If you live in Plano and are considering hiring a house cleaning service, you are probably asking yourself “Do I want to hire a franchise or a family owned service?”.
As the owner of a family owned house cleaning service (my wife and I Emily opened up our Plano house cleaning service during the Pandemic), Im naturally biased. However, with the goal of trying to keep things neutral, Id like to weigh in on the subject of choosing between big and small companies. David vs Goliath. Who wins? The answer isnt always the little guy.
Price
When it comes to trying to figure out how much it costs to clean a house in Plano, TX, you’ll usually find that the large house cleaning companies are actually cheaper than family owned services. But this comes with a catch!
Make sure you are comparing apples to apples, because many large, franchised house cleaning companies lead with pricing that does not include the cleaning of the entire home. So make sure you probe a bit to understand what all is going to be cleaned.
For example, some larger franchise cleaning businesses offer a rotational clean, which means they focus on some areas of the home for each visit. That of course means that you will not be getting a deep clean for every visit. Probe a bit to discover if areas such as baseboards, ceiling fans, blinds and windows are included, because they may end up being “extras” which of course drives up the cost.
On the flip side of the pricing consideration, larger companies tend to have more overhead in the form of large offices, big marketing budget and office staff. Contrast this with a family owned business, which often is run from the home and relies on word of mouth marketing.
Cleaning Service Reputation
As is the case in Plano, there are a number of large house cleaning companies such as Merry Maids, Molly Maids, and The Maids. All 3 are national brands, and all 3 service the Plano area. However, a simple internet search will yield multiple results for offices that in some cases are far away from Plano.
What’s that mean? It means that the office you are researching with the solid reputation may not be the office that’s going to be cleaning your home. Shoot, they may not even be in the same state. And when you are a large, faceless corporation or franchise, it’s easy to sink back into the shadows when things go awry.
Not the case for family owned services. You know exactly who you are going to get and you know exactly who you are dealing with. Shoot, a simple internet search can usually drum up the owners of any small business, and if they are like 99% of the owner operators in Plano, they are likely on Facebook, Linkedin, and Instagram.
That’s accountability! And usually when there is accountability, their is a reputation to uphold.
Furthermore, the service owners with small family owned house cleaning services are almost always living within the community. That means we’ll never bother you during a Cowboys game and may even catch run into you at an FC Dallas match.
Most large house cleaning companies and house cleaning franchise owners live out of state and are not likely to understand the ins and outs of the Plano community.
And finally, when you choose a family owned service to clean your home, you know that the money is going to stay within the community. That means community initiatives such as local schools, churches and organizations are going to be supported. Not always the case with large companies.
Flexibility With The Cleaning Service Schedule
Smaller house cleaning companies are generally more agile and can accommodate last minute changes and special requests.
Larger companies tend to have more bureaucracy and less flexibility, meaning you may hit a brick wall when it comes to a request such as using your own cleaning supplies or asking for the same cleaners for every visit.
This can also be the case when it comes to schedules and requiring customers to sign contracts for recurring house cleaning service.
Most large companies require some sort of contractual commitment because this helps the accountants and big wigs at corporate forecast revenue, profit and retention. Existing contracts are also an important factor when it comes to selling the business and these large companies are almost always available to the highest bidder. Not so with small family owned businesses which are generally the only source of income for the household and are often multi-generational.
Responsiveness Before, During, and After The Cleaning Service
When it comes to resolving large issues that may arise during a house cleaning such as damage or theft, the best person to speak to is the owner of the service.
Finding the owner of a family owned house cleaning service is usually just a matter of picking up the phone and calling the office. Not the case with a large service, whose owner may not live in the state.
Furthermore, you are likely to always deal with the same person or small group of people when you are dealing with a family owned house cleaning service. With larger services, you may be forced to route your request thru a national call center or overseas booking agency.
If you are looking for a quick response, small service generally win.
Loyalty
Would you rather be a cog on a wheel or a celebrated customer? With a family owned service, you are much more likely to be known on a first name basis. Not the case with larger services, where the list of clients sometimes numbers in the thousands.
With a family owned service, if something goes awry, that service is going to do everything they can to keep you as a customer. Because they are fiercely loyal and know that every customer counts.
Larger services often churn thru clients and are focused more on acquiring new clients than retaining existing clients. Now, this is just a matter of opinion, but when you have big marketing budgets you can probably afford to shed a few customers and still keep the lights on.
Not so with a small business!
Additionally, large franchises tend to lose sight of the needs of their house cleaners and turnover is high. And that inevitably effects quality and consistency.
For example, have you ever eaten at one of those big, brand new chain-style restaurants and you just get the feeling that everyone is still training? Servers don’t know the menu, cooks are messing up the order, and it just feels…disorganized. We had that issue when the new Mexican chain Chuy’s opened up a few years ago on 121.
Take that experience and contrast it with Lockhart Smokehouse, a Plano institution and well oiled ship.
You can count on having the same professional experience every time you go and eat there.
Same thing happens with a house cleaning service (big or small) that’s able to keep their employees for years.
Conclusion
There’s no right or wrong answer to the question of choosing a franchise or a family owned house cleaning service. They both have their pros and cons. Of course, as a family owned business, we are naturally biased but I hope this article helped shed some light on why we are so awesome 🙂
