Most frequent questions asked- Help us help you, with all your cleaning needs!
· Service reliability is extremely important to us to service client’s needs. We will often turn down business rather than disrupt a regularly scheduled customer. In exchange we request that clients give us a minimum of 48 hrs. Advance your notice so we can try to fill that slot when possible. Monday clients please call before the end of business Friday. Should we not receive notice, a 50% late fee may be charged as a cancellation fee to cover our costs. If the team or cleaning tech arrives at your home and they are not able to gain access, no payment left out or the team needs to leave without cleaning; you may be charged the full amount of your regular cleaning fee. We encourage clients to issue Busy Living Cleaning a key for easy access or please ensure we have a secure way of entry. Most (75%) of our customers do entrust us with a key to their home issued to the company, a responsibility we take very seriously. Keys are only identified by a special code and are locked up in the business office when not in use.
· Please limit skipped cleans to twice a year for recurring weekly or every other week services. Or we may replace your cleaning day with another client. Skipped cleanings effectively bump up the fee to the next price point; if you are an every other week maintenance clean and then you skip, your next clean would be the cost of a monthly hourly rate clean for example.
· Busy Living Cleaning will be closed for business when severe weather conditions prevent safe driving conditions decided by our company. For some cleaning jobs we will have to skip if they land on a holiday break and continue service as scheduled for the next clean and this does not affect your fee. We will call to re-schedule when needed in such cases.
· Due to the time consuming and very unpredictable nature of the cleaning business, an exact time of arrival cannot be offered. We can provide an AM or PM time slot for your convenience if needed. We cannot guarantee availability.
· Should any member of your household require the use of syringes, please insure that they are disposed of safely. Any secure container like a coffee can be used to store used syringes and/or needles prior to final trash disposal. Any unexpected stab by an unsecured needle can pose serious health concerns to our staff.
· We ask that you keep the house at a very cool temperature during the summer and winter. We cannot cool the house fast enough using your thermostat to be ready in time for us to clean immediately. Below 70 degrees is workable while doing the labor. We also guarantee our employees safe smoke-free work environment, please do not smoke in the home the day of the cleaning. We reserve the right to open windows as needed.
· We know you will refer us to family, friends and neighbors often just for a JOB WELL DONE. However, as a special treat, we offer a 25% off cleaning gift card to you when you refer a repeat weekly, every other week client to us after their 2nd cleaning. It may not be transferred to anyone and only used in your home.
· We love dogs! However, please crate your dogs if aggressive or has health issues in any way for our safety. If they slow our staff down, this may result in extra cost. The cleaning techs and or the company are not responsible for pets.
· We expect high quality cleaning from our cleaning techs and we are happy to fix a quality issue. This is why we train our employees with over 50 hours of one on one training methods. We request to be notified within a 24 hour window after your cleaning if we miss something.
· Breakage or damage, at Busy Living Cleaning we take great care when cleaning your home, but occasionally rare accidents do happen. We do not wet wipe TVs or Monitors, take down glass light fixtures, and polish floors due to liability risks. We do not clean fragile items, sentimental value items, art, antiques, chandeliers and electronics. If we are asked to use the client's vacuum, we are not held reliable for repairs for any reason. If an item of any kind seems un-stable we will skip cleaning such item. For this reason we request all irreplaceable items (whether monetarily or sentimentally valued) be stored and/or not cleaned by our staff. Our personnel is instructed to call our office if anything is damaged and to leave a note to you advising you of the incident.
· Credit cards for payments: Visa, MasterCard and Discover. Checks are written out to “Busy Living Cleaning”.
· Tips are not required but it is quite acceptable if you wish to leave a tip for the Cleaning Tech or Techs because you are happy with their service. They appreciate this vote of satisfaction very much when in the service business. We go to great effort and expense, we request that you agree not to solicit for, or hire any of current or past personnel to work on an individual basis for a one year period after the last cleaning provided by our service for home, office or any referrals. Employees are at great risk of losing their job if a current or past client solicits them in any form. If they are a current/former employee they are bound by legal contracts by our lawyers. Clients/Cleaning Techs are not permitted to contact or retain any contact information at any time during or after the employee’s employment of one year. Such as phone numbers, email or any social media like Facebook are not permitted.
· For a rule of thumb on encumberments in your home, an example is a desk piled high with paperwork and items. This does have a huge impact on our cleaning efficiency and quality so the rule we teach our cleaners is if you have less than six items on the surface we will clean both the items and the surface with a microfiber cloth and the appropriate cleaner. If however, there are more than six items on the surface we will only feather dust around the items and surface; which will still remove any dust. Items that prevent us from cleaning bedroom floors for example; such as toys or clothes, the cleaning techs are trained to make the bed and then place items on the bed to vacuum floors or place in a corner of the room. Or they are trained to clean around or skip that area. We advise clients to tidy up clutter before cleaning day. We are there to clean and are not professionally trained in organizing. Please take note we do not perform removal of drain clogs or toilet clogs.
· Fairly priced maid services are priced higher for a reason. We pay to perform intensive background checks, pay proper taxes, supply high-end professional products, conduct proper training for their staff, office overhead expense and carry the proper insurance to protect our clients. These cost lots of money, but they also give more value in the end. We look for great people that are focused on customer service and exemplify our CORE VALUES. We have an extensive screening process that includes:
1. Application Review
2. Initial Phone Interview
3. Full Interview
4. Social Security Trace & Employment Eligibility Verification
5. Federal Criminal Database Search
6. Local County Criminal Check
7. Professional & Personal Reference Check
8. Employment History Verification
9. Motor Vehicle Record Check
10, Panel Drug Screening
Once we have a great new hire selected, they go through an extensive in-house training program.
Busy Living Cleaning reserves the right to reevaluate rates at any time based on the amount of time it is taking to perform services in order to meet our client’s expectations. We monitor the actual cleaning time per visit. Busy Living Cleaning will contact the client to discuss price or service revisions if the cleaning time differs from the original estimate. Please be as specific as possible on your priority list to ensure your cleaning is fitting to your needs. Labor hours for repeat service are based on a flat $37.50 per hour per worker. Payment is due same day of service. Note services we do not offer: Washing dishes (no more than 6 in sink unless paying extra), put up laundry, organizing. We do not stand on ladders higher than 2 steps. We cannot change sheets on any top level of bunk beds or tight spaces. Polishing floors we do not specialize in; however we do clean and disinfect them. We cannot move sofa, refrigerators or stoves, or alike out for liability risks of injury or damage to the floors. Cleaning techs can clean behind when the client has already pulled them out, if needed. We are not a professional window cleaning service; we can help with maintenance on the inside or refer you to a professional service. In most cases we must decline cleaning utility sinks. We do not remove rugs weigh over 10lbs.
· ADD-ONS and TRADES: Anything outside of our scope of work per 49 point task list, including the cleaning of rooms, are considered add-ons and additional fees apply depending on labor costs. We request that trades are at the discretion of the office. Add-ons and trades must be processed through the office, and not through the employees of Busy Living Cleaning. Employees are not authorized to deviate from the Job Work Order without prior approval from management. Examples: please have the home in “picked up” condition; please clean up extra mess such as tub toy crayon markings from kids. Please remove rugs heavier than 10 lbs. This takes extra time for the employees and it’s not in their scope of general cleaning on job work orders. Lifting heavy items is in noncompliance with our workers compensation insurance.
Payment Is Due At Time Of Services
· I understand that Busy Living Cleaning accepts checks, Visa, Master Card and Discover.
· I understand a $35 administration processing fee, and any collection fee’s if the account is turned over to a collection agency.
· I understand that in the event I cancel my scheduled service without giving a 48 business hours’ notice; I will be charged a 50% of rate service charge.
· I understand that payment is due at the time of service.
· I understand that Busy Living Cleaning reserves the right to adjust fees at any time and will give me advanced notice of adjustments. We have the right to decline any job for any reason.
· One Time, deep cleaning, hourly only based services for hourly jobs, we charge from the time we arrive on the job, which includes unloading of our supplies and equipment from our vehicle, to the time we have finished cleaning, including the loading of supplies. Busy Living Cleaning reserves the right to reevaluate rates at any time based on the time it is taking to perform our service to meet the Client’s standards. Hourly cleanings, the cleaners work from a written list of priorities provided by the client and get as much done as possible. We agree to work in a timely and professional manner. There is no guarantee on services or how much can get done within any time period.
We encourage our clients to overbook rather than underbook the number of hours for a first time or occasional cleaning. There is no risk in overbooking because we only charge for the amount of time it takes to do the cleaning. The risk in under booking is that the cleaning may only be partially completed, which can be disappointing. Please be as specific as possible on your priority list to ensure your cleaning is fit to your needs. Hourly jobs are based on a flat rate of $85 per hour for two Cleaning Techs. With a minimum of 3 hrs. Only credit cards are taken for payment. Hourly jobs have non-refundable deposits taken at the time of booking. Any fees are NOT refundable for any reason. They will not be expected to clean anything against company policies.
