Tomorrow, July 4, is an Empty Schedule Special day if you want to get some discount cleaning when everyone else is closed or charging a premium.
EDITED on August 1: Those "empty schedule special" days are turning into appreciated once and twice weekly days off. They'll be back the next time I find myself without enough to do.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Monday, July 1, 2013
Don't Invite Mayhem
You see this goofy insurance ad?
The real message was lost on me when I posted something on Twitter about seeing shades of that Mayhem guy in every cleaning company.
For you, the cleaning client, the message is that you need to make sure your cleaner carries his or her own insurance. Do you really want to make a claim on your own policy when the housekeeper ruins that priceless heirloom or cracks her head on the bathroom tile?
I went and scanned my insurance papers and business license and posted them on the About page of JustCleanTuscaloosa.com so you can see I have been operating legitimately since I took my first client this April.
I recommend using an above-board cleaner for a few reasons.
The takeaway: Ask to see credentials before you hire a cleaner. It's easy to say you're "licensed, insured and bonded," but it's quite another to lay out money for the payments. Be doubly sure to check papers if a solo cleaner says he's "bonded,' because insuring a client against theft by you is stupid, and most, if not all, janitorial bonds specifically exclude theft by the business owner.
The real message was lost on me when I posted something on Twitter about seeing shades of that Mayhem guy in every cleaning company.
For you, the cleaning client, the message is that you need to make sure your cleaner carries his or her own insurance. Do you really want to make a claim on your own policy when the housekeeper ruins that priceless heirloom or cracks her head on the bathroom tile?
I went and scanned my insurance papers and business license and posted them on the About page of JustCleanTuscaloosa.com so you can see I have been operating legitimately since I took my first client this April.
I recommend using an above-board cleaner for a few reasons.
- The obvious one is to protect yourself. Insurance also protects the cleaner, who could be put out of business by the cost of a mishap at work.
- License and insurance are also good indicators of a cleaner's seriousness, honesty and reliability. A thieving fly-by-night operator is not likely to invest any money in looking legitimate.
- Although I have some reservations about paying Caesar his due these days, I can't very well complain about corporate corruption and tax-dodging if I am running around doing that myself. If you have a problem with big corporations and politicians who don't play by the rules, you want to make sure the people you do business with do.
- It's also a matter of fairness. Cleaners who operate under the table can charge less than legitimate operators, and that depresses wages for everyone. Using a black-market cleaner is like shopping at Walmart: The price makes it look like a good deal, but the social and economic costs are high.
The takeaway: Ask to see credentials before you hire a cleaner. It's easy to say you're "licensed, insured and bonded," but it's quite another to lay out money for the payments. Be doubly sure to check papers if a solo cleaner says he's "bonded,' because insuring a client against theft by you is stupid, and most, if not all, janitorial bonds specifically exclude theft by the business owner.
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