The “More Maids” Fallacy
A popular question we often get asked is “How many maids do you send?”
The thinking behind this question is that people associate having more cleaners with having a better maid service experience.
I mean, the more the merrier right? Well actually, when it comes to house cleaning not so much.
It’s something that we at Scrubbi like to call “The More Maids” Fallacy.
We can appreciate this line of thinking because for most things in life, more is better.
More sunshine = happier.
More butter = better tasting food.
But if you’ve heard the term “too many cooks in the kitchen” you’ll know that more IS NOT always better.
Too many cooks in the kitchen
When it comes to the number of maids we send to a home, we found something very surprising.
Based on our data and appointment review tracking, we’ve found that there’s nothing that supports the “More Maids” is better, and in fact, we found that the opposite is actually true – less is better!
That’s right, based on the number of reviews we’ve received and the ratings we’ve gotten for those appointments, our stats tell us that sending one cleaner is actually much better than sending two.
How is that possible? We have a few theories:
1. Bad cleaners can hide
Just like many workplaces, you have some really good, hard working employees, and some others that are happy to just coast and collect a paycheck. In a larger company, the coasters can easily hide within the mass of employees and go unnoticed, but in a smaller company, they would stick out like a sore thumb.
When it comes to cleaning, the same can be true but on a much smaller scale. A bad cleaner can be carried by a great cleaner, but then it will still take almost the same time as a great cleaner on her own. And because you’re being charged based on two cleaners, not one, you may end up paying more.
2. Wasted time
Other times, the cleaners may just divide the home, so you may get some rooms that are great and others not so much. This leads to some people not being 100% happy with their cleaning.
Just like any workplace, chit chat will occur between employees and this, of course, slightly delays your cleaning. For example, if it takes one good cleaner 2 hours for a home, it would probably take 2 semi-distracted cleaners an hour and a half for the same job. But because you’re paying two maids for an hour and a half, not one, that significantly increases your cost.
So again, based on our data, we’ve discovered that having one great maid is better than having two okay maids.
3. Quantity is not better than quality
Very rarely will you ever get 2 great maids from a cleaning service.
It’s not impossible of course, but based on our experience, you shouldn’t expect it.
The truth is, it’s actually very difficult to find one great cleaner let alone two. So instead of sending an okay team to your homes, we send one great maid and keep her there slightly longer. As we explained in the point above, this works out to a better, cheaper house cleaning service experience.
One is just right
As you’ve seen from the post, based on our data from thousands of appointments in major cities all across Canada, we’ve come to the conclusion that sending one maid will be much better for our customers than sending teams of two or more.
Not only is it cheaper for our customers in the long run, but it’s easier to ensure that you will get a great clean when there’s one cleaner involved rather than anything more than that.
And that’s why we’ve taken the step to always send one great maid to all our appointments. In the long run it’s more cost effective for our customers and makes us more confident that you’ll be happy with the cleaning that you receive.
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5 Comments
Whichever you choose, be sure to have the maid service come out and look at your house, and let them know every special requirement your home may have, from delicate collectibles to potentially difficult-to-reach areas.
I cringe when I hear of people using a person who is doing this business independently and have heard horror stories of stained granite or poor quality service with no other option than to find another maid.
This kind of service may be more expensive than the usual part-time maid, however, this service offers more advantages. Most of the time the service will provide not only someone to process the cleaning but to also gather the necessary cleaning tools or kits. In addition, as a bona fide employer, this kind of service is also responsible for any withholding Social Security and other income taxes.
Of course, you can always keep a bottle of Windex or some tile cleaner in case of a quick touch up but you will not run through supplies as quickly as you normally would. Supplies can be expensive and it adds up over time so this is just one way of cutting back costs. Professionals do the cleaning When you pay for the service you have someone coming into your home that is paid to do a job.
