Separate Vacuums for Clients with Pets

The Ask a House Cleaner Show and Podcast with Angela Brown

Separate vacuums for households with pets vs. no pets? House Cleaners and maids want to know if one vacuum will do or is separate vacuums a must? We Ask a House Cleaner about seniors and clients allergic to dog hair, cat hair and pet dander. Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru says you can carry and empty the vacuum between each house cleaning job. But it's a lot of wear and tear on your body and time spent in maintenance. If you have a house with canine hair, you may want to use the customers equipment and not spread germs. Today's sponsor is HouseCleaning360. A referral network for House Cleaners. Do you have your fan page? https://HouseCleaning360.com

Separate vacuums for households with pets vs. no pets? House Cleaners and maids want to know if one vacuum will do or is separate vacuums a must?

We Ask a House Cleaner about seniors and clients allergic to dog hair, cat hair, and pet dander.

Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru says you can carry and empty the vacuum between each house cleaning job. But it’s a lot of wear and tear on your body and time spent in maintenance.

If you have a house with canine hair, you may want to use the customer’s equipment and not spread germs.

Today’s sponsor is #HouseCleaning360 A referral network for House Cleaners. Do you have your fan page? https://HouseCleaning360.com

Listen: Separate Vacuums for Clients with Pets Vs. No Pets?

Watch: Separate Vacuums for Clients with Pets Vs. No Pets?

Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer.

Question: Separate Vacuums for Clients with Pets Vs. No Pets?

Alright, onto today’s question. It comes from a house cleaner who has a question about separate vacuums.

“Good evening. I’m starting a cleaning business for seniors. And I would like to know if I need separate vacuums for clients that have pets and clients that do not have pets.”

Answer: Separate Vacuums for Clients with Pets Vs. No Pets?

Alright. That’s an amazing question.

I have a polarizing answer for you because there are two types of house cleaners. There are those who only bring their own vacuums. And there are those that only use the customer’s vacuums.

My specific suggestion would be this. Use the customer’s vacuum for a variety of reasons.

If you do this, all the hair that you’re going to pick up from their pet is going to go into that vacuum.

Now sure, at the end of every cleaning I always empty their vacuum just as a courtesy to them. And also for me so that it’s clean the next time I come because a lot of people don’t clean their own vacuums.

What If Their Vacuum is Not Working Well?

Let’s say I get to someone’s house and they don’t have a vacuum or they have a broken vacuum. In this case, then I bring it to their attention.

I say, “Hey listen, I would love to clean your floors but this just isn’t picking up well. How long has the been since you’ve replaced your vacuum?

Now either the bristles on the bottom need a cleaning or maybe it needs to go to the shop to get an overhaul. Or maybe you would consider getting a new vacuum altogether. But this one is not doing a good job and I just wanted to give you a heads up.”

Put The Ball in Their Court

Now they have a choice. They can go repair their vacuum. They can buy a new vacuum, or they can spend time cleaning it out and try to fix it themselves.

Either way, it’s not on you that their floor is not 100% clean and the ball is in their court.

As long you discuss expectations upfront about who provides the supplies, it’s going to be easy for you to use the customer’s vacuum.

Why I Recommend Using Customer’s Vacuum

There are a couple of reasons that I recommend using the customer’s vacuum.

It prevents you from having to carry your vacuum in and out of your car at every house. If you do that three or four times a day, times how many years in the business, that’s a lot of wear and tear on your body.

It is also a lot of wear and tear on your car. You might dent or ding your car as you are loading and unloading the vacuum all those times.

If the customer is up for it I would use the customer’s vacuum.

Exceptions to My Recommendation – Seniors

Now there are a couple of rare exceptions and for these rare exceptions, I would say have your own vacuum.

In the event that you need to use your own vacuum, you have a spare out in your car.

If you have a customer that’s 80 plus years old, they’re not going to go out and buy a new vacuum. They’re not going to be doing anymore vacuuming for the rest of their life.

Many people who are 80 plus years old have vacuums that are old, heavy vacuums. Remember those fun rainbow vacuums that you have to fill up with water? Those are so cumbersome and time-consuming. Most people don’t use them for regular maintenance cleaning.

As much as I would love to use the customer’s vacuum, I will go out and I get my lightweight vacuum and I will bring it in.

Sanitize Your Vacuum Before Using Again

But here’s the catch, when I go home that vacuum has to have a complete overhaul.

I’ve got to clean all the stuff out of the bristles. If they have dogs and cats I’ve got to clean all the pet hair out.

I’ve got to sanitize my entire outside of my canister. And the wheels and all that stuff, because that’s my backup vacuum.

That’s going to go into someone else’s house.

Impossible to Clean and Disinfect Your Vacuum Between Every House

For this reason, I prefer not taking a vacuum to someone’s house. Because I don’t want to cart all those germs from house to house.

If you’re a busy house cleaner then you’re doing two, three, or four houses in a day.

How are you going to stop and clean your vacuum and wipe down the dust on the outside of it? Clean out the inside, clean the wheels, clean all the parts that touched their carpet?

Because yeah, you are transferring germs from one house to another.

My suggestion is to use the customer’s vacuum at every possible chance.

If they have a crappy vacuum, be diplomatic and share with them the options that will help you do your job better.

And in the event that you have to use your own vacuum, have a spare vacuum out in your car. It doesn’t have to be an expensive vacuum.

I’ll leave links in the resources section below to a couple of vacuums. These are ones that I’ve used over the years that have great suction power. They are inexpensive, but they are just back-up vacuums.

Alrighty, that’s my two cents for today. Until we meet again, leave the world a cleaner place than when you found it.

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Resources For This Episode

Best Pet Vacuums – http://bit.ly/2CAzDbI

Best Robot Vacuums for Pet Hair – http://bit.ly/2kLDn2y

7 Tips for Maintaining Your Vacuum – http://bit.ly/2faxOIA

How to Take Care of Your Vacuum Cleaner – http://bit.ly/2BJta1o

Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Handheld Vacuum – http://amzn.to/2ATMSDR

Bissell Aeroswift Compact Bagless Upright Vacuum – http://amzn.to/2BJbW42

Robotic Vacuum Cleaner Pet Hair Cleaning Robot Eventer Wet/Dry Mopping Vacuum robot for Fur and Allergens with UV Sterilize Light and Powerful Suction, Design for Hard Floor and Thin Carpet- http://amzn.to/2yU6gP9