The Maids Of Central Maryland Creates Clean Homes And Improves Lives

Wayne Phillips graduated from the University of Maryland College Park with a degree in agricultural economics that landed him a job at Perdue Farms in Salisbury. For 19 years, Phillips worked his way into various roles at the company, but he decided to pursue new opportunities outside his chosen field.

Phillips wanted to go into business for himself, so he began searching for an industry that would fit his skills and passions. “Through a pretty long search — looking at very many different things — this came up,” Phillips said of the Maids franchise that he currently owns.

The owners at the time were preparing for retirement, and Phillips didn’t waste any time in acquiring the “opportune” franchise. “They were looking to sell and I was looking to get into something, so I did!” Phillips explained, reminiscing on the purchase he made 15 years ago. “It worked for them and it worked for us.”

Overall, the franchise has been going strong for 25 years, mostly because of its commitment to excellence. “We’re not going to be the cheapest in town, but there are discerning customers that demand the best and that is the role that we fill,” Phillips said.

This excellence is a product of a detailed cleaning system that each maid adheres to. The system requires four maids to complete four separate functions. One maid handles bathrooms, another handles the kitchen, and the remaining two handing dusting and vacuuming separately. “We train them on how to do it, they follow those steps and that results in an excellently cleaned house,” Phillips said.

It is that cleaning system that leads to long-term customers – which Phillips appreciates greatly – but, as he remarked, The Maids is always happy to display that system in any home at any frequency.

“We are very delighted to clean your house one time and one time only if that’s what you want,” Phillips said. “Any time that you need a cleaning service, whether it’s once or more than once, we’re absolutely delighted.”

Customer service is the backbone of the stellar services offered by The Maids. “It’s hard to overstate how important that is,” Phillips said. “You are in their home — their intimate private spaces. When they want to [speak with you], you have to be there.” But it isn’t just the personal space of customers that is treated with the utmost respect and care; pets are also a major point of focus. “That’s something that we take very seriously because we want the pet to be comfortable,” Phillips said. “If a customer says they have a dog, we immediately ask what the dog’s name is so that when the cleaning crew gets to the house they know the dog’s name and can take really good care to keep the pets as comfortable as possible.”

In fact, The Maids is so dedicated to customer service that the franchise went above and beyond to help a customer in her personal life.

One customer’s son, a boy affected by autism, seemed to fall in love with a company jacket during a cleaning session. It was hung on a banister and he began to touch and hug it, treating it almost as a safety blanket. Because the maids wear these jackets as a type of uniform, the jacket was taken at the end of the session and the boy was left without his newfound favorite article of clothing. The boy’s mother, sensing that the jacket soothed her son, called the franchise to purchase a jacket of her own. “She calls us and says, ‘For some reason, my son has fallen in love with this jacket. I have to have one,’” Phillips recalled.

So Bobbie Kleinsmith, operations manager at The Maids, made sure that the boy got the jacket he loved. She sent over a single jacket to the woman, and her son latched onto it just as he had before. “Because he does so much with it, it started to fall apart,” Kleinsmith said, “so she called and ask if there was any possible way that we could order her two.” Instead of placing an order, she gathered two more jackets and presented them to the woman for her to keep. “She was teary eyed,” Kleinsmith said. “She was very happy that we were able to do that.”

It’s moments like these that make Phillips proud to own and operate The Maids.

The Maids is located at 7170 E Furnace Branch Road in Glen Burnie. For more information, or to set an appointment, call 1-800-783-1938.