Home Clean Heroes Innovates Its Services to See Continued Success Amid COVID-19

During any economic downturn, luxuries like home cleaning services have traditionally been among the first to go. And for some, the thought of welcoming strangers into their home during a pandemic is anxiety-inducing. While the cleaning service industry has been a bit rocked during the crisis, Virginia Beach-based franchise Home Clean Heroes has redefined what cleaning means to continue to meet its clients’ needs.

Similar to what many businesses experienced at the beginning of the pandemic, Home Clean Heroes experienced a slowed demand. But unlike the restaurant industry, where revenue losses were a direct result of forced closure, cleaning service companies were deemed an essential business — meaning Home Clean Heroes was able to continue to offer its services as normal. The brand concluded that the softened business during the height of quarantine was due to several factors, including clients’ fear of having strangers in their homes, their working-from-home lifestyle, which afforded them more time for home chores, and, for some, their inability to afford services as a result of unemployment.

With all of this in mind, the brand learned to navigate the situation and amend its operations to remain top of mind by offering more thorough home cleaning services, adding additional health and safety protocols and sharing helpful DIY cleaning tips with its client base.

“The hardest part about the adjustment was really changing the way people see cleaning,” said Denise Morris, vice president of franchise operations for Home Clean Heroes. “Home cleaning used to mean someone would come in and make things look neat and pretty, now it’s a little more involved. People are really looking for a deep clean that will help keep themselves and their families healthy.”

The amendments Home Clean Heroes made were both at the customer and employee level. For the franchise’s employees these changes have meant the addition of EPA-approved cleaning products, temperature checks at the beginning of every shift, wearing company-supplied PPE like masks, gloves and shoe covers, disinfecting equipment before every service and following social-distancing guidelines by aiming to provide each team member with their own service vehicles when possible. 

Customers, however, have experienced increased communication from the brand with biweekly — sometimes weekly — emails outlining its new protocols in order to provide an extra layer of comfort for them as they welcome Home Clean Heroes teams into their homes. The brand has also made it clear they are happy to reschedule appointments without cancellation fees for those who are concerned about having outside people in their homes, or for anyone who might not be feeling well.

Morris noted that, largely because of the brand’s safety protocols, most customers have started to feel comfortable inviting the Home Clean Heroes teams back into their homes, stating the company is back to seeing upwards of 90 percent of the business they saw pre-COVID.

“It’s become easier for people to adjust to the fact that they're at home with our team members,” Morris said. “A lot of our retired customers enjoy the company when the cleaning teams come. They’re practicing social distancing of course, but they’re able to chat and have a nice time, which seems to make them feel more at ease.”

The vice president of franchise operations says she has a positive outlook on the brand’s future, saying that many of these changes they’ve made have ultimately put them in a better position for continued success. 

“Home Clean Heroes is always trying to elevate our service to the most professional level possible. Because of the pandemic we’ve just added another layer to that. Having a clean, sanitized home has become one of the most important things to our customers. A clean home is a healthier home, and we’re working hard to be able to provide that.”

The startup costs for a Home Clean Heroes single-unit franchise ranges from $117,525 to $134,060. To learn more about franchising with Home Clean Heroes, visit 

http://homecleanheroesfranchise.com