A large part of estate management consulting is advising on housekeeping matters. After all housekeeping is at the core of domesticity and has been since the beginning of time! When elevated into a professional setting with luxury finishes and fixtures, housekeeping becomes a critical component to luxury home management. It is often the housekeepers that are at the front lines of home management, as their job takes them in to every corner of the estate and they are often the first to notice details out of place, maintenance issues, or other items that need to be addressed. Luxury Lifestyle Logistics was asked to advice on this particular home with the cleaning closet in a very messy state. Before we can proceed with proper training and implementation of housekeeping procedures, it was important to organize the cleaning closet space and purge the unnecessary and harmful cleaning products.
In the photo series provided, you can see the process of what was accomplished. First, we had the staff empty the closet and worked with them to purge unnecessary cleaning products. A messy cleaning closet is unproductive and leads to mistakes and inefficiencies in the housekeeping department. When organizing a space, it is important to empty it out completely so that the space can be cleaned properly, and then the person implementing the organizational plan has room to make the improvements. (While not a professional organizing agency, much of the work we do is proper home organization so the real work of systematic home management can begin.)
After that was all accomplished the real work of the consulting process began, from advising the housekeepers on how to properly use the cleaning products and creating a policy and procedure manual for the housekeeping of the home, complete with step-by-step instructions for each zone and cleaning checklists for daily, weekly, monthly, and semi-annual cleaning. We advise on concepts such as facing shelves for aesthetics as well as inventory purposes and training on the "First In, First Out" method...meaning older products are used first and newer products are stocked from the back and rotated forward. These concepts are tried and true policies that save time and money, and professionalize the art of home management. After the particular aspects of the household's new housekeeping manual is in place, we complete it with a inventory and shopping list system to insure the new items are purchased going forward.
It is important to note that our strong professional preference is for non-toxic and simple cleaning agents such as vinegar and baking soda. These are much preferred over commercial cleaners, but in the photos above it was the homeowner's wish to continue to use what she was comfortable with so we implemented these products into the staff's routine, with careful training on how the chemical abrasive agents were to be safely used on fine finishes, if at all. Many commercial cleaners are not appropriate for fine furniture, even if they advertise otherwise. We detail all of our recommendations into a standard picture housekeeping manual with instructions to be used by current and future staff into every home we consult for. If a housekeeping manual with cleaning agent training is something your estate would benefit from, please contact Luxury Lifestyle Logistics to set up a complementary consultation.