A Note from Katie - June 2026
Happy Tuesday! I sincerely hope that you are having an amazing and hopeful week!
The team here at Sparklean is doing so well! We've hired some amazing people lately and they have quickly become great team members. Many of our employees are currently on track for a Lead Cleaner promotion. And once they become Leads they'll start assuming the responsibility of texting clients the day before each cleaning. Right now we're using the automated text feature through our scheduling program, but I'd much prefer you receive direct communication from the person who will be at your house. That text message is a great way for you to communicate anything the cleaners need to know for that specific cleaning. Please send items that apply generally to your home and belong in the permanent notes to me or Sara.
I know clients sometimes need to change the schedule. We try to be as accommodating as possible and support you in this. Please note that if you are on a recurring schedule with us, you have a specific spot that repeats at your chosen frequency. And if you have to adjust the date of one cleaning, it does not adjust the dates of all future cleanings. For instance, if you move your cleaning from July 2nd to July 9th instead, your next monthly cleaning will be only 3 weeks after July 9th, not 4 weeks.
Also, you are welcome to request a specific Cleaner or Lead Cleaner. We'd love to know who you think does a stellar job! We cannot promise a specific person will be able to come to your home.
In my note last month (check it out here if you missed it), I discussed "standard vs thorough" and want to explain what that means in case you need more info. We've always offered clients two different services to choose from in each area of the home (kitchen, bathrooms, dusting, windows, floors). And as we've grown these last few years, we realized the best and most efficient approach is to transition to one, all-inclusive offering, with a few optional extras.
We've been training new employees this way for several months now.
Our typical cleaning now for all clients includes:
Kitchen: All kitchen windows, microwave, kitchen dusting, ceiling fan, top of oven hood, top of stove, fronts of appliances, fronts of cupboards, countertop appliances, countertop, backsplash, sink/drain/faucet, garbage, top of garbage can, walls/light switches, chairs/barstools, baseboards
Bathrooms: Mirror/windows, bathroom dusting, pictures/towel bars/door ledges/high light fixtures, tub and shower, whirlpool jets, replace shower curtain IF NEEDED, toilet bowl, ring inside toilet, outside of toilet, countertop bottles/items, soap dishes/toothbrush holders, countertops, sink &faucet, cupboard fronts, fold towels, door handles/jambs, baseboards, floor, put rug/garbage can/etc back in place
Dusting: Garbages, shake/vacuum rugs, pick up/stage, cobwebs, baseboards, tops of windows/door frames, ceiling fans, furniture, DR chair details, window sills, picture frames, shelves, seats of chairs, blinds, railings/banisters, top of washer/dryer, lightswitches, door handles/jambs
Windows: Clean the inside and outside of all glass doors (weather permitting) and spot check other windows
Floors: Dry mop under furniture, shake/vacuum rugs, staging, felt pads on chairs, tops of couches/chairs, edge vacuum, vacuum all floors, under edges of large rugs, move and vacuum under small furniture, mop all floors, replace rugs
--If you had previously chosen "standard" in any rooms of the home, you are likely getting a few more things cleaned lately.
--If you started with us as a client in the last few months and haven't heard of this differentiation before, it's because we had already transitioned to this model when you became a client and we are implementing the above list.
--If you have Abigail or Chris as your primary cleaner, you may have a slightly different task list that was adopted from when we purchased the Tidy Nest cleaning business in the fall of 2024.
(If you have a team for cleanings, and you are possibly interested in transitioning to a specific Solo Cleaner who almost always stays the same, please reply to this email and let me know. We have several seasoned employees who would be great Solo Cleaners with a static schedule of regular clients. This is a promotion for employees who have shown reliability in all aspects of the job. I think you'll love the more consistent nature of that type of scheduling.)
The reason I'm explaining all of this is that I want accountability for myself and for my team. I want to know that we are people of our word and are supporting you in the way that we say we're going to. The list above is what I meant last month by "all thorough," and it's what you can review our services by. We know that there's always room for improvement, and we are working hard to ensure each team member is cleaning to this expectation and meets the baseline speed we've set.
There are caveats to this - I know that you might be on a budget and you don't want the baseboards and blinds and such cleaned at every visit. Rest assured, we understand and will accommodate that. We are in the process of collecting data from the cleaners about every home.
1) We want to know if every home is in maintenance mode, or if it needs some yearly deep cleaning, and
2) We want to know if the above list of cleanings tasks can be accomplished within the current regularly scheduled time frame.
You might here from us if there's some deep cleaning things we'd like to sugguest. If you already feel there are extra projects you'd like us to tackle and want to schedule additional time, please let us know.
And you might hear from us in the coming months with suggestions regarding your cleaning length and tasks. We can always adjust that frequency so that we can get everything done that you want. Or we can keep the cleanings to a specific length of your choosing and create a rotation of items or priority list of tasks.
You'll still continue to receive emails after each cleaning. If you have time to give a review we would be so grateful! Your reviews are ALWAYS anonymous to cleaners! And if everything is great, and you have no comments, it's totally ok if you skip the review. I know you probably get a gagillion requests for reviews from every vendor and product purchase ;)
Thank you again for reading this! You're amazing! Please let me know if there's anything about your cleanings that we can adjust so that it's more valuable to you.
The best thing you can do for us is refer someone who needs more cleaning support. Feel free to forward them this email and they can reach out to me directly :)
I so appreciate your love and support for our team. It brings me great joy to lead them and to continue this team into the bright future!
As always, we believe that to live abundant lives, we all need each other. We envision a fulfilling and vibrant future for everyone who embraces this vision of mutual support. A hopeful, abundant life for all.
A Note From Katie - May 2026
The weekend is always a time to reflect and rest and these past few days I've been contemplating how impactful Sparklean has been in my life. We just celebrated 14 years! (I helped my first client on May 8th, 2012). So many things have shifted and grown in those 14 years. But the reason we exist has remained firm - At Sparklean, we believe that to live abundant lives, we all need each other. We envision a fulfilling and vibrant future for everyone who embraces this vision of mutual support. A hopeful, abundant life for all. A rewarding and purposeful life that is achieved through supporting and being supported by others. It’s connections, a web of people who embrace and rely on each other. In our day to day this looks like - We, the team at Sparklean have labor and cleaning skill to offer and we need jobs. And you, our amazing clients, need cleaning support and have work to offer. It might seem like a simple transaction, but the result is so much more meaningful. Our partnership is create opportunities, helping people realize dreams, and giving everyone peace of mind.
For instance, one of our long term employees (congrats on 8 years!), Kylie has had the opportunity to go on some modest international adventures lately. And it's all thanks to you and the consistent work that Kylie has had here these last 8 years. And the growth of our company has helped her grow in leadership and skill to the point where she has moved into the Training Manager role. She oversees all new employee training and our training materials - which allows us to pursue consistency and excellence. And her support of new employees makes the big transition to a new company the best and smoothest it can be for new employees.
Supporting employees wouldn't be possible without our drive to support YOU, our clients. The families and individuals we clean for are so important to us. We truly do care for your home and want our work to bring you value and peace of mind. And can I be super honest about some hard things? These past 6 years have been so incredibly hard in this business... The youngest generation of the workforce has changed so much and it takes so much effort, blood, sweat and tears to find, train and keep one good employee. Sara and Kylie and I haveve really high standards and goals for our team, and surviving these past several years have made reaching those standards pretty impossible. But we will persevere! Sara and Kylie and I have personally cleaned so many of your homes, and we care so deeply that the result of our work is excellent. If you haven't experienced an amazing service with us, I sincerely and profoundly apologize. I so greatly value your loyalty through these hard years. Rest assured, we are doing big things behind the scenes to increase the value to you! I love hearing things from clients like, "it's so great to come home to a clean house!" and "Our kids love the way their stuffed animals are arranged on their bed." and "the cleaners navigated a new situation, a construction worker and our very excited dog with grace and professionalism."
Two quick "house keeping" reminders for you (see what I did there? ;) ) We do wear shoes in homes during cleanings, but they are indoor only shoes just for cleaning. This helps to protect the team against injuries or falls. Also, we do allow the team to adjust the air conditioning in a home if the clients are not home. And when they leave, they will adjust it back to the same as when they arrived. If you have further instructions about this, please reply to this email and I'll get that into your house notes.
We've been up to some really exciting things! Our team is about to embark on a new pay incentive/bonus program. Each employee will be able to earn a significant increase in pay when they meet certain criteria for quality and consistency each pay period. (My husband Charlie will be spearheading the tracking of these metrics, so rest assured, this is not adding an administrative financial burden). The biggest piece of data that will help employees earn this bonus every 2 weeks, is reviews from you. In light of this, I'd like to go back to using the Google Form for reviews, instead of the simple 5 star review from ZenMaid. You'll see emails after each cleaning and we are so grateful for your honest feedback! It helps us learn and improve.
We are transitioning all of our cleanings to be "thorough" only. And training our employees to have that description as the baseline. We know you'll love it! We also know that some clients have a budget that maybe will not have enough time, and we'll work with each client on a case by case basis to adjust the expectations. As far as review forms goe, please assess using "thorough" as the baseline.
Last thing! I want to make sure that you all have access to the best professionals for your home! My two favorite referrals are Kura Home Maintenance and ZeroRez. In a nut shell, Kura home can come out every 2-3 months and do all the little things that you would do if you had time to be the perfect homeowner. Think, oiling the garage door, emptying the sediment from the water heater, etc. They're amazing!! https://www.kurahome.com/routine-maintenance/
And ZeroRez is an amazing MN franchise owned by lovely people who are clients of ours. Their teams can handle carpet cleaning, tile cleaning and duct cleaning - all without leaving residue and smell! https://www.zerorez.com/minnesota
Thank you for reading this update. It means the world to me! Would you send me a quick reply and let me know you read this? Even if it's just a "hey there." :)
Thank you again for your support, whether that's as a regular, ocassional, or future client!
Have an amazing day.