How to Hire a Maid Service in Boston – Part I
We receive a lot of calls each day about our maid service. There are some who call and only want to know, “How much?” There are others with a longer list of questions. I thought that I’d share what I think are the important points in hiring a maid service.
Is the cleaning service trustworthy?
This is difficult to check with 100% accuracy, but generally any housekeeping service that has been around for a number of years should be trustworthy. Here are some specific questions to ask:
- Are you insured for both general liability and worker’s compensation? We carry a sizeable policy to protect our customers from most risks.
- How long have your cleaning professionals worked for you? This is related to average tenure. A relationship with a cleaning company may not be good if there appears to be a lot of turnover. Our customers generally want the same people in their homes over the course of their relationship with our business.
- Can you provide references? While you’ll only talk to the good references, those people can give you a good idea as to what it’s like to work the house cleaning service that you are considering.
You may want to research other areas as well:
- Online reviews may be a good source of feedback. It is tough to tell. Try going through Google Places or Yelp reviews for a place in which you aren’t interested and it is oftentimes difficult to find a conclusive good vs. bad.
- You may want to check the Better Business Bureau for complaints. Not being listed with the BBB should not be seen as cause for concern; this costs money and the business may have chosen to allocate their funds elsewhere. A significant number of complaints should be researched further.
We have also created a buying guide that you can use. Best of luck with your search for the perfect cleaning service match!
How Much Should I Pay My Boston Cleaning Service?
We regularly get calls about the pricing for house cleaning service. At The Maids Boston, we either give home cleaning quotes over the phone or in person depending on what the customer wants and the complexity of the cleaning requirement.
flickr credit: cell105
There are a few different ways that the residential cleaning industry gives estimates:
flickr credit: Big C Harvey
- Many companies will initially quote an hourly rate for the first time that they clean a home. The reason for an hourly fee is that it is very difficult to predict the exact amount of effort required to deep clean a person’s home to the point where it can be maintained. The company should be able to provide a price range so that the customer has an idea of how much the first time might cost.
- Most companies can usually give an idea as to how much regular cleaning services will cost for the home. This usually depends on a combination of the size of the home and the frequency of cleaning. Larger homes and less frequent cleanings simply require more effort, so the per visit cost can be higher.
- Some of our Boston competitors quote a flat rate based on a range of square feet or bedrooms for the home. Honestly, this has always confused me as there are some major assumptions being made regarding the level of cleanliness and the true size/detail of the home. The only way for a cleaning company to stay profitable in this price model is to trade off on effort or quality.
A wide range of pricing can be found in this industry as you may have read in my other posts. At the end of the day, the trade offs are between the size/complexity of the home, the frequency of the house cleaning, and the underlying costs of the maid service.
Let me know what you think about the pricing you have seen!
Can Your House Cleaning Service Get Rid of Bed Bugs?
It seems that bed bug problems are growing across the country. Our house cleaning service has recently been asked more frequently by customers if we can remove bed bugs from apartments and old furniture or mattresses. A professional property management company in our area reports calls from tenants who have possible infestations. There are many resources available to help with this.
flickr credit: Paul Lowry
The best combination appears to be one of good housekeeping and insecticides. Good housekeeping follows the “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” adage. This means not to bring mattresses into homes where you’re unsure of their origin. It also means to reduce clutter that can serve as a living area for bed bugs. I didn’t realize that an adult bed bug can live up to a year without eating!
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Insecticides can be helpful, but be aware that bed bugs are developing resistance to different insecticides. One factoid I read mentioned that New York bed bugs are more resistant to some insecticides than Florida bed bugs.
What can a house cleaning service do?
- They can be a first line of defense by cleaning in corners and hard to reach areas that can go untouched for a long period of time.
- Ask them if they will vacuum your mattress – this is a frequent habitation for bed bugs. The vacuum should be powerful enough to pull those clingy insects from the mattress.
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- Lastly, the house cleaning service can be another set of eyes to see the initial onset of an infestation. While a homeowner might find out about bed bugs after an itchy night of sleep, dead bed bugs found earlier may prevent discomfort.
With a little precaution and good hygiene, most people will be able to “sleep tight without letting the bed bugs bite.”
Cleaning Service Tip: Keep Hardwood Floors Healthy with Less Salt
Winter time at The Maids Boston always brings different challenges. It seems like we go instantly from complaining about the heat to complaining about the cold. Having to remove snow to get our cars out from our Jamaica Plain office, carrying equipment on frozen Beacon Hill walks, and battling the winter dirt are constant battles this time of year. Salt gets everywhere; on the sidewalks, in cars, and on our shoes. The corrosive nature of salt that is great to melt ice is not so great for the other surfaces where it can end up.
Our cleaning professionals wanted to share some tips on how our regular maid service customers can protect their hardwood floors.
flickr credit: Claudio Matsuoka
1. Place a door mat outside of your door. This is an easy way to brush off the majority of the salt that is picked up from the streets and a great way to add a little decoration to your home.
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2. Install door sweeps on all exterior doors. Door sweeps not only keep dirt out, but also keep heat in. A double bonus with one solution!
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3. Take your shoes off at the door. There are those that do and those that don’t. Our cleaning professionals quickly note that it is much easier to get the hardwood floors clean in homes where shoes are not worn. For those that love to buy shoes – it’s just an opportunity to expand into a great collection of slippers!
Enjoy the winter season – it’s not all drudgery. Some of the best days are to stay inside and enjoy how those brilliant floors just after the whole home has been cleaned.
Does Your Cleaning Service Use Bleach?
At The Maids, we are sometimes asked about the safety of the products used by our cleaning service professionals.
For example, we were recently asked by a prospective Jamaica Plain maid service customer in if we used bleach to clean. We don’t for three reasons:
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1. There are plenty of cleaning products that, in normal situations, can deliver the same cleaning performance as bleach without introducing a toxic substance into a home. These chemical residues most commonly come into contact with small children and pets.
2. We are also concerned about the continual exposure of our employees to strong chemical cleaners. Bleach is a respiratory irritant that can make a workday very unpleasant. Over time, exposure to certain chemicals can create a sensitivity to the product. This can create a situation for which an employer could be held responsible.
3. Products such as bleach can create permanent damage in a home. Have you ever gotten bleach on a shirt? That can be relatively easy to replace when compared to someone’s carpet or upholstered furniture. While each of our professionals uses the utmost care, accidents can and do happen.
Our regular cleaning service products are water based, non-toxic, and biodegradable and are purchased through a supplier with a commitment to reducing the risk and impact of their product line. There are plenty of quality products available in retail stores – Seventh Generation is one of the most prominent.
We do have some stronger cleaning products that we use for heavy duty applications. These products are carried separately and require special safety gear and training before our cleaning teams can use them.
In doing a little research, it’s fascinating how easily a substitute can be made. Ingredients include vinegar, baking soda (separate from the vinegar), citrus; the list goes on.
This video on dangerous house cleaning products was interesting – I look forward to reading the book:
House Cleaning Contracts at the Boston Maids
We are occasionally asked if we require a contract for our home cleaning services; as a general practice we don’t. If your cleaning service provider requires a contract, here are some considerations that you should take:
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- Why is there a contract in the first place? From a maid service perspective, we generally only look for contracts on commercial cleaning agreements. The main reason for these contracts is because a commitment must be made to hire personnel for the specific project. We seek to have a client commitment to ensure that we’ll be able to provide adequate hours for those employees.
- How do I terminate the contract? Most contracts can only terminate for gross negligence or willful misconduct. How will dissatisfaction (which can occur in our industry) be handled?
- What are my obligations under the contract? If the agreement is for weekly service, then will you be required to have your home cleaned even while on vacation?
When we’re asked by our residential customers about having a cleaning services agreement in place, we generally point to our 22 step Health Touch system that has been developed by The Maids for over more than 30 years.
We’re interested in hearing what other agreements are out there – please feel free to let us know!
Is Your House Cleaning Person a Professional?
There are quite a lot of people in the house cleaning business – one can find a cleaner on Craigslist, a maid service posting in the local coffee shop, or a housekeeper in the classified ads of the community newspaper. One of the challenges we have at The Maids Boston is in explaining some of the differences between a home cleaner who is self taught and a professional house cleaning service that is built upon a solid foundation of systems, best in class technology, and industry leading human resources practices.
flickr credit: Key Gilmour
Solid Systems
It is important to understand how your house cleaning service cleans your home. Are the products well thought out with emphasis on the different cleaning requirements in a home, low impact to the occupants of the house, and regularly available so that they do not change frequently? Does your cleaner have a process for cleaning your home that includes dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning all surfaces while leaving it smelling fresh? Is quality controlled through in home inspection checklists, follow up calls for feedback, and a satisfaction guarantee?
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Best in Class Technology
Technology can be a major differentiator in any business. While our residential cleaning customers enjoy the benefits, some of our commercial cleaning customers (such as property management companies require it. In the cleaning industry, it starts with our scheduling and work order system, our email availability that includes the use of smartphones, and a 24 hour answering service to receive after hours calls. It continues through to our intelligent routing, navigation systems, and constant availability of our cleaning teams for last minute schedule changes. Lastly, our technology use enables us to capture customer feedback through a web based reporting system and monitor quality trends so that we can focus on continuous improvement within our cleaning service.
flickr credit: Will Clayton
Industry Leading Human Resources Practices
It is uncommon for one to pay an independent house cleaning person for a missed day on a holiday or when they take vacation. Many of the individual operations struggle to provide the stability that can be afforded by a larger cleaning service. We’re very proud of our record of providing paid holidays and time off to our employees – a benefit that many take for granted. Ongoing training is a part of our business. Online training on our cleaning system, customer interactions, and managing people are just some examples of what is available to our employees. A small but important gesture in our shop is a birthday cake; sadly, one employee recipient recently commented that this was the first birthday cake she had since she was five years old.
Is your maid a professional? One may want to consider the above points behind the housekeeper and the house cleaning service that they are hiring in trying to establish if they are getting a professional.
Is My Residential Cleaning Service Green?
Being green has been a buzzword for a large part of the last decade. The term continues to be debated as to how and when it should be used. My take is that being green is more a state of mind/operation than it is a threshold that one can cross. Said another way, one can continue to improve how they impact the world, but will probably never reach a point of having zero impact.
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What’s in Your Cleaner?
We are regularly asked if our products are green. That’s always a tough question to answer. Many customers state a preference to reduce their impact on the environment but don’t want it at the expense of a sanitary house cleaning. Here’s how we handle it at The Maids.
flickr credit: Frederick Md Publicity
Healthy Touch Cleaning System
Most residential cleaning services have a system that they follow to ensure that their cleaning professionals deliver the highest quality clean. I’ve seen 49 point processes, custom designed work orders and everything in between. Our 22 stepcleaning system is our starting point to help define what customers believe to be a thorough cleaning.
Non-Toxic Biodegradable Cleaning Products
The products used by your home cleaning service are critical. This is a case where less is more. Any product applied needs to be taken up as areas are cleaned. Our typical products are:
- Non-toxic to protect the residents of the home we are cleaning, and
- Biodegradable to reduce our environmental impact
We do have products with strong chemicals that are used rarely and in extreme situations – they are not part of our regularly scheduled home cleaning service.
flickr credit: exfordy
Fresh Cleaning Materials
It is important to consider the supplies provided by your cleaning service. Paper towels can be expensive and wasteful. We use micro fiber cleaning cloths. Micro fibers have been shown to be gentle on household objects, excellent at removing dust and buildup, and easy to clean. One should also consider the rotation of the cleaning cloths. Our practice is that cleaning cloths are taken out of use once dirty and they are not rotated from home to home or from the bathroom to other parts of the house.
Take another look at how your home is being cleaned. Are the practices in line with what you want in terms of residue left in your home and impact to the environment while providing a thorough and sanitary cleaning?
Trusting The Maids Boston with your keys…
Curious about how we enter so many customer’s homes during the day when they are away? Thinking about regular maid service but concerned about giving us a key? You can trust The Maids in your home!
Rest assured, The Maids Boston takes extra precautions with your home security. Every key we receive is numerically coded like the one to the left beginning from number ‘1’. Doing this prevents anyone from being able to link your individual keys to your address.
Next, all of the keys are put into a locked safe (photo to the right) that only Patricia and myself have access to. On the morning of your cleaning, we will check out your keys to your team leader for the day. Upon the team’s return, we will collect the keys and place them back in the safe.
Currently, we have over 200 regular customers and nearly all of them have a key on file with us. The number one reason people need our services is because they simply do not have time to do it themselves. We want to make it as easy on you as possible and having a key will ensure we meet this objective.
Imagine leaving work in the morning and returning to a clean home after work or school. It is the very reason numerous Greater Boston residents choose The Maids to clean their homes. Give us a call at (617) 524-0300 to discuss how we can help keep your home clean.
Need gift ideas? The Maids Boston can help!
It is finally May in Boston! The weather is starting to warm up, family is visiting, and half the city is graduating from college. We know our customers are strolling down Newbury Street in search of gift ideas coming up short and we want to help!
A gift certificate is a great idea for:
- College graduates
- Birthdays
- Anniversaries
- New home purchase
- Christmas present
The Maids offers the best cleaning experience in Greater Boston. A gift certificate from The Maids ensures that special someone will have a dedicated team of four clean their home to the highest standards. We use environmentally preferable products and a HEPA filtered vacuum that removes 99% o all allergens. And the best part? Purchasing a gift certificate for that special someone is the best avenue to begin regular maid service!
Give us a call today at (617) 524-0300 to purchase your gift certificate or for more details!
