How do you hire a cleaning company? A question we always get. After all, when you’re hiring a cleaning company, you’re bringing people into your home who are responsible for making your property sparkle and you want to be confident in them. The best answer I can give is to hire the cleaning company that you feel most comfortable with.

 That said, if you’ve never worked with a cleaning company before, you may not know what questions to even ask to know if they’re a fit for you. To kickstart your own hiring journey, below are twelve questions to help you determine whether or not a professional residential cleaning company is the one for you.

 12 Questions to Ask a Potential Cleaning Service

 1.    Do you have any references?

While we have great reviews and testimonials, we do not provide direct references to our clients. The reason is that references are quite biased. Rarely does someone agree to be a reference unless they have great things to say about you (not in every case, though). At Clean Club Calgary, we’ve found the best references come from our Google Reviews where we currently have 4.9 stars from nearly 200 reviews. These are all customer submitted, of which we take the time to review ourselves and implement any changes based on feedback provided here.

 2.    How much do you charge for residential cleaning?

On average, cleaning companies charge between $45 and $65/hr/cleaner onsite. The exact fee for cleaning depends on the unique aspects of the home, frequency, and type of cleaning. Specifically for Clean Club Calgary, as of June 2022, we run at $55/hr/cleaner.

 Within this question, we often are asked “how can we tip our cleaner?” While not all companies will allow tipping, we are thrilled when someone wants to tip a team member. There are a few ways to tip your cleaner should you want to acknowledge their work in a financial surprise. At Clean Club Calgary, all tips go straight to the individual requested. There are three ways to do this:

•  Simply give the tip directly to the team member

• Add the tip amount to your etransfer payment, making note of who the tip is for, and we will send it to them on their paycheque

• When paying by credit card, add the tip directly to your payment, again indicating which team member it is for.

3.    What will my cleaning include?

The reality is that all cleaning is customizable. When you request a quote, we go through a series of questions to determine what you want to be cleaned. This will help us understand the type of cleaning you need and the budget you are working with.

 Prior to each scheduled cleaning, we will also confirm what you want to be cleaned during this cleaning. This communication ensures that we are all on the same page regarding what your expectations are so we can meet and exceed them.

 That said, there are things that we are not able to complete, such as cleaning garages, outdoor windows, and carpet cleaning to name a few. We do, however, have trusted partners for these services who we are more than happy to refer our clients to.

 4.    What types of cleaning products do you use?

We find that simple is best. We do not use green products because they do not work on hard water stains, thick grime, and other yucky messes. Rather, we use basic household supplies, such as vinegar, tide, dish soap, and toilet bowl cleaner. Other cleaning tools we use can be found in this post here. Of course, should you require specialty products, such as green ones, we ask that you provide these, letting us know what the product is to be used for (e.g., cleaning the kitchen, toilets, etc.) and where these products are kept in your home.

 5.    Do you bring your own cleaning equipment and supplies?

Absolutely we do! We want to make sure we have all the tools to do the job without wasting time trying to find equipment. We also have a specific part of our team training program that goes through how to maintain our cleaning equipment. This ensures that all our team members have equipment that works well, is kept in good condition, and is able to support whatever scum, dirt, or grime that awaits them.

 6.    How do we prepare for your arrival?

We simply ask that you tidy up by putting away personal belongings, clothes, dishes, and toys. We also recommend that you put away anything that is valuable such as jewelry and money. If you have anything that has sentimental value or is particularly delicate, please let us know not to touch this. We also ask that if something is broken in your home (e.g., picture frames, stove tops, chipped counters, etc.) to let us know ahead of time. This is for two reasons. The first, if something is broken and has jagged edges, we do not want our team to hurt themselves because they didn’t know something was broken. The second, we do not want our team members thinking they broke something in a client’s house if they did not.

 7.    How will you access our home?

If you are not going to be home during your scheduled cleaning, we ask that you provide us with keys to your home, along with any access codes should you have an alarm system. We also ask that you leave instructions on how to properly lock up your house, including how to turn the alarm on and off, so we can leave your home safe and sound when we’re done.

 8.    Who is the owner of the cleaning company? Am I able to speak to them?

Not all cleaning companies have this information readily available. In fact, not all cleaning company owners want to make themselves available. This is not how Clean Club Calgary operates. Rather, I am the owner! That’s right! Judith Virag here - author of these blogs and founder and owner of Clean Club Calgary. While I have a great management team who are more than capable of handling all client calls, when a client wants to speak with me, I am always available. If you would like to learn more about me, my why behind Clean Club Calgary, and how Clean Club Calgary came to be, check out our Team page or visit my LinkedIn profile. 

 9.    Do you complete background checks on your team members?

Yes. Before we provide an offer to a potential team member, we complete a background check. We also have liability insurance and WCB coverage to ensure that you, our people, and the company are all protected. These items are a signal that you are working with a legit cleaning company. Because of this, cleaning fees tend to be higher since we are sending in people who are screened, safe to send into your home, and are properly trained having gone through our extensive onboarding training program.

 10. Is my satisfaction guaranteed?

Absolutely! Once we understand what your definition of clean is, our goal is to achieve and/or exceed this every single time. As such, we have a 24-hour guarantee. After this time period, it’s hard to know if we missed something or if the owner missed it during their review of the work. If, after you’ve checked our work and you find that you are not satisfied, call us right away within this 24-hour period. We will send the teamwork back to redo the work as this ensures that you get the cleaning you’ve invested in while also supporting the team member’s training so they do not make the same cleaning hiccup again.

 11. What should I do with my pets?

Pets are some of our favourite customers. They help with dusting by using their tails, they keep us company as they watch us scrubbing toilets, and sometimes, they simply ignore us completely, staring out the window and daydreaming of wandering to the neighbour’s house.

 Needless to say, we are very comfortable with pets. However, you know your pet best. If you have a pet that’s skittish, overly shy, or is an escape artist with doors/windows, isolate your pet in one room that we’re not cleaning or crate them, making sure they’re comfortable while we’re in your home.

 12. Does Clean Club Calgary require me to sign a cleaning contract?

We used to, but now we do not. Today, we work on a clean-by-clean basis, where customers can cancel at any time if they’re not happy. At Clean Club Calgary, we do not want a client locked into a contract if they are not happy. Rather, we focus on being very communicative with our clients and our team, always wanting to solve a problem should one arise. This desire to do the right thing for our customers builds greater trust between us and removes the need for a contract.

There are other common questions we tend to get, so we’ve compiled them all in a comprehensive FAQ page just for you. You can find these other questions and answers here.

 Of course, the best way to know if a cleaning company is the company for you is to connect, receive a quote, and begin your cleaning partnership today. Ready for that connection? Connect here for a quote.