(708) 485-81001% Better Every Day
Sophia's Cleaning Service isn't the same company it was five years ago. Or even last year. Every improvement below came from real feedback, real mistakes, and a commitment to doing better today than we did yesterday.
Get Your Free QuoteWhere We Started
From Founder's Instinct to Modern Operations
For decades, Sophia Borek ran Sophia's Cleaning Service on relationships, hard work, and an instinct for how to take care of people's homes. She built something real. When leadership transitioned to the next generation, the heart of the business stayed the same, but the systems needed to catch up.
During that transition, some things slipped. Response times weren't fast enough. Communication was inconsistent. A few clients had experiences that didn't match the standard Sophia had set. Those moments were painful, and we own every one of them.
Instead of making excuses, we went to work. Over the past 24 months in particular, we've rebuilt how Sophia's Cleaning Service operates from the ground up, while keeping the values that made it worth saving in the first place. This page is the honest record of what changed, when it changed, and why.
When I took over the business after my mom passed, I didn't have her instincts. I had to learn the hard way what she knew by heart. Some clients paid the price for that, and I carry those lessons with me every day. Everything on this page exists because I decided that the best way to honor what she built was to make it better than she ever imagined it could be.
The Timeline
What Improved and When
Each improvement below was a direct response to something that wasn't working well enough. Not a marketing initiative. A fix.
We replaced informal hiring with a multi-stage vetting process: multiple in-person interviews, hands-on training, and test cleanings at our own homes before anyone enters a client's home. Every team member is now background-checked, licensed, bonded, and insured with full workers' compensation coverage. This was the foundation everything else built on. See the full vetting process.
We brought on Laura to run all client-facing communication through a dedicated office operation. No more relying on one person's cell phone. Every call, email, and message gets a same-day response. Laura also manages the scheduling system so nothing falls through the cracks. This single change addressed the most common complaint in our history: unreturned calls.
We implemented Jobber as our scheduling and client management system. Every client now has access to a client portal where they can view upcoming cleanings, request changes, pay invoices, add tips, and contact our team 24/7. Scheduling moved from manual coordination to a real system with built-in accountability.
We moved from cash and checks to fully digital payments through the client portal. Credit card, ACH autopay, and tipping are all available online. All taxes are included in every quoted price with no additional credit card surcharges. Any deposit to reserve your spot on a cleaning team's schedule is fully refundable. For most clients, paying for their cleaning now takes about 10 seconds.
We formalized our team matching system: every recurring client gets the same cleaner or team assigned to their home, matched based on home size, preferences, and needs. We also tripled our team capacity over 12 months, which means we rarely have to reschedule and always have emergency backup crews available same day. That extra capacity also allows us to accommodate last-minute scheduling, with same-day or next-day service available in many cases.
We moved to flat-rate pricing based on decades of data from homes across Chicago's western suburbs. Every quote includes a room-by-room breakdown of what's included, not just a number. For homeowners watching their budget, we also introduced Priority List Cleaning: a custom plan Laura builds with you over a 5-minute phone call, focused on the rooms and tasks that matter most. Exclude guest bedrooms, basements, or specific tasks like baseboards and glass shower doors. Even homes over 2,500 square feet can save $20 to $100 per cleaning. You can always add a room or task back at any future visit via text, email, call, or your client portal. View our pricing options.
We published our 56-Point Professional Cleaning Checklist and made it the standard for every visit, every home. Baseboards, wall plates, light fixtures, under furniture edges, all the detail areas that separate a thorough clean from a surface pass. Nothing gets missed because nothing is left to memory. See the full checklist.
Every cleaning is now documented room by room with before, during, and after photos through CompanyCam. This creates a visual record of the starting condition and the finished result. It holds our teams accountable, gives our office real-time visibility, and means there's never a question about what was done.
Every client now gets an email reminder 3 days before their cleaning and a text reminder 24 hours before. On the day of, your team sends an on-my-way text when they're heading to your home. No surprises, no forgotten appointments, no wondering if someone is coming. See the full process.
After every cleaning, we call and text the same day to ask how everything went. Feedback goes directly into the client's file and shapes the next visit. This is what prevents quality fade. Your cleaner doesn't just follow a checklist. They learn your preferences and get better at your specific home over time.
Our leadership team earned IJCSA Master Green Cleaning Certification, the highest level available. This isn't a badge on a website. It means our team is formally trained in chemical hazards, indoor air quality, VOC reduction, and non-toxic cleaning methods. Green cleaning supplies are available upon request at no extra cost, and we do an allergy intake before every first clean. Learn about our green cleaning approach.
We're improving our AI-assisted scheduling to optimize team routing across 39 suburbs. We're building out dedicated location pages so every community we serve has localized, accurate information. And we're continuing to invest in our cleaners, the people who make everything on this page possible, through above-market pay, ongoing training, and a workplace where people stay for decades.
The Specifics
Before and After: What Changed in Practice
These aren't hypothetical improvements. Each one replaced a specific gap that cost us clients and trust.
I come from a military background, so when I joined Sophia's, I brought that same discipline to how we run operations. Now we operate like a well-oiled machine. Every follow-up call, every note in the client file, every photo we review, it all feeds back into how we train, how we schedule, and how we hold ourselves accountable. The goal is simple: delight our customers and make sure our cleaners earn a fair wage so they can support their families. When a client tells us something didn't meet the standard, that feedback hits the cleaner's next briefing before their next job. Nothing gets buried.
The Results
Where These Changes Have Taken Us
Numbers don't lie. The improvements above aren't just internal changes. They show up in every metric that matters.
About our older reviews. If you read through our earliest reviews on Yelp or Google, you'll find some that don't reflect who we are today. We take responsibility for every one of them. Each complaint pointed to a gap we've since closed, whether it was unreturned calls, inconsistent staffing, or cleanings that didn't meet the standard. Instead of deleting or hiding from that history, we've used it as the blueprint for everything on this page.
What It's Made Possible
Getting Better Didn't Just Fix Problems. It Opened Doors.
The improvements on this page weren't just about patching gaps. They changed what Sophia's Cleaning Service is capable of offering to our neighbors, our team, and our community.
A New Level of Service for Our Neighbors
Tripling our capacity means we can offer same-day and next-day availability that wasn't possible before. Families across 39 suburbs now have access to dedicated teams, green cleaning, and flat-rate pricing without a waitlist. The days of telling clients we're too busy to fit them in are behind us.
520+ Reviews and Accelerating
Our review velocity has grown faster in the past 24 months than in any period before it. That's not a marketing push. It's what happens when same-day follow-up, photo documentation, and a consistent team create experiences people want to talk about. 4.9 stars across Google, Yelp, BBB, and Nextdoor. A+ BBB with the 2025 Complaint Free Award.
More Local Jobs, Better Pay
Growing the business has meant creating real jobs in the western suburbs, not gig shifts through an app. Our cleaners earn 20% above market rates, receive 100% of their tips, and stay for years because this is a career, not a side hustle. Every new client we add helps us employ another neighbor.
Giving Back to Our Community
A portion of every cleaning goes to cancer research and local charities through our Cleaning for a Cause initiative, in honor of founder Sophia Borek. That includes St. Cletus Food Pantry, Brookfield Food Pantry, The Home 2 Home Project, UCP Seguin, and the Colon Cancer Alliance. More cleanings means more impact, and our growth over the past two years has made a real difference for these organizations.
Setting a New Standard for the Industry
Most cleaning companies in this market don't publish a checklist, don't document cleanings with photos, and don't follow up the same day. We do all three on every visit. IJCSA Master Green Certification, CompanyCam documentation, and a published 56-Point Checklist aren't industry norms. They're the standard we chose to hold ourselves to because our clients deserve to know exactly what they're getting.
More Service Options, Less Waiting
With tripled capacity, backup crews, and Priority List Cleaning for budget-conscious homeowners, we now offer the kind of flexibility that used to be impossible for a local company. Emergency cleanings. Same-day or next-day availability. Pre-sale preps on three days' notice. Holiday turnovers for Airbnb hosts. Custom cleaning plans built over a 5-minute phone call. Our systems scaled, and so did what we can say yes to.
When I learned about Sophia's story, how she cleaned houses herself for years before she ever hired her first employee, I understood what this business was built on. What Andre and Laura have done is take that same care she had for every client and put real structure behind it. Sophia ran on heart. Now we run on heart and systems. She would be proud of that.
The Principle
Why 1% Better Every Day Is a Core Value
Continuous improvement isn't a slogan we put on a wall. It's one of five core values that guide every decision at Sophia's Cleaning Service. The idea is simple: challenges and successes are both opportunities for growth. We're not trying to be perfect. We're trying to be measurably better this month than we were last month.
That shows up in how we respond to feedback. Every same-day follow-up call generates notes that go into your client file. If your cleaner missed something, it's addressed before the next visit. If you prefer a different product, it's logged permanently. If a process isn't working, we change it. The 56-Point Checklist, CompanyCam documentation, client portal, flat-rate pricing, and two-step reminders all started as responses to something that wasn't good enough.
Local accountability. Our owners and team all live in Chicago's western suburbs. If something comes up, we can stop by your home in person. We perform in-person quality checks as part of our continuous improvement process, because real oversight happens where it matters most: in your home, not behind a screen. No app or franchise can offer that.
Laura has been a driving force behind much of this work. She professionalized our onboarding process, built the communication systems that ensure same-day response, and holds our cleaning teams to the standards our clients expect. The quality of our team has gone up significantly since we formalized extensive training, IJCSA certifications for leadership, and hands-on quality reviews.
We know no company is perfect, and we'll never claim to be. But we are working hard across the board to improve our systems and experience for our cleaners and our clients. That's the commitment. One percent better, every single day.
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