How to Hire a Window Cleaning Company You Can Let in Your Home
/You've decided to hire a window cleaning company because at this point in your life, you just want it done right and you really don't have the time. We understand. We meet with homeowners everyday who tell us this same story. They are tired of their windows being dirty but just can't find the energy or the time to devote to it. Unfortunately, you've now entered the process of hiring a window cleaning company. Like hiring most other services, there are some things to consider before saying yes and letting a perfect stranger in your home. We've put together some helpful tips on how to go about this process so it will be less time consuming, more productive and you'll find a company that you can trust.
Can Price Determine Trust?
The old saying goes "you get what you pay for". This, in our opinion, has most always been true. Yet, we still see homeowners making their selection for a window cleaning company on price. Here is something very important to consider when you are chosing a window cleaning company. In order to run a legitimate company that is operating above board, there is a cost to making that happen. Running a professional operation from selling to servicing takes a certain amount of overhead to conduct yourself professionally. If a company is giving you a low price just to get the business a couple things will most definitely happen. One, they will eventually go out of business and not be around to help you in the future. Two, if they can somehow stay in business they will not be paying their employees decent wages or giving them the proper training.
New Price Old Price
This is very important to understand. Mainly because no matter how you slice it, the end result hurts you, the homeowner. If they go out of business, then you are left to find another company to provide the service. When that happens, the new company's price will probably be higher. That company will then naturally be scrutinized for not doing the service for the same price the last company did it for. This isn't giving the new company a fair shake. Have you ever had this experience? If so, when you call the new window cleaning company out, let them give you their reasons for having a higher price than the last company. You may learn that you were underpaying for the service in the first place and is why you had to switch companies after all.
Safety
Here is another important, if not the MOST important, reason to not consider hiring the lowest priced window cleaning company. If we've established that they can't possibly be paying their employees decent wages on paper thin margins, they probably have a lot of turnover on their staff. No one wants to work full time and not be able to pay their bills. It is a scenario that creates a revolving door for hiring employees. With a constant streaming craigslist ad, a company can have a list of available candidates looking for work who are unqualified or have a background that doesn't suit the job. All companies should be running background checks on their employees but if you have new employees coming in and out of your company every week, it gets costly to run all those checks. And as we have identified, if they are running it professionally, there are a lot of costs to consider. They won't be able to pay for everything with a dirt cheap price on window cleaning. Safety is number one. Protect yourself by thoroughly qualifying the people you are going to let in your home.
Quality
Again, if the lowest priced window cleaning company can't possibly giving them proper training on paper thin margins, you will end up with an unmotivated employee in your home. Getting passed safety, your goal is to have the job done well. You want the window technician you've hired to take caution in their work around the items in your home and leave your home nicer than when they found it.
Put yourself in the worker's shoes. You work for a company that pays you very little and has given you very little training. You've worked for the company for about 2 weeks and the morale is not very high amongst fellow employees. Your path for career advancement doesn't look promising and you have a list of homes to provide window cleaning service today. Are you motivated to do your work to your best ability? Probably not.
Take the opposite example. A company that invests in its workers hires you as a window cleaning technician. Your training consists of reading and learning about the company and the industry in the office for the first week. Then you ride along with an employee who has been with the company for over eight years to get some field experience before doing any cleaning on your own. During this time you are taught how to clean windows with a particular process and how to interact with customers to make sure they are left satisfied. After a month of field training you finally get put in the field on a few calls by yourself with a manager's supervision and feedback on your work. The company regularly has ongoing training and works steadily at building morale through team building exercises and company outings. Oh, and your pay is equivalent to working with another company with similar professionalism and values.
Now, ask yourself, which company would you choose to work at? If you chose the second company, consider choosing them to provide window cleaning as a service in your home. This is the company who is working hard to meet your needs and hiring good quality people.
Summary
There are many things to consider when hiring a window cleaning company. Safety, quality of service, cost and value. Hopefully these points have helped to shed a little light on a better method of choosing a good window cleaning company. If you want to learn more, click here to connect with someone from our company.
