Dirty Houses Are Their Business

Dirty Houses Are Their Business FARM HOME Kitchen 4-1-29 How would you like to get your spring house cleaning done in one hour? It's happening in areas where custom house cleaning has become a bustling business. Professional cleaning crews come into a home and leave it ship-shape in an hour. To the weary housewife who struggles all day with scrubbing, window washing, vacuum cleaning, and other assorted chores, this may seem to be a minor miracle. But it's possible only because of planning, efficiency and coordination of the cleaning crew. House cleaning services are springing up in many parts of the country. A typical example is Broom Service, a partnership in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota. Started in April 1979 by Carolyn Bye and Barbara Nagell, it is already a thriving business. But it will not be profitable until four crews are operating for a full five days a week, each crew cleaning five houses per day. That kind of productivity gives a pretty good clue to the chances of success for a house cleaning service in other areas. As far as Broom Service is concerned, they cannot afford to go out of the city to serve customers. And a rural service would encounter a lot of problems, Ms. Bye thinks. "We need to have clients close together to minimize time spent traveling," she says. "It's most profitable when we can have five families in the same city block, and we're looking for more business in condominiums and apartments. The more we have to travel, the more money we lose." Broom Service teams consist of three people, one of whom is the chief that coordinates the work and keeps it on schedule. The crew comes to work in a company station wagon and brings all the cleaning materials and equipment with them. The work schedule is pre-arranged, and the owner is expected to have the house picked up before the work crew arrives. The team has specific instructions for a house - what kind of furniture polish to use, special care of antiques, etc. They do routine dusting, vacuuming, window washing, and cleaning of bathrooms and kitchens. They try to get one extra job done each time, such as cupboard cleaning, washing woodwork, or defrosting freezers. "Basic rates for cleaning are $35 an hour, and the average house takes 70 minutes to do," says Ms. Bye. "Hours are 8:15 to 4:45 Monday through Friday. A lot of people would like to have us work evenings or weekends, but we don't do it. Friday is our busiest day, with Thursday a close second. Our crews work most efficiently when the family is out of the house." Late this summer, Broom Service employees were being paid $3.60 an hour. Team leaders got $4.30, plus use of the company car. All workers on a full-time, continuing basis receive insurance, vacation and the usual fringe benefits. Part-time workers get partial benefits. The owners of Broom Service feel that working for a cleaning service is more profitable than working independently as a conventional "cleaning lady". There's also more status and excitement to the work. Would a house cleaning service be profitable in the country or in small towns? That's a question that has to be answered on an individual basis. "One of the plusses for the idea is the abundance of willing and capable workers that are found in rural areas," says Ms. Bye. She would be happy to give tips on organizing a house cleaning business, including how to avoid the pitfalls. For more details, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Broom Service, 4810 Rustic Way, Shorewood, Minn. 55331. (Send 25 cents for postage, and a self-addressed envelope).

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