Eco-Friendly Cleaning

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. We do everything from one time cleanings such as move-in's, move-out's, rental cleanings, cleaning before the relatives arrive, and so on. We also have regular maintenance scheduled cleanings such as weekly, bi-weekly, monthly and on-call cleanings. This ranges from general house cleaning, to general office cleaning, to cleaning dental and orthodontics offices and more. We also offer professional carpet and upholstery cleaning services, as well as leather cleaning (treated leather) and mattress cleaning.

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Ask a lot of questions. You can glean a lot of information about whether the vendor is qualified to work for you in your home or business by how he/she answers the questions, and with what confidence. Ask about their experience and training and also, ask about the cleaning products they use. Do they use general cleaning products from the janitorial stores, do they go to Fred Meyer and buy the same thing most people buy to clean with, do they mix up a "special mystery batch" of cleaner in their sink with pixie dust and hope for the best? Or do they carefully buy, test, and select non-toxic, naturally derived, safe cleaning solutions that may require them to buy from many different places for different applications, to ensure top quality results while accomplishing safe cleaning practices and solutions?

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. That many companies bait and switch customers. They will "bait" you with a low price over the phone, without seeing the job, and then when they get to your home or business, the price skyrockets due to "unforeseen" circumstances, such as excessive soiling, difficult setup, hazardous environment, etc.

We eliminate this issue with coming out and doing a walk-through with you so that there are NO questions on either party. Everyone's on the same page and a great business relationship is formed.

Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?

A. This is all answered in one of the previous entries. But I might now add, ask if they are insured, and of so, by who. Ask if they have any references that they can provide. Check with the Better Business Bureau to see if any complaints have been filed against them (not all complaints are necessarily an automatic no, since some people can't be pleased no matter what). But if there is a series of complaints, this may be a cause for concern.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. What is my main goal in cleaning my house/office. Do I want a lot done in the time they have to clean, or do I want high quality (because you can't have both). Do I want toxic chemicals in my home? (You have a choice) Do I want the same cleaning personnel in my home consistantly, so that I can get to know and build a trust with them, and so that they can learn my individual needs and wants, or do I just want whoever shows up to do the work, even if it changes every cleaning? Am I willing to pay a reasonable price for quality, reliability, and safety, or is cheap, cheap cheap not just what the bird is saying?

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. One reason is we've been doing this for so long. Decades of experience along with formal training. But the biggest thing is our PASSION for cleaning. We work it, breath it, live it. Our other passion is being sustainable. We incorporate both with our profession.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. We love meeting new people. The view from our office is always changing, and fresh. We see new homes all the time, new businesses all the time, and meet the coolest people, again, all the time. We get to travel all over the Portland area, which by the way, is awesome in itself, because this is, of course the greatest area in the world (no bias of course). But I think the very best part of the job is when we can transform a house or even part of a house that was just trashed, into an ultra-clean masterpiece, and wow the client. Sometimes putting a little extra time and money into a quality cleaning saves you thousands in replacement of something.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. Do you clean leather?

Yes, treated leather. If it has a shine to it, it's probably treated. If not, it's a specialty leather that we don't clean.

I live in a high rise, can you clean carpets or upholstery there?

Yes, we have the perfect equipment for cleaning in high rise buildings and secured buildings that companies with Truckmounts can't access to clean, due to security issues, safety issues, and so on.

Can you clean area rugs and special upholstery?

Absolutely, we clean most everything, with a very few exceptions.

What area do you cover?

All of the Beaverton,Tigard,Hillsboro,Forest Grove area, to Lake Oswego, West Linn, Portland and Downtown Portland. If the job is big enough, we'll likely go anywhere in Portland Metro.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. This is very hard work. It's very physical. It also does take skill. It doesn't take but a second to ruin leather. Or glass. Or porcelain. Some people think that it's just cleaning, and anyone can do it. Sure they can. With the proper training. And, IF they really want to. And that's the thing, we do the things that people either don't want to do, don't have the time to do, can't physically do, or other.
That said, every job is different. When someone wants an over the phone quote, we won't give one. Another company may, but we wont. Why? Because you can't accurately tell how long a job is going to take over the phone. One house that is 1,000 square feet may take 5 or 10 times as long as a similar sized house, but the soiling levels may be far different. Also, client expectations and desires may be far different. And so, when you get an over the phone quote, expect it to change, sometimes dramatically, when the company comes to do the actual cleaning.
We don't like surprises, and we don't believe you do either. By coming out to actually do a walk-through with you, you can tell us about any of your concerns and address any questions, and we can accurately evaluate the time and cleaning agents needed to do the job right, and give you an accurate price.

One other thing. Quality cleaning takes time. Unlike many of your national McCleaning Services (I won't name names) we don't just have a general checklist that we go through and when we're done we're done. Everything we do is customized to your individual wants and needs, so if you want us to spend 7 hours on your bathroom, restoring it, we can. If you want us to spend 2 hours in your closet, we can (although we've never done that before, we can). But quality cleaning can take time, if needed. So one cleaning company may go through a bathroom that should take 3 hours in 1/2 hour because they are just going down a checklist, and not paying attention to what really needs to be addressed, we do. Of course if you just want a skate-through touch up cleaning, we can do that too.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. I grew up in the business. My parents owned and operated a janitorial/carpet-cleaning/window cleaning business in the bay area for 17 years, servicing countless homes and big businesses in the San Jose, California area. I literally have pictures of my with a Kirby in my hand when I was four, I was a natural. My parents eventually got out of the business and moved out of state for a little slower pace of life. We moved once more and in 1987 I went to work for a man that owned a carpet cleaning company. I was 17. In just a few months, he decided he wanted to move back to Denver, and sell his business. We ended up buying it, changing the name, and cleaning everything from carpets, to upholstery, to leather, houses, businesses, pet odor and stain treatment, and more for 20 years in Eugene, OR. We then moved to the Portland area. I went through a divorce and ended up going to work for other cleaning companies for several years before getting laid off due to lack of business. We then decided to go back into business for ourselves and provide the best service available to the Portland area, sustainably.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. Absolutely. Continuing education in the way of the IICRC. This keeps us up to date on any changes in the carpet and upholstery cleaning field, such as general carpet cleaning, commercial carpet cleaning, odor and specialty stain treatments, water and fire damage, upholstery cleaning, and more. We attend cleaning conventions when possible, and subscribe and study our industry monthly periodicals, as well as network with other cleaners to gain insight where we may have a gap to fill.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. Find all of the professional training classes, training and seminars you can get your hands on. You will have to do some traveling to achieve this. Many of these classes happen across the country in other states at certain times. There are conventions several times per year in different areas. Training is essential. Also, working with someone with years, or preferably, decades of experience will greatly help. Learn your chemistry. What spotter or cleaning agent would be best for this application?

Q. What is your greatest strength?

A. Our passion for cleaning sustainably.