Brian Jackson loves to clean. To him, a messy house isn’t a
hassle to be dealt with when he can grudgingly find the time to
spare scrubbing. It’s an unfinished project begging for
completion.
Brian Jackson loves to clean. To him, a messy house isn’t a hassle to be dealt with when he can grudgingly find the time to spare scrubbing. It’s an unfinished project begging for completion.
Jackson, 35, is the local franchise owner of Merry Maids, a residential cleaning service. Each day, Jackson’s team of cleaners – 16 total – drives from house to house in Gilroy, Hollister, San Juan Bautista, Morgan Hill and San Martin, cleaning an average of 30 homes a day. He and his wife Trina provide oversight and take care of the logistics of the business, as well as help with the cleaning from time to time. They’ve owned the franchise since 1983, first in San Jose for seven years before moving to Gilroy.
“It’s something we’ve put our heart and soul into,” Jackson said.
Putting heart and soul into cleaning isn’t something heard very often, but for those in the cleaning business, it’s a standard. Watching a house go from dirty to sparkling is what motivates cleaners such as the Jacksons in their day-to-day duties. Cleaning services, which can be hired for houses, commercial buildings or both, often are an efficient way to make the messy immaculate without having to get your hands dirty.
In the case of residential cleaning, the homeowner meets with a service person in the home to talk about what rooms should be cleaned, how often and to what extent, as one customer’s idea of clean might not match another’s. The cost depends on the location, size and condition of the home, as well as how much space can be cleaned. Rooms with several pieces of furniture or decorations, for example, don’t have as much space to be cleaned as a home maintained by a minimalist. Depending on specifics, prices generally range from $75 to $120 per cleaning, Jackson said.
One of the main reasons people hire in-home cleaning services is a lack of time, Jackson said. But for some clients, such as 88-year-old Hollister resident Evelyn Pizetti, cleaning a house from top to bottom isn’t always easy.
Several years ago, Pizetti began trying out different in-home cleaning services, but she couldn’t settle on any one business. When she found Teresa Quezada of Cinderella’s Cleaning Service, her search ended. Now, Quezada and her team of three cleaners are like friends to her, Pizetti said – plus, they do a great job getting a house clean.
“She is very, very thorough, and she’ll do little things for me that I ask without complaining. She’s always so gracious,” Pizetti said. “I have two great-grandchildren who visit from San Diego, and when they come, I’ll ask Teresa to strip the beds and put the fun Disney-character sheets on the beds, because the girls love that. And she’s happy to do it.”
Quezada, who has owned the cleaning service in Hollister for 10 years, said she has several long-time customers like Pizetti. Maintaining a quality, honest relationship with her customers is important, Quezada said, especially because hiring an in-home cleaning service requires the homeowner to hand over a set of keys to the cleaners.
“They have to trust us. Otherwise, just giving out the key can be scary,” she said. “But I think once they start trusting you, and once you start cleaning houses for people, they know you. Then they’ll refer you to family and friends, and that helps those people trust us, too.”
Quezada started her cleaning business, which also does commercial jobs, when she was trying to juggle working full time and being a mother of three. Her children’s never-ending doctor’s appointments, school-related obligations and extracurricular activities made it hard to work a 9-to-5 job. Cleaning was something she enjoyed doing, so she launched the business. Over the years, Quezada said she’s found fulfillment in watching her customers’ faces light up when they see a gleaming house.
“A lot of people work all week, and they want to be able to come home to a clean home,” she said. “They always say thank you, and I can tell they appreciate the work.”
The Jacksons, with three kids of their own, also know the frustration that can arise from coming home after a long day’s work to be greeted by messy digs.
“Personally, I think we make a difference in the lives of people,” he said. “I know how important it is to have quality family time, and there are a lot of people out there who don’t have time on top of that to clean their house. It’s rewarding to know that we make a difference.”
For some customers, having a clean house not only makes a difference , but it changes their lives, such as in the instance of one past customer of the Jacksons. A man had asked a woman to marry him, and though she accepted, there was a catch.
“The dust was so thick on the back of his toilet that the Kleenex box looked like a snowdrift,” Jackson said.
“She said, ‘No way am I moving in with the house so dirty,'” which is when the man decided his house needed some serious cleaning.
“The team felt great at the end of the job,” Jackson said. “The customer was so happy.”
6 tips for hiring a housecleaner
1.Ensure that the company checks employees’ resident status, pays social security taxes and pays income taxes for its workers. If one company’s price is substantially lower than another’s, it could signify that they are not paying the appropriate taxes and insurance.
2.Ask for written proof of liability insurance, and check the expiration date of the certificate. Liability insurance protects homeowners from losses due to accidents and negligence. Most homeowners’ and renters’ insurance policies do not cover theft, damage and personal injury caused by cleaning personnel.
3.Require written proof of bonding. The absence of bonding leaves homeowners little or no recourse if money or valuables are missing after their home is clean.
4.Insist on workers compensation insurance. Save yourself the worry about your potential liability should a person be injured while cleaning your home. Insist your cleaning service provide workers’ compensation protection. Your homeowners’ insurance policy most likely does not insure you against households employees’ injuries.
5.Find out what cleaning products and equipment the service will use to clean your home. Some individuals require their customers furnish cleaning supplies and equipment. Others use bleach and only dry dust furniture.
6.Request three references, background information and an in-home estimate. Always request an in-home interview to ensure the cleaning service can handle the job. Prepare a checklist. Find out exactly what the service will and will not clean. And request a firm price quote for the cleaning. Also ask how long the cleaning service has been in business.
Source: Brian Jackson, local Merry Maids franchise owner
