Trust is earned, not expected. We understand how important it is that you can trust the people you invite into your home. We are fully bonded and insured and all of our house cleaners complete extensive training and background checks before becoming team members.
Training and Continuing House Cleaning Education
In our Basic Training program, all house cleaners work with their trainer and another professional house cleaner for 11 days. Each day they watch training videos related to that day’s focus, watch their trainer clean, and then practice our cleaning method while being watched by the trainer.
After completing Basic Training, each professional house cleaner begins a classroom- based course which goes more in depth and solidifies their understanding of our system. The Certified Professional House Cleaner Training (CPH) course is twelve days long and focuses on professionalism, handling difficult situations like how to handle a breakage, customer service from a house cleaner perspective, and becoming a professional.
Once a cleaner has been a CPH for six months, they are eligible to begin Team Leader Training. Each of our teams of two has one cleaner who we have identified as having outstanding quality, attitude and attendance. We foster these leadership qualities and enter these house cleaners into our four day Team Leader Training class. While our Quality Inspectors are in the field every day, it is the Team Leaders who are responsible for the overall quality of the clean.
Every six months we hold a half day “Train the Trainer” class on Saturday. We choose the best Team Leaders on our staff for a round table classroom training. After watching videos we discuss our training methods and learn from one another. This enables us to ensure consistency across our staff. Most recently during a Saturday Trainer class, the team decided to add an 11th day “signoff” to our Basic Rookie Training program. On this typically last day of Basic Training, the trainee has an opportunity to work with a new trainer who is responsible for primary evaluation of the trainee’s progress. With the blessing of both trainers and Martha, our Training Coordinator, the Rookie is ready to be assigned to a team.
If we have lighter workdays, we make it a priority to bring our Team Leaders and Trainers into our Cross Training program. This gives our cleaners experience working on the administrative and inspecting side of the business and “keeps our bench deep” with trained personnel ready to join management if needed. The cross training begins with a four day Inspector Training program. This four day course of videos, quizzes, and work in the field with our Training Director Martha, highlights not only the key areas that teams often miss and how to effectively perform an inspection, but also how best to coach teams to ensure learning from the Field Trainer (Inspector) occurs during each quality inspection.
Policies and Frequently Asked Questions
The Cleaning Authority, Austin values your home and appreciates your business. For both the protection of our clients and our company, please read the following policies and FAQ. Should you have additional questions or do not find your questions addressed here, never hesitate to call us at 512-827-8657.
Bonded and Insured
The Cleaning Authority, Austin is a professional house cleaning service that is bonded and fully insured. While we do not disclose our general liability insurance policy on our web site for privacy reasons, we are happy to deliver a copy of our policy to you in person at any time before or during your relationship with us. We carry General Liability, Property, Fidelity (bonding), Auto, and Worker’s Compensation Insurance. Our umbrella policy provides $2 million of coverage.
Tax Liability
If you pay service providers above a minimum of $600.00 per year for home cleaning services (or any other service for that matter,) and that home cleaning service provider doesn’t pay taxes, you are responsible for those taxes. Said taxes include federal withholding, social security, unemployment and Medicare. The Cleaning Authority, Austin employees are all full time and we are responsible for all of these tax requirements so that you need not worry.
Cleaning Supplies
All cleaning supplies and equipment are furnished by The Cleaning Authority, Austin to ensure all of the house cleaning supplies are professional grade, green cleaning tools and equipment. We carry Green Seal Certified® chemicals, HEPA filter vacuums, and use microfiber cloths to dust. These expenses are included in the overall cost of your service.
Hours of Operation
Our normal working hours are Monday thru Friday 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM CST. Saturday appointments are available for one time only, just in time house cleaning services such move-in/out cleanings and holiday cleanings. Under special circumstances we have scheduled and performed late cleans. In order to respect our team members and our families, we are closed on Sunday.
Language and Communication
Our team is diverse. While we used to require English, we have found that by adapting to the labor market, we have dramatically improved employee retention and cleaning quality. We have developed bilingual training videos and quizzes, we ensure all cleaning instructions are translated into English and Spanish, our managers (and owners) are all bilingual, and our teams carry company cell phones for that last minute cleaning instruction or change of plans. Ideally, we ask customers to call or email the office if they have a special need or cleaning instruction change from those we discussed during the in home estimate.
Payment for Services
Payment for cleaning services is due in full at time of service. The Cleaning Authority, Austin gladly accepts payment in the following forms:
- Cash
- Personal Check (Please make checks payable to The Cleaning Authority)
- Credit Cards (After your initial clean, we do charge a $2/clean convenience fee if you prefer credit card.)
Please Note: We’ll look for the cash or check on the counter when we arrive. If it’s not there, we’ll just charge the card and add the $2 to save you the $10 late fee. We do charge a Returned Check Charge of $25 should a check be returned for insufficient funds. If we arrive to clean and there is no payment or the credit card payment arrangements are declined, we will contact you immediately to update your credit card information. For this reason we ask you to provide us with the best telephone number to reach you. Alternately, you may also update your credit card yourself 24 hours per day by logging in to our customer portal.
Cancellations or reschedules
If you need to reschedule your house cleaning service, we ask for a week of notice if you would like to reschedule. We will be happy to reschedule your clean at no charge if you provide at least 3 days notice for rescheduled appointments. Once we make a reservation, we hold that time slot specifically for you and potentially turn away other customers in order to ensure delivery of your maid service. If you reschedule your clean with a little notice, we move you to a slot where another customer is rescheduling. In this way, our teams keep full days and full paychecks. We prefer you reschedule an inconvenient reservation if at all possible, but if you must miss a clean, we charge a little more if you go twice as long between cleans. We will never overbook your clean or miss your reservation.
Refunds
It has been our experience that open, honest, transparent communication remedies all challenges. Because cleaning is a very personalized and subjective service, we cannot offer refunds to customers. However, we want our customers to be 100% satisfied, which is why we offer a 24 hour guarantee. If you are dissatisfied with your cleaning service for any reason, please contact us within 24 hours of your cleaning and we will return to re-clean the area/areas you are dissatisfied with at no additional cost to you.
Illness
If you or anyone in your family gets a contagious illness, please be considerate and call to let us know.
Extra Services/ Change of Services
If you require extra services or additional cleaning on your scheduled cleaning day, please contact us no later than the day before your clean so we may allow the extra time needed at your home and we can give you a quote for the additional services. Under no circumstances should house cleaners perform services outside of the agreements we have made with the customer because it significantly reduces our ability to deliver services to other customers at the appointed times.
Tipping
The Cleaning Authority, Austin never requires tipping, but it is a powerful expression of “thanks” to your professional house cleaners. Remember your appreciation need not be monetary. A personal note expressing your appreciation for their service can mean a great deal, and feedback via email or our customer feedback form is always welcomed and if appropriate, shared at our weekly company meetings.
