Terms and conditions

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The Other Mother is a local-woman-owned and operated small business that  serves Clearfield County.  We are licensed, bonded and insured and our employees are professionally trained and vetted. 

By hiring The Other Mother you agree to be the party responsible for full payment, communication and complying with all policies, upholding this agreement and satisfaction guarantee procedures. Third party involvement is not recognized by The Other Mother.

 If you have any questions or concerns about your cleaning service, please call or text our office at 814-335-5247.  We have office staff to assist you and who will make every reasonable effort to provide you with a highly professional service. 

•  Have your home picked up and ready to be cleaned. Hourly charges may be incurred if cleaning technicians require more time if your home is not ready to be cleaned or if a job is underestimated due to the condition of the home.
• Notify all guests about our arrival and that we may need access to their space.
• Notify the office when you have guests or any unknown person in your home so that we won’t be surprised if a stranger walks out of a room.

 For safety reasons, please see that children are supervised while we are cleaning your home.

We love animals, however, if they are aggressive, we ask that you have them kenneled, in a room that we are not cleaning or outside when we arrive. The Other Mother and its staff reserves the right to leave the premises if a pet exhibits aggressive behavior and you will be charged the full price of your cleaning. The Other Mother will not be held responsible for the behavior of any pet(s) while the cleaning service is being performed.

 By providing a unique door code or lockbox code. A fee will be charged if we are unable to access your home. (see lockout policy below)

Turn off alarm systems. If you choose to leave the alarm armed, we are always diligent and careful to disarm and rearm the alarm according to your instructions. However, we will not be held responsible for false alarms or misuse of the alarm system, including charges from a local police department or security company or other charges related to an activated alarm. No exceptions.

Additionally, you agree to hold harmless and/or release from liability The Other Mother from any and all liability relating to any failure of the alarm or not arming the alarm properly.

Allow for full access to the home. Our technicians perform their work in a specific order to ensure efficiency and thoroughness. If you need to direct our technicians to clean certain areas first or to clean in a different order, this adds additional time to your cleaning. We are happy to offer this service if needed, but you must call ahead of your cleaning so we can schedule the additional time. Any additional time accrued by our team will be charged at our current hourly rate in fifteen minute increments.

Estimates are given based on the information given by the client. Should the conditions need more attention than described,  we cannot guarantee we can complete the job in the time quoted.  You will be given a choice to increase your budget, or have us leave the job.

If you request changes to your service after receiving your original estimate, additional charges may be billed or a new estimate may be required.

We may decline the job if our crew arrives at the job and discovers that it requires a level of cleaning that we are not able to provide. In this instance, we will contact you and there will not be a charge.

 Our cleaning hours are from 8:30am to 5:30pm. If for any circumstance our staff is SENT AWAY or LOCKED OUT from your home between these hours, there will be a cancellation fee of 100% of your typical cleaning rate. We will make every effort to work within the time frame you requested, but ask not to be sent away during our working hours.

We can not guarantee an exact arrival time for your visit. We request you plan for 30 minutes before or 30 minutes after original schedule time, for arrival.   If you need an estimated window of arrival,  please contact our office the day before your scheduled visit. No arrival time is implied or guaranteed.  We will do our best to accommodate requests, but they are treated as requests. We do guarantee your day of service and will not change your service date without prior approval. 

 If you do need to cancel

•  We require at least 48 hour notice for recurring cleanings.
• If you skip a cleaning with less than 48 hours notice, you will be charged the full anticipated cost of your scheduled cleaning, without exceptions. Timely notice enables us to schedule another home in your place and ensure our employee’s full work schedules. Please note – you can reschedule your cleaning another day during the week without incurring additional fees, if available.
• Exceptions may be made for emergencies and/or illnesses. Frequent cancellations, even for emergency or illness, may still be charged the cancellation fee. The Other Mother reserves the right to make these determinations on a case by case basis.
•  Cancellation of Service whether temporarily, permanently or reducing the frequency of your cleaning cadence, requires a 48 hour notice.  Less than this is considered a late cancellation and will be charged at the full fee. 
• We require at least 72 hour notice for reschedules or cancellations of One-time, Initial and Move-in/Move-out cleanings.
• Non-Refundable Deposit: There is a non-refundable deposit to retain your booking for all One-Time, Initial and Move-In/Move-Out Cleanings. This deposit will be credited toward the final cost of your cleaning. This deposit will not be refunded.
• If cancellation or rescheduling causes more than 3 weeks to elapse between cleanings, A catch-up cleaning will may be required and charged at our current hourly rate.
• For all company initiated schedule changes due to holidays or extreme weather conditions, we will make every attempt to reschedule as close to your regular scheduled cleaning date as possible.

Payment is due before the start of scheduled service.  We offer many ways to pay for our service.

•  CHECK, CASH, VISA/MASTERCARD and BANK TRANSFERS are all acceptable forms of payment.  The Other Mother invoices using Quickbooks.
• A  $45 service charge will be added to all NSF Checks. 
• Declined cards and unpaid balances will incur a service charge of $25 or 15% interest whichever is greater.
• Cash should be put in sealed envelopes addressed to the office.

 A tip is neither expected nor required. It is completely optional and at your discretion.

You can also add a permanent tip as a line item to your invoice. You just need to let our office staff know.  Cash directly to the cleaner is acceptable.  

 If asked  to dust/clean inside of china cabinets or hutches, start laundry, wash dishes, clean small computer equipment, antiques or collections, or to use your equipment (e.g. vacuum), you agree to hold harmless and/or release from liability The Other Mother and/or any of its employees responsible for any damage or breakage to any article or component.

We will make every effort not to break items, but accidents do happen. We have Limited Liability protection for replacement or repair. Identical replacement will be attempted but not guaranteed. It is for this reason that we avoid cleaning requests for irreplaceable or sentimental valuable items.

Damage must be reported to our office staff by phone or email within 48 hours of service or The Other Mother may not be held liable.

 We kindly request that any particularly valuable or fragile items be secured.  This includes jewelry and other precious items.. Additionally, if there are any areas of the house where we prefer not to have items moved or cleaned, we'll make sure to clearly mark those spaces.

The Other Mother cannot be responsible for damage due to faulty and/or improper installation, lack of maintenance, or general wear and tear of any items.

 Due to safety and security considerations, please do not schedule other home service providers when we are scheduled to clean if you are not present to supervise them. The Other Mother will not let anyone into your home.

We will not be responsible for any recleaning if another service provider is present when we clean your home. Client activities or the activities of other home service providers which result in a request to re-clean an area the tech has already cleaned will result in an additional fee.

•  Cleaning technicians are unable to climb on ladders any higher than a two-step ladder to perform their work.  They are unable to move heavy objects or furniture.
• Due to OSHA regulations, our staff will not handle any type of animal or human waste, this includes vomit, blood or body waste.
• Due to sanitary and hygiene cross-contamination issues, we are unable to clean in areas or homes with live infestations (maggots, fleas, roaches, bedbugs, etc) until mitigated.
• We will not remove excess mold and mildew outside of the shower.
• We ask that you refrain from smoking cigarettes, marijuana or any other substance inside of the home when technicians are present.

To meet your needs and to ensure your satisfaction, The Other Mother reserves the option to reevaluate rates at any time. 

We take before and after photos of our work. These pictures are used for training, proof of performance as well as promotion. See our website before and after for examples. If you do not want pictures taken of work areas in your home please notify us when you schedule your cleaning.

If you think any area that is in the scope of work is not clean or cleaned well, we will re-clean that area to your satisfaction by the end of the next business day.

Please call within 24 hours of your cleaning and we will return within one business day to re-clean the problem area.

We are unable to guarantee the cleanliness of the home when using your products, supplies or equipment. 

We are not able to offer cash refunds or discounts for poor quality on the original bill in place of a reclean.

Our teams are quality inspected which may occur during your home’s cleaning or after the cleaning tech(s) have left your home.  Quality control ensures the highest quality standards.

When entering into an agreement for services with The Other Mother you agree not to solicit for hire any staff member introduced to you by The Other Mother for any home‐related services.  We spend a lot of time, money and resources finding, interviewing, checking references and backgrounds, and training our cleaners. When hired, each cleaning technician signs an agreement barring them from performing any home‐related service for any of our past or present customers. However, if you do wish to employ a staff member directly please discuss this matter with our office. If you are found to have solicited one of our staff please be advised that our referral/ training fee is $3,500 per hired employee.  We consider our employees our most valuable asset and charge accordingly.