When I became a mom I learned a few important lessons when it comes to managing life and juggling responsibilities:

1. Order whatever you can online.

2. Keep it Simple.

3. Write EVERYTHING down.

4. If you can outsource help. DO IT!!

Since I started ChicpeaJC I’ve been asked multiple times for a cleaning service recommendation which is a tough one; It’s so hard to find a trustworthy company that you know will a)be reliable b)actually clean your home and c)not misplace your sh-t.  That is why I never wanted to be held responsible for giving a bad recommendation!

In comes Maid In Hoboken. Now don’t get confused, this blog does not cover Hoboken! MIH services many homes in Jersey City and they sure know what they are doing, so don’t let the name fool you!

After looking into them, I loved their whole approach! the first thing that caught my eye is that they use eco-friendly products and they bring all the supplies to your home! Which means you can cross off  “Go to target to buy sponges” from that gnarly to do list. #winning.

I took a drive to Hoboken to meet Paul at the Maid in Hoboken main office. Paul Fried IS Mr.Clean, he looks like him, has a great smile and warm personality, and he happens to be in charge of making thousands of homes sparkle. I really can’t make this shit up!!!! Wait, is that an earring?!

Whats your name? My name is Paul Fried.

What do you do? I am the owner of Maid In Hoboken.

What is Maid In Hoboken? Maid In Hoboken is primarily a residential cleaning service and we offer some commercial as well. But we service all of Hudson County, and parts of Bergen County, including Jersey City!

What kind of services do you offer? We offer recurring cleaning services, one time cleaning services,  post construction services, moving cleaning, moving out cleaning. Commercial cleanings as well, we have a carpet cleaning division. We also have a duct cleaning division…

What is the price range? It all depends on the size, square footage, and how many bedrooms and bathrooms, our average cleaning is about $100.

And products? What kinds do you use? 75% of the products we use are certified green – and the balance are eco-friendly products. One product that is not eco-friendly would be our oven cleaner and what we use, is a non aerosol and non invasive. We bring all our own equipment, rags, mops. Everything we bring to your home  is properly sanitized prior to your cleaning.

That’s fantastic, how long has Maid In Hoboken been around? We’ve been in business for 19 months now, we opened in May of 2013, and we currently service over 1400 clients on a recurring frequency.

Wow! What made you start Maid in Hoboken? My wife and I had been through every cleaning service in Hudson County. Our  youngest child is 2, and when she was a newborn, my wife had a c section, with complications, her recovery was tough. I was close to home a lot – and the cleaners came in one day and I saw that their mops looked dirty, so I stopped them and called their office. Their manager kept assuring and insisting that it was clean… I am saying to him “I’m in front of it right now its NOT clean”. Then he tells me they send these girls out with one mop a day, and they clean it themselves after each cleaning. I took the keys from them and I was like that’s it we are done, Bye. I go upstairs tell my wife I fired the cleaners, and she was about to rip my head off. She said “I’m in no position to clean right now…”I hopped online started to do my due diligence and said “you know what I’m starting a cleaning company”

Just like that?! What did you do before that. Real-estate developer.

That’s a change! I’m a serial entrepreneur, I’ve owned a food truck, a restaurant, a construction company, so for me it’s the business, it’s the building of the business. I’m blessed I currently have a staff of 28, and these are all full-time employees, they’re all documented they’re covered in workmen’s comp, and they’re terrific.

I love hearing that! Listen, we are fully insured and bonded, and this is so important, people don’t realize that. When you don’t have that, people might slip, get hurt (not covered by workman’s comp) and if that happens the homeowner can be held liable.

My advice for people hiring cleaning services is to ask the company to see their insurance certificate to make sure they’re not lying to you – I know that we are one of the few companies fully insured. There are people from other companies who wanted to work for me, but they are undocumented so I couldn’t hire them.

These things are super important to me, and background checks of course. When I started the business – I was doing my due diligence, reading, researching other companies, all of this, theft it’s an issue. I knew at some point I would get hit with a theft allegation, regardless of all the background checks, somebody one day this will happen.

Did it ever happen? 6 months into the business I get a call from a woman who we had serviced maybe 6 times, good client, and never any issues… the woman says to us “the ladies do such a great job but listen I’m missing 6 gold necklaces worth about $500 bucks, they’re my husbands so they’re kind of sentimental to him, I tore the place apart for the last two days and can’t find them, I don’t know what else to think” I said to her, “this is the first time I’ve been confronted with a theft allegation”.

I came back to the office and talked to the staff and they said they didn’t see anything…. normally how other companies deal with it they give the client money and have them sign a release… or even tell the client, call the police and file an investigation… I didn’t want to go down that road. I brought in a woman to administer polygraphs to three of my employees. My staff volunteered, it cost me $1,500… financially it doesn’t make sense but I needed to know that my staff is honest.

The report came back, that my staff was telling the truth…they didn’t steal from this woman. 3 weeks later the woman calls me and tells me she found the necklaces. I got totally choked up because I knew it was a tough call to make, most people would not have made it.

It seems like trust and honesty is really important to you… It’s the most important part of this business. What we provide first and foremost is a level of trust and security…This is a very intimate service, you better make sure that you are running a tight ship.

I saw a sign that you have a Handyman service? We do.

That’s really needed! I was getting a lot of calls from our cleaning clients, asking me if they knew people who could fix things around the house etc… I said you know what “why not start a handy man service”. So we started and it took off.

So what’s with the hot sauce? So I am a foodie, when thinking about a “leave behind”, people had suggested you should leave hand sanitizer, sponges… something that has to do with cleaning…. I have a hot sauce collection, and have over 1,000 bottles so I decided to label a hot sauce and leave that behind for people instead of something typical. The thing with the hot sauce, this will stay in someones fridge for a year!

Anything else you want people to know about Maid in Hoboken? People hire us to reduce the level of stress in their lives, so this is what we try to achieve. Customer service is key, for me it’s the big picture. We currently service over 1400 clients, I probably know EVERYONE’s name. We are very accommodating to everyone… My yelp page is up all day long, I am always looking at it, keeping track of what people are saying. If there is an issue I try to nip it in the butt right away.

Any future plans for MIH? We are currently branching out to other areas. I would like to service more people in Jersey City. Most of our clients currently live on the Waterfront and Paulus Hook.

What’s the process, of signing up? You would go to our website, maidinhoboken.com click on the contact sheet, and you just fill out the information and send it to us – we will immediately respond with rates and a quote for the initial cleaning, along with a copy of our customer guidelines and our specifications for the cleaning. From there we will go ahead and schedule you.

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