House Cleaning Technician Class

In Bruce’s House Cleaning Technician (HCT) held in Raleigh NC last week, he asked the usual “How far did you come to get here?”  Several people had driven down from Virginia, the DC area and one came all the way from Boston.  Then he asked Sohini – we discovered she had come from the southern area of India!  Picking up our jaws from the floor, we asked her what, how, why in tones of disbelief!  She explained that she was just starting her new business in India, where there is a new, upwardly mobile class of professionals who are building large, beautiful houses with special materials.  She searched on the Internet and her research led her to declare that the HCT course is the only one of its kind—in the world!

International differences in cleaning

Over lunch she shared information about the differences between cleaning in India versus the United States and other technologically-advanced countries.  I mean, here in the US we expect every house we clean to have working electrical outlets.  We tend to grumble when we have a 3-prong vacuum to use in an older house with only two-socket outlets visible!  She cannot count on electricity being available at all or not reliably.  She is having to teach her local distributors the kinds of brooms and brushes she needs them to carry in order to substitute for our ubiquitous vacuums.

Professional house cleaners in America complain about ‘trunk-slammers’ (our low-bidding competitors) not carrying liability insurance, but she cannot purchase it as it is not available, at least at this time.  Sohini should know, as her prior career was as a successful insurance professional.  So she asks all her customers to sign damage waivers to provide her the necessary protection.

Light versus Heavy Maintenance Cleaning

In India, upper-income households usually have two or more inexpensive maids who come daily to do light cleaning.  The bathrooms are literally wet rooms – just a floor with a drain – anyone who cleans those is not asked to clean any of the other rooms of the house.  That might be seen as a step toward preventing cross-contamination.

Her business does the in-depth cleaning (wiping down cabinet fronts, doing corner-to-corner and wall-to-wall cleaning) that the lady of the house no longer has time to do now that she’s working a professional job.  (That much we Americans can claim to have in common).  Sohini hires as she put it, “the poorest of the poor”, pays them a good living by their standards (ca. $100 a month) but also pays or contributes significantly to health and accident insurance plans and also commits to a pension fund on their behalf.

A Different Business Model

In business for only about 5 months she has built what she calls a very small business by Indian standards, one with about 100 employees!  Her business also includes hiring out construction laborers.  She reports that the residential workers earn more than construction laborers do.

She charges by rooms and items (allow roughly 60 rupees per U.S. dollar) so, for example, she will charge 10 rupees for a fan or light.  Nearly every room has a fan, especially the bedrooms.  She notes that their floors are nearly all hard-surface.  With no vacuums, it comes as no surprise that she has no one-step carpet-vacuuming and they all must be swept by hand, followed by full mopping.

She came to the Raleigh class to learn about the materials she’s seeing in these newer luxury homes, to learn the principles of cleaning, how pH information can help her choose appropriate cleaning solutions.  In learning about de-ionized water she asked what water pressure is required to generate it—so, in addition to the power situation, making steamers and vacuums inappropriate for her use , she may also lack enough water pressure to drive the water through the de-ionizing cartridge.  What a contrast with the many, many luxuries we think of as necessities here that may not be available to her even on a limited basis back home.

Expressions of Gratitude

She opened our eyes to so many ideas, struggles and opportunities—she contributed to international relations and understanding.  One of her parting suggestions was that we enlarge the class to offer more hands-on for participants, perhaps using an extra day of instruction.  After sharing her experiences with the instructors and her fellow registrants, she assured us that she received at least as much from the class as she gave—we surely hope so.

Author: Sarah Vance