Hi there, I'm Angela Brown in this is Ask a House Cleaner.
This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question
and I get to help you find an answer.
This question comes from a homeowner who's wanting to know.
"I need some extra help around my house just an extra set of hands.
And I'm wondering if it's appropriate to ask my house cleaner or my maid if they can help
me with some special projects like assembling furniture from Ikea?
Okay, so the answer is yes you can.
There are lots of maids and house cleaners that sell their services to do special projects.
Special projects can include a wide array of things that you need done that you either
don't want to do or you don't have the skills to do.
And so, I would ask your house cleaner do you do special projects?
And what is the scope of the projects that you do?
Now personally I have helped people put furniture together.
Because sometimes you buy boxes of furniture that come either from the Home Depot, or the
Walmart, or the Target, or Ikea or somewhere like that. And they just need assembly.
There are people that don't have tools and they're not equipped to put it together or
they're not very good at following instructions.
So, it is perfect if somebody has those skills and likes puzzles and can put stuff together
if they can help you with those things.
The very first thing that I recommend is that you check with their supervisor first.
If it's an independent company and they are the owner of the company, ask away.
You have the freedom to ask away.
Find out what they're willing to do for a price that you're willing to pay.
And let them know up front "here's what this project is worth to me
is that a fair price?"
Because the truth is a lot of house cleaners don't know how to price special projects because
they don't know how long it's going to take.
I don't know how long it's going to take for you to put an office desk together.
It might take me an hour might take me 3 hours I don't know.
But if I have a regular rate for house cleaning and I'm doing a special project if you pay
me that same rate per hour, then if it takes me 3 hours
I get paid for the time that I'm there.
So, I'm not underbidding because I don't know how long it's going to take.
And you don't know how long it's going to take either but you have to be fair.
If the person that you're hiring is not the owner of the company.
If they work for another company, I would request to you that you would speak to their
supervisor first.
Because they may have signed a non-compete or a non-side project agreement,
with their owner.
And if they break that by doing side work for an existing client
they could lose their job.
Or they can be taken to small claims court or civil court or whatever it is we're then
they then are fine for breaking a contract.
So you want to check with their supervisor first if they're part of a franchise.
And just say "Hey listen, this is a special project.
It has nothing to do with the regular routine cleaning.
I just need an extra set of hands for the day
can I hire this person that works for you?"
They might say "yeah sure, that's not a problem."
And most people if you're up front they don't have a problem.
And they will work it out amongst themselves so that that maid or house cleaner is not
reassigned to another home.
Because they broke a contract where they don't want you doing side business with them.
Just don't get yourself in that hot water.
Alright, so the next thing that you want to find out is does the house cleaner that you're
going to hire to do the special projects, do they have the set of skills that you need?
I don't know why, I just grew up this way.
(Probably having 12 Brothers.)
I grew up knowing how to use hammers and nails and screwdrivers and wrenches
and tools and fixing things.
Because as stuff would break, we would fix it ourselves.
So, I have my own tool kit.
I'm a proud owner of my own tool kit.
I my own set of tools.
And now that I married, my husband has his own set of tools and he is not allowed to
touch my tools.
Because I know where all my tools are, and I know where I've got my whole collection.
I don't want to someone else using my tools and then misplacing them and leaving them
scattered around.
I'm a specific about my tools.
And so, if need be, it is possible that I could come in and help you hang pictures or
I can set furniture up.
Or if you have something that's broken, I've actually done a little bit of plumbing work.
I'm not a licensed plumber but I certainly can unscrew the U-shaped pipe, underneath
your sink and clean out the hair in the clogged drain and put that back together
without creating any leaks.
There are simple tasks that I can do, that a maid or house cleaner or someone with that
particular set of skills can do.
Now we're in an era where there are a lot of male house cleaners.
And males for some reason,
(I'm not saying women can't do it because I'm a woman and I do it,)
but there are a lot of males who grew up fixing things.
And they are very handy.
And so, there are a lot of men who sell their house cleaning services and handyman services.
So, if you know this person and you trust them and they're a regular person in your
home there a perfect fit.
A perfect fit, to be your handyman when you have a leak in your roof or if you need,
an adjustment to your sprinkler system or something like that there are perfect fit.
And yes, they can figure it out they can do it they can do it on the same budget or a
little bit more or a might be a special project pricing.
But be fair to the person that you hire for the special projects because what you're doing
is you're taking them away from their regular routine cleaning job.
So, you have to make it worth their time but it's perfect for you as a homeowner if you
want to know this person you've already vetted this person.
This person is already proved their reliability and their trust to you.
You're already comfortable having them around your family and your kids and your pets.
So, yeah there a perfect fit.
It also really helps the house cleaner.
Because there are times in the house cleaning business where it's slow.
Where customers cancel.
And so, if you have a special project that doesn't need to be done today
you can mention it.
Just say "listen, I've got 17 pictures that I want hung on my walls.
And I know you're busy today but if you have a cancellation in the next few weeks call
me up and come over and hang my pictures."
And they'll put that on the back burner.
And they'll do their regular job, and then on one day when someone cancels,
(because we all have cancellations)
they'll come over and they'll hang your pictures.
I know in our company we had somebody that went over and hung blinds for a new person
that move into a house.
And they wanted to replace all of their blinds.
What it meant literally was making sure that everything was sized correctly.
And that the little brackets that hang at the top of the window frame were positioned
properly so they could hang those blinds in there.
It didn't take a lot of skill.
It took a couple of hours, but that was done during a cancellation when that person would
normally have been cleaning a house.
And here's why that's a beautiful thing.
The house cleaners that you have they don't get paid a salary. They get paid based on the
work that they do.
So, if they work Monday through Friday they get paid Monday through Friday.
But if there's a cancellation, they don't get paid for that house because nobody gets
paid for that house.
So then they're out whatever the money is, and they still have bills to pay.
So if you have extra projects that you could hire your maid or your housekeeper to do.
During their cancellations, you can just make a full to-do list and say,
"Hey, I've got six or seven different projects that need to be done.
Put me on your cancellation list.
And as you have cancellations in your regular business, bring that box of tools over and
come help me fix up my house."
And that that way everyone wins, so it's a beautiful thing.
Anyway, that's my tip for today.
Now, if you found anything from today's session that you might use -
leave it in the notes below.
Because I'm curious to know if there's anything that you're taking away from this.
Because if you're not, I don't want to bring you useless stuff that's not who I am.
(laughing) So, that's it for today.
Until we meet again leave the world a cleaner place than when you found it.
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