Before COVID-19 (B.C.)

DeluxeMaid is a house cleaning company based in Indianapolis. It was founded in 2015 with a goal of making it easier for people to book a house cleaning. Many house cleaning companies still do ‘callouts’ to provide estimates and this is a very time-consuming/costly process for both companies and potential customers. DeluxeMaid offers flat rate pricing based on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms in a home and a customer can book everything online in just 60 seconds. In 2019, our revenues were >$500k and we expected to see continued growth in 2020. The early months of 2020 were extremely positive, but this was to change in early April as the seriousness of the pandemic in the United States was fully realized.

The impact of COVID-19 (A.C)

Most businesses have been affected in some way because of the pandemic but depending on your industry the impact can be very different. Our business is no exception, but we managed to survive because we had been a successful business for many years so were able to ride it out, others weren’t so lucky. Interestingly, it was particularly tough in April as the panic was at fever pitch, but now people seem to have adjusted to the new normal even though the pandemic only recently peaked in the United States and daily cases continue to rise. It is very difficult to predict how the rest of the year will pan out but here’s a look at some of the ways covid-19 has affected our business – so far.

Marketing

All online advertising such as Adwords was paused as even though people were still looking for cleans, they were less likely to book so the ROI was no longer there as the cost per click is quite expensive. Everything we had previously outsourced such as SEO was brought in-house and having learned them we likely won’t outsource them again when things are back to normal. We have begun to explore other marketing options as well such as more traditional methods like flyers as we have had more time to work on the business rather than in it.

We started to look at what long-term plans we have for our business and how we can continue to grow during this time. Planning the future of the business has allowed us to take stock of what is going well and what we failed to prepare for previously.

We only kept paying for the absolutely essential stuff as any marketing during a pandemic has been a money pit for us. People weren’t ready to buy or even listen which is totally understandable, and even the best offers weren’t going to resonate with customers, especially in the early stages of the pandemic.

Salaries

We are not taking personal salaries currently. Again, this wouldn’t be possible for everybody but luckily none of the owners had a large mortgage or family to support so we were able to fall back on our savings. We do not intend to take any salaries for the rest of 2020 as we simply do not know what the future has in store for our business. A pandemic and its lifespan is impossible to predict.

Procedural Changes

The expectation of masks and gloves has increased exponentially. We now make sure that we have all the necessary protective equipment to keep both our teams and our customers safe. We have also had to cope with clients working from home and wanting to change their schedules and cleaning routines to meet their needs. We have tried to work with clients and waived any fees for last minute cancellations.

Moreover, all teams are keeping us updated as to whether they have had any coronavirus symptoms and if they do, they are not permitted to clean until they are tested. We luckily have had no one in the team test positive yet but we are prepared for when/if they do.

If a cleaner does test positive, we have policies in place to ensure every customer who has been in contact with that clean within the previous 14 days will be contacted. We have also asked customers to let us know if anyone in their home is experiencing symptoms or has tested positive for coronavirus, and we will not clean for them if there is any associated risk.

New Services Considered

One service we considered was a shopping delivery service. Many businesses have expanded their service offerings help maintain a steady cash flow during the pandemic. It was interesting to investigate this, but we ultimately didn’t pursue it. We spent weeks wondering how we could pivot but ultimately our efforts were futile as people were just too preoccupied which is totally understandable.

While in theory cleaning a home should help to stop the spread of coronavirus, it could be argued that it is difficult to clean while maintaining social distancing so we are advising customers to not be home when we clean.

It has been extremely difficult, but we are lean enough to ensure that we will be able to survive no matter how bad things get. I would advise small business owners to cut expenses as much as possible right now to try to keep their head about water. Best of luck, stay safe, and we will get through it.

Finn Pegler runs DeluxeMaid. His passions include small business, lean startups, and the environment.