Ok, so you are ready for a home cleaning service. Good for you! But aside from wanting top-notch service at a fair price, you may be wondering, “How can I trust someone in my home, or better yet, get them the key & leave the home to them for few hours?”
The demand for professional home cleaning services continues to grow. More and more people are realizing that outsourcing these sometimes less desirable tasks can have a great return on investment. Often the biggest reward for hiring a home cleaning service is not just the time you’re not cleaning, but the total time, and energy, you get back that you previously spent fearing or avoiding cleaning.
Hiring a service to clean your home is a big decision, with many considerations. Trust is vital as it is, after all, your personal space. Too often, customers don’t ask the right questions or don’t do their homework.
Two big problems
Deal with a professional company – there are many people or “private parties” that will clean your home and they can do a good job. However, if you hire an individual instead of a company to clean your home and pay them a certain amount in a year; you are their employer. In case, if anyone get hurt or injured while cleaning your home then you could end up being held liable (not to mention the next time you run for a cabinet job, this will almost certainly end up all over CNN!).
When you hire a professional cleaning service, you are ideally avoiding all of these risks. The owner of the service must bear the burden of taxes, workers’ compensation, and liability insurance. A professional service will also offer training for your employees. All risk and liability is no longer your responsibility as a customer. That kind of peace of mind is worth an extra 500rupees.
Go professional, but not just in image: Just because a business has celebrity Ads on YouTube, radio, tv, shiny business cards, too many discount vouchers, a shiny lakhs rupees worth of App, a website that rivals Microsoft & lowest cost in market – you still need to do your homework. Consider these questions when making your decision about which cleaning company to hire:
1. Who will clean my house? Do they use their in house employees or independent contractors or outsourced the jobs to unknown at lowest cost? Whatever the answer, you need the assurance that you’re getting the protections a professional service should provide. Do they use individuals or teams? Ask them why they use that model. Different business models work for different reasons. Just make sure the company you want to hire is doing it for the right reasons. Indian Labour Law has a helpful guide on its website for determining what defines an employee and independent contractor relationship.
2. Do you conduct criminal background checks and pre-screen employees? Each service should have a policy for background checks and pre-screening of employees. With today’s technology, even the smallest business has access to inexpensive tools through the Internet. You’ll want to know what policy they follow and what their due diligence process is when hiring.
3. Are they properly insured? Insurance includes General Liability Insurance and Workers’ Compensation. It is worth asking for a copy of the insurance certificates. As for insurance costs, they should be more than happy to show you.
4. Do you offer a satisfaction guarantee? Implying? How long after service is performed do I have to call to report issues that need to be addressed? No matter how good a service is or how good the employee training program is, they are imperfect human beings who clean house. As a customer, you must be sure that if the equipment has a “bad day”, the company will fix it.
5. Who will have the key to my house? What is the policy? How can I be sure that I am safe? This should be a big concern, and most customers don’t think to ask this question. Are the keys signed daily? How are the keys stored at other times? Where are they kept? They are locked? Who is responsible for them? If they are lost or stolen, are there markings to identify where they go? Make sure there is nothing on the key that identifies your address. Also, ask up front, in case the key is lost or stolen, what is the replacement/new key policy?
6. “Are you attached?” Please don’t ask this and tell all your friends, family and loved ones that this is not the question to ask. Jokes aside, don’t even bother asking this. It doesn’t really mean anything except in extreme cases. The way a bond works is that you buy it (it’s not insurance, but it’s issued by insurance agents) usually for as little as Rs200 a year for a small business. Why is a voucher so cheap? They are cheaply priced because claims are rarely paid for them. A bond will pay if an employee is caught stealing, tried and convicted. In the days before the information superhighway, a thorough background check on a person was out of reach for most small businesses. In previous years, the hiring process was difficult to navigate and “situations” occurred. With all the tools available today, all small business owners have easy access to assess who they are hiring to clean their home. That said, most home cleaning companies go ahead and buy the bond simply because it’s easier to spend the Rs2000 a year and politely respond when asked, “yes, we’re bonded,” rather than get into it. the previous narrative. Also, imagine how cool it will look when you’re in a group discussing this at the cocktail party, when the topic of cleaning services comes up!
7. Are you both on the same page? Too often, the culprit in the crumbling relationship between the cleaning service and the client is a lack of communication. An astute cleaning service owner should walk you through what their service will do for you and your home and give you a clear idea of what to expect. Make sure you pay attention to what they tell you.
Better yet, maybe they have eye-catching print materials that also convey what their service has to offer. Everyone has their “hot spots” (which means clean for them); what one person thinks is clean may not be “clean” to someone else. It’s just human nature. For some people it’s the bed made the right way; for others, it’s a clean sink. Find out where you fall from one extreme to the other on the spectrum of being picky. If what really matters to you is not being done, bring it up. You should not just assume that it will be done and that they “just have to know”.
8. Always check for dedicated customer service phone number of the business. Check do they have a dedicated customer service number in case u want to clear your doubt before booking / in middle of the cleaning work if u face any issue / post cleaning to share your feedback or to give complains. It helps a lot if u speak to customer service representative directly & not to ivr.
9. Always check & ask the number of professionals coming for cleaning. Ask what cleaning supplies & equipment they will get with them. What arrangements u need to make or provide being a customer. How much time will the cleaning process take. Check – are the Professionals were from different company (job outsourced).
Most of the time outsourced or commission based professionals doesn’t have the exact knowledge of the customer requirement.
10. What should I do if I am not satisfied with the service I receive? It may not be until the first, second, or third cleaning that you discover what your cleaning “hot spots” are. (Side note: Pay attention to what they are. It can save you YEARS of therapy if you pay close attention to what they are.)
I hope that some of these discoveries are good things that your professional cleaning team did that you didn’t expect to impact you the way they did. However, if he finds “things” that are grating on his nerves, he must address them. Make sure it’s not just the day at the office that’s affecting his outlook. CALL, express your concerns to the owner/manager. Believe it or not, the most successful service owners APPRECIATE and welcome constructive criticism. It’s the best way to build a better business and professionals will see your contribution as a gift. If it’s something small, let it go until the next visit. If you care, ask them to send the team back to correct it. They should be happy to do so as soon as reasonably possible. Remember, this is an intimate relationship and relationships require communication; Relationships without communication fail!
Now you know what to ask (and you have some other unsolicited advice that will change your life). Ask the right questions; get the great service you need and enjoy. It is sure to add to the quality of your life. A little information: the best days will be when you forget that the cleaning crew is coming and you come to the Home Cleaning Service with a clean home and a fresh smell… Nice!
Choose Deep Cleaning Services for home cleaning needs. One stop solution for your home cleaning requirement. Log on to www.deepcleaningservices.in or email to [email protected] or call us at 8884441328 / 9742649906 /9916263714.