by Maggie Mitchell

fter my last interview in April with Ram Shahar, the young CEO of NY Brite, my small family entered a sixmonth debate over saying good bye to our cleaning lady and contracting the ‘Brites. On the one hand, our cleaning lady was charging $75 for three hours, as opposed to NY Brite’s $85, (after their discounted price for long-term customers). On the other hand, our cleaning lady wasn’t cleaning any more.

Her first day on the job, our cleaning lady stormed in, eager to leave a good impression. After her first visit, the house looked so sparkly, my husband mumbled an apology when he came home and checked his key, convinced he’d walked into someone else’s place.

Soon, our cleaning lady started lowering her standards: Came in ten minutes late, left a few minutes early. Then she demanded a raise – but never on the books, it was all coming out of cash. And she wasn’t insured – anything that might have happened, we could really be screwed.

Then she informed us she landed a bigger customer and we were now her lower priority, schedule-wise—take it or leave it. So, what was I going to do, start looking for a new cleaning lady? I acquiesced and accepted getting her at the oddest hours. Meanwhile, the quality of her work continued to deteriorate, until one day I realized she’d walked in, we paid her the cash, but our apartment was as dirty as before.

So my family has finally come around, realizing you get what you pay for. NY Brite sent in an estimator, at a time convenient for us, and she listened patiently and reassuringly to all our cleaning needs (we’re pigs, honestly, I won’t deny it). The estimate she gave us made sense – a few bucks more than what we’d been paying but we can claim part of it on our taxes, and no matter what happens, the worker is insured.

Most importantly, we get a professional whose quality doesn’t wane, and should it wane we will pick up the phone and complain to his/her supervisor. Try doing that with your cleaning lady.

Our apartment is clean again, really clean, honest-to-goodness, check the crevices and finger-test the surfaces clean!

NY Brite, founded some 20 years ago, has been down here for just under 18 months now, and their clients include some major houses of worship: East Side Torah Center, Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue, and the 16th Street Synagogue. Oh, and they also do the Kabbalah Center. Turns out NY Brite also adheres to a higher authority…

I have a heavenly-clean apartment to prove it.

NY Brite, 509 Grand Street (near East Broadway), 800.682.7483, nybrite.com