Questions To Ask Your Housekeeper
01
Are you licensed and insured?
Legally just about the only insurance requirements pertain to worker’s compensation insurance. It is very important to ensure that the service carries other types of insurance. Liability insurance should be at the top of the list. Most carry a third party Theft Bond Request. There should be an insurance certificate for each type of insurance. Check policy dates. It will take more time, but if you request an insurance certificate from their insurance company you will get it.
02
How long have you been in business?
It takes little more than good intentions and a mop and bucket to start a cleaning business, but it takes far more to run a professional, sustainable company. As a result the failure rates for the industry are staggering. 50% will go out of business within the first year. By the end of the fifth year, nearly 90% will have closed their doors for good. This is not to say you should not consider hiring a newly formed company (we all start somewhere,) but generally the longer a company has been in business the more likely they are to be around in the future.
03
What is included in residential cleaning visits?
Legally just about the only insurance requirements pertain to worker’s compensation insurance. It is very important to ensure that the service carries other types of insurance. Liability insurance should be at the top of the list. Most carry a third party Theft Bond Request. There should be an insurance certificate for each type of insurance. Check policy dates. It will take more time, but if you request an insurance certificate from their insurance company you will get it.
04
What kind of products do you use?
The trend in society is toward more "green”, "environmentally friendly”, "Non-toxic” products for everyday life. There are many products readily available for home use. Many service owners already have in place "green cleaning” programs while others are just getting into that segment of cleaning. Take time to ask what products they use. Investigate for yourself (if you do not already know) what products suit your needs or are safe for you, your home, and your family.
05
Who provides the equiptment and supplies?
Legally just about the only insurance requirements pertain to worker’s compensation insurance. It is very important to ensure that the service carries other types of insurance. Liability insurance should be at the top of the list. Most carry a third party Theft Bond Request. There should be an insurance certificate for each type of insurance. Check policy dates. It will take more time, but if you request an insurance certificate from their insurance company you will get it.
06
How do you prevent cross-contamination?
Knowing first hand what practices are used and taught for a particular cleaning business is key to a quality service. For example, if the business is primarily an organic cleaning business then there are certain guidelines for cleaning that the business must follow in order to qualify as a "green seal certified" cleaning business. Some of those practices may include spraying chemicals directly on the cloth instead of surface spraying, or using multi-colored, microfiber cleaning cloths to easily identify cloths for different surfaces in the fight to prevent the spread of germs and cross-contamination. These are simple cleaning practices that all cleaning companies should utilize or demonstrate during residential cleaning.
07
What does guaranteed
service mean?
Every professional home cleaning service should offer a service guarantee or satisfaction guarantee. If you are unhappy with service you receive then what ever you are unhappy with should be corrected. If you are unhappy or something was missed call immediately do not wait a day or two when the house will be ‘lived in”. The service owner/manager should gladly send the crews back as soon as possible to correct and over sight. It should be expected that you should only require the service to come back if it is something that was obvious or really matters. If it is a something small, or incidental do not have them come back, but rather call the office or leave a note to ensure that it is not missed again. Neither Service owners nor the cleaning crews like to have to come back to your home for a task that may require a very short time. With a guarantee in place you should be assured good service. If items are repeatedly missed or not performed up to the standards you and the service owner agreed on then it may be time for a discussion of a crew change or perhaps discontinue the service.