House Cleaning Company vs. Independent Cleaner: What I Learned Being Both
In 2006 I was a single, stay-at-home, homeschooling mom with a partially finished Iowa State degree, and I started cleaning homes myself. My “office” was my kitchen in Ames, and I found clients one at a time. Every one of those families was trusting one person, me, with their home. So when families in Des Moines, Ankeny, or West Des Moines ask whether they should hire an independent cleaner or a cleaning company, I can answer from both sides. I’ve been the solo cleaner, and today I run phClean, a company with three offices and a whole team behind every clean. Both can be a good fit, and this is my honest take on how to tell which one fits your family.
What a great solo cleaner gets right
A good independent cleaner has some advantages. You usually get the same person every visit, you talk directly to the person doing the work, and the price is often lower because there’s no office or training program to support. If you have a solo cleaner you love and trust, keep them. I mean that.
When everything rests on one person’s week
When one person is the whole business, your clean depends on her week going the way she planned. Kids get sick, cars break down, and family emergencies come without warning. Vacations should happen too. When your cleaner can’t come, your clean usually doesn’t either, and you’re back to scrubbing the bathroom on Saturday morning. There were plenty of days where something went wrong in my schedule and I was calling the client directly to rearrange the cleaning. I even brought my kiddo with me once in a while, which is a terrible liability for the homeowner but something I thought nothing of at the time. I remember in a pinch I asked my ex-husband to come help me finish a really large home. These are things I would never think about as a homeowner but things that I honestly did to handle the curveball when I was cleaning solo.
At phClean, every home has its own detailed work order and client notes. When your regular technician is out, someone trained the same way walks in already knowing your home and how you like it. Our team also takes time off that doesn’t affect your cleaning schedule, because we plan for it. Jeanette Hagan, a client of our Ames office, wrote about exactly this:
“Jess was called in from a different team to take care of my cleaning due to an emergency of my regular cleaning person. She went above and beyond my expectations!”
We work hard to keep the same technician in your home, and for many of our families that relationship lasts for years. For example, Jennifer has cleaned for some families over eight years and they are always sad but understanding when she takes a break. I can’t promise the same technician for every single visit, because life happens to our team the same way it happens to yours. I can promise that the standard shows up either way.
If something gets missed, or something gets broken
With a solo cleaner, fixing a missed spot depends on her schedule, and the conversation about it usually happens face to face. Plenty of Iowans would rather clean the shower themselves than have that talk. Jean Goodwin, another Ames client, put it perfectly when she said phClean gives her ways to share concerns “without having to do the un-Iowa thing of saying something bad to someone’s face.” It’s the difference between managing a relationship between one person that you worry about getting offended or even quitting on you versus being honest and getting exactly what you want. The Buddy Bond was strong in my early solo days. While I’m pretty sure I was perfect. I bet I wasn’t and I got very little feedback.
After every recurring clean, our clients get a scorecard survey, and those answers feed directly into technician reviews and bonuses. If something falls short, our total guarantee means we come back the next business day at no charge to make it right.
Accidents happen in any home, too. phClean is insured and bonded, so when something breaks, it gets handled. Katharine Suski shared this in her review of our Ames office:
“Early on, a statue was broken during cleaning (it happens!). phClean is fully insured and replaced the statue at the next visit with no hassle.”
Many smart independent cleaners carry insurance as well, and it’s a fair question to ask anyone you hand a key to. And it’s a question homeowners don’t think about enough.
Who walks through your door
Every prospective phClean technician goes through a background check before being hired. From there, each one trains hands-on in 14 to 16 real homes alongside an experienced trainer before ever cleaning on their own. After that come at least three more months of supervision and coaching before they graduate as phClean Shine Certified. Plenty of solo cleaners are wonderfully skilled. The difference with a company is that someone has checked, trained, and watched a technician’s work before she or he is alone in your home.
Why the way we treat our team shows up in your home
Our technicians can receive health insurance, dental coverage, and retirement savings plans. They also get educational opportunities, both job-related and general classes, and a real path to grow into training, quality assurance, scheduling, or management. Every one of our current schedulers started as a cleaning technician.
I care about this because it’s the right way to treat people. It also matters to you. A cleaner who feels supported stays, and the one who stays is the one who learns that your dog needs a minute of attention before they start and that the guest bath gets forgotten until company comes.
Three questions to ask anyone you’re considering
Whether you hire a solo cleaner or a company, and whether you found them through a neighbor or a “house cleaning near me” search, these three questions will tell you a lot:
- Are you insured and bonded, and do you run background checks?
- What happens to my cleaning service when you’re sick or on vacation?
- If something gets missed or broken, how do you make it right?
A good answer to all three, from anyone, is a great sign.
If you’d like to talk it through
Most of our families choose recurring house cleaning every two weeks, and over the years they’ve left more than 1,100 Google reviews across our Ames, Ankeny, and West Des Moines offices. If you’d like to see whether we’re the right fit for your home, call or text us at 515-715-4389 or visit phClean.net. When we pick up, we’ll ask what we ask everyone: “How can we make your day shine?”
Sara M. Martin is the founder and owner of phClean, a woman-owned residential and light commercial cleaning company serving Ames, Ankeny, and West Des Moines, Iowa since 2006. A Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses graduate, Business Coach and ISU alum, Sara built phClean from the ground up. One home, one family, and one shining team member at a time.
