A large share of cleaning companies are staffing arrangements: the company sells the job and a subcontractor performs it. We employ our cleaners directly. It costs us measurably more per hour to run it that way, and we chose it anyway, because background checks, training to a written standard, and any real accountability when something goes wrong all require the person in your home to actually work for the company you hired.
What the contractor model means in practice
A contractor sets their own methods, brings their own approach and, crucially, is not the company's to train or to vet beyond whatever the arrangement requires. When quality varies between visits, that is usually why. When somebody different turns up each time, that is usually why too. It is not that contractors are bad cleaners. It is that no one is holding a standard across them.
When quality varies between visits, that is usually why. When somebody different turns up each time, that is usually why too.
Why we pay more to do it differently
Employment lets us do three things. Background check every single person before they enter a home. Train everyone to the same written standards, so quality does not depend on who shows up. And schedule the same team to the same houses, which is the single thing our long term customers value most.
Hiring is deliberately hard here
It takes five or six interviews to work for this company. That is not a boast about volume, it is the practical consequence of employing people rather than booking them: a bad hire is ours to live with, so we would rather not make one. We hire against our core value, which is do what you say.
What to ask before you hire anyone
Are the cleaners employees or subcontractors. Are they background checked, and by whom. Are you insured, and does that insurance cover the person who will actually be in my house. Will it be the same team each visit. What happens if something is missed. The answers to those five questions tell you most of what you need to know.
