Today I bid to clean about 2800 square feet of new construction that was really pretty immaculate. It needs a lot of dusting. Another company bid $600. They are billing at $50 per hour per person, and work in teams of three which is fine, but they pushed the envelope with the time. They have a 4 hour minimum.

On a place I bid about a month ago another company quoted $42 per hour, but wanted a total of 10 man hours. There was nothing there, the place had been empty for about four months, and was cleaned, obviously, at one time, the place was just looking tired.

Now to be fair, there is a higher rate for one time cleanings, $36 to $42 per hour has been a going rate for some time. Going to $50 per hour in hard economic times is a stretch. We know that the cleaner’s wages haven’t gone up that much. What I’m more surprised about is the time.

In my opinion, I have a better sense about bidding than most companies that use a formula. I can pretty accurately figure out what a task will take. Refrigerators, bathrooms, whole house vacuuming , all take about one person an hour. Dusting, organizing, kitchen counter tops, and cleaning floors are more variable.  

I’m going to speculate that it is harder to find cleaners who are fast, and good in today’s market place because there are so many independents. Most companies who have large over head need to pay for offices, cars, equipment, insurance, and taxes. It’s made being an individual, or husband, and wife team much more attractive for the workers.

So it’s kind of odd, the times we are in, right now, that companies are raising rates, and independents are, in some cases, the better cleaning choice.

Here in the Seattle area we know just about all the players in the House Cleaning business. You may think we compete for clients, but really we all fill niches that rarely over lap. One thing I noticed yesterday was that one of the single person house keepers that works for a neighbor of a client now works with two other people. She had been cleaning by herself for ten years that I know of, and this year she added more clients, so she needed more help.

That started me thinking about a lot of things that make up a good cleaning company. We struggle with keeping track of the people who work with us. We put systems in place then a day can just get away from us. Even when you work alone some things get forgotten. So how does some one decide one day to start hiring people?

From what I understand of the woman I saw she is training her cousin to take over some clients. The other person is a friend who needs work. What it finally comes down to is that people are out of work. We lose clients that way, but in the world of laborers it’s also true. People need jobs, and house cleaning is one of the things many people think they can do.

This makes for opportunities to some of the people who hire a house keeper, but we get more of our clients from people who prefer our approach after an independent experience. People who clean alone need to be extremely self motivated. Usually they take on one, or two, clients a day, and charge about $75 or $80 for about 3 or 4 hrs. The problem is that an independent gets tired in a day, after day routine.

Company workers also get tired, but we all have good, and bad days. In a team, or company setting, one person can be up when another is down. There is also some one, who is looking for new business, while servicing the clients they have. There’s less likelihood that some one will lose clients, and be out of the business. A team, or company, gives more security in that way.

Speaking of that security, we hear that an independent person is like a part of the family. They like the idea they know who the person is, and can trust them. Companies can be hiring people off the street, and even with a back ground check you just never know. That is a two way street because it’s hard to get rid of a member of the family when something comes up.  

We see a need for both house keepers, some one who can come in every day, and companies. We have experimented with both. Some companies only do house keeper placement. This year house keepers ar doing very well. We chose the team approach for the reasons I’ve outlined, but as I said, we all fill niche.

We have a sister company called A Spring Cleaning that does/did whole house deep cleaning. The regularly scheduled housecleaning company we operate has really taken over our time, but we still do a couple of deep cleanings a week. Let me clarify, we do detailed cleanings.

George Pappas called me yesterday from New Way Carpet, Upolstery, and Wall Cleaning, at 206-244-8709. He was looking for work, just bought a house, and was a little surprised that this year has been slow. He is a very high end cleaner who has had a steady clientele through the entire recession. This year is different.

We scaled back our deep cleaning because people are reluctant to pay at a price point starting at $360 and up. This is what George is finding also, but I do want to make this post a caution of sorts about new cleaners, and cleaning companies.

Deep Cleaning is really a skill. When we first started many years ago we had some trial and error in what works. Thankfully we have had a very few times when we had to repair damage. Bleach stains in carpet are the biggest liabilty and we have Mr. Color Restoration at 206-363-1877 who we have only had to call twice. He fixed the stains as good as new.

There are issues with damage to grout that the sealer is worn off, or poruos tiles that may discolor. Fabrics on upostery can be delicate, or paint may be damaged by chemicals. It’s hard to make all the right choices for every product. That is why we stay with regular house hold products you can buy at the super market.

In George’s case he has the equipment to do a micro fiber steam cleaning. He know what works where, and how. It is best to hire some one who knows how to care for your home, rather than by price.

The job we went to today has had three bids now without getting a match. the tile work is older and we can do the job by hand scrubbing, but our price for that is really high. After some of the quotes they have maybe we would be a better choice. We gave them George’s number today and we’ll see what George says for a price.

My cleaning career started by cleaning apartments for property management companies. Over the course of 40 years there are several opinions that I, personally, have formed. When I first started it was before the Land Lord Tenant Act of Washington State. There were abuses on both sides. One of the main reasons that I never held onto a bunch of rental property is because of what I saw, as a young man, cleaning up after renters.

The situation has improved greatly since since the 1990s gave more people the idea of home ownership. It seems like there was much more give, and take cooperation. That may also be that we are now very selective in the jobs we do. We no longer work for property management companies. We do clean for renters who are moving out on a selective basis. In some cases it’s kind of pointless to do anything more than sweep a property of debris.

The Land Lord Tenant Act has a clause that says a property must be returned in the same condition a renter found the property in. There is a disclaimer for normal wear, and tear. There are some things that will be hard to get back to original condition. A self cleaning stove, for example, will never go back to looking new. Some staining is a catch 22 because if you clean it there is a risk of damaging the painted surface.

So there is a fine line between what a renter can do with a property and what the Land Lord does to get a property “rent ready.” A Land Lord can paint, or change stoves, or use whatever chemicals they see fit to make a place shine. A good example of that is a Land Lord who uses a wax, or oil on the floors. They can do that, but a renter may be damaging the floors by leaving a residue.

We do our best to look at a move out judiciously. It seems unfair to me that some Land Lords expect a renter to “improve” a property in a move out. One example for us was a renter who was breaking the lease because of a mold alergy. We were called in after the renter had cleaned, and the Land Lord rejected the condition of the property. Our cleaning was also reject because of rust stains on the appliances, mildew on the garden window that when we tried to clean the paint began peeling off, and a fireplace front that obviously was stained beyond any repair.

We try to compromise on what is fair for the renter to pay. Other companies charge a high premium for move out cleanings. We may join those ranks this year. More properties are changing hands as people find cheaper rents. Land Lords seem to be a bit more on edge in the face of falling rental income.

This is a great time of year, filled with anticipation of the coming summer months. At our house we take everything out to the yard, within reason of course, and go after the floors that have accumulated dirt tracked in over the winter.

There are a few times of the year that we do large cleaning projects, like take everything out of the cup boards, and clean the cabinets. The kids rooms, from time to time, have everything taken into the hallway so we can clean under the beds, and in the closets. At the Holiday Season we rearrange the furniture to fully vacuum the couches.

You might get the idea we keep a pretty clean house, but the truth is we get behind like every one else.

You may have some financial constraints that keep you from regularly scheduled house cleaning. Maybe some of those special offers for initial cleanings seem too good to be true. The truth is, especially this year, that many people are competing for your business. This may be the best of times to get your house cleaned for a reasonable cost.

A couple of tips for having people come in to clean are that you make a list of cleaning priorities, and be realistic about the time it may take some one to complete the tasks. We hear both sides. Too fast, or too slow, is a perception. Just accept that the people coming in to do the work are vying for your business, and want to come back.  

When picking a company, chose one that has experience. Be flexible about the time. Agree on a time frame that works for both you, and the cleaners. All of life is a negotiation.

In a later post I’m going to go over some of the negotiating points with a house cleaning company. For right now let’s just think about getting ready for the summer months.

This is a departure from cleaning, but …

We are now referring out the sub contractors we use for home renovation. Saul Cortez is one of the people we have relied on for the past couple of years. We are getting a network of people who do cost effective projects around the house.

Saul Cortez can be reached directly at 206-851-4853 or you can call us and we will relay the message. If you need more services, such as design, we are putting that network together also.

Over this next year we will be able to provide the work we do at a reasonable cost. My feeling is that we are all looking for work, we all have a thing we can do well, and those services can be promoted in one place.

There are a couple of things we do to advertise, and number one is the internet. On the week ends I check to see where our placement is, and how we can improve on that. We have been losing our ranking by other companies buying ad words, and online advertising called pay per click. This blog site is a part of our organic search placement.

The real point is that we keep track of other companies in our service area. Ten years ago there were about 4 pages of Google map search cleaning companies and today there were more than 27 pages of a list of 9 companies to a page. After the 27th page the lists go on, but they repeat names according to how many companies buy spaces. That adds up to about 243 cleaning companies in the Seattle area.

Another thing that we do is contact other cleaning companies to chat about the business. We like to know who we are competing against. We also like for other companies to know about us. Many, many of these companies are one person, or a couple, who clean for cheap. If they get over booked we encourage them to refer to us. We also refer business we can’t handle to companies that may be a better fit for some people. 

Today I was shocked by the number of new companies. It seems as though they have sprung up in a few short weeks. My thinking is that more companies are paying for Google ad placement as there is less business out there. Some people who have been good clients of ours for years can no longer afford our service. It seems as though the husbands are more inclined to be out of work than the spouses. So we end up getting some of those clients back as once a month.

My concern is going to be the number of people who hire a person, have a bad experience, and may never return to using a service again. As always if you have questions about your cleaner we are always available to answer e-mails, or call ins.

What is your time worth? This is the opening sales pitch of every house cleaning company. Then the follow up question is what your free time is worth. The time, on the week ends, that you would spend with your family, or pets, is it fair to trade that for the hours it takes to keep your home clean? Then, when it actually breaks down to about, four to six hours of your time, people really wonder if there is a savings paying a house cleaning company.

It’s true that if you make $10 per hour you will save money by doing it yourself. If you make $20 per hour it’s about a wash, pun intended. Then when you get above that it makes sense that the trade off may be well worth what you pay, for the time you have to yourself.

The other thing to consider is the motivation. When you cleaners come in from cleaning two other places they are already to get yours done and get home. That may sound bad, but you need to be motivated for what can be a tedious task. For you it’s a matter of getting out the stuff, following the game plan, and getting finished in a reasonable time frame. For the cleaners it’s a job that they are being paid for. They show up with every intention of doing the job well so they are allowed to come back.

One of my clients today was very proud that he keeps such a tidy, and clean place, which he does. He has all the time in the world. We charge him the minimum because he is right, he keeps a very nice place. The question I had for him today is what it’s worth to clean his bathrooms. He bristled a little bit, I also reminded him that we dust behind his new TV, under the bed, and scrub the kitchen sink with Comet, which he likes, but will never do.

It’s just my opinion that there are trade offs in life, and some are worth paying for.

It’s very hard to get motivated to clean your home on a weekly or even daily basis. Keeping everything dusted, the floors mopped, or wiping down the shower stall are things we know we should do, but there are more important things in life, like getting to work on time.

I was challenged by an e-mail about a post where I said cleaning is a cheap way to maintain your home. The bathroom is the best example of if you let the grime build up it can stain the surfaces. A kitchen can accumulate grease and damage finishes. Changing your sheets will help them to last longer. Vacuuming the carpet pulls up the nap to remove the dirt that can wear down a carpet like sand paper.

There are a lot of things cleaning can do to maintain your floors, furniture, and fixtures, along with the quality of your life. A bonus to that is if you are a tidy person it frees up time for you to do other things in the home that may be over looked by an outsider. Closets are something that need cleaning, but your house cleaner is probably not the person you want to pay to figure out how your shoes fit in best. The washer and dryer may be wiped down, but cleaning around will help to maintain them. It also let’s you know if there is a problem.

It is best to stay ahead of dirt before it can do damage. You house cleaner can help when given some direction, but some things are more cost effective when done by you.