!8: Discounted Hoover Dual Steam Vac: October 2011

!±8± How to Choose a Residential Cleaning Company to Clean Your Home!

The cleaning industry is a several billion dollar a year marketplace with over 500,000 cleaning companies to provide the services. The residential cleaning portion of the cleaning industry continues to grow at a rapid pace with more dual working families and as our population ages those requiring the services when they're unable to keep up with it. Over 10.5 million households use a cleaning service today and it is projected to continue growing well over 10% a year. Depending on the level of service an individual family may be looking for, the barriers to enter the cleaning business are very low for those looking for a basic house cleaning. With that said home owners have endless choices when looking for a cleaning company.

The residential cleaning business is made up of independent house cleaners, local cleaning companies and franchised cleaning companies. The differences between them are endless from customer service, to the price, consistency of quality and overall reputation in the community. Here are some beginning questions to ask when choosing a company to clean your home:

How long have you been in business? How many homes do you currently clean? How many employees do you have? This is a great question to assure dependability. If they clean many homes with a limited staff the quality will not be as good or you may risk consistent cancelations from the company. Who provides the supplies? Chemicals, cleaning tools and vacuum. If the company is providing the supplies how do they prevent cross contamination between homes? Are your employees all full time? Part-time employees or day laborers do raise the risk as the business is less likely in most cases to know the employees well. Does your company provide workers compensation for ALL your employees? Very important if an employee was to get injured inside your home. Does your company provide liability insurance for theft, damages and other events? Highly important that all the employees a legal to work in the U.S. as if they're illegal they will not be covered for theft inside the home. Ask the company to describe their hiring process for employees. A company that can't clearly explain this answer will likely hire anyone which can raise the risk as a homeowner. It is important to know the companies process for providing background checks for employees. How do the employees enter your home if you're not home? If you're providing a key to the cleaning company ask them to describe their process for holding customers keys. They should have a lock box and safety precautions in place. If your home is alarmed make sure to provide a separate code to the cleaning company for entering your home. Many homeowners try to remember to turn off the alarm the day the cleaning company is coming out but chances are one day you'll forget. Having a separate code your alarm company can tell you when they use the code. What are the cancellation policies and how much notice is needed? What you need to do with your household pets? Ask how the company handles breakage inside the home? It is inevitable as accidents happen, though a policy should be in place Ask how they clean and what type of schedule do they follow to assure proper cleaning Ask ahead of time exactly what they do and what they don't do. Knowing ahead of time sets clear expectations for you and the cleaning company. Ask what they'll do if you're ever unhappy with a clean you receive?

Many other questions can be asked, though these are many of the important questions to ask when interviewing a cleaning company. Good Luck!