Keeping your house clean, especially if it’s a busy one, is a full time job, particularly in Bermuda. Our climate is a magnet for mould, mildew, ants, cockroaches and rodents if you have left even the smallest crumb on the floor, speck of dust on a surface, or an area was damper than you realised.
Allen Ferreira is The General Manager and co-owner of Atlantic Cleaning and Maintenance, a one-stop-shop for all cleaning services and an award-winning company he founded with his brother, Ellison, and father John, in 2009. Together, they have decades of cleaning experience.
In addition to the regular cleaning of homes and offices, their team of around 50 staff have worked at the hospital, tackled post-construction clean-ups, mould decontamination, post-hurricane flooding and they can even clean-up crime scenes. They also do steam-cleaning, window cleaning and power-washing. He talked us through the different cleaning services available to help keep your house spick and span.
HOUSEKEEPING SERVICES
For routine housekeeping, their cleaners can be hired as frequently, or infrequently, as you need. For example, weekly, bi-weekly or just once a month, and rates start at around $38 per hour, dependent on location. This may be a premium on hiring individual cleaners directly, but Mr. Ferreira explained that they always provide an alternative cleaner when staff members are away, and they are insured. If one of their cleaners breaks something, Atlantic will pay for it. Also, you don’t have to sign a contract.
There are two options for their housekeeping services. The homeowner can supply their own cleaning products and equipment or Atlantic can provide it all. The latter, however, will be added to the cost.
“I do a site visit, I speak to the clients and I get to understand what they’re looking for. From there we work on a schedule and what the plan of action is,” said Mr. Ferreira.
If you want the cleaner to bring their own equipment and supplies, they will adhere to your product preferences: “When it comes to the chemicals, it depends on what the client’s looking for. If they want an organic touch to it, or if they just want regular cleaning products,” he said.
For wooden floors, for example, a client might want the Boma cleaning system instead of regular mopping, “for that nice wood finish”.
If clients need help finding the right cleaning products, Mr. Ferreira has a list of recommended items and directs them to D.E. Mortimer on Harvey Road, Paget: “I’ve worked with them for years,” he said. He also advised against cordless vacuum cleaners: “I don’t trust those batteries. For longevity, you’re better off with cords,” he said.
To make cleaning more efficient and to help prevent mould, he also recommended washing the cleaning cloths regularly, ensuring enough air flow throughout the house by opening windows, arranging for air-conditioning units to be deep cleaned by a professional once or twice a year, washing dishes daily, and using pest control measures around the outside of the house.
Even if you have a regular cleaner, Mr. Ferreira recommended paying for an occasional deep clean: “It’s good to get a team, once a year, to go into your house, clean your windows inside and out, clean your ceiling fixtures, move furniture out to clean behind the furniture, because there’s only so much someone can do for three to four hours.”
MOULD REMEDIATION
Should you get a build-up of mould in your home, this would require a “mould remediation technician” and the amount of work involved will depend on how bad the mould has become:
“It can be just a slight wiping of the surface with a mould decontaminate or it can be construction work, where you have to put air scrubbers and commercial dehumidifiers in place,” he explained. An example of the latter would be if the mould has got underneath the floor: “You have to rip up the floors, treat the mould underneath, put new floor down. That’s where we have to get an indoor air quality specialist to come in to test before the project takes place, and after the project takes place.”
Mould isn’t always obvious, but warning signs include the smell or, he added, “if you find that something’s off with yourself. You’re getting rashes and you don’t know why.”
Mould can be treated with regular or plant-based decontaminants. The latter is, he said, “a bit more expensive,” but is recommended if there are children or pets in the home.
POST CONSTRUCTION CLEANING
Anyone who has had construction work done on their home will be familiar with the very fine dust particles that linger for weeks, even after the work has finished and you have cleaned the house from top to bottom. Doing a post-construction clean-up, said Mr. Ferreira, is actually a three-step process:
“We’ll clean it and the next day you’ll still find that little fine dust so it’s best to do it in stages. You clean, the movers come in. You then clean again, and then once the person’s finally in, you go clean again.”
STEAM CLEANING
For rugs, curtains, sofas and other furniture that can’t be easily washed, steam-cleaning is an excellent way to launder them. Smaller items can be dropped off at their Pembroke office or, for a similar price, Atlantic will send someone to your house, with all the equipment.
FLOOD CLEAN-UPS
Some of the most difficult cleaning jobs Mr. Ferreira has ever dealt with have been as a result of hurricane-related flooding, especially basements, which he described as “mould central,” adding, “dehumidifiers need to be put in place, air blowers need to be put in place. We have to make sure there’s sufficient air flow.”
Flooding may also require immediate action: “If someone calls me – ‘I have my elderly parents, I have a baby and it’s flooded’ and your heart goes out to that person. If no one can do it right now, I will grab the truck and go out and do it myself.”
For more information visit atlanticcleaning.bm or call 236-4051
