I started a house cleaning service company in 2006, it’s called Clean My Space – imagine that! Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about the home cleaning service industry and, not surprisingly, a question I get asked a lot is How do I know which house cleaning company to hire? Well, I’m going to address 10 tips for you in this video that will help you skip the hassle and get to the clean!
as some of you probably know I started a
cleaning service in my hometown of
Toronto in 2006 just three months after
Chad and I started dating and since then
clean my space which is the name of our
service company has been going strong
and over the years even though I’ve
written a book about cleaning and I make
videos about cleaning I’ve got a lot of
information about how to hire a cleaning
service and every now and then you might
want to bring somebody in just to
supplement the work that you’re doing
obviously depending on your budget or
you might be looking to hire someone on
a weekly bi-weekly or monthly basis so
in this video in response to a lot of
your questions I figured that I would
put together tips for you on how to hire
the right cleaning service I’ve got lots
of experience in this industry so let me
share those tips with you now and just a
quick reminder if you haven’t done so
already to subscribe to clean my space
channel give this video a thumbs up if
you want to visit the City of Toronto at
some point in your life when you’re
looking to bring somebody into your home
what I recommend is always starting by
asking for referrals from friends and
family in fact often times I’ll just put
something up on Facebook when I’m
looking for a referral now the reason
this is so important is because a
company can really write anything it
wants on its website so they might sound
amazing but are they actually amazing
that’s what your friends and family are
gonna tell you so go to them is your
first point of reference take review
websites with a grain of salt you know
happy people tend to not go on these
websites and put up reviews they really
they might be happy but they don’t
really feel compelled to do it but upset
people oh my god do they have a voice
and they need to be heard and oftentimes
people who are really angry they want to
just go online and bench they want to be
heard sometimes they legitimately want
to ruin the company’s reputation so just
be mindful when you’re looking at a
company’s review if they have a pretty
decent score but a few bad apples that’s
pretty normal if the company has all bad
reviews that’s a red flag
the
thing to look out for and guys this one
might surprise you is a company that has
all perfect reviews that is just not
realistic and in fact there’s a company
or two that I know of who are
competitors of ours who actually give
their clients money to put up reviews so
you can imagine there’s a bit of an
incentive there for the client to say
something nice or they’ll go around and
get reviews and other shady sketchy ways
and those are the companies that have
all-perfect tens so what I like to do
and this is chattin Eyes policy on
reading reviews whether it’s for
restaurants or Amazon or service
providers we kind of ignore all the
perfect reviews we kind of ignore all
the bad reviews and we look at the
middle section one of the reasons why
service companies tend to be more
expensive than people who just post up
an ad on the side of a mailbox or on
Craigslist is because actual service
companies should provide bonding
insurance and workers compensation and
when you’re interviewing a company on
the phone or reading their FAQ page they
should definitely mention that they
offer that and if they don’t run in the
other direction now what that offers
bonding means that if something gets
stolen from your home there’s an
insurance policy that will give you back
whatever was taken or the financial
compensation for it insurance means that
if anything gets broken or damaged in
your home that the company has a policy
that can cover that
and finally workers compensation means
that if someone gets injured at your
home workers compensation will take over
and pay for whatever their recovery
expenses are now if you just hire
somebody off of a website where they
don’t have that kind of protection or
you just bring someone into your home
and pay them cash
none of those assurances are offered to
you and in the event that something goes
wrong you’re on the hook I always like
to know how long a company has been in
business for and also if they have any
professional affiliations or if they’ve
been accredited so for example we’ve
been in business since 2006
we’re accredited by the Better Business
Bureau and the way that the Better
Business Bureau works is they look at
how long you’ve been in business and how
many complaints have been registered
under your business and then they assign
you a rating so anyone can go on to that
our Business Bureau website they can
check out my company or anyone’s company
frankly as long as they’re part of the
Better Business Bureau and get that
accreditation rating and that’s really
important because credibility is huge
especially when you’re letting someone
into your home with all your stuff the
other reason why it’s important to know
how long a company has been in business
for is because it allows them to have
time to establish themselves and work
out kinks and sometimes there are
terrible companies and this actually
happened I know a couple companies in
Toronto like this terrible reputation
all they do is close down and open up
under a new name but it’s the same
owners the same management and the same
business structure with the same
terrible service so really understanding
how long that company’s been established
for and if they have any accreditations
or professional affiliations can really
benefit you as a consumer I also think
it’s important to find out if the
cleaning service company provides their
own cleaning products and tools or if
they want you to provide your own
cleaning products and tools now while it
might seem more convenient for the
company to provide the cleaning products
and tools as far as I’m concerned I want
to have control and if you guys know
anything about me and have learned
anything from the clean myspace channel
you know that having the right products
and tools is half the battle and you
know your space now the other thing to
keep in mind is that let’s say a company
supplies their own stuff well how do you
know that a mop that was used in house a
wasn’t cleaned before it was used in
house B think about a toilet bowl brush
think about a sponge I don’t know for me
that gives me the heebie-jeebies so at
my company we require our clients to
provide their own cleaning supplies and
tools we sell starter kits and we also
give them a shopping list so that
everybody knows what they need and we’ll
also talk them through their space their
particular requirements and we find out
okay
what are your finishes and what do you
need so we can make sure you’re properly
outfitted and that way our clients know
that their stuff is only being used in
their house is the company that you’re
contacting an actual service provider or
are they kind of one of those sharing
economy websites so a service provider
tends to have a consistent roster of
employees that they’ll send out on a
regular basis and one of those sharing
economy websites well pretty much anyone
can put their information up on there
and get themselves a job so when we
interview part of our process is doing
background checks police check and of
course reference checks so we know who
we’re bringing in but when you’re just
hiring someone off of let’s say an
economy or a sharing economy an economy
website a sharing economy website or if
you’re just hiring somebody off of
Craigslist or something like that you
don’t know who they are and remember
they’re coming into your home where all
of your valuables important things are
and if something goes missing
what’s your recourse you want to know
who’s coming in how trustworthy and
reliable they are and what you can do in
the event that there’s a problem I have
so much more to say on this topic but I
didn’t want to put it all in the video
because I don’t want to talk your ear
off but I’ve got a link to a blog post
I’ll put that for you down below up on
cleanmyspace.com so you can check out a
few more of my tips and I really hope
that these have helped you and I just
want to tell you guys we are about to
hit 11 years in business @cleanmyspace
in Toronto and if you want to learn more
about the company you can visit clean
myspace da and of course if you want to
apply for a job as a cleaning specialist
you can go on that website and apply as
well you know what’s really funny now we
get a lot of applicants then they know
who I am so when they come into the
office they get really excited and it’s
really cute so yeah I’d love to meet you
guys if you are looking for a job and
you’re in the Toronto area but that’s
not why I made this video I just thought
it would throw that in there this week’s
comment question is what other questions
do you have about hiring a cleaning
service company or a cleaner in general
let me know and I’ll do my best to scour
the cost scour the
that’s one of my little cleaning jokes
in there and give you guys as many
answers as I possibly can or update the
blog or whatever it is that I can do
here are a couple of other videos I
think you’re going to love and if you
want to check out that blog post it’s
available at clean myspace calm there’s
a button down there that lets me know
you care so click it if you liked this
video and click this button right here
to subscribe and begin your journey to a
cleaner life thanks so much for watching
and we’ll see you next time