responsible for "daily" clutter chores, like picking up after the kids, washing dishes or cleaning Fluffy’s litter box. The general description of the job is "house cleaning", and you need to determine up front exactly what this description includes on each visit.
It will be far easier for both you and your house cleaner when the expectations are spelled out and mutually understood right from the start.
Be Prepared to Pay a Fair Price
You work hard for your money, and you deserve to get the most for whatever you choose to spend it on. However, the old adage that says "any man can make something cheaper and sell it for less, and he who considers price only is this man’s lawful prey" is certainly true when it comes to getting good value from your house cleaning service.
There are many factors that go into calculating a fair price for cleaning your home, both initially, as well as on an ongoing weekly or biweekly basis. The major cost to a cleaning service is labor, the cost of acquiring, training, supervising and paying a qualified and professional work force. You can’t attract or keep quality people with minimum wage pay — not in the cleaning industry, or any other type of business. Yet, labor is only one of the costs that cleaning rates must cover.
In addition to payroll costs, your cleaning service has other overhead expenses: transportation to and from your home, payroll taxes, including FICA, FUCA and state unemployment taxes, supplies and equipment, marketing expenses, office and administrative costs, workers compensation, bonding and general insurance costs — just to name a few. It is not unusual for it to cost your cleaning company $30 or $40 just to get a team to your home — before they even start cleaning it!
On top of all that, the company is entitled to expect a small profit of $10 or $15 per cleaning visit, an amount you surely shouldn’t begrudge them.
The really important factor relative to your cleaning fee is that you get good value for your money — and that should be more than just a good cleaning job.
What Determines Good Value?
Obviously, since you’re paying for "house cleaning", you expect a good cleaning job. Your expectations relative to what was agreed upon at the beginning of your relationship with your house cleaning service should be fulfilled. But the overall value is determined by more than just a clean home on every visit.
If you hire someone who agrees to clean for you every Wednesday, but can’t be depended upon to show up faithfully on the agreed-upon day, it really doesn’t matter how good a cleaning job that person or company performs. It does not make your life easier when you’ve got company coming and you arrive home from work to find out that your house cleaner failed to show up that day!
Knowing that the folks to whom you entrust your home and valuables have been screened, bonded, professionally trained and supervised can give you greater peace of mind — certainly a major element in making your life easier. A reliable cleaning company would never assign anyone to clean your home to whom they wouldn’t entrust their own.
Accidents can and do happen, and when they do, "good intentions" may not cut it. Many house cleaners do not carry workers’ compensation or general liability insurance. What happens if a cleaner slips and falls on a wet floor or while cleaning a bathtub? What happens if your house cleaner accidentally breaks a valuable family heirloom? Knowing that your cleaning service is responsible enough to carry the proper insurance and legally required workers’ compensation coverage is important to your peace of mind.
Effective Communication Makes Everyone's Life Easier
A major cause of misunderstandings that lead to dissatisfaction in the relationship between client and house cleaner is a lack of communication. Communication is a two-way street, and since you may not be home on most occasions when your cleaning team visits, "written" communication is important. Certainly, leaving a note to express a concern or register a complaint is important. But it’s equally important that you periodically communicate your written appreciation for good service. House cleaners respond well to compliments just like anyone else. In fact, the old saying that "honey attracts more flies than vinegar" is indeed true.
People like to be recognized, and written compliments can go a long way in motivating the folks responsible for looking after your house cleaning chores. Use written notes to convey special requests or to address specific concerns. But also look for opportunities to inspire your cleaning people with positive comments as well. You might be surprised how far this gesture will go in motivating your cleaning team to go that extra mile.
When your cleaning team leaves you a note, it also shows that they care about you and your home.
Special Requests
Your cleaning team is responsible for cleaning several homes each working day. While they will be happy to accommodate special requests you may have from time to time (such as cleaning the oven, inside the refrigerator, and washing windows, for example), it will be easier for them to accommodate your wishes if you provide them with advance notice.
Rather than leaving a note asking them to do an extra assignment today, call the office in advance or leave a note asking them to do the task on their next regular cleaning visit. In this way, your team can plan their day’s cleaning schedule ahead of time. As you can appreciate, if two or three clients surprised them with extra duties on their scheduled day, they may have to skip someone else’s regular visit if they tried to fit in that extra work.
Keep in mind that you will normally be expected to pay a little extra for work that is not normally included. That is only fair, after all.
Your Cleaning Schedule
Most cleaning services work five days a week, Monday through Friday. That means that they need to clean approximately 20% of their clients each day. Obviously, not everyone can be cleaned on Friday. Of course, not everyone wants to be — and for good reason. Monday, for example, is an excellent day to schedule your cleaning because it means the house gets spiffed up after the weekend and you get to come home to a cleaner home all week long. Then again, your cleaner can’t clean everyone on Monday, either.
A factor that may determine your specific cleaning day is the weekday on which a cleaning team is already in your area. If your cleaners are already cleaning several homes in your neighborhood on Wednesday, then that is likely to be your assigned cleaning day. It is not economically feasible to send a team several miles out of their way when they’re working in another part of the city on Tuesday, for example, if there is a team in your neighborhood on Wednesday.
It’s also important to understand that while your house cleaner may be able to tell you whether they will be at your house in the morning or afternoon on your scheduled day, it is virtually impossible to set a specific time of arrival. They can’t drop what they’re doing before they’re finished at the Brown’s house in order to get to the Jones’ house by 10:30 AM, for example. What is important is that if they promise to come on Thursday, then you have every reason to expect them to show up sometime on Thursday — and that is important.
Cancelled Appointments
Just as it might make your life miserable if your cleaners did not show up without notice for a scheduled visit, it is equally frustrating for your team to arrive only to find that you "forgot to call and cancel" this visit. For this reason, your cleaning company may have a policy of charging clients who fail to provide advance notice in canceling a cleaning visit. Conversely, if your team fails to show as scheduled, you may have an equal right to some type of recompense — like a reduction on the price of their next visit, for example. Of course, emergencies can arise which may make it impossible for one party or the other to keep a scheduled appointment. Since those types of emergencies are rare, empathy on the part of the offended party should be the order of the day. It would be a real shame to ruin an otherwise good relationship between you and your house cleaner as a result of circumstances beyond anyone’s control.
Ask your cleaning company about their "no-show" policy.
Security Issues
Since most clients are not home when their house cleaners visit, there must be some way for the team to gain entry into the house. The majority of clients provide their cleaning company with a house key — which a reliable company will treat with the utmost security. Besides management, only the team supervisor should have access to clients’ keys. Leaving a key under the front doormat, in a mailbox, or some other location is not a safe alternative.
If you’re not comfortable giving your cleaners their own key, and there’s a chance you won’t be home when they arrive, you need to have some agreeable and viable alternative for allowing them entry into your home. Being "locked out" for a scheduled cleaning visit is a very good reason for the company to insist on charging a missed-appointment fee.
Professional house cleaning companies pre-screen prospective employees prior to sending them out into clients’ homes. A background check that discloses impeccable honesty and integrity is critical to the screening process. The standards demanded of applicants and employees of your cleaning service may indeed by higher than those required by firms employing people in the security field.
One lesson we learned from The Bible is that even "perfect" humans can give way to overwhelming temptation. If Adam and Eve would chance eternal damnation over an apple, it stands to reason that we should not tempt lesser mortals with a "karat"! Never leave jewelry or cash where it can be easily accessed by anyone.
Accidents
Accidents can happen, even with the most careful of house cleaners. Most often they occur because the homeowner fails to notify their cleaners about "booby traps" that may be present: the lamp shade that collapses if you merely look at it wrong — the picture that’s hanging by a thread which falls off the wall the minute the dusting person touches it. Be sure to advise your cleaning service about any such potential perils that may be present in your home.
Many client/house cleaner relationships are terminated when something in the home is broken and the "good intentions" of the cleaners aren’t enough to pay for the damage. It’s important that your house cleaner be adequately insured, including a provision called "care, custody and control" (which all insurance policies specifically exclude, and which must be written into the policy as an addendum). Insurance is a substantial expense for those responsible house cleaning services who carry it, but it’s worth the peace of mind to you to pay a little more for a service that is properly insured.
Damage to household objects is one thing, but it can be far more serious (and costly) if someone is injured on the job. Your house cleaner could slip and fall on a wet floor or while cleaning a bathtub, and that’s why it’s also important that your cleaning service cover its employees with required workers’ compensation insurance. You might be surprised — indeed, shocked — by the increased premium in your homeowners’ policy if someone is injured on your property and a claim is made against your insurance company for bodily injury and/or medical expenses.
A major cause of injury to house cleaners occurs during winter months when they attempt to enter a client’s home with ice-covered walkways or steps. Show common courtesy to your cleaning team by making sure that outside steps and entryways are safe to walk on and that a path is always shoveled through the snow on your established cleaning day.
Pets
Family pets can pose a problem for the house cleaner who doesn’t know whether the big, barking dog is excited friendly — or excited angry. Should Fluffy the cat be let in (or let out) by the team? If Fido has been locked in a room, you don’t want the cleaner to drop dead of a heart attack when she opens the door, only to be greeted by a lunging Rottweiler!
If possible, leave your pets outside on your cleaning day. It’s a lot easier to clean the house without the cat chasing the mop or having the dog freak out when the vacuum cleaner is turned on. If pets will be in the home when your house cleaners arrive, be sure that they have been warned ahead of time — like, "don’t let the cat out when you come," or "don’t worry about Rex’s barking."
Tipping
For those working in the service industry, be it as a waiter, taxi driver, bellman, hair dresser, manicurist, parking attendant or a house cleaner, tips are always appreciated. It is appropriate to tip your house cleaners when deserved. While 15% to 18% is considered the norm for good service in most industries, 10% of the cleaning fee is generally deemed appropriate for house cleaners. However, the decision as to whether to tip and how much to leave is entirely a personal matter; it is not a mandatory obligation.
Should you choose to leave a gesture of appreciation for your cleaning crew, a gift of cash rather than a check is the practice preferred by most house cleaners.
Common
Questions
Q:
If I
do
decide
to
hire
a
regular
service,
do I
need
to
sign
a
contract?
A:
No!
We’d
never
require
you
to
sign
anything.
We
want
to
earn
your
business
each
and
every
time
we
visit.
Q:
Do
you
provide
laundry
or
ironing?
A:
We
will
be
happy
to
put
your
linens
in
the
laundry
after
they
are
changed
if
you
request.
As
far
as
household
laundry,
we
simply
are
not
in
your
home
long
enough
to
properly
wash,
dry
and
iron
the
laundry.
Q:
Do
you
always
send
the
same
person?
A:
We
always
send
a
team
of
two
or
three.
We
strive
to
have
at
least
one
person
that
is
familiar
with
your
home.
Q:
Can
I
trust
the
employees
you
send
out
to
my
home?
A:
The
safety
and
security
of
your
home
is
our
number
one
priority.
In
addition
to
carefully
screening
our
employees
we
also
run
a
complete
background
check
before
any
employee
is
allowed
to
enter
your
home.
Security
is
further
enhanced
by
our
liability
and
bonding
insurance.
Everyone
working
at
Murphy
Maids
Inc.
is a
full
time
employee,
this
means
they
work
to
your
satisfaction.
Every
visit
you
will
also
receive
a
copy
of
your
work
order
along
with
information identifying
each
team
member
in
your
home.
Q:
How
many
employees
to
you
send
to
my
home?
A:
Typically
a
team
of
two
or
three
trained
employees
will
clean
your
home,
one
of
which
will
be a
team
leader.
Q:
How
long
do
they
stay?
A:
We
do
not
charge
an
"hourly
rate"
for
our
services.
The
price
we
bid
is
to
clean
your
home
the
way
we
promised
given
the
information
you
have
provided
to
us.
Because
our
team
is
trained
to
clean
in a
thorough
but
efficient
manner,
we
can
clean
most homes
in no
more
than
three hours.
Each
team
member
knows
their
responsibilities,
each
doing
one
phase
of
the
cleaning,
never
backtracking.
This
allows
them
not
to
waste
any
time
and
frees
your
home
up
for
you
to
enjoy.
Q:
Do
you
provide
your
own
cleaning
supplies?
A:
Yes,
we
use
the
best
"clean
team"
products
available
to
get
the
job
done
right. Please
let
us
know
if
you
have
a
preference
for
a
certain
product
that
you
would
like
us
to
use.
We
will
do
our
best
to
accommodate
your
requests.
Just
let
us
know
where
to
find
them.
Q:
What
if I
am
not
satisfied
with
the
cleaning
that
was
done?
A:
Our
employees
are
well-trained
and
equipped
with
a
work
order
for
your
particular
house.
Each
team
also
has
a
team
leader
to
check
the
quality.
However,
they
are
still
human
and
from
time
to
time
may
miss
something
or
it
may
not
be
done
to
your
satisfaction.
If
you
aren’t
100%
satisfied
with
our
services
for
any
reason,
Murphy
Maids
inc.
will
return
to
correct
the
problem
to
your
satisfaction.
Q:
Will
you
be
at
my
house
at
an
exact
time?
A:
We
do
our
best
to
be
as
flexible
as
we
can
with
the
schedule
to
accommodate
the
needs
of
all
our
clients. Because
we
strive
to
clean
each
house
properly
and
give
each
customer
the
service
they
deserve,
we
cannot
always
give
you
an
exact
time
of
arrival.
We
can
give
you
an
approximate
time
if
needed.
Q:
What
if I
can’t
be
home
during
those
hours?
A:
Most
of
our
customers
have
busy
lives
and
hire
us
to
take
care
of
those
weekly
chores
they
don’t
have
the
time
or
energy
to
do
themselves.
Most
supply
us
with
a
key
to
their
home.
This
key
is
numbered
and
kept
in a
lockbox.
There
is
nothing
on
the
key
that
would
let
someone
else
know
whose
key
it
was.
Others
give
us a
code
to
enter
through
the
garage
and
a
small
percentage
leaves
a
key
with
a
trusted
neighbor.
Q:
What
if I
need
to
cancel
my
appointment?
A:
We
understand
things
happen
and
sometimes
it
is
necessary
to
cancel
or
reschedule
your
cleaning.
We
request
a
24-hour
notice
to
cancel
your
cleaning.
If,
once
in a
while,
something
happens
out
of
your
control,
we
understand.
However,
if
it
becomes
a
habit,
a
lock-out
charge
will
be
assessed.
Q:
What
if
you
can’t
get
in
my
house?
A:
If
you
have
not
given
us a
key
to
your
home
and
we
cannot
get
in
your
house
on
your
scheduled
cleaning
day we
reserve
the
right
to
assess
a
$35
fee
if
we
receive
less
than
a
12-hour
notice
for
skips,
cancellations,
or
if
our
staff
is
unable
to
gain
entry.
Q:
Are
your
employees
bonded
and
insured?
A:
Absolutely,
every
team
member
we
send
into
your
home
is
an
employees
working
for
Murphy
Maids
inc.,
we
do
not
sub-contract.
Q:
What
happens
if
one
of
your
employees
gets
injured
in
my
home?
A:
Since
we
are
a
legitimate
cleaning
service,
all
of
our
employees
are
covered
by
workers’
compensation
insurance.
Most
homeowners
insurance
does
not
cover
service
workers
that
injure
themselves
in
your
home.
We
also
carry
$1,000,000/2,000,000
Liability
Insurance
as
well.
Q:
What
should
I do
if
something
is
broken
while
your
team
is
cleaning?
A:
While
we
make
every
effort
not
to
break
items,
accidents
do
happen.
Identical
replacement
is
always
attempted
but
not
guaranteed.
For
this
specific
reason,
we
request
all
irreplaceable
items
(whether
monetarily
or
sentimentally
valued)
be
stored
and/or
not
cleaned
by
our
staff.
Murphy Maids Inc.
must
be
notified
within
48
hours
of
service
if
damage
is
discovered.
Q:
How
do I
pay
for
the
services
rendered?
A:
Payment
for
service
may
be
made
by
credit
card, cash
or
check
and
placed
in
an
envelope
on
the
counter.
Although
greatly
appreciated,
please
understand
that
tipping
is
not
required.
If
you
do
choose
to
leave
a
tip,
please
leave
your
gratuity
on
the
outside
of
your
payment
envelope.
Monthly
as
well
as
quarterly
billing
is
available
upon
request.
Service
is
billed
in
advance
and
due
on
the
15th
of
each
month.
A
10%
finance
charge
will
be
added
to
unpaid
balances
over
30
days.
A
$10
(minimum)
billing
fee
will
apply
if
payment
is
not
received
by
the
15th.
Q:
What
is
the
cost
of
my
cleaning?
A:
Fees
are
based
on
the
size
and
condition
of
your
home.
Once
the
service
providers
enter
your
home
for
the
first
time,
they
should
have
a
better
sense
of
exactly
how
long
your
cleaning
should
take
and
will
then
confirm
the
price
as
quoted.
Q:
What
should
I
expect
from
your
cleaning?
A:
We
will
customize
a
cleaning
package
for
your
particular
home.
We
will
arrive
at
your
home
with
two
or
three
trained
employees
equipped
with
supplies
and
equipment
to
clean
your
home
(typically
in
an
hour
to
an
hour
and
a
half).
Our
basic
services
are
“light”
housekeeping
that
you
would
normally
do
yourself
on a
weekly
or
every-other-week
basis.
Q:
What
if I
need
additional
things
done?
A:
Just
let
us
know.
Many
times
we
are
able
to
accommodate
your
needs
at
the
time
of
your
service
without
any
additional
cost
to
you.
Other
times
there
may be
things
we
don’t
normally
do
when
we
clean,
such
as
the
inside
of
your
refrigerator
and
oven.
We
will
have
to
charge
additional
for
these
services
and
schedule
more
time,
but
call
our
office
and
we
will
be
happy
to
assist
you
with
these
details.
Q:
What
items
in
my
house
are
not
covered
in
your
cleaning?
A:
Any
items
that
you
have
told
us
not
to
clean
such
as
family
heirlooms,
moving
or
lifting
heavy
items,
climbing
ladders,
laundry
and
ironing,
items
inside
a
cabinet,
hutch
or
curio
cabinet.
If
we
are
specifically
requested
to
clean
inside
of a
hutch/china
cabinet,
dust
any
computer
equipment
or
wash
dishes,
the
client
agrees
not
to
hold
Murphy
Maids
inc.
or
any
of
its
employees
responsible
for
damage
to
any
article
or
component.
Q:
What
if
my
cleaning
falls
on a
holiday?
A:
During
the
holidays
we
appreciate
your
flexibility
as
we
attempt
to
fill
our
clients’
many
requests
for
additional
service.
If
your
scheduled
cleaning
falls
on a
holiday
that
Murphy
Maids
inc.
observes,
we
will
be
sure
to
contact
you
to
reschedule
your
cleaning.
Q:
What
about
my
pets?
We
are
a
pet
friendly
company.
Your
pets
are
important
to
us.
For
their
safety
as
well
as
ours,
please
let
us
know
how
they
should
be
handled.
