A Day in the Life of a Local Cleaning Service

ABC Big 2 took a look behind the scenes at down with a local housekeeping service to see their day to day workload as they help their community, one sweep at a time.

“I mean, it’s not really that glamorous neither, but it is a fun job.”

Julie Windham with Midland Housekeeping has been working in the cleaning business for seven years. She started her small business not realizing how rapidly they would grow.

“It’s actually pretty quick, how every thing evolved, I really did not expect things to grow as quickly as what it had done,” said Windham. “My reputation is really big in this city, so I work very very hard to keep that reputation, so when I bring girls on, I’m very particular about it, we a pretty extensive training process with all of our employees, so, you know, we don’t just hire an abundance all at once, we take our time finding the right fit for our company and the right fit for the individual.”

She said anyone can help clean homes in the area, so long as you have the drive to help your community.

“You don’t need experience to be a cleaner, you just have to have some attention to detail, and be responsible and reliable,” she added.

And it’s important to understand trust is a huge aspect of the job.

“There’s a huge trust level with you, I mean you’re entering people’s homes, and their livelihood and knowing things that go on there that maybe some people on the outside don’t know, but they have that trust in you, almost like a hairdresser,” she joked. “Where, you’ve established such a strong relationship with these people, they become actual true friends of yours in the end. So it doesn’t always just fall back on the business, it falls back on the relationships as well.”

Windham said the job keeps you on your toes, and could get a little hectic.

But she also mentioned it rewards you in strange ways.

“As far as us and, you know, my history of my business, you know, my reputation and all that kind of thing, along with the charities that I do work with, combined it’s a very rewarding industry, I think. You know, even though we are cleaning other people’s toilets and that kind of thing, there is other rewards to it as well.”

Windham and Midland Housekeeping make it a point to give back to their community, a key part of cleaning.

And they do that by working with two separate non profits, Midland Cat Wranglers, helping rescue cats in the area, and Cleaning for a Reason, helping clean homes of cancer patients.

“The nonprofits are what’s really been my huge motivator of being in this industry, knowing that not only am I helping people out, but I’m also helping the community,” she smiled. “I just feel like sometimes when you get something out of the passion that drives you to do something, it just makes you hungry for more. I think, primarily that’s why I saty in this, and of course, you know, my girls on top of it as well.”

She said the hardest part of owning a cleaning service, is finding enough employees.

“Probably the hiring,” she laughed. “The hiring, I will say, is probably been the most trivial, that we’ve had to deal with. Midland is not an easy area to hire, we’ve extended lots of invitations out to individuals, to come in and interview, we get people on board that we think are gonna come and then they don’t show up. Or then we get people that come in and work with us for a week and then they decide, they don’t want to do it, it’s not something they want to do and that kind of thing, so. There is a lot of loss with employees as well. I mean we do, like I said, have a couple handful of employees that have been with me for quite a period of time, so those are obviously my senior people, but as far as trying to bring someone on, even right now we’re hiring and you know, the market is just not good for it.”

And of course, it can be a physically demanding job.

“It’s not an easy business. It’s very very physically attentive, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. It definitely gets you in shape. You are walking stairs, you are carrying some things, you know, the dexterity of moping and vacuuming and dusting, you know, you’re using muscles in your body that you probably don’t use on a regular basis, so that is one point and then the mental aspect, it’s not mental in a negative sort of way, it’s allowing you to think outside of the box and be responsible for yourself, during your shift.”

But for Windham and company, they wouldn’t change a thing.

“Oh it definitely feels good, and I definitely feel extremely blessed. I tell my kids every day to always make sure that they give back and then they’ll receive and that’s just the way things work in our household. We’re very very, very appreciative of everything and the blessings that we’ve received thus far.”

If you’d like to learn more about Midland Housekeeping, head to their website.