Why Do You Need The Whole Square Footage?
This question comes up a lot and we do our best to explain it, but it is required to get a more accurate price for your quote. We still need it even if you take off areas of your home like bedrooms or entire floors. The reason for this is because areas in homes grow with the square footage, and so let’s use an easy example of this to demonstrate by contrasting two homes:
Home 1:
1500 sq. ft.
3 bedroom
2 bathroom
0 bonus rooms
And:
Home 2:
3500 sq. ft.
5 bedroom
3 and 1/2 bathrooms
1 bonus room
All of the areas in the second home will be bigger than in the first example, and let’s say that the bonus room, in the larger home, is a play area over the garage and it’s around 900 sq. ft. If we take that off, that’s discounting the other areas in the home that we are still cleaning, because the: living room, hallways, dining room, kitchen, mud room, laundry room, and bedrooms are all bigger than in the first example.
Now we do allow for a little customization with our service, and so we could minus the bonus room, in the larger home, while leaving the square footage the same. This helps to balance out the quote because if that bonus area was included then the bid would be higher to pay for the additional room. This is what is looks like on the website:
Arrival Windows
As you near the the end of the booking process you’ll be asked what day you want us to come for your cleaning, which looks like this on the website:
Once you click the drop-down menu, which is the first box, it’ll expand and show you the calendar with dates that still have spots available. This is a live system and so things can change at any time, and so if you saw a date or time and then it was gone, someone probably booked online or over the phone. You’d be surprised at how often this happens, especially with the way things are now. The next box will allow you to see what times are available:
Generally speaking, we have no idea how long it will take to clean a new client’s home, as we have not been there. There are other reasons as well, for the arrival windows, but it’s just important to consider that time frame when booking. If you cannot wait for the duration, until the crew arrives, please consider using a hidden key or providing a garage door code instead.
Grout, Stains, Hard Water, ETC
While we do offer a guarantee with our services we do ask for a level of reasonability. For clients that have grout, sometimes they will not be satisfied that all of the stains or discoloration didn’t come off. Please understand that we’re doing our best and that we also want to remove those unpleasant stains to make it look new again, but sometimes that’s not possible, or at least for the tools that we use.
\There are grout-specific cleaners that you can try or there are grout staining services that could potentially help you. This doesn’t mean that we didn’t provide cleaning services because we were unable to remove every stain or hard water spot. We use several different products to help get things off, but sometimes there’s been too much accumulation or stains have set in.
Below Average Rating
If you look on the booking page, towards the end, you’ll notice a section of disclosures which you have to click on to acknowledge and to finish the booking process. This is what it looks like on the website:
The first one talks about the $120.00 charge, at a minimum, that will be added to the original quote for each rating below 5 [average]. We don’t believe in surprising anyone with a bill, especially if it was higher than the original quote. This is why we’ve put all this information on the website or go over it with you if booking over the phone.
The condition is one of the most important things that we need in order to ensure that the bid is as close as possible prior to us coming out. Now we know that there’s no standard of cleaning that is uniform to everyone, and so we’ve created a Rating Guide that’s on the booking page to help new clients understand what we consider a 5 to be. Here is where you can find it on the website:
The reason for the additional charge is due to the level of work, people, and product that will be required to complete the job. If there’s any doubt about how to rate your home, please consult the aforementioned guide or give us a call. In this case, honesty is the best policy because if the number is off it could result in a higher bill after the cleaning is done, and don’t worry about the rating we’ve seen it all. We just want to get as much accurate information as we can so everyone is on the same page and has a general expectation.
If there’s a large discrepancy like a client rating a home as a 5 but really it’s a 1 [extremely dirty] and will result in a significantly higher quote, then someone from the office will try to reach out to let you know. We do our best to keep you informed in this situation but it’s not always possible and that’s why it’s important for you to understand: the quote process, what we consider as a 5, and the overall service that you’re booking.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to give our office a call and someone will be happy to address your concerns.