By Margaret Mitchell

or the past twenty years, NY Brite has been known as one of the better professional cleaning services in NY City. Hired only ten months ago, CEO Ram Shahar, 44, touts with great enthusiasm his company’s ideal of running an environmentally and socially responsible operation.

"NY Brite believes that giving back to society is the responsible way to do business," he wrote me in a recent email. "We decided to donate to the Visiting Nurses Service of NY 5% of our annual profits. Their mission is to promote the health and well-being of patients and families by providing high-quality, cost-effective healthcare in the home and community."

Located on the Lower East Side, with its high number of elderly residents, it made sense to NY Brite’s owners to support an organization that enhances elderly independence as well as their well being. Think about it: Clean homes and care for the old are both components of our quality of life. As they deepen their inroads here, NY Brite plans to increase their charitable work in the community.

According to Shahar, his company entered the green cleaning area a year ago. Customers can choose between "regular" and "green" cleaning, for the same cost, except the environmentally friendly cleaning detergents are a bit costlier.

But green cleaning is more than using non-toxic cleaning supplies. "Our workers are trained to think Green," says Shahar. "We don’t waste water. We don’t waste electricity. We reuse plastic bags. We skimp on paper towels, opting always for rugs or old newspapers for cleaning windows and mirrors. For particularly stubborn stains, we boil a little bit of water, pour it on, let the detergent do its magic and then clean. Our workers are in a green state of mind."

How does his service compare to the average cleaning lady?

"We may cost a little more, but in terms of depth we can offer more," Shahar states. "We can provide two or three people to do a job. Today I have two teams out, one of eight workers, one of ten, doing post-construction cleanup. And we conduct supervision, free of charge. We send our supervisors out on a daily basis to check the quality of our workers in the customer’s house. Let’s say we have contracted a four-hour job, and on the third hour the supervisor checks the list of tasks to be completed, and those which need redoing, and if it turns out the worker needs to stay an additional half hour to finish the job – it’s on us."

Unlike the average cleaning lady, they are bonded and insured. "If your cleaning lady breaks a $1500 vase, you can’t recover the cost. With us you can." Finally, NY Brite’s jobs are on the books, which means you may be able to claim it on your taxes, especially if you run a home-based business.

So, how do the two options compare on the bottom line?

NY Brite’s per worker charge is $100.00 minimum, which covers the first 3-hours of work ($25.00 for each additional hour). The average cleaning lady charges between 15 and 20 dollars an hour. That brings her top cost to only $60.

However, New York Brite offers a five dollars discount per appointment on a bimonthly basis, and $10 off on a weekly arrangement. That would bring their charge for three hours to $90 (tipping is optional).

So, if cost is your only consideration for normal house cleaning, the regular cleaning lady is your obvious choice. But if you consider other components, such as legality, worker accident insurance, property damages, as well as the convenience of being able to expand the service whenever needed, and adjusting the time commitment, the professional service offers a significantly better deal. Also, while your cleaning lady may be forced to cancel an appointment for personal reasons, the service is better able to guarantee your appointment.

"Compared with other New York area cleaning services, we are not the cheapest – we are in a good place in the middle," Shahar chuckles. Then he adds: "We offer live customer service six days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., accompanying the job from beginning to end. Our responsiveness and flexibility are very good. Let’s say you scheduled a job and an emergency comes up and you can’t have anyone coming in – you pick up the phone and let us know, even in the middle of the night. You can rest assured that the next morning no one would be knocking on your door."

With Passover, Easter, and Spring cleaning around the corner, NY Brite’s capacity for tailor-made services will come in handy.

"We will air out your books, clean all your Passover dishes – but you will have to instruct us on your particular requirements in terms of religious law – polish your brass and silver, thoroughly clean out your refrigerator and your oven, clean and paper your cabinet shelves, and launder and iron all your linen." Their price has no hidden components, Shahar contends. They charge by the time. For heavy duty cleaning, post-construction clean-up, move-in cleaning, and special services—cleaning supplies and equipment included—the rate is $275.00 per worker for a full day (eight hours).

"We give free estimates without an obligation on your part," he says. "We’ll come at a convenient time to you; in most cases the estimator will give you a rough idea of the cost on the spot, and in 24 hours (unless the job is exceptionally complex), you will get a written proposal."

NY Brite, 509 Grand Street (near East Broadway), 800-682-7483, nybrite.com