Today we’d like to introduce you to Guy Houston.
Guy, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was an only child, and my mom was a stay-at-home housewife who kept an immaculate home, so living in a clean house and doing what it took to keep it that way seemed natural to me.
When I was 10, I went to work in my family’s grocery store. We lived in a small Texas town and were in competition with two national chain stores (A&P and Piggly Wiggly), both of which offered so-called savings stamps, which were very popular in the 60’s, There were no savings stamps available for us to offer, and we had to rely on our relationships with our customers to keep them coming back. That’s how and where I learned the value of customer service.
That’s also where I learned how to clean, and the value of keeping spaces clean. Being the youngest worker at the store the cleaning jobs usually fell to me, and by the time I graduated from high school I had 8 years of experience keeping that store clean.
I spent 13 years after high school chasing my dreams as a professional musician, but one day I married a lady with two little girls, and it was time for a career change. I had more experience cleaning than anything else (besides music), so in August of 1981 I founded Supermaids, Incorporated and focused on residential house cleaning, which was a new industry at the time. I realized that most people wanted to live in a home like the one I was raised in, but didn’t have time to keep it clean themselves. Thirty-six years later much has changed, but the basic need that Supermaids fulfills remains the same as it was when we started. I have always applied the same Golden Rule customer service principles that I learned in our family store, and I believe that is why we have survived, despite our competition from national chains and franchises, just like my family store did years ago.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, unfortunately it has not been a smooth road. When we started, our basic 3 man-hours of cleaning was $30. Now, that same 3 man-hours is $97.00, thanks mostly to taxes and government. Learning how to make ends meet has been an unceasing challenge, trying to figure out what we can offer the customers as well as our workers, and still have enough to survive.
Getting competent, qualified employees is a challenge for any business, but for a service business like us, it is even more so, and has only gotten harder through the years. We have always insisted that applicants be English-speaking US citizens with clean records. That seems to be a tall order these days, and the education level of the average applicant has plummeted dramatically since 1981. It has made finding good employees harder and harder, but fortunately there are still those excellent candidates out there. One just has to interview more and more people to find a keeper. Currently, we have employees that have been with us from 3 years to 17 years, and we feel blessed to have them.
Doing business in the social media age has definitely changed everything, Nowadays, businesses live and die by online reviews, and unfortunately anyone can post anything about any business, and the unsuspecting public has no way of knowing if its valid, and often don’t go past the low-star review. A disgruntled employee, or an unreasonable customer can do much harm to a company’s reputation online, and thus its income. This situation makes it seem as if we’re doing business with the sword of Damocles over our company’s head. The only workable solution to this problem we have ever found is to create 10 or 20 satisfied customers for every dissatisfied one, and hope the public takes that into account.
Finally, anyone who has ever tried to service the public in any capacity knows that a certain percentage of people are irrational. That didn’t start with Supermaids, but it is definitely a factor we must contend with. We just never lose sight of how fortunate and blessed we have been and are still, and that we reap what we sew.
Please tell us about Supermaids, Inc.
We specialize in residential house cleaning, carpet cleaning, and move-in/move-out cleaning for residences.
We offer occasional or one-time service, as well as regular standing appointments if that’s what the customer needs. Our rates are based on time, that is, on man-hours of cleaning performed. We have a standard routine, but in the end, it is the customer who is in charge while we’re in their home. They can make their own list of duties, or give verbal instructions if they want to. We are there to please them.
We are known for our longevity as a company. We’re completing our 36th year in business August 1, and that makes Supermaids older than many of our clients, and we have cleaned over a million homes.
We are very proud of our A+ rating with the Dallas Better Business Bureau. We take pride in our Golden Rule customer service, and how we have adhered to it over the years, even when we knew we were being taken advantage of. Treating customers as we would want to be treated is more important to us than money. We would rather lose a customer’s business, than their goodwill.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
One of the members of our church owned a lot with a cabin on it at the Bowie lake. Every July 4th the entire congregation would meet there about 5 am and cook breakfast together and play games, swim, etc. until about noon. I loved those sunrise breakfasts, and still remember how I looked forward to them!
Pricing:
- Our standard rate is $30/man-hr of cleaning, plus a $15 trip charge and the sales tax.
- We have a 2 man-hour minimum.
- We offer a $25 discount on the first cleaning if it is at least 4 man-hours
- We drop the rate to $25/man-hour after the first visit if a customer sets regular weekly or bi-weekly service (and keeps to the schedule)
- We clean carpets with our Rug Doctor machine, at $30/room for the first 3 rooms, then $25/room after that. A room is 250 sq ft. Larger rooms are pro-rated, and stairs are 2.50 each. Closets and halls are pro-rated.
Contact Info:
- Address: 909 Custer Rd
Richardson, Tx 75080 - Website: www.supermaidsinc.com
- Phone: 972-644-6469
- Email: supermaidscom@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/supermaidstx/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/supermaids-and-carpet-care-richardson-6
- Other: https://www.bbb.org/dallas/business-reviews/maids-and-butlers-service/supermaids-inc-and-carpet-care-in-richardson-tx-4154
Image Credit:
Guy Houston
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