That Time We Talked About Cleaning Services

This is episode number 93 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We are finally getting this episode done after 2 hours of getting the gerbils to run in the wheel and all the updates have been done to the computers.

And yeah, we had no idea it was gonna be, uh, goodness, we're like over an hour from whenever we originally started this.

So that was after like an hour of prep before that.

That's right.

Like, we're ready now. And then we didn't know that we weren't ready. That's right.

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Yeah. So on top of that, we are gonna be having a renewed presence on YouTube. And the cool thing about that is, like this morning, a new episode had gone up from last week and. Because of that, I got a notification on my phone because I had clicked the bell on YouTube. I got a notification on my phone that a new episode was up. If you want to be notified when a new YouTube video is up—

Super simple.

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Subscribe, and then the bell.

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Yep.

Our plan is to fill that void that Joe Rogan is going to be leaving once he's off there in September.

It's a significant void.

Yeah.

And yet somehow I feel like he's gonna suck it up again.

We're, we're ready to embrace those folks though. That's right. Bring 'em on over.

That's right. We're, we are ready for you.

That's right. With, with, with better content. Let's, of course, let's be honest.

Of course. So, of course.

Oh, he's just been doing it longer.

Yeah. Well, he's been doing it a lot longer.

So we, we gotta, we gotta start bagging on people at the top. I mean, we started with Bob Vila.

That's true.

And you know, and that old bag of bones, um, and with his 10 reviews.

Come on, Bob.

You know what we haven't maximized like we talked about doing?

What's that?

Nick Offerman.

Oh, we haven't done Nick Offerman? Yeah, we haven't. Yeah, we need, we need a tour of the, of the wood shop is what we need.

That— so I would not have enough hours in the day.

He has a grace period until we get invited over, and after, you know, after I get my feelings hurt, then it's, it's game on.

Yeah, so then, then we start showing up at his house. He has an opportunity right now to contact us.

That's right.

But before that time is over, we will be planning on ransacking his house. Kevin will be.

I'm not doing time for that.

Hey, if he gets me into his woodshop, I will do it in a heartbeat. Anyway, how you doing, man?

Good! Speaking of woodshop, I had an incident with some wood excavators this past week.

Wood excavators?

Yeah, the original professional carpenters, the good old termite. We deal with termites all the time. That's no big trick. This one was kind of weird because they only initially showed up on the second-floor ceiling of this garage apartment. That's not usually a good sign. That means they've probably been there a long time, or they're a really aggressive form of termite. Turns out, it was a really aggressive form of termite. What's bad about that is, they're not just like, you know, mean aggressive. They're also like eat lots of wood aggressive.

They're, they're both right.

Like, this is the kind, like the mud tubes that we see on the ceiling. There's 2 different kinds of termites basically. There's like the workers and the soldiers. Um, and the soldiers come out of the mud tube and they actually like stand guard on the outside and they got like these big ugly pinchers and they'll actually, they'll reach up and bite you. It doesn't hurt, but they'll do it. They think they're big and bad. Um, but come to find out where they were coming— we were having the hardest time figuring out where they're coming from. Where we found them was there was this— it must have been like a 70-year-old oak tree in this guy's front yard, and it was— they were eating the live oak, which is just like—

Like the big live oak outside?

Yes. Oh yeah. And like, you couldn't really see it at first because like the tree's brown and mud's brown. there was mud tubes going up all around this tree, and then there was a termite carton about 15 feet up in the air. And so like, we're, we're having to call people like, can we treat a tree? Can, you know, how does this work? 'Cause we've never seen this before.

Especially since it's a live tree.

Yeah.

At this point.

So, and they're the only one that, the only kind of termite that it's, it's a Formosan termite for those of you wondering, you know, that care to know, um, that They'll— they will eat live trees, and most usually they will eat the roots of trees because it's in the ground, right? They just decided to go up the tree.

Interesting.

Yeah, it was, it was crazy.

Yeah, that's, that's not normal, is it?

No, no, not normal at all. I mean, well, like, again, normal in the sense they will eat some live trees. It's not normal for them to go up a big old oak tree like that. That's just out of, out of the norm for sure.

So what do you, what do you think causes something like that?

Well, they are, they are considered a— what they— they're designated as a random forager. So like, there's a lot of people will ask us, like, will this attract termites? And it's like, well, maybe. I mean, and so like, they— so there's all this weird language around— like, termites are the most litigious thing in our business.

Mm-hmm.

And, and so like, there's a lot of legal language that we have to learn around dealing with them. And so what we'll do is we'll say like, That won't attract termites, but that's a conducive condition. Yeah, it will. Sure.

It can happen.

More so than if you didn't have that leak. Let's put it that way. There's a lot of weird language around that kind of stuff. All that to say, termites eating a live tree, man!

That's bizarre. I don't like those things. I'm not a fan.

These are the same ones that I was telling you about before that ate pretty much that entire house.

Oh, like the same house?

No, it's a different house, but the same kind of termite. Oh, same.

Okay. Same kind of termite.

Same kind of termite. Yeah. Um, and it's like, funny enough, that, that house I was telling you about before where they pretty much ate the whole house, like, as I'm walking through it, I'm like, how is this house like not caving in on me at this moment? Well, as they've taken it apart, they found that the whole house was, um, being held up by, uh, I-beams.

Really?

Yeah. Like the wood was just gone. The only thing holding it up was these metal I-beams going through the house.

Really? Like a, like a, Travel trailer or like a mobile home or something?

No, when you think about building a skyscraper, the same kind of I-beams that you would put in that, that's what we found in this house that was holding everything together.

Well, I guess that's fortunate. But who does that?

I don't know. I don't know.

People are weird.

Someone anticipating massive termite damage. I guess so.

Crazy.

Which caused a big mess.

I can imagine it caused a big mess. Yeah.

So, and speaking of messes, yes, we, we have the mess cleaner-upper with us, with us tonight.

That's right.

So this is, this is one we've been, we've been, uh, talking about doing this one for a while with, with our friend Tanya here in the studio, uh, from— I'm gonna get this wrong because Kevin wrote it down—

J&W.

J&W Janitorial. There we go. Did I get it right?

Yes.

Ah, yes, actually. I got it right.

You got it right. Okay. Kevin saved me so that I could get it right. That's right. So how you doing, Tanya?

I'm doing great. Thank you guys for the opportunity. I'm just so excited.

Look at that, Kevin. We're an opportunity.

Yes, you are.

We've been upgraded.

We are, by the way, an equal opportunity.

Well, that's good to know.

That's right. Well, thanks for being here.

We're excited.

You're welcome. We're excited that you're here.

We do a little discriminating.

Do we?

Redheads.

Well, what about red faces? Now we're gonna get—

that's—

yeah, we got fighting words. Well, I'm safe because— Well, we are interested in knowing a little bit more about you, so tell us a little bit about you and, and how you got into this industry, and, uh, tell maybe a little bit about what it is that you do as well.

So, um, we are a residential and commercial cleaning company. Um, and how I got into it is, is I've been in some gamut of real estate for over 20 years. So I managed properties, I was a realtor, a realtor. And so incomes with that is, is cleaning, cleaning the property, cleaning, you know, the houses, that type of thing.

And so, um, especially with real estate, I mean, especially, yeah, it's gotta be, you gotta have it looking sharp when those people come in to do the walkthroughs at all times.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we started out in the commercial industry doing freestanding ERs, doctors' offices, that type of thing that have to be obviously super clean at all times. And then that was in 2005 when we started that. And then I realized really quickly that there was a really need for residential cleaning, especially with women. You know, we are, we are kind of tasked with doing it all. And so for me, I have I have very much of a servant's heart, and so I just really wanted to make it affordable.

Mm-hmm.

I wanted to make it where you don't have to spend your weekends cleaning baseboards and ceiling fans, you know, more time with your family. And so I just started it, you know, almost 4 years ago. It'll be 4 years in October doing residential cleaning. And it's really taken off. And it really makes us feel good knowing that we've taken some pressure off of a busy mom or maybe a single mom Or just a busy family.

Yeah.

Um, and, uh, that they don't have to spend their weekends doing that. You know, freedom from housework, you know, equals more time for your family, right? And we don't have that these days. So, um, it's been a real win-win for everybody. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, and you were, you were sharing with us a little bit, and we can't, we can't be name-dropping, but like, you're, I mean, like, you're taking care of like some celebrities now. I mean, like some, some big properties.

Yeah.

That, I mean, to take a little bit higher level of attention.

It does.

Yeah.

It does.

Yeah. We have some, you know, high-profile clients. We're blessed in that category. And, you know, there's different levels of cleaning for sure. And so that's, that's been an interesting journey and it's been a fun journey because who doesn't want to come out, come in home to a clean smelling house? I mean, that makes everybody happy, right?

Absolutely.

So, and, you know, we have a commercial side as well too. So that's a whole different gamut. But, you know, we need to keep businesses clean, especially right now. You know, with everything that's going on with COVID Hang on, what's that? Have you heard of it?

Co-what?

She said co-ed.

Co-ed.

Oh yeah, co-ed definitely needs to be cleaned.

That does have some cleaning issues.

Yeah, we don't do that.

You draw the line there.

That's where we stop.

Good to know. Good to know.

No, the COVID stuff for sure. Yeah. Like, I imagine this is on everybody's brain. Anybody that you're onboarding right now, it's like at the forefront of what the conversation that you're having.

Definitely. It was definitely a game changer for us. It forced us to think outside the box because obviously, you know, we're deemed essential. Um, and so, you know, we had to really, you know, think, okay, how can we keep our clients safe? How can we keep our staff safe? You know, they're going home to their families, um, and our clients' families. And so, One of the things that we did is, you know, our crews are cleaning with masks, obviously, gloves, disposable shoe covers in each home. And we're doing, you know, we're doing temperature checks every morning at the office. You know, this virus is serious.

Yeah.

And we have to take it seriously. And you just never know where you're going to pick it up at. And so we're doing every precaution that we can to make sure that not only our crews are safe, but our clients are. And the biggest thing that I think I learned first doing in freestanding ERs and doctors' offices is cross-contamination. You have to really be careful, even before the virus. You don't want to have someone mopping your bathroom floors and then going and mopping your kitchen. So cross-contamination is really a thing that is important. And we're cleaning with a high-level medical-grade disinfectant and just doing everything we can to make sure that everybody's safe. Yeah.

Are you finding that there are clients who are wanting you to clean more often right now?

Definitely. We're having a lot of people that have elderly parents, they're wanting their homes clean. People that are bringing babies home, that's really important. Things that you don't think about that you really need to clean and sanitize as far as your light switches that everybody touches, your doorknobs, your high surface areas. If you knew what was on the bottom of shoes, you would never let it in, never let them in your house. let anyone in your home with shoes, literally. And for me, I personally, I have an autoimmune disease, so I've always been really careful about germs. I'm a germaphobe, you know, but even more so now. So yes, much more, you know, businesses needing to be opened and needing to be cleaned and sanitized. There's procedures for that. They can't open without it. So

there's a huge shift in that, needing, especially right now. Yeah.

And I mean, like, I've heard people say autoimmune disease, I have literally no clue what that is.

Well, I have lupus.

OK. So that's a specific kind of autoimmune. It is.

And there's no cure for lupus. It's really a very unpredictable illness. I mean, you can be great one day, and the next day you can't get out of bed. Your body essentially is attacking itself. And so when that is happening and you're in a flare, your immune system is nothing. Anything can get you sick. So definitely, if I was to get this virus, I would— it would kill me. So that's how serious— I mean, that's how serious I take all germs, but especially now. Yeah, there's a lot of people with different variables of autoimmune, and we're getting calls for that too because we are taking those precautions, and a lot of cleaning companies aren't. And that's, that's something

that the clients need to know, and the customers out there, that make sure that whoever you use is taking those precautions when they're coming into your home. Super important right now.

So I mean, because I mean, in your mind then, it's, it's not good enough just to say I'm using a disinfectant?

Absolutely not.

You know, Absolutely not.

You don't know where people are going after work. You don't know, you know, what they're doing, who they're coming into contact with. And so the masks, the gloves, the shoe covers, the disinfectant is just an extra precaution. And everybody should have a disinfectant in their home anyways, whether they're cleaning it themselves or, or having a service do it. Yeah, I think that's just our new normal now, right?

I think so.

I don't think that we're gonna stop doing that for a while.

And so like when you, when you say that, I mean like you're not, you're probably not talking like Clorox No, no. I mean, I think, I think people hear that and they would say, okay, yeah, I know I do that.

And those are great.

Sure.

And those are great. But you really need to have a disinfectant that actually kills COVID. Okay? And COVID's not a new virus. It's just new spreading. Okay? And so there's, there's been cleaners around for a while that you look on the back of it and you'll see it actually kills COVID. So that's what you really need to do. The disinfectants that are used in the hospitals, the doctor's offices, the ERs, that type of thing. You need that in your house.

So, so, I mean, we're obviously not being sponsored by any of these places, but could you give us some examples of what those specific disinfectants that you would recommend being used and that we can just get at the grocery store just for, for us specifically? Or is that just something that for your cleaning company you have a certain thing to use? Right.

I mean, and you can, you can— any type of medical supplier is going to have those Those type of disinfectants, and there's a variable of them. I mean, one thing you can definitely do in your home is definitely use the Clorox wipes, use the Lysol. If you look on the back of the can of Lysol, it's gonna say that it kills coronavirus.

I was gonna say, that was a big one that was getting circulated for a while.

It does. And so if you use that and if you take those precautions, you know, don't let people in your homes with shoes. I have a sign when you come outside my door. Please take off your shoes. It's just that important and more important now. So definitely in your homes, you know, make sure that you're kind of getting those Clorox wipes and wiping those light switches, wiping those doorknobs, wiping those high-traffic areas where everybody in your house is touching. You're just gonna take that extra precaution. I mean, I walk around with a Clorox wipe all day long. I drive with one.

I bet you have to. I do.

Yeah, no, we keep them in our trucks as well.

Yeah.

Why not?

Definitely. Yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

So what I guess one of the questions I've got, especially right now during the crazy time that we live in, are— I mean, I would assume that you've got some sort of a tiered system. I mean, do you have a like, I'll clean this much of your house, or is it— it's just a one price for the whole thing? How do you do that?

So definitely for us, I think that kind of is what has set us apart and why we have grown at a rapid pace that we have, is because We definitely can customize the cleanings, right? So some of these people that live in larger homes never go upstairs.

Yep.

Never use that stuff unless family's coming to that area. So we definitely can just say, okay, we're going to do the downstairs only. Or we've— we actually rolled out with this COVID thing, I was like, okay, let's offer bathrooms and floors only option. You know, maybe they can't afford to get their whole house cleaned every single time, which we do try to make it affordable, but let's focus on those bathrooms. Let's focus on those floors. And it's really just to protect everybody. So yes, we do customized cleanings, if that was your question.

Yeah, no, that's exactly what I mean. Because I think that sometimes, just to be frank, I mean, there's a lot of people that think, I can't afford to have a nanny or someone come in and, you know, a housekeeper or whatever you want to call people that, you know, these are our common language terms here. But, you know, Well, to have a, a janitorial service of some sort come in and clean their homes is too expensive. I can't afford that.

Yeah. And that's a, that's a common misper— misconception. And I'm glad that you said that because for me, when I take on a, a call or a client, I ask them, what is your budget?

Yeah.

What can you afford? And then tell me what you can afford because generally just, we just wanna help you. Yeah. And then I'll tell you what I can do for that. And so really people are really like, yeah, I can afford this.

Mm-hmm.

You know, I can, this is, this is nothing more than, um, getting your hair done or getting getting your nails done. It's a— it's an— it's, you know, you can take away from those things and get your house cleaned. It's very, very affordable. The good thing about us is we have budget packages for all— for all budgets. Um, you know, so people— it's a really misconception about that.

Yeah, and we were talking about this just briefly before the show started, is this idea that, you know, there's a quality of life out there that people are trying to attain, right? And I think whether or not you would call it that or whether you're aspiring to and know that you are. Everybody's looking for a certain quality of life. And, you know, we can make excuses all day long about why we do what we do. We can say, well, I work really long hours because my employer requires it, or because, you know, in order, in order to do this, that, or the other, I've got to work this number of hours. But, and so, yeah, I only get to see my kids, you know, here or there. But at the end of the day, I mean, there's other

things that we wind up filling our space with. And it could be cleaning the dishes, cleaning out the dishwasher, Yes. washing the clothes, all of these sorts of things. When, to be quite honest, we probably, for most people in the area that we live at least, frivolously spend on whatever that we might be able to cut back in order to maybe have a different quality of life with our family and allow someone else to come in and do some of the heavy lifting on the cleaning.

I was just sitting at home one day and I realized that There's got to be other people that are thinking the same thing as me.

Yeah.

There's got to be. I can't be alone in this. You know, to try to balance being a mom, a wife, a friend, a businesswoman. You know, I make no bones about it. I don't clean my house.

Obvious.

Sometimes I do if we're too busy. I don't— I've partnered with a mobile laundry service. It's about $30 a week. She comes and drops off— I set my bag outside. 24 hours later, she has it folded military, smelling like— I don't even know how she gets that smell. And, you know, so I don't have to worry about putting in the clothes every night. I don't have to worry about cleaning on the weekends. And like you said, freedom from that gives you more time with your family. And that's, that's what's so important. That's what drives us. You know, every woman that works with us, you know, you really have to have a servant's heart. We want to go in and we want to help. There's never any judgment. We understand—

Mm-hmm.

That life gets the best of us. And so we're busy.

Yeah.

And when you come home, it's 6 o'clock, dinner, da da da da da. You don't have that kind of time.

Yeah, I think one of the things that, that I really think about quite often is, you know, there was a day and time when most families didn't have 2 incomes. It was a long time ago. Okay, I get that. And I love the equality that we're working with as far as women go and, and more availability of jobs for everybody, right? I'm really excited about that. But in doing so, our time is very, very different. And so, you know, what winds up happening so often, I think, is we live to our means, right? And so if we've got 2 incomes, then we've got the really bigger house or the multiple cars or the, you know,

the payments for this, that, the other, right?

Right.

And, and I would really love to be able to, to see more people If they're utilizing their time outside of the home, finding a way to regain their time once they're back in the home.

Right. And typically, you know, we have a lot of people that come to us and say, I've never had a service, I don't know what to expect. And then we can educate them on that. You know, you can have it done weekly, biweekly, monthly, whatever your budget fits. And then they say, I'm never going to not have a service again. This is— I mean, when I get that feedback from that mom, that walked in and was literally in tears because she could have the weekend free with her family, or she's just super busy and doesn't have that kind of time. And then also what it does is it— when you have it clean like that, it gives you kind of a motivation to keep it that way until we get there.

Yeah.

Because, you know, clutter steals your joy. That's a fact. And so—

Find your joy. I'm not even sorry that I did that just now.

But it's true. Yeah, it's true. Less is better. And so we spend a lot of time with all this stuff, right? And it takes away from our joy. So with that, we do offer decluttering services, organizing services. Now we offer carpet, tile, that type of thing.

And so—

Do you do deep cleaning as well?

Oh, deep cleaning is our big thing.

Okay.

Yeah.

Cool.

Yeah.

So just for those of us that may need some help, what's the difference between like a deep cleaning and just like a regular cleaning?

You know, that's a great question. I get that all the time. And that's why you actually have to sit down and you have to actually talk with your client, you know, because we can come in and clean top to bottom. We can clean doors, we can clean door jambs, we can clean windows, windowsills. Where are the things that are important to you? Inside the appliances, outside the appliances? And so, um, everybody's definition of that is different.

Mm-hmm.

And so it's important to have those conversations about what's important to you in your home.

Yeah.

And, and it'll be like, okay, Okay. The floors, the bathrooms that nobody wants to do, the baseboards, the ceiling fans, the blinds. So that's why we really have no problem with customizing everything. Um, because if it, if the doors and the windows are not important to you, then we don't wanna take time and do that. Um, we wanna do what's important to the client.

And so you guys'll do the windows as well?

Absolutely.

Dude, that's fantastic.

Yeah.

I hate windows. They're, I mean, like, I like looking through them.

Nobody ever thinks about it.

Yeah. But if you don't clean them, then you can't look through them.

My joy is diminished. Yeah.

Then you got to find your joy somewhere else.

That's right. Go outside.

Yeah. You don't think about that. Like, we haven't cleaned the windows in 6 months. And so, you know, the window sills and the ledges, I mean, those collect dust.

I just thought the outside was ugly.

That's— yeah.

No, my window just wasn't clean.

Yeah. Right.

Ceiling fans and air vents are very important because you're just, all you're doing is just circulating that dust.

Mm-hmm.

And you just don't think about it, especially when when you have, you know, 20-foot ceiling, you always have that ceiling fan on. Turn it off and take a look at it. You'd be surprised.

Yeah.

And you're breathing that.

Yeah. And, and I mean, fans aren't the easiest thing to clean.

They're not.

They're not super accessible.

Not at all.

I mean, I've got a really cool attachment on my, my vacuum cleaner that helps, but it still doesn't do the job if you were to get up there and actually wipe it down.

Hand clean it.

You know, definitely. It's a completely different process.

We've got one of these, uh, Funky brooms. I mean, they're ceiling fan brooms.

Those are great.

Yeah, you like that it goes over both sides of the blade at the same time.

Yes.

And we had to get one with an extension rod because that one upstairs, it's like 20 feet up there.

Yeah.

We don't mind getting on ladders.

Yeah.

We make the tall girls do that.

There you go.

So we're like, you're tall, get up there.

Get up there.

That's right. Well, that's, again, I think when I think of deep cleaning, I think of the things that I don't think of.

That's right. Right?

I mean, Um, and we, we've had some episodes when we've talked about home organization. In fact, one of our most successful episodes to this day has been a home organization episode. And, and I find that what you said is so true, that, that our joy isn't always in just the fact that we were successful in our day today, or that we come home, we get to see our kids, which is all good, but not having to worry about keeping things tidy once you get home, right? Completely changes your attitude when you wake up on a Saturday and know that I really don't have anything that has to get done around the house. That's right, it's done for me. You know, that's a completely different feeling.

And I actually didn't start having my crews clean the house until probably about a year ago. And then when they left, I thought, oh, This must be how my clients feel. It was the best feeling. Everything was clean, everything was tidy, everything smelled good. It just changes your whole mood. And it just, like I said, it just gives you some freedom to just breathe.

Right.

Yeah, it's great.

Probably do a pretty good job since it's the boss's house too.

I think so.

They're like, who's going there today?

Yeah, no joke.

Yes.

I, I'm curious as, I mean, cuz I mean, you've obviously interacted with some other cleaning businesses and, and absolutely come in behind some other, what is it that you, you find that you guys pay attention to that maybe other companies might be missing?

You know, that's a great question. And I always, when someone is asking and they're changing a service, I always wanna know what was it that they weren't doing? And often I find that it's just miscommunicate. It's no communication.

Mm-hmm.

It's, it's not taking the time to sit down with your client and find out what's important. The, the trick is, is that you can't use what one client likes and go into the next client and do, and do the same thing.

Yeah.

You've got to get to know your client's individual needs, likes, dislikes. And that's where we have a conversation. Do you like the smell of bleach? Do you not like the smell of Fabuloso? Because the worst thing that you can do is go in and clean a house and then they walk in and they hate the smell of bleach or they don't like the smell of Fabuloso.

Which, which version of Fabuloso? Which one?

Yeah.

Which one?

Which one? Purple.

The purple is very perfumey.

They don't like the purple.

That's lavender, isn't it?

They're monsters.

I know.

This stuff is awesome.

Who doesn't like purple?

Um, but it's just educating yourself and just having an open, honest conversation with your client about what, what do they need? What do they expect? And so I think that's what sets us apart a little differently is they're definitely not a check on the table. They're, let's find out what's important to you. And so we have that conversation upfront. We create a client profile so that whoever goes to that house will see all their likes and dislikes or their, their specifics. Yeah, because you can work really hard in a house, but if you don't go to their triggers, you know, their likes and dislikes, it's gonna negate everything else that you did.

Yeah, especially if you're coming in behind somebody else. I mean, like, you gotta, you, you gotta think that they're gonna be eagle-eyeing that thing that really upset them from the previous person that was taking care of their home. So like, that's going— they're going to be like going in, okay, did they do that?

So you need that information up front so that you can—

Especially if you have different people coming in.

Absolutely. You know, I mean, we try to keep that— we definitely try. It's important to keep the same crews going to the same houses. You get to know the house. You— it's important to know who's coming into your home.

Yes.

And build that relationship. But like I tell my girls, if you pay $100 to get get your car cleaned. If there is one thing that is missing, you're going to see it because you just picked that. You just paid $100.

Right.

If you pay $25 for a steak, that steak better be the best-looking steak you've ever had. So when you pay that amount, you're going to be checking it extra carefully to make sure that it was done thoroughly. And I think people, people don't mind paying for something if it's a really good job and it gives them life balance. And that's what it is, right? We're all searching for life balance.

Yeah. And there's a, there's a trust issue there as well. I mean, if I knew that I had a service that I was paying for, and every single time it was someone different doing the service, then my trust just changes.

You know, it's, it's not a good business model. Right. It's definitely not the way to do it. Your home is the most intimate part of you. And I've been in real estate and all gamut for a long time. And I know that to be a fact. Your home is what we put our joy in, our most pride. It's usually the most thing we pay the most for.

Mm-hmm.

So, um, it's your safe haven. And so when you have someone coming in, you, you wanna be able to trust them. You need to build that relationship. And I think, and I've had girls with me for years and their clients love them and, you know, they, um, you know, they tip them well, they give them Christmas presents. It's about forming a relationship. That's with any business. It's that one-on-one relationship, um, that they feel that they're important and their needs are, are, are voiced and concerned. And we, we understand that. And we're concerned about what's important to them.

Yeah. Well, you just said something there that, that really I hadn't thought about. So talk to me about tipping, because I, I mean, I mean, there's a lot of things that I go about in life that I'm like, okay, well, it was that much money. That's how much I'm— that's how much I owe. I really only think about tipping whenever I'm at a restaurant.

Right.

I mean, even, even whenever I go, um, to hotels and places like that, like the first thing on my mind isn't tipping, although I'm sure it should be. Okay, people out there are like, Kevin's an idiot. Okay, it's the red beard. I get that. Yeah, it's the red beard. I understand. But it's just not something that I think about all that often. So what is the— I mean, is there like a protocol? Is there something that—

It's never an expectation. It's definitely something that the ladies definitely appreciate, any, any type of extra, extra income. But with anything, when you have a really good experience, you want to let that person know, here, here's a little bit extra for you because you really went above and beyond. And I just got an email today that said that, you know, a lady left us because we couldn't get, we couldn't get the schedule right for her. And then she came back and she said, your girls just, they do things that other people don't do. And so that's what you have to do. You have to go above and beyond and people will recognize that and they'll pay for it. People will pay for a good service if they feel like, you know, man,

they really earned that.

Sure.

So, you know, typically there's no, There's no rhyme or reason to tipping, but typically people usually do 10 to 20% of the bill. Or, you know, they just whatever they can and then the crew splits it. It's just really whatever they feel like they want to give or they're able to give, but it's never expected.

All right, quick tipping quiz because I'm just curious because I have some awkward situations, right?

Okay.

So curbside grocery, we tip in there?

You know, that's a, that's a good question. I run a mom's group, a huge mom's group, and that, that always comes up.

Yeah.

And, um, I do, but I come from the, I come from the old school where the guy that brings your groceries out, you give him a buck or two, right?

You talking about the guy that helps you with your cart from the checkout? Okay. Yeah. Like that one I get.

Yeah.

This is different, right? I mean, like, because like they kind of, they kind of scuttle away and like, especially now with like COVID stuff, they're like, just open your trunk and I'll put it in there.

I think it's frowned upon in some businesses. They don't want them to get that. But I don't know. I just come from where if somebody's doing a service for me, I want to just give them a couple bucks.

OK, so here's another one. Sonic carhops.

Absolutely tip them.

See, here's my struggle, though. I don't carry cash. I use a card, and so I try not to look them in the eye when they come.

They don't give you the option to tip on the screen or on the app.

That's one of the reasons why I avoid Sonic. Craig is right. I never have cash on me, so I'm like, I have 4 quarters.

Right, and that just seems insulting at that, right?

Yes.

So I'm like, I don't have anything.

Yeah.

I like you as a person.

I don't know. Like, I think what— I think what's weird is that I always felt the need to tip at Sonic until they made it so easy to pay with card, because there was a point in time when paying with a card at Sonic was a hassle because they had to take your card, go inside, bring it back out. And at that point I'm like, well, now I feel like a really horrible person because I didn't tip, because now they're doing overtime and not getting tipped by someone else while they're helping me. But now whenever they make it so easy, just pay right there or pay on the app or whatever, you know, not to

mention the fact that drinks are freaking half price all the time. So now 10% or 20% or even 50% is a whole lot less than it would have been if I was paying full price for that drink.

So I don't know, get your stuff together, Sonic.

Yeah, add the tipping to this.

Well, and here's the other issue, right, is like now, like if you— like the rare instance when I have cash, people don't want it from you because they're looking at you, does that 5 have COVID?

Right.

Yes, it does. Let's give it back.

Like I've seen some places now recently putting signs up Like, we will not accept cash.

Yeah. Yes, we had that conversation. We definitely had that conversation and we're gonna not, not accept cash. But yeah, I mean, it's, it's better if you don't at this point.

Yeah.

So what's really bizarre is I went to get a beard trim the other day and I called, made an appointment, because now, you know, it's kind of like, you know, they're only letting a certain number of people in at a certain time or whatever. And so I called, made an appointment. The guy was like, can you bring cash? I said, sure. I mean, I have to go to the ATM because I don't keep cash anymore. I mean, can't I just Venmo you or something? But anyway, he was like, no, bring cash. And so I did. And he said he's only— in fact, there's a sign on the window that says only accepting cash. So it is the weirdest thing.

That is strange. My husband's barber did the same thing. I didn't know the validity behind that. But yeah, it's the same thing.

I feel like he's probably not—he's probably not reporting everything correctly. I'm not going to tell you who he was. That's possible.

But I was going to say maybe he wasn't supposed to be open.

Well, that was what I was thinking. Yeah.

Well, but this was a point in time. Kevin got a black market red beard trim. No, this—this was not one of those deals where it's like, "Hey, meet me in the alley." Because that was happening, right? Like, that was actually happening. Like, people were like, hey, can, hey, can you, uh, come to my house to, uh, we'll do it in the backyard or whatever. Like, not that kind of deal. Like, this was last week, y'all. I mean, this was when it was perfectly legitimate for him to be open. I just, I have no idea. So whatever. I'm not, I'm not asking you questions. He trimmed my beard and did a fantastic job.

It looks great.

Here's $20. Yeah. So, um, Anyway, and, and oh, by the way, I did not tip him after. I'm like, you're gonna charge me $20, you get a $20 bill. Yeah, that's all. I'm sorry, charge me $18 and you get a $20 tip, right? Absolutely.

Well, you know, you know who else does a good enough job to deserve a tip?

Who's that?

Paul the plumber.

Yes, he's awesome.

Yes, you can call Paul and he will get all of the pipes, all of the fixtures, And dare I say, even some of the appliances, which include sinks, by the way, hooked up properly.

Debatable. Hooked up is one thing. Yeah. Although he won't clean them, most likely. You're going to then have to call JW to get it cleaned afterwards. Although he does clean up after himself. It's just not, you know, you're dealing with messy stuff whenever you're calling a plumber.

Absolutely. And if you're going to be dealing with something that could potentially be that big of a mess, you need to call in the best. So give Paul call. Give Paul a call.

Yeah, that's so hard to say. I know he he did not think about that whenever he named himself.

I know.

Yeah, Paul the plumber should have been called like Mark the plumber. We would not have had a problem.

Wouldn't have had a problem. No no Dr.

Seuss incidents. We love him anyway. That's right.

So you guys can reach out to him on Facebook. You can call them at 832-521-3252. Reach him on Facebook and get one of those oh so special virtual inspections.

Man, I'm thinking about doing that. just because I wanna see how it works. I'll be like, hey, I got this problem. And he'll say, no, you don't. I know.

I just wanna see how you do this.

Right, don't scam him like that, like I was just talking about. But, but, um, what a cool feature.

Yeah. I mean, seriously, get your job taken care of twice as fast.

Absolutely.

So anyway, if you need anything, give Paul a call. I got it right that time. Did you see that? Paul a call.

Yeah, that's right.

All right, Tanya, what haven't we covered yet?

Gosh, I think we covered everything.

Everything?

I think so.

Goodness gracious.

You know, we didn't talk a lot about commercial cleaning. That's super important, especially right now.

That's probably a good distinction. Like, what's the big difference there between like commercial and residential cleaning?

It's a big difference. You know, when you're dealing in people's homes, you have to touch all their stuff. So, you know, do you have 100 trinkets that we have to dust?

Depends on how old you are. Because my mom's house, yes. My house, not so much.

Right. Give it time.

Right. So commercial tends to move a little more quickly. You clean the desks, you take the trash, you vacuum, you clean the bathrooms, you're out of there.

And most of those spaces tend to be more conducive to being cleaned quickly, right? The carpet isn't nearly as thick and they've got more hard surfaces. And they're, they're built— there's no pets, there's no children. Yep. And they're built in a way to, to accept chemicals most of the time.

Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, um, you know, that's, that's an important aspect of the, you know, keeping your business clean. Um, again, especially right now. Yeah. You know, you've gotta protect your employees that are in there. You've gotta, you've gotta have it presentable for clients that are coming in. And you've also gotta protect, um, your employees as well and, uh, keep it clean. So, um, Cleanliness is obviously next to godliness.

That's true. I've heard that somewhere.

I think it's in the Bible.

Yeah.

Isn't it?

I don't know.

Okay.

That could be your motto. Get thyself to church.

Well, you know, our slogan is, we don't cut corners, we clean them. And so—

That's good.

It came to me one night. I kind of I liked it. And what that means is that, you know, you can obviously, you know how to do a really quick fast clean where you're really not getting everything. You're just kind of wiping surfaces. Yeah. So we really like to take everything, start at the top of the house and work your way down and clean every corner to corner.

So what do you find is the dirtiest thing that people just miss when they're cleaning their house? Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up, hold up.

That's sexist. No, hold up.

That's facts. Okay, hold the phone. Okay, because I'm not entirely surprised that you would say that. However, I work with teenagers, right? And at times we wind up being on trips, and I can tell you that the difference in a boy's bathroom and a girl's bathroom are night and day, because there, there's all sorts of things that wind up on the counter in girls' bathrooms.

Well, we need a lot more stuff.

There's a lot more things going on the face in girls' bathrooms. In fact, I find that boys don't even use the bathrooms, you know. Really?

It's suspicious how they get dirty in the first place.

I don't even know what's happening. So I will continue on this, although you're the expert, and so I will, you know, concede at the moment.

Yes, I would say bathrooms and teenagers' rooms. Sometimes the client will say, we're not even going to touch it.

Those are quarantine year-round.

Yeah, just shut the door and forget it exists.

Permanent COVID site.

As a boy mom of 3, I completely understand.

Yeah, when you like open that door and you're like, we're not doing this. I haven't— I, I don't even know what to— where do I start? Right? It's not fabuloso. It happens. Not fabuloso. Yeah, it happens. Definitely. Definitely. So, so, so are, are there times whenever you have a client that's like, just don't worry about that room, I'll, I'll touch it lately?

Absolutely. They, they know, they understand, and they're like, we're— that's going to take too long.

Yeah.

So let's just not do that. Let's just close the door and let's focus on the areas that everybody can see.

Yeah, the conspiracy part of my brain is gonna peek in and make sure they're not hiding a body.

Yeah, but you're nosy too. You'd be like, you'd be like, let me see what's in here. I'm just joking. He doesn't do that, people.

I do. Well, okay. Forgiveness, not permission.

That's, that's a good motto.

It's the way to go.

Craig's motto is that.

Hers is corn. Constant forgiveness.

It's essential.

Yes. Well, what have we not talked about that you feel like—

I actually have something I'm rather curious about because, I mean, we talked a little bit that I think that you should have your own podcast, which you could totally do, and it would, it would be a big hit. I'm curious as to what— and again, we're not gonna like name-drop or anything like that— what's the weirdest thing that you guys have been asked to clean? Because yeah, it's like immediately your brain's gone to something.

I don't even know if I could say this. Oh, you can say it, and we hope that you So one time I walked in to quote a client and there was, I'll just call it a swing.

Nice. Oh, okay.

Okay. And she was wanting— she had forgotten to take it down.

Is it like a gray area? It is a gray area.

She had forgotten to take it down.

This is a gray area, though.

So there was a little bit of shame.

Right.

Okay.

And I told her, no problem.

We'll clean the swing.

I said, we'll wipe it down for you. And she laughed and we were actually really good friends to this stay.

You have to be. You have to be.

Because I know too much.

You know too much. You got to, you know, got to keep you close. That's, that's—

but there has to be a trust factor, right? Like everybody's afraid of judgment. And so one of the things that we really look for in an employee and one of our culture of our business is you have to have a servant's heart because it's such a good feeling when you get those messages at the end of the night. I walked in, I almost cried. I'm so happy. Thank you. I have time with my kids tonight. Those types of things are what makes it all worth it, right?

Yeah.

And, and we can't judge because we're all in the same boat. I mean, that was where my vision started. It was like, I can't do this all by myself.

Right.

And so, um, getting that help in there is just, um, it's just a great feeling. And so there has to be a trust factor there and, and know that, hey, we're here to help. How can How can we help you? So, um, yes.

Even with indoor swings. Yes. Not all clients—

You'll clean anything. It's clear that you will clean anything. Absolutely anything. It's like, is that a, is that a pole? What is that? Why do you—

Dude, I've had that client.

Yeah.

And they were not ashamed.

Oh, well, hey, if I've I feel like if, if you have a pole, you shouldn't be ashamed.

Absolutely.

I mean, you own it. Someone's gonna see it. I mean, so, well, I guess.

And I did.

Okay. What's it, you know, Jeff Foxworthy used to have a, have a bit way back in the day, you know, when, you know, the whole, you know, Might Be a Redneck Yet, right? You know, I think that was the name of the album actually.

Yes.

Um, the whole, the whole bit where he's talking about, you know, that he, his wife was pregnant and people were asking him, you know, did you videotape the delivery? He's like, no, We did not. We got some good footage of the conception though.

Oh my goodness.

That's good. That's a good one. So anyway, we have derailed a little bit, a little bit. But I'll tell you this, Craig, like one of the things that we did not do any warning about, and, and I don't know how avid of a listener you are to the show, but, um, we don't let anybody out of our studio without taking them through the final 4.

The final 4.

So this is, uh, the final 4 questions that we ask all of our guests on our show. And so we're just gonna lay them out. Have you— do you know about this at all?

Yes.

Oh, good.

She's, she's a listener, man.

Okay. I am. I'm a fan.

That's good. That's good. Okay, well, she's been, she's, she's been ready for this.

She's been prepping.

She's been waiting for this. So here we go. We're just gonna lay them out there for you. Number 1, what is the must-have tool you won't leave your house without?

Cleaning tool?

Well, no, tool in general.

Tool in general doesn't really matter.

I mean, it could be a cleaning tool, but like, you're, you know, dealer's choice.

That I won't leave my house without?

Yeah, but I'll tell you, the way we conceive this question is, you know, I call Kevin, say, Kevin, I got a project, I need you to come over right away. I give no explanation of the project. Kevin's walking out the door, what's the one tool he's gonna make sure he's got in the truck when he's on the way over?

Okay.

So, but A swing. I am—

That's probably the wrong answer. I am a huge fan of the plastic razor.

The plastic razor?

It's the greatest invention ever. If you need to get anything in a corner—

You talking about like a straight razor?

But they're plastic.

Yeah.

Right.

Okay.

I have one in my purse. I have one in my car. I have one everywhere because it doesn't damage things. And then it just gets the stuff that nobody gets. So I love that. And then, I mean, Obviously my phone.

Yeah, that's, that's the number one answer for sure, is the phone, right? We may have like, after, after episode 100, we may just have to ban that up because like, like, we know, we get it, right? Yeah, it's everyone's tool, right?

Okay, so, but the stress, you know, way to be original, kid. Is that the best you can do? Phone? Is it Apple? Yeah. What is an Apple? No, an Android? Yeah. Oh, it took me 2 guesses.

But we haven't gotten, we haven't gotten plastic razor before.

They're the greatest thing in the world.

And they are, they're super helpful.

Yeah.

Yeah, definitely. That's, that's a new one.

Yeah, for sure.

Love it. No, I abs— I, I think it's great.

Helpful for cleaning, personal defense.

Yeah, absolutely.

Doesn't work too well on the beard.

Like if, if you find a stray hair, you never know.

Right.

You never know.

You need to get in those cracks and crevices and you don't wanna damage anything.

That's right. Back alley beard trim.

Hey, $20. Worth it.

Razor only cost him $2. Worth it.

Hey, he's $18 and Well, I mean, our video wasn't doing the best during that time, although we have a couple episodes up, right? Yeah, I, I have, you know, our Zoom calls. Those were actually pretty good. Um, man, it was getting bushy. Still bushy. All right, uh, second question. You ready for this?

Yes.

What's a job you walked away from? Now you know the caveat, right? The caveat is it could be a career, but the way we originally thought about this was maybe a home project that you decided, I'm gonna tackle this, and then it didn't, didn't work out well, and so you had to call in the professional. So you— we'll let you decide, you can take it either direction, but what's a job you walked away from?

Painting. I decided I wanted to paint every room in my house a different color. Um, I'm not a good painter. It's really hard. You have to do more prep than the actual painting. Yeah. And I don't have a lot of patience for that.

Me neither.

Always call a professional.

Yeah. And what's bizarre is those professional painters do not prep much. I don't, I don't know.

I don't get it either. I mean, I don't— they can knock it out quick.

We clean up after a lot of them, a lot of contractors, and you're right, they get paint everywhere.

Yeah.

And those plastic razors come in handy.

Yes. I bet they do.

They do.

Okay, well, that's good. No, paintings— painting's a chore. And, and I— don't get me wrong, I know people that love painting, and obviously there are people that have made it their profession, right? Right. And they're really good at it. But it is— it is an art.

There's an art to it. It's a lot of— it's a lot to it. Um, you just can't just go and just be a painter.

No, no, absolutely not. Not to mention the fact that painting's expensive. So just leave it the same color. Or just be like my dad. He's like, walls were meant to be white. I'm like, who told you that? Walls were— okay, whatever, Dad. All right, number 3, how do you wind down at the end of a long day?

Hmm, that's a good question. A couple of different things. I try to take a little time to myself to reflect on the day and just say, how can I have done— could I have done anything different? What did I do today to help somebody? What did I do today to make a difference? Um, and just spend a little time alone and then a little time with God and thanking him for the day.

Yeah.

For the, the business, for the fact that we're able to employ so many people and stimulate the, the community. Um, you just have to— a lot of reflection and then appreciation. I think even if you have a bad day, you've got to try to find something good that happened in it.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I think that's an incredible practice to have, especially when you've had a bad day, to find a way to be—

To turn it around.

To have gratitude in that, you know, and express it.

And to learn from that and say, okay, the next time that happens, I can deal with it this way. Because, you know, we get caught up in our emotions a lot. So just a major hour to myself to be reflective.

That's a learned discipline.

It is.

It really is.

Yeah.

So, congratulations.

Thanks.

That's good, man. You're a good person. Wow.

I try.

Oh my goodness, Craig. Okay, whatever. Um, all right, number 4, last question. We're in the home stretch, right?

Yes.

What's one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice that you've ever received?

So I think, um, one of the best pieces of advice that I've ever received is to Align myself with people who are better than me so that I can learn from them. Align yourself with people who have the same passions as you and just be open to learning because you can't do it all by yourself.

Right.

So hire really well and treat your employees really well because if your employees are happy, it'll show through in their work and then you'll have happy Yeah, that's, that's for sure.

I mean, when you, when you look at some of these, um, you know, Fortune 100 companies and you, and you look at the way they treat their employees, yes, it's incredible. Um, I had a, just a, for example, I've got a number of friends actually that work for Southwest Airlines, and one specific friend who worked in their corporate office, uh, there in, in the DFW area and I would go have lunch with him from time to time. And when you walk down their hallways, there are pictures of their employees, right? And so whenever you get hired on there, they, they give you one of those, uh, collage picture frames that has, you know, like, like

8 or 10 picture frames in one.

Yes.

And you get to put pictures of your family in it and they put it on the wall. I mean, that's just a It's an amazing thing that they're saying, listen, family is important. You are important. This job is not about the dollars and cents. It's about you. It's about, you know, these different things. And, and, and what you find out is people that love their job perform better.

And also people that feel that their employer appreciates them. Yeah. Because without them out there doing that, we're working, we're nothing. Right. So we have to let them know. And attaboy goes a long, long, long way. Yeah. And so, um, Our culture is, you know, when I— when my vision for this was to build a culture of women that really are uplifting, that are cheerleaders for other women, that, you know, when it's your winning season, let's be happy for that person because your time's coming. And as it— if women stick together, we're so— we're amazing. We can do anything.

Sure.

With that sisterhood. So that's our culture. That's the type of women I want to hire. And that's the type of of culture that we want to have. You know, everybody is a team, everybody is winning, let's lift each other up when we're down. And so, um, I think we've been able to do that, and, and I think that's, uh, kind of one thing that sets us apart. You know, we're a family business. They're our family. Yeah, they're our work family.

Yeah, I think that— I think the thing that you said that I keyed in on the most right there is the culture, because I think it— I mean, like, and I don't think a lot of people realize, I think it's easy to To start and build a business. It's hard to build a diff— a good culture.

Yes.

I think that's probably one of the most difficult things, but like when, when it's good, it's really good.

It is.

Um, but when it's bad, it's toxic.

It, it is. Uh, people wanna come to work where, I mean, like, right, we work hard, but let's have a little fun. You know, let's cheer each other on. When some, when one of your team, uh, teammates is having a, a bad day, Let's pick 'em up. Yeah. You know, um, let's change, change the, the vibe. Yeah. Yeah. It's important.

'Cause that's, that's a totally different mindset because like in, in, in a lot of businesses when somebody's down, it now becomes their fault for all the bad things that have happened instead of how can we help pick you up? Absolutely. And, and make this day, make this day better for all of us. Right. Make this situation better for all of us. That's a totally different mindset.

Yeah. Yeah. And, and I think along with all of those things, like clear expectations go a long way.

100%.

I think that so many times people wind up failing because they just don't really know what they needed to do to succeed. And so, once you know what that is, then you wind up getting the attaboy, right? Yes, absolutely. Because I did what I was expected to do. But if I don't know what that is, it's hard to really be successful.

Right. And I'm usually very clear about that upfront. The expectations are high. The standard is high. character. We can't teach, uh, work ethic. We can't teach you to be kind. We can teach you how to clean the way we want you to clean, but all those other things you need to come with. And then you're, you're the model employee, because we can teach you how to do what we do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Good people are good people.

Yeah.

All right, well, cool. There's the final 4 questions.

However, I got the secret final 5th question.

Yeah, it's there. Yeah, I mean, everybody knows about it by now, right? How do people get a hold of you if they want Me or the company?

Yeah, sure, either one. Whatever one you can share as much as you want to share.

Yeah, I mean, there's, there's several different ways they can reach out to us on our Facebook page. They can call our phone number. They can contact me directly. So there's, there's, you know, several different ways to reach out to us.

Yeah, we'll link all of those up in the show notes for sure.

Yeah, absolutely. So anything else?

And I, I think that's pretty much it. We really appreciate I appreciate you taking the time to hang out with us, even an hour and some odd minutes longer than we originally anticipated. Hopefully—

I appreciate you guys' platform and, you know, educating the community on the different types of things that are available to homeowners. And so if we can help in any way, we'd love to.

We appreciate that. This has been a great conversation. I've learned a bunch. I know Kevin has.

How could I not? I'm an idiot. So any, anytime people talk to me, it's just information.

Knowledge is power, Kevin.

Yeah, it is. Well, thank you guys out there for downloading today's episode. We appreciate it very, very much. And we're here every Tuesday. So thanks for sticking with us. Until then, we'll see you next time. See ya.