The thing that really sucks people into the vacuum debates is that there exist almost as many models and brands as there are opinions about which model and brand one should buy. Given the intensity of the debates, it will come as no surprise when someone ultimately disagrees with HCA’s three selections for professional residential home cleaning. If you want to join the debate, then register in the Forum by clicking here: http://www.house-cleaning-Alliance.com/phpBB2.
- Based on our annual mailings to competitors, we found that over 100 of the total 200 to 250 house cleaning companies serving the greater Denver Metro Area gave up last year, and were replaced by about the same number of new companies. Entrepreneurs are attracted to the industry due to its low investment and high-growth prospects.
by Chris Lude, Co-Owner of Denver Concierge.
—-Original Message—–
Sent: Tuesday, June 8, 2004 10:46 AM
To: Chris Lude
Subject: Info
I’m not sure I understand your operating forecasts. Why are you hiring employees you do not need throughout the first year?
Reply:
9 June 2004
Thank you for your interest. The decision to carry, or not, added employees during the start-up phase, involves pivotal tradeoffs. Many companies do not hire employees until they need them during their first year, or ever, because it is so expensive to do so.
—–Original Message—–
From: M
Sent: Friday, June 25, 2004 12:58 PM
Subject: how do I change?
Hi! I have had a small cleaning business for the past 14 years. I clean houses myself but I would like to expand and hire some employees, but I have a fear. I am trusted by all of my clients and don’t want to take the chance that I would send someone into their home and they would steal from them. I would like some information on how to go about expanding my business. I want to be able to stop cleaning and just supervise my employees. I would appreciate any information you can give me. Thank you.
By Chris Lude, Co-Owner of Denver Concierge.
Our most notable bad debt losses have always resulted from our own lapses of judgment.
On a day with some slack in our schedule, a realtor calls up and asks us to clean an empty house in a rush for an open house she is doing tomorrow. We ask who will pay, and she says, “Send me a bill for whatever the charges.” All the signs were there; anyone taking notice needn’t have waited three months for our final collection letter being returned undelivered to have recognized this as being indefensibly uncollectible. Of course we knew better, but we had some slack in the schedule and we filled it–another bad debt, and nothing to do in this instance except blame ourselves.
When I accepted the position for the Alliance, I had a long talk with the HCA staff about “agenda.”We all harmonized on this: Raise the level of awareness that house cleaning .keeping .is, indeed, a profession, and its potentials will grow remarkably through commitments to professionalism.
By Chris Lude, Co-Owner of Denver Concierge.
—–Original Message—–
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 11:58 AM
To: Chris Lude
Subject: info
hello
I am in the process of starting a new cleaning business and as I was looking over the websites I came to yours. I would like to know if there is any information or help you can give me to start a cleaning practice like yours here. For instance when you first started was it just two of you and then the company grew or did you go into it at a large scale. We have ideas of making it larger eventually but thought starting off slow would be the best thing since we have not done this before. Any info you can give on figuring out price quotes would also be helpful. Thank you for your time.
Background and Description
The HCA Automatic Pricing Tool (“HCA Pricer”) represents a system for predicting the time required (“HCA Clean Time”) to professionally clean a human-occupied primary residence (“Household”), based on a Household’s attributes (“HCA Pricer Attributes”), the number of individuals involved in the cleaning process (“Team Size”), the efficiency factors for the actual individuals involved in the cleaning process (“Efficiency Factors”), quality factors for the actual individuals involved in the cleaning process (“Quality Factors), frequency of cleanings (“Frequency”), which is measured in days between regularly scheduled cleanings.
Suddenly the house cleaning industry is awash in know-it-alls. So let me begin by saying we obviously don’t. All we can offer is what has worked for us, and our experiences seem to be remarkably different from what is being sold as gospel by the house cleaning industry’s gurus.
I’d Rather be Golfing
I would prefer to play golf than do in-home price quotes–I am really tired of doing them. So I can’t dispute all the good reasons for skipping them. However, for those who are still on the fence, let me explain the reasons I still keep choosing them over golf: