Company Policies - Monetary/Financial
Frequently asked questions.

What forms of payment do you accept?
We accept cash, checks, and money orders.

Do you accept credit cards? 
Yes.  

Can I pay the bill at a later date?
Residences:  Our policy is that payment is due at the time of cleaning service. 

How much can I expect to pay for weekly/biweekly house cleanings?
I would need to see the residence but approximate rates/prices are listed below:
Small residences (under 2,000 s.f.) – $75.00- $90.00 (one cleaning tech)
medium residences (2,000 – 2,700 s.f.) - $105.00 - $112.00 (one cleaning techs)
Exceptionally large residences (over 3,000-3,500 s.f.) - $120.00_150.00 (+) - (two  cleaning techs)

Why are first time cleanings more expensive? 
It is during the first time cleaning that we work to bring the home to its optimal level of cleanliness.  And the labor is more intensive.  Workers get on hands and knees (with pads, of course) to clean the baseboards.  Lots of time is spent cleaning window frames and dusting and polishing. Cobwebs and dust bunnies are searched out.  Ceiling fans cleaned.  The time spent in the home is longer and more intense. 

My former cleaning service charged a little less than you do.  Why the difference?  
The fact that they are your former cleaning company says it all. Every now and then a potential client will share with me how much they paid to their “former” cleaning company and they will ask me if I could bring my price down some more.
My hope is that every potential client reading the FAQS section of my website will read this explanation.

First of all, our cleaning prices are comparable (and often less) than the prices charged by local franchises.

Here is the difference.
Most cleaning companies (including “mom & pop” as well as huge franchises) pay their workers between minimum wage, which I believe is about $6.55 in Maryland—and $8.50. But in order to earn $8.50, the workers have to rise to the position of “manager” or “Team Leader”.

Let’s stop there a moment. You are reading this so my guess is that you probably are college educated. But imagine for a moment that you never attended college and you are just the “Average Joe” out there trying to earn a decent wage so you can live a comfortable life. 

In other words, you need gas for your car.  You need enough money to pay your car and house notes. You need money for other expenses and you need a little extra for enjoyment—-just like everyone else.

Now think about the back-breaking work that goes into cleaning a house well. Would you do all that hard work for $6 - $8? Of course you would if you were desperate and needed money—but not long term.  Here is the thing.

a. Human nature is such that people work in accordance with what they earn. So if you are making $7 an hour, chances are that you are going to do about $7 an hour’s worth of work.

b. Cleaning techs who make that tiny bit of money don’t take the job seriously.  They treat it as a “jump off” until they can get something paying a higher wage. And the second they find another job paying more for less labor, they leave—often without notice.


This is what happens to the consumer:
a. The consumer is now annoyed that a different person or different crew is in his/her home cleaning and the crew seems to change every few weeks.

b. The consumer is agitated that he/she has to explain things to a different crew every few weeks.

c. The consumer is worried—wondering if the present crew is as trustworthy and careful as was the last crew.  After all, the consumer’s HOUSE KEY is being passed around from crew to crew!

Eventually the frustrated consumer starts to search for another cleaning company.
NOW….let’s say you stumble upon Cinderella’s Clean Team, LLC. Either a friend told you about us or you received a postcard in the mail or you saw an advertisement or found us via a Google search.

a. You make contact with us.
b. We come out and complete an in-house estimate.
c. We give you a quote that is $25 - $35 more than the last service that was in your home.
d. You inquire as to the price difference.

OKAY….here goes!
Our employee turnover rate is “zero” at the present time and I will tell you why.
a. We pay our employees well above the minimum wage.  And because they are earning a decent wage, they take the job seriously. And since they take the job seriously, they work harder to perfect their skills. And because they work so hard to continuously perfect their skills, my clients LOVE them! And because clients rave about them, they are inspired to work even harder. And because they work even harder, I shower them with praise. And because I shower them with praise, they blossom and bend over backwards to continue to shine.
It’s a chain reaction.

b. The reason we are able to pay our employees a wage that shows that we respect and appreciate their hard work is because we charge a competitive but realistic fee for cleanings.
Several local franchises and “mom & pops” charge $75 an hour, so we are not the highest service out there.  The difference is that franchises charge $75 an hour and pad their own pockets, while paying their people minimum wage.
 
Then there are the services that charge $40 - $50 an hour and the only way they are earning a profit for themselves is by paying either below minimum wage or barely minimum wage.
Did you ever hear the old saying that “you get what you pay for”? Guess what? It’s TRUE!

Do dissatisfied first time clients have to pay?
- Yes. Payment by check or cash is due prior to the cleaning technicians leaving the residence. Call us if there is a problem and we will resolve it as best we can. Generally, we would come out and re- clean in the problem areas. Note that we do not offer refunds. Note also that the majority of our clients are satisfied with quality of services.   Note also that if there is a problem, we will need to be notified within 24 hours. Time is important because homes depreciate in cleanliness naturally.  The sooner we can get back and re-clean a problem area, the better.

What is the policy with regular clients who find a problem? - My regular clients have my home, business, and cell phone numbers.  They also have my email address and know that they are welcome to contact me if there is a problem.  Our policy is that we will send an employee to re-clean as long as we are contacted within 24 hours of the problem.  Time is important because homes depreciate in cleanliness naturally.  The sooner we can get back and re-clean a problem area, the better.

Safety and Privacy Policies

How are keys stored?
In an unmarked key lockbox, which is in a hidden location. Your address is not attached to the key.

Does your company have rules of confidentiality?
- Yes. We are not in your home to snoop, judge, or mind your business. Our employees are in your home for one reason: To clean! Employees are not allowed to discuss clients with each other. Barring anything illegal, of course, they are not allowed to discuss anything they have seen in your home with anyone. So yes, rest assured that your home is your private castle and we will treat it as such.

Hygiene Policy
We do not touch blood. If you have blood stains on anything in your home, we ask that you remove it.  No bodily fluids or waste from humans.
We do not handle any form of animal droppings from any animals.  That would include cat litter, dog waste, and droppings from rodents.  The family members would need to get those up or hire a different company to get those up, as they represent a potential health hazard to our employees.

Cancellation and Holiday Policies

What if I need to reschedule or cancel an appointment?
You can reschedule or cancel an appointment by calling the office at (208)-861-8115. There is no charge for cancellations made with 24-hour notice. However, we charge a $30 fee for cancellations made with less than 24-hour notice.

What happens if my routine cleaning falls on a holiday?
We would have to reschedule.
Once Per Month Cleaning Policy
I have gone back and forth on whether or not to take on once per month clients. Here are the facts.  Homes (even empty homes) collect dust and spider webs and cob webs and lint, etc.  So every home is in a constant battle with Mother Nature.  If a home goes an entire month without a thorough cleaning, it will have reverted back to its original dirty, dusty condition.
In short, the baseboards will be dusty again. The picture frames, lights, ceiling fans, etc. will all be caked with dust again.  And the home will need a "deep cleaning" again.

Presently, we are not taking on once per month clients.  In addition to the problems listed above, it is extremely difficult to schedule the once per month-ers because priority goes to regular weekly and biweekly clients who have reserved space on our calendar.  Please consider either biweekly or weekly cleanings.

Blinds, Draperies:  Cleaning Policy

Blinds damage easily and they are difficult and time consuming to clean. We do a  lite dusting on the blinds,  however   we do ask that home owners hire a professional company that specializes in blind cleaning to clean their blinds once a year. Likewise, we don't clean curtains or draperies.  Our concentration is on cleaning the house itself.

Breakage Policy

What happens if a maid breaks something in our home?
The cleaning tech will fill in a "break report" and leave it with you. I will then contact you to remedy the situation.

Pick Up Policy

We do not do "pick ups". That means that it is the responsibility of the homeowner to pick up toys, books, clothing items, etc. from the floors so that we may clean. This includes items that are under beds, couches and chairs.  Please put them away or in a basket. If we find that the home has items to be picked up, we will clean around those items. Picking up items extends the time and labor in the home. If a family requires pickups, there is an extra fee which starts at $50 per hour. Again, we request that families prepare the home for cleaning by picking up items from the floors.

Products & Equipment Policy

Do I need to provide any cleaning products?
No, Cinderella’s Clean Team, LLC supplies all cleaning products.  We have a few clients who prefer that we use at least some of their "favorite" products. We are fine with that. It's your home, so you have the right to dictate what products you want in your home.

Referral Policy

Have you ever referred a client to a company and received a "thank you" card?  I know I have and I walked away feeling that somehow the "thank you" card was not enough. At Cinderella’s Clean Team, we appreciate referrals.  If you refer a client to us and the client books three cleanings,  your next cleaning will be absolutely FREE. You literally could get all of your cleanings for FREE if you just spread the word about us to your associates. 
 
Are you bonded and insured?  
Yes

Do your cleaning technicians speak English? 
Our cleaning techs speak,and read, English

What cleaning services don’t you offer?
Laundry, dish washing, ironing, exterior and interior window cleaning, outside cleaning. If there are a few dishes in the sink, we will go ahead and wash them so that we may clean out the sink itself. However, we do not wash loads of dishes.

What should I do to prepare for cleaning service?
a. If you have anything that could possibly break sitting on a table that needs to be dusted, please remove it.

b. If there are a great number of toys in an area that needs to be vacuumed or mopped, please put the toys in a basket so that the cleaning techs can work faster.

c. Laundry should be placed in a laundry basket or taken to the laundry room, as opposed to being thrown on the floor. Remember, we do not do laundry. Clothes on the floor are in the same category as toys. We ask that the family put those things away as it adds to the amount of time it takes us to clean the home.

d. Place fresh linens on the beds if you would like us to remake the bed with clean linens. We change one bed as part of regular service. Other beds are charged at $7 per bed (due to the amount of time that linen adds to the time in the home).

e. Because we wipe and/or dust picture frames, please check to ensure that they are on sturdy hooks. Likewise we do clean mirrors, so double check to ensure that the mirrors are on sturdy hooks.

f. Regarding animals, you won’t need to do anything about a cat. However, if you have a dog, we would want you to be home the first time we come out to clean so that the dog will learn the odor of the maid and recognize her if/when s/he returns. If you cannot be home on the day of the cleaning, we would want the maid to visit your home prior to the cleaning to meet the dog.

Under what circumstances would you reject a home for cleaning?
If I determine that a home is a potential health hazard for
employees, I will reject the home. I also reject some cluttered homes---in cases where the clutter adds to liability for workers. I often request that clutter clients first hire a clutter expert to help them. We go in later.

Do you ever turn away clients?  There are two types of clients that never last with us, so we steer them towards other companies:

a.  The "neat freak" - These are people who cringe at the sight of a speck of dust. When a client describes himself or herself as a neat freak, we advise them to check into other companies because we are far from perfect and to date have never satisfied a "neat freak".  In fact, we don't believe any cleaning company ever will.

b.  The "bargain shopper" - I have found that clients who are overly concerned about price are never happy with our prices---and they leave us to find a "cleaning lady" after two to three sessions.  They always are clear about how satisfied they were with the quality but they leave to pay a cheaper rate.
I explain that we pay our workers a decent wage, which is why we don't have the horrible turnover rate that most cleaning companies have.  I explain that our prices are not the highest out there, but that we must charge what we charge so that we can retain high quality employees. 
 
The bargain shoppers would much rather hire a dangerous "cleaning lady" from off the street and turn their keys over to that individual who has no one to answer to---and pay her a dirt cheap rate of $60 every two weeks to clean their home as opposed to hiring a real company that does background checks and holds insurance. We try our best not to take on the bargain shoppers.  We steer them to other services, especially since they will leave after one or two sessions anyway.  

Do you arrive at the time you indicated?
Our cleaning techs clean two houses a day. If you are the first on schedule, the cleaning tech will arrive on time unless an emergency arises or there is traffic congestion. If you are an afternoon client, we can offer you a window of time, generally between 12:15 - 1:00.

Do I need to be home when you arrive?
For the initial cleaning, it would be great for you to be there at least for a few minutes to meet the cleaning techs assigned to your home. After that, no, you won't need to be home. 99.9% of our clients are at work or leave to run errands when the techs are in the house cleaning.

Who will clean my home?
For the first cleaning, a team of two or three will clean your home. If you become a regular client, one or two cleaning techs will be assigned to your home, depending on need and size of home.

What happens if I suspect that an employee has stolen from me?
My employees receive background checks prior to being hired. 
If you suspect that an employee has stolen from you, do the following:
 
a. Double check your house to ensure you have not moved the item. Ask family members whether or not they have seen or moved the item.

b. If you have had a recent visitor or neighbor stop by, ask them if they perhaps admired the item, moved it, and forgot to return it to its original place.

c. After doing the above, if you still believe it was stolen, call me.
d. I will advise you to call the police so they may investigate.
It would have to go to trial. If it is found that the employee indeed is guilty, our bonding insurance would kick in and pay you for your loss.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Our policy is to immediately discontinue service with a client if they suspect an employee of stealing from them. We would not feel comfortable sending another employee into that house. For that reason, please look at every possible option before calling us because a theft accusation is very serious and devastating to the person being accused, as it goes to the grain and core of one's character and decency as a human being.

Are you a franchise?  No, we are not a franchise. We are a family owned Boise house/office cleaning company. The advantage of using a family owned vs. franchise is that we actually care about your home. Most franchises care about selling more franchises.

Should I give tips?
The maids do not expect tips. However, they are permitted to accept tips should you choose to leave a tip as recognition for exceptional cleaning service.