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Counter-Intuitive but TRUE-
We all want the best bang for our buck right? Did you know here in North East Arkansas Arkansas the average going price for house cleaning services done by a professional service ranges between $25 - $50 an hour? Here at innovative Cleaning solutions, we prefer to be transparent with our clients as possible which is why our next post will explain how a company charges for cleaning vs Self-employed house cleaners. When searching for a house cleaning service, we love to hear that we can get what we want for a fraction of the price. We are all bargain hunters at heart however when you hear that cheaper price in the cleaning world it should ring alarm bells rather than make you jump for joy. It costs to clean. Some companies will cut corners while running their business to reduce their cost. This may end up costing you time, energy, and money in the long run. A cheaper price means something must be compromised on the company’s end. We are here to let you know what you need to consider when your housecleaning service gives you a cheaper price.
THE TRUE COST OF A HOUSE CLEANING SERVICE
Private maids or many cheap providers may cost less initially but you get what you pay for in this industry. The total cost of your entire experience may be a lot more expensive, in the form of stress and time to manage poor cleaning quality. Your time is the most valuable. Do not get into the trap of INITIAL low prices! The cost of your time to manage a cheap service will be a real tragedy. The poor quality of the service will cost you so much time and energy to deal with afterward. Not only that, but the unavailability of client service will also ensure that you are not heard, and complaints will take an excessive amount of time to deal with.
WHY IS IT CHEAPER?! LOW-QUALITY!
TALK ABOUT STRESS…
Think about why you ordered a cleaning service, to begin with, was it to get more time on your hands? To reduce stress? Well hiring a bad company may even increase your stress! Why waste that money? The aim of a maid service is to reduce stress for clients. However, really cheap house cleaning service may even increase your stress levels due to so many factors. They tend to have high rates of theft and excessive breakage as they don’t conduct background checks on the employees. They tend to have a long wait time, sometimes half a day! Why should you have to wait around that long? The cleaning quality tends to be really bad due to a lack of investment in training practices. This leads to wasting your time with following up, re-cleanings, and poor customer service. Lack of customer service representatives and care leads to you following up over and over again, making the effort that you don’t deserve after signing on with a cleaning company.
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS V. EMPLOYEES
One way that a company may cut costs is to hire independent contractors. According to US Labor Laws, companies cannot train independent contractors themselves. As a result- they tend to have a low quality of cleaning and their cleaning level varies from person to person. Companies that hire their own employees use rigorous hiring and training processes. They invest time and money into carefully choosing who they want to send to your home- the customer is their top priority. When you pay to get your home cleaned, wouldn’t you like the job done right? Wouldn’t you rather pay for a cleaning lady who will do the job to the highest standard? By hiring a low-quality cleaner, you may as well have saved your money and done the job yourself.
POOR MANAGEMENT
This industry is notorious for poor management practices. The industry fails to attract capable and professional managers to run the customer service effectively which makes your life so much harder. As a result, many cleaning companies are very unprofessional with low and non-existent client service processes. Some expressing their anger from the client’s feedback and sometimes ignoring the client’s emails and calls. Some companies don’t even invest in cleaning management and therefore do not have time to manage customer complaints and issues. When a cleaning company seems cheap, they are cheap for a reason. They don’t invest in cleaning management, something that will cost your time dearly in the long run.
LOW-LEVEL EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Some companies run their staff with little or no support, something that is extremely unfair to the technicians and to you. Their training is not up to standard, they are not recognized for their good work and they are not held accountable if they do something wrong. Cleaning is difficult and physical work. The cleaning technicians who do this job on a full-time basis deserve to be taught the correct practices, so they don’t injure themselves. Some companies do not care about their staff and their customers, they only want profit. To get staff motivated to perform, it requires a healthy company culture based on values, monitoring, coaching, and accountability. Few companies on the market have such a high management caliber.
IT’LL COST YOU MORE IN THE LONG RUN
Instead of jumping for joy when you hear a low quote and signing on the dotted line, why not consider why the quote is so low. Cleaning is an expensive task and having a company that cuts corners in order to get the sale will only cost you more in the long run. In some cases, companies may give you a cheap quote which underestimates how much time the technician will take to clean your home. In that situation, you will be given a choice to pay more and get the cleaning finished, leave the job half-finished if you would not like to pay, or not even give you the option and bill you a large amount. The initial cost price ended up costing you so much more as they try to pull the wool over your eyes. Not only may it cost you more money, but it may also cost you in your time. If the cleaning isn’t up to a high standard, it will cost you your time afterward re-cleaning yourself and dealing with the customer service representatives- why would you want that? From writing your opinions on review sites such as Yelp to complaining to the customer service team and trying to fix the situation, you will end up spending more time. Not to mention, it will cost you your health. A service that was once meant to relieve stress now turns into one which causes you so much more. Your health is your wealth at the end of the day and an honest house cleaning services North East Arkansas should enhance that. Be a smart consumer! Understand that the price is only a part of the cost. A ‘cheap’ house cleaning services often means ‘super expensive’ in terms of your precious time and stress.
Self-employed house cleaners
Most self-employed house cleaners and private maids who offer to clean your home are not insured or bonded. This puts you at major risk as a homeowner.
If the house cleaners you hire break or damage anything in your house accidentally, they do not have the financial means to replace or repair your property—and they cannot be legally held responsible for any damage. More importantly, if your house cleaners get injured or hurt while cleaning your home, you are responsible for paying their medical bills. The worst-case scenario is if your house cleaners suffer a catastrophic on-the-job injury—e.g., falling from a ladder or stairs in your home—that results in permanent disability or loss of function. When something like this happens, the injured house cleaner is probably not entitled to state disability benefits or support under state worker’s comp laws—and you, the homeowner, would be responsible for paying exorbitant ongoing expenses associated with the house cleaners injuries. This could potentially cost you a fortune or wipe out your life savings! By contrast, a reputable house cleaning service like Innovative Cleaning solutions carries both liability insurance and worker’s compensation. Their liability insurance protects you if a house cleaner causes damage to your home—and will replace your damaged property. Worker’s compensation insures that if a house cleaner gets injured or hurt while working in your home, the insurance company—not you—will pay their medical bills.
Self-employed house cleaners and private maids are not background-checked.
Although individual house cleaners or maids may come highly recommended, since they are self-employed rather than employees of a reputable company, they don’t come with background checks. What if the house cleaner you’re about to hire is actually a criminal or a felon – and you didn’t know it? Since you probably don’t routinely do background checks on house cleaners, how could you possibly be sure that you’re not exposing your home, your family, and your property to potential criminal acts by a felon disguised as an innocent-looking house cleaner who has full access to your home? A reliable house cleaning company like Innovative Cleaning solutions puts their employees through extensive background checks before hiring them and sending them out to clean people’s homes. With a service like theirs, you can rest assured that no criminals or felons will ever clean your house. And in the unlikely event that theft ever happens on the watch of Innovative Cleaning solutions, the company will take responsibility because they have insurance coverage—unlike individual house cleaners and maids who do not. The peace of mind you’ll gain when you have your house cleaned by background-checked housecleaner is priceless.
Many self-employed house cleaners and maids are undocumented immigrants—and it’s illegal for you to hire them.
In 1986, immigration law made it mandatory for employers to check the work authorization of every worker they hire. If you think your self-employed house cleaners or maids are not your employees, think again. If they are using your cleaning supplies or equipment, or they’re cleaning your house when you want them to, and doing any type of work on your property, they are probably regarded as your employee by the U.S. government. This means that if you don’t check their work authorization (Form I-9, which contains their Social Security Number), this means you could be charged with penalties and even criminal prosecution for hiring workers who do not have appropriate documents.
Furthermore, if your house cleaner or maid is regarded as your employee, you’re responsible for employee withholding, social security payments, and federal unemployment taxes, and reporting the same to the Employment Development Division, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Franchise Tax Board.
Perhaps the most well-known person who got in trouble for hiring an illegal immigrant to clean his house is Andy Puzder, President Trump’s nominee for Labor Secretary. He admitted that he and his wife were unaware that the woman they hired was not legally permitted to work in the U.S. When he learned of her status, he immediately terminated her employment—but he still had to pay penalties and back taxes to the IRS and the State of California.
For legal, regulatory, and labor reasons, homeowners are better off hiring cleaners that are employees of a professional company like Innovative Cleaning solutions – and putting the job of obtaining work authorizations, taxes and wages on their shoulders.
All house cleaning services are not created equal – criteria you MUST check
The reason most people want to pay the least amount of money for house cleaning services is that they mistakenly think that all house cleaning services are pretty much the same—and that all maids have similar cleaning standards, with results that are indistinguishable from each other. This is absolutely not true. Don’t hire individual house cleaners, private maids, or house cleaning services unless they satisfy the following criteria:
• Environmentally-friendly and Non-Toxic House Cleaning
This is very important because ordinary house cleaning services use highly toxic products that are not only hazardous to your health but are harmful to the environment. Innovative Cleaning solutions specialize in green cleaning. We take pride in using only cleaning products and equipment that are healthy for you, your family, and your pets—as well as safe for the environment.
• Insured, Bonded and Highly-Trained Maids – Certified by Maid Training Academy.
All the housekeepers dispatched by Innovative Cleaning solutions to clean your house have been thoroughly screened and background-checked, and they are insured (covered by liability insurance and worker’s compensation insurance). Best of all, they are highly trained and certified by the Maid training academy.
• 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Does your house cleaning service guarantee your satisfaction? If not, don't hire them. Innovative Cleaning solutions offer an unbeatable 100% guarantee: If you are not happy with any area their house cleaners have cleaned, simply call within 24 hours and they will come back out and re-clean it free of charge. This makes hiring them virtually risk-free.
• Discount on Your First House Cleaning
Does your maid or house cleaning service give you a discount on your first house cleaning? Only a company like Innovative Cleaning solutions is confident enough to give a discount on your first clean. That’s because they know that when they offer you a discount, you’re sure to try their services at least once—and they’re betting you’ll be so impressed with the work they do that you’ll most likely become a customer for life.
Innovative Cleaning Solutions provides Housecleaning services. If you are in need of a clean and don't have the time, book your FREE Estimate now! For more information about Innovative cleaning Solutions visit our website.
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