Michelle, Ana Maria, Leonor, Cristina and Karina received the "Innovator" award on behalf of WAGES and Natural Home Cleaning.

Natural Home Cleaning and WAGES were thrilled to receive the 2010 “Innovator” award at the  Oakland Indies celebration.  Many thanks to CapitalOne Foundation and their  partners for recognizing our green housecleaning cooperative amongst the eight Oakland businesses and artists honored for positive social and environmental impact in Oakland.

Seventh Generation is featuring our WAGES housecleaning trainers Ivette and Teresa  in a series of “how-to” green cleaning videos on youtube.  Learn how to achieve professional results by following our simple technique tips.  Choose from videos on How to Clean Ovens, showers, stainless steel, windows and more.

While you’re on youtube, get to know the WAGES team better and learn about our innovative approach to bringing our clients a top-quality green housecleaning while creating healthy, dignified work for Latina immigrants.

Green and Clean uses the same top quality eco-friendly house cleaning technique as Natural Home Cleaning, with service to Walnut Creek, Orinda, Lafayette, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez and Concord. Check out Green and Clean at http://www.greenandcleanhousecleaning.com or call 925-497-3421 for your free estimate.

As a member of the WAGES network of eco-friendly housecleaning cooperatives, Natural Home Cleaning uses Seventh Generation non-toxic cleaning products. We are proud to partner with Seventh Generation in bringing the most effective, least toxic cleaning products to your home as part of our green housecleaning service. WAGES representatives are spending today at Seventh Generation headquarters in Vermont, testing products and exchanging ideas related to our shared social values. Read all about it at Seventh Generation’s blog site

Yesenia, Sara and Elida take to the Bay.

Along with our other social values, we build in plenty of convivencia, the enjoyment of good company, here at Natural Home Cleaning, as owners, workers, women and mothers.

Sometimes the hardest aspect of professional housecleaning work isn’t the cleaning itself, but the isolation of working alone in other people’s houses. Natural Home Cleaning sends cleaners in 2-person teams for our clients’ convenience (we get out faster!), and for the social support and security of each co-op member. Once a month, Natural Home Cleaning holds a full-membership business meeting to plan and evaluate together, to fulfill our goal of offering the best eco-friendly housecleaning service in the East Bay. Our meetings are always followed by a lively meal and plenty of time to enjoy each other’s company. And several times a year we get out of the office to relax and celebrate all our hard work together. Most recently, we took the Oakland-Alameda Ferry to San Francisco, to celebrate Mothers Day.

Veronica and Ana Maria, representing our cooperative at the Sacramento awards

Big news! Natural Home Cleaning is named Small Business of the Year for California’s 9th District by Senator Loni Hancock.  How did a Cleaning Service grab statewide attention?  …by combining a great eco-friendly service with the social goal of creating healthy, dignified work for Latina immigrants.  We hope our success inspires others.

We know that it can be nerve-wracking the first time you book a service to have strangers come clean your home.  Never fear!  Here are the most common questions we hear from first-timers, and some tips to get the most out of your cleaning service:

First, the estimate request: Your initial contact with Natural Home Cleaning will be either by phone or through our web-form, to get an estimate request.  Sending a web-form will expedite the process, but we’ll still have to talk to you by phone to go over all the details, give you your quote and then set an appointment.

We’ll collect all the necessary information from you and explain how our service works.  You can decide whether you want to request optional services like oven or fridge clean-out or linen changes.  If there is a specific day you need for your service, let us know right away,  so we can check our calendar first thing.

Our cleaning crews are all co-owners of the business, and very committed to our long-term success.  This is a huge difference from other cleaning services.  Our worker retention rate is ten times the industry standard!!  That’s because our workers are owners who know they can earn a dignified income with benefits.  And since we don’t use the industry-standard toxic cleaning products, our worker-owners know they don’t have to trade their own health in order to support their families.

Your initial appointment will be a deep clean.  We bring all of our eco-friendly products and tools, including top-rated Miele vacuums with HEPA filters.  First thing, your crew will do a quick walk-through of your house to check their written estimate.  If they have any questions about the estimate or service you requested, they will call us at the office, and we’ll call you.  Our cleaning crews are all first-language Spanish speakers, and so our office is specifically designed to provide bilingual phone support to you and your cleaning crew.    Our goal is that language never create a barrier to feeling comfortable with your crew or getting your home cleaned just the way you want it.

Because we are using eco-friendly cleaning products which won’t eat through dirt like chemical solvents, we will often leave one surface to soak while we clean another. This means that while our two-person-crew is at your house (usually 3 to 5 hours for a first-time clean), they will take up the kitchen and bathrooms for almost the entire time.  Most clients choose to leave the house once they’ve met the crew and showed them the house.  Others stay and work in a home office.

Either way, our plan is to leave your house fresh and eco-clean from top to bottom.  After your initial service, we always like to talk to you to get your feedback and set up a regular cleaning rotation every 1-, 2- or 4-weeks. if you want to continue with a regular maintenance cleaning service.  Regular clients can choose their day of service, and give a window of flexibility for entry that will be most convenient.  Your initial cleaning crew will continue as your regular crew.  The majority of regular clients put a key on file with us, and set up appointments for when they are out of the house.  We can set up an automatic credit card payment if you’d prefer that to leaving a check for every service.

Natural Home Cleaning is bonded and insured, and deeply committed to making this world a better, cleaner and healthier place for both our clients and our worker-owners.

Thank you for considering using Natural Home Cleaning.  We serve the East Bay from Richmond to Fremont.  Our office is staffed from 7am to 5pm Monday through Friday and 9:30-2:30 on Saturdays.  We pride ourselves on being not only professional but just plain nice, so go ahead and give us a call at 510-532-6645.