Hilbrands Carpet Care

I rehabbed the interior of my home and when finished nearly the entire interior was redone to include cabinet staining/painting throughout, new carpet throughout, new tile upstairs, new baseboard upstairs to match upgraded baseboard downstairs, and new paint on the ceiling/walls/trim/doors throughout. The only thing left was to conduct a thorough cleaning and to clean/seal the existing travertine downstairs and to seal the new tile upstairs. Because most of the house was brand new most of the cleaning entailed wiping down the interior/exterior of dusty cabinets and cleaning the kitchens and bathrooms. John was on time and ready to work, accompanying him was his son. When John saw the stone tile he said he no longer wanted to do it and that he would only seal the grout if he did do it, although during the phone conversation it was made very clear by John that he would seal the entire floor. I assumed he didn't have the time initially allotted and was looking to reduce his workload. He was complaining about the tile being dirty while explaining he didn't want to do it, although the tile was installed 3 days prior. My flooring guy was wrapping up some other work and for some reason John decided to cause a rift with comparing whose sealer was better. I was impressed to see my flooring guy took the high road and remained respectful despite arrogant attacks by John. Then John proceeded to tell me in another room that he did a poor job installing my carpet. He hadn't hardly began his own work before bashing the work of my other contractors. John began working on the tile while his son cleaned the house. The areas of the tile he cleaned looked GREAT, however he missed all areas his circular buffer couldn't reach, including behind the toilets and all the interior corners. I had to leave for a business trip around 11:00AM while he and the flooring guy wrapped up and therefore arranged for my wife to meet him at the house after work, which was a time he stated he'd still be wrapping up his work. He had her number should any questions arise. I also paid him before I left trusting he would follow through with all the details we discussed. Approximately 2 hours prior to his proposed completion time he called my wife and said he was leaving. When she got home she discovered that he completely skipped the laundry room, the oven, the interior kitchen/master bath/guest bath drawers, the top of the cabinets in the kitchen, and the surface of various cabinets throughout the house. Because the house was completely refinished he didn't have to do a majority of the work he'd normally promise to do, e.g. wiping down walls/doors and vacuuming. When my wife called him back he blamed his son for not completing most of these jobs and said "I can't watch everything he does". He argued that he cleaned the stove and she explained that she was literally wiping away grease as they were talking, and furthermore he had the nerve to say he skipped the laundry room because there was a ladder and a box in it. She had to argue with him on the phone to come back and finish his work. His return trip was just as half hazard as the first trip but it was the principal of the matter that she pressed upon him to return. Below are details copied and pasted from his website so you can see my expectations were not out of the ordinary, they were common duties promised to be performed by him and I reiterated each of these steps with him verbally. As indicated above, I would never hire him again, despite the good job he did on the tiles that his buffer could reach. He took no responsibility for his lack of dedication, it was as if the person who put together the website and John were not the same person. IN SHORT, ALL TALK AND NO ACTION!!!! "Whole House Cleaning-Process: Flooring: Can be done either Traditional mop and broom, or using more advanced machinery. We do 1/2 price tile and grout cleaning, or strip and waxing, when added to our house cleaning special. Our more advanced cleaning is: Ceramic, We power scrub the floor with a nylon brush and degreaser or acidic chemical. I then steam rinse the floor with Truck mount rotary steamer (SX-12) so no chemical residue is left, Then dried using numerous towels. Linoleum I use a black, or red disk on the floor machine to strip and clean the floor, and then I steam rinse the floor with a wand on gliders and apply a high solid wax. Pergo is cleaned using white disk sometimes red then rinsed and dried being careful to use little water and to dry quickly. Kitchens: In addition to regular kitchen cleaning our all day House cleaning special includes the heavy duty degreasing of the stove. Strong oven cleaner and a floor scraper is used in the oven to get char and appearance back in shape. We also use oven cleaner in many other hard to clean locations such as under hood areas. Comet is used in drawers and countertop. Cabinets are cleaned then oiled (many do not clean first or do not oil we do both. Bathrooms: In addition to the typical bathroom cleaning we do a lot of industrial level cleaning in our all day special. The biggest problems in house bathrooms today is the popularity of glass showers. I use lime remover as well as a glass polish to make the glass clear and sparkle once more. The bathtub is cleaned using lime remover which removes soap ring as well as polish to remove scratches. For toilets I use a strong toilet acid that always leave's it bright white I then use cleanser to disinfect it. I often have to remove calcium deposits from spouts and crevices. And polish all fixtures to a bright welcoming shine. Appliances: House appliances are cleaned and polished. Using stainless steel cleaner or polish is included. Ovens are cleaned using modern acid based oven cleaners. A floor scraper or dull knife is used on interior char. Thick lacquered grease on neighboring areas can be removed with weaker oven cleaners as well.Walls Not many companies clean walls and door we do! After the cobweb dusting we use a car wash mitt with mild soap and rub walls followed by a dry towel. This prevents paint rub off but removes soil. On some surfaces we do a stronger cleaning. Windows: We do downstairs house windows both sides and upstairs interior house inside window and remove and reinstall screens. Included in hourly charge or priced separate if you only want windows.Carpet Cleaning: I discount for including carpets on your home cleaning. I can clean all rooms with Dual process (power scrub then Truck mount steam) and attack red stains with red out, gum/grease with solvents to save an otherwise trashed carpet. With 20 years of experience and being a trainer for other companies you can have confidence if it can come out I get it out. Home Repairs: Another major advantage is I don't pass over broken items. Having a background including apartment maintenance I can add simple repairs often free or at least without huge charges. A simple example is if a tub is draining slow I prefer to remove clog rather then just vacuum out the water so it stays clean rather then just work around it. In fact toilets in a repo house are often clogged and I often have to declog before cleaning. I estimate that I have done a repair on almost every home I have cleaned without an extra charge. Home Merchandising: On for sale houses I believe strongly in throwing out ugly items. shower/window curtains, cables, remove stickers, bathroom rugs etc.. A house will sell better if it's closer to it's original like new shape. Shades are vacuumed and adjusted to a 45 degree downward angle for best photo's not reversed straight up to hide dust. My record speaks, recently I discovered that 12 of 15 units I cleaned sold in a month while other "cleaned" units and even rehabs were still unsold. Most complete home cleaning possible: We strive to be perfect and over the years I have found the common concern areas. We hit these concern areas first so the house is always completed in the 1 day job. We never fail to be complete but some items can be improved on if we run out of time: For instance walls get better with every pass so conceivably we could do them twice."