Cleaning Policy
1. Locations: We provide general cleaning services to a variety of business and may include servicing any of the following:
Gyms
Retails Stores
Schools
Offices
Multi-family apartment or condominium complexes
2. Quotes: Due to the specific requirements of each type of facility, we require an in-person walk-thru of the property in order to provide an estimate.
3. Service Time: Availability for after hours service is always limited but we will do our best to accommodate any service request. Generally Speaking, our service hours are from 6 AM to 6 PM seven days a week. If you need service at a time other than that, please contact us for further clarification and availability.
4. Staff: Elegant Empire reserves the exclusive right to assign personnel as we see fit. Depending on the complexity of the work and the availability of staff, we may assign more or less staff at our own discretion.
5. Disintermediation. Due to the high dollar and time investment of finding and hiring new staff for our company, we have a zero tolerance towards the practice of disintermediation. By doing business with us you agree not to approach Elegant Empire LLC staff with any offer of employment during the time we have an existing contract in place; long-term or month to month. We have created 2 options for individuals or entities that would like to have our existing staff work directly for them:
a. Buy out: If you would like to hire one of our LLC staff to work for you directly, we have created this formula to receive fair compensation for the inconvenience of losing a staff member and having to recruit a replacement.
Average monthly wage x 50% x 20
So as an example, if Jane Doe gets paid $200 per month here's the buyout fee for her:
$200 x 50% = $100
$100 x 18 = $1,800
b. Wait: As an alternative, you can save the expense by waiting 6 months after our agreement has expired to approach and offer a position to our staff.
Finding quality cleaning staff is an expensive and time consuming activity and we expect to be compensated for that.
For questions or comments please email us at:
For urgent messages please TEXT:
(805)914-4520
1. Residential Cleaning:
Monday - Friday from 8:30 AM to 3 PM. Some staff might be available at a time other than these listed but don't count on it. Like most other businesses, most service providers are off on these Holidays. So, if your service day falls on one of these days, we'll do our best to accommodate the service another day.
New Years
Fourth of July
Thanksgiving
Christmas
2. Commercial and Standard Office Cleaning:
Monday - Friday from 5:00 AM - 11:00 PM
Every service business has a percentage of clients that are not satisfied with the quality of work. We have a service guarantee just in place to handle these situations. If you are not happy with the service and need to have some touch up work done, please contact us within 24 hours so that we can schedule a touch up appointment. For instructions please go to our Quality Service Guarantee page.
This is an issue that should be discussed before services are scheduled. Most service providers love animals; however they don't always love people. If you think your pet may become overly anxious or aggressive towards a service provider, please make temporary arrangements on the day and time of service with one of many pet sitting services, or have the pet safely put in a kennel, or a room or area where staff will not be entering.
Our Pricing Matrix.
If you go on some other marketplaces and request a bid for a service such as house cleaning, you will see a huge difference between the low and higher process. More often than not, some cleaners will accept a job for much less than they are worth. On the other hand, some uninformed clients may sign up for service that costs much more than the average without any explanation.
So what we do is compile pricing data from a few reliable sources and base the listed rates off of that.
The worst part is when a client pays a non-complying cleaning person or company, the same as a legal entity. This distorts the true value of the service provided by a legally operating business or sole owner-operator. By non-complying, we mean a person that does not have, at the minimum, a Local Business Tax Certificate and a Service Bond. Anything above that, such as worker's compensation insurance is not needed unless you are hiring someone to do high risk activities such as tree-trimming, window, cleaning, moving, or other type of hands on construction work.
To view our current pricing please visit our request quote page and we will be happy to provide you with a quote custom-tailored to your specific job request.
Property Service Workers Protection Act
Elegant Empire LLC does NOT meet the requirements to need to register with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. The Property Service Workers Protection Act only applies to companies that meet the 3 following criteria:
1. Janitorial Service Company. Yes.
2. Have at least 1 Employee. No. We are all member-managers of the company.
3. Have at least one service worker; contractor or sub-contractor. No.
Each managing member of our LLC is a sole-proprietor and not an employee or a contractor. However, a managing-member may only subcontract work to another registered company and do so without any direct supervision.
TIME spent providing the labor to provide cleaning services is NOT a tangible product and therefore is NOT refundable. If you are NOT happy with the service feel free to use our Service Guarantee policy. Dissatisfaction of service is not a reason for non-payment.
The only solution for clients that are not satisfied with our service is to not use us again.
We are dedicated to providing the public and private sector of our community with quality service at an affordable price. However, from time to time, like in ANY service related industry, we are not a good fit for a small percentage of clients, less than 1% of our client base. This is typically established by the first or second visit, and sometimes even before work is performed. Before requesting a refund PLEASE be certain to read our Complaint Resolution section which is the next on this page, and if you have a complaint that is not legitimate, we will kindly decline our refund policy.
So this refund policy is dedicated to the 1% of clients that we are not happy with the level of quality of our service. The percentage is so low not only because of our dedication to providing quality service, but because we will be the first to kindly decline service to clients that we detect to have some of these characteristics:
Unusually high, and unrealistic expectations for quality of work
Out of touch with reality regarding the time needed to complete a job
Will want to teach our staff on the process of how to clean
Wanting to pay an unusually low amount for the requested work to be completed
Lacks the understanding of why paying someone under the table is much cheaper than hiring a company. Hint: They usually don't pay taxes.
Confuse restoration work with cleaning
Confuse regular cleaning with Deep Cleaning. Although this is up for debate, Deep cleaning usually involves moving furniture, cleaning interior of cabinets, cleaning grout, windows and rails, removing books and nick knacks from shelves
Unusual requests on how to clean surfaces. For example, we've had clients tell staff to use water only to clean hardwood ???
Clients that need a professional organizer BEFORE having cleaning services
PLEASE READ this from start to finish so that we are all on the same page of how refunds are calculated.
LABOR fees are not refundable
Our service is not a tangible product that can be returned
Our quotes are for the amount of TIME clients are willing to pay and staff will stay within that specific budget
We DO NOT quote on a per job basis.
Dissatisfaction of service is not a reason for non-payment. But you have the option to call and schedule a redo not to exceed 1 service hour.
The only solution for clients that are not satisfied with our service is to not use us again.
We DO NOT use social media to approve of or reject client satisfaction or dissatisfaction of any service provided by a service technician. Too much litigation and controversy has plagued many of these sites; Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, etc.
Most services require about 5 - 7 days advanced notice. This includes one time or recurring service. We'd like to add that reserving a cleaning service is nothing like reserving a taxi service or ordering a pizza. Staff is not on call like people in the ride-sharing business. Even the biggest players in this industry have a minimum advanced notice time that varies from 3 - 5 business days.
As with most service based business, payments are due on the day of service, with very few exceptions. About the only exceptions to this are services rendered to a business establishment, or for vacation rental properties.
1. Due date for Residential cleaning service:
Payments are due on the day of service.
2. Due Date for Vacancy Cleaning Service:
Payments are due in advance through our PayPal Business Merchant account. We will forward you an invoice for the estimated amount. This needs to be paid BEFORE the work is done. If it is not paid, we cannot provide you with service. If you do not have a PayPal account or do not wish to pay through them, we only accept cash as an alternative payment method.
3. Due Date for Business Cleaning services:
Payments are due on a net 30 basis. As an example, if cleaning is provided for the month of January we will invoice you for that month and it is due within a reasonable amount of time after that. By reasonable we mean 7 – 10 days. Unfortunately, we are not in the business of making loans. So if you need more time to make payments, simply add a credit card to your PayPal account and then pay for services based on the terms of your credit card.
1. Weight of items:
Most service providers will not move any furniture that normally requires 2 people or more, unless the job calls for a crew of 2 and they are together at the cleaning. Most service providers will also not carry random household items that weigh more than 40 lbs. from the floor to another location or the other way around.
2. Height:
Most service providers will only use a ladder not to exceed 3 steps. Any items that require a taller ladder, such as blinds located at a higher level, or they are above kitchen cabinets, will not be cleaned.
3. Outdoors:
Other than light dusting and floor cleaning, most service providers will not do work that involves using special washing equipment, landscaping, or junk removal.
This page may not be updated regularly and might be outdated. For CURRENT pricing just complete the request service form and we will provide you with current pricing.
1. Residential Rates: $24/hour/cleaner
House
Townhouse
Apartment, condo
Senior living facility
2. Commercial Rates: $24/hour/cleaner
Office
Retail shop
Gym
Medical facility
Industrial space
3. Commercial Rates that REQUIRE workman's comp insurance: $30/hour/cleaner.
Please be aware that the minimum contract amount we are willing to enter with a business that requires this insurance is $20,000 per contract, with a minimum of 6 months or a maximum of 1 year.
Office
Retail shop
Gym
Medical facility
Industrial space
Final pricing is based on the TOTAL amount of time the cleaning takes. Recurring price can be established after the first or second visit. If extra time passes between service visits, other than what was agreed upon, it may take longer to get the same work done and the fee may be more. The final price depends on the total time needed to complete each job. This can be affected by a number of factors such as:
Frequency of service is by far the number one factor that may affect the service fee.
Number of pets in the house. More pets equals more pet hair to clean which takes time.
Number of levels of the house/condo/apartment. Stair cases take about 15 extra to clean. Ward wood floor stair cases can take even an extra 30 minutes to clean
Number of figurines to dust. The more you have, the longer it will take to move them to aside and dust under them before placing them back.
If blinds will need to be cleaned. Each window blind can take about 5 minutes if it's slightly dirty. Heavily soiled blinds can take about 20 minutes each.
If Baseboards will need to be cleaned
Number of pieces of furniture that will need cleaning
The type of floors; wood floors take twice as long to clean as it takes to vacuum and it more difficult.
1. Waiver for Worker's Compensation Insurance
Let's be clear about this insurance. It ONLY protects employees that may get injured during the course of work as an employee for a company. If the injured employee is unable to work for some time due to a work related injury, the worker's compensation fund might pay the employee a partial amount during part of the time they are unable to work. It has NOTHING to do with protecting the owner/manager of the place where the work is being done. For that there's General Liability Insurance policy, which is a completely different policy.
Every managing-member of our LLC has signed a Waiver for Worker's Compensation Insurance. As a sole-owner, why would you file a claim against yourself? We are not sure why we would even need to explain this?!
2. Contracts that require this insurance.
Please be aware that the minimum contract amount we are willing to enter with a business that requires this insurance is $30,000 per contract, with a minimum of 6 months or a maximum of 1 year.