The Advantage of Using Teams for Residential Cleaning
Many residential cleaning companies start out as a one-person operation. But as your cleaning company grows and you add employees you will soon face the problem of whether you should send in a single person to clean a home or if you should send in a team. Some cleaners may prefer to work alone, but is that in the best interest of your cleaning company?
A single cleaner does all the tasks and does not have to negotiate with anyone about who will do what task or how things will get done. One person can generally clean two to three houses a day – but they may only be able to clean just one home if it is large and there’s a long drive to get to it. Teams will consist of two to four people, who are all cross-trained. Teams can clean from two to seven houses a day, which can triple the number a lone person can clean.
No matter if you pay for mileage or if you provide a company car, you will spend more money if you have single cleaners going out on jobs rather than teams. When you use teams they can pair up in a vehicle, cutting down on the cost of mileage to and from each job.
What can be a large drawback of using single cleaners is the risk that they can steal from your customers. Also, a single cleaner works directly with a customer and may have opportunities to talk to that customer alone. The customer may approach the cleaner about cutting out the middle person or the cleaner may decide there is more money to be made going at this on her own.
There are a couple of ways to get around this. One is to have your employees sign a noncompete agreement. Second, you can send teams of at least two cleaners to each home. In addition, if a single cleaner is out for the day, you may have to reschedule or have someone clean the home who is not familiar with it. In team cleaning there are several individuals who know the home and can cover the tasks of someone who is out for the day.
With team cleaning, all members of the team have specific cleaning assignments. There is also a team leader that may have added duties, such as inspecting the work and communicating with the home owner. Team members are cross-trained and tasks are rotated to cut down on employee burnout and reduce the boredom that can happen when someone is doing the same job all day long.
Another advantage of team cleaning is that your employees have others to interact with during breaks, lunch and drive time. This allows employees to get to know each other and builds team morale.
What size of team should you use? Most residential team cleaning crews consist of two people. However, some cleaners have found that three person teams are more effective if they are cleaning larger homes.
How do you break down team tasks? This will depend on the size of your team. If you have a two-person team, the work is generally divided between wet and dry work. Wet work refers to procedures used in bathrooms, kitchens and utility areas, using cleaning chemicals. Dry work includes emptying trash, dusting, and vacuuming. The person assigned to the dry work will start in the back of the house (second floor if there is one) and work their way forward towards the front door. Or, if there is a downstairs, they will work their way up to the front door.
If you have a larger team there can be more variation in the way the tasks are broken down. With a three-person team, one person can start on wet work, another does dusting and the third does trashing and vacuuming. Another way of breaking it down between three people is to have one person start on the kitchen, one in the bathrooms and the third does the dry work.
Productivity and Cost Efficiency
In today’s economic climate, cost efficiency is more important than ever. Team cleaning allows for increased productivity at a lower cost. Less equipment is required, as only one vacuum needs to be bought for the team, rather than eight vacuums bought for eight floors in a zone cleaning situation, for example.
With zone cleaning, each janitor needs to have their own cleaning tools and products, which can quickly add up.
Productivity is higher because each of the cleaning professionals specialises in one function. They are trained to work through the facility in the area they have mastered, whether it is vacuuming or trash collecting.
Often with the zone cleaning approach, some tasks are done better than others, so there are highs and lows in quality throughout the building.
What’s Zone Cleaning?
Zone cleaning is just what it sounds like— each member of the team is responsible for completely cleaning a designated area, aka zone. One team member is completely in charge of their zone, from top to bottom. Every detail will be under their domain.
Pros: If there are issues with an employee, it becomes immediately visible to the supervisor. When one specific employee is in charge of a zone, and that zone’s cleaning is subpar, they know that the employee requires additional training. If your building has particular security concerns, it will minimize the number of cleaners who have access to designated areas. Should something go missing or a door be left unlocked, you’ll immediately know the culprit.
Cons: It can get pricey to outfit the whole team with all the equipment required for thoroughly cleaning several different zones. If you’ve got five members of the team, you’ll be purchasing five vacuums, five sets of cleaning fluids and supplies, etc. It’s possible that using a different cleaner per zone could result in wildly erratic results if the cleaning company doesn’t use a careful training process.
Tips To Find Best House Cleaners
- Most house cleaning companies are boasting that they are being screened by police. You need to see proof of that. You need comparisons to see too. I’d also try these out too-they might be incorrect.
- You need peace of mind that if they ruin one of your costly ornaments by mistake, they are covered to cover the cost. Test they are safe in case of unintended injury.
- Your cleaner will have a nice but not too nice attitude. You also learn about cleaners wasting much of their daily chatting and consuming tea. They should be nice, but polite too, so they should get on with their work.
- A marginally better cost may be worthwhile charging. Then you will claim excellent service. If you make a cheap choice, you might just get shoddy work.
- Why not continue the cleaning prices online with your study. Many housekeeping companies include a website. Ask a chart of rates for its facilities. You are also discreet in this manner and should thus not be’ lulled’ into traveling with them.
Home Cleaning Service – Getting Your Space Ready
A home cleaning service is something everyone looks forward to. It means someone else will come in and do the dirty work. But to give the professionals enough time to have a thorough cleaning for everything, you and your family need to make sure the house is ready to go
Decide on the Tables
Does your home cleaning service involve changing bedside sheets? If so, consider taking the dirty sheets and throwing them in the dirty clothes in advance. There’s no need for you to look around and find out what you want on the bed if you have the fresh sheets spread out on the mattress. This saves some time and makes sure all of the house’s beds are fresh and clean.
Get Off the Floor
Think about how long it takes you to pick up all the toys the children leave on the floor, or the clothes that just don’t seem to hamper the dirty clothes. Now imagine you pay somebody to clean up after your children. Would you rather spend your time picking up after everyone, or tackling the children’s bathroom, the home cleaning services professionals? Have everyone collaborate to ensure the floors are clear and free of clutter. Clothes should be put away and toys in place. That also makes vacuuming the floors easier. Everything you do in advance allows you to go to the home cleaning service more for the difficult jobs you are leaving.
The Cuisine
It goes without saying that before the home cleaning service professionals come in the kitchen needs to be cleaned a little bit. No need to clean the oven or microwave, and scrubbing is not required. You do want to make sure, though, that all the dishes are out of the sink and all the food is put away. Again, this is a boring job that can be taken care of by the family before professionals arrive. Loading the dishes into the dishwasher takes just a few minutes, and clearing off the counter tops.