Jim and Suzanne Faustlin came from the world of computers - software companies and large corporations - and figured their future involved electronic technology. Instead they ended up trading their keyboards for mops and buckets and are quite satisfied they made the right decision.
They have owned The Maids Home Services cleaning company for nigh on to a decade now, growing the franchise from the 13 employees of its original owner to a current employee roster of 45 with more hiring planned.
 Yolanda Alvarado cleans up her car before leaving for the day. Each car carries a team of four and must be kept clean. The Maids has 11 team cars. |
"We’d never been business owners and had no background in this area, but when the company (founded in 1986) went up for sale, we looked at it and bought it with an eye toward the future," both Jim and Suzanne Faustlin say in unison.
Obtaining and retaining good people is a business basic and the Faustlin’s have been good at that.
"We have several employees who were on board when we bought the franchise and we’ve constantly been adding personnel," says Jim Faustlin. "We keep people around and give them a chance to grow. All of our employees have spent time in the field and understand that we sell and support the concept of quality."
Quality indeed. From their Web page – http://www.maidsoftucson.com – admonition that "Nobody Outcleans The Maids" to printed brochure guarantees of "satisfaction or a re-cleaning free of charge," the quality issue is part of a five-year company business plan that gets updated monthly.
"This franchise has had manager of the year honors out of the 160 existing franchises and last year one of our team leaders was picked as employee of the year out of the hundreds of folks who work for The Maids franchises," says Jim Faustlin.
Currently, there are 11 four-person teams who are are trained, insured, bonded, uniformed, and armed with state-of-the-art equipment. The husband-and-wife owners say they do things the old fashioned way - like scrubbing floors on hands and knees - while eschewing mops, brooms, and feather dusters in favor of environmentally-preferable supplies and four-filtered HEPA vacuum cleaners to capture 99.9 percent of dust and allergens.
"When we leave a job, all the bad stuff leaves with us," says Suzanne Faustlin.
"One of the benefits of being a franchise is that all owners support corporate research and development for the right products and tools to use," Jim Faustlin says. "If one franchisee discovers something they think is a great improvement over existing systems, headquarters R&D in Omaha will test it and either reject or recommend it to individual franchise owners."
The Faustlins say the preponderance of their work involves residential cleaning.
"Our clients are stable, solid, hardworking folks," according to Suzanne. "These are generally middle-class families who want to keep a clean house, but don’t have the time. Their jobs, children, and activities keep them on the go and they just need some domestic help."
While residential clients make up most of the "to-do" list, there is usually time for some specialty projects like move-ins, move-outs, and construction cleanup.
"One year we were in a summer slump," says Jim Faustlin. "Fortunately for us, a 100-unit student apartment complex wanted a complete makeover that had to be done in short order. We worked solid for nine days so they could reopen fresh and clean. That was our lifeblood that summer, but we’d prefer to do them a few at a time in the future."
The Maids Tucson franchise has cleaned a lot of homes with all kinds of animal occupants.
"Pet snakes are not uncommon," says Suzanne Faustlin. Nor are more traditional domestic animals of the canine and feline variety. "We had one home with 17 cats. Not only was it dusty, it was quite furry."
Realizing happy employees tend to be more productive workers, the franchise owners try to make their 4425 E. Broadway facilities friendly.
"This place is like a second home for our maids, kind of like an extended family," says Suzanne Fuastlin. "They come in for a cup of coffee before each team of a supervisor, assistant, and two maids heads out for an assignment."
Busiest times of the year for cleaning crews are generally from late September through January to help get ready for, or clean up from, holiday celebrations and snowbird guests.
Lee Allen is a Tucson-based freelance writer.
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