Should Home Services Companies Wear Uniforms?

We asked the experts what they thought of home services companies wearing uniforms and it’s no surprise they have a consensus of opinion.

Read below for detail from home services company operators and industry insiders on why they think uniforms are important and how they manage the purchase and distribution of them.

1. Michael Barbera, Chief Behavioral Officer, Clicksuasion Labs

We recently completed consumer behavior research regarding service companies wearing uniforms and placing signs on customers’ lawns. Here’s what we found.

We tested a customer’s willingness to share their experience with a service provider under three conditions.

Condition #1

The service provider arrived at the customer’s property with a generic blue coveralls uniform without a company name.

Condition #2

The service provider arrived at the customer’s property with a generic blue coveralls uniform with a company name.

Condition #3

The service provider arrived at the property with a tie-dyed coveralls uniform. During the field experiment, customers were more likely to share their experience with the tie-dye service provider than customers in conditions #1 and #2.

Additionally, the customers in the tie-dyed group were significantly more likely to share a positive experience, and 67% of participants mentioned the uniform to a friend or neighbor; whereas, zero customers in the blue overall groups shared any information to their friends or neighbors regarding the uniforms.

We suggest wearing a uniform that is remarkable, memorable and differentiates your company from the competition.

What About Signage?

Additionally, we conducted an experiment to measure a customer’s willingness to rehire a service company when a sign is placed on their lawn. Bottom line up front: no.

The majority of customers in the study believed the service provider did not respect their lawn or their property by placing a sign on the lawn while the service provider was at their home. The significant constructs in this study are trust and respect. Customers want to trust their service providers at all times.

The majority of customers want to leave their service providers unsupervised in their homes but many don’t have the relationship of trust where they believe they are able to turn away from the service provider.

2. Mark Luongo, Owner and Project Manager, Luongo Electric

As a small business owner that offers house calls, we feel it is very important to ensure all our employees are identifiable and present themselves in a clean and professional manner.

Our service technicians are given hats and golf shirts, all displaying our company logo so that our clients know exactly who is knocking on their door. We have seen other companies that do not require service techs to wear a uniform and I believe this can lead to serious trouble. There is no guarantee that the clothes will be clean or appropriate for the client’s taste and the client has no idea if you actually are the person you claim to be.

When we are on heavier construction sites, we wear company t-shirts and all our hard hats have our company logo on them again. This helps everyone on site identify who we are and what we are doing on site.

3. Abe Navas, General Manager, Emily’s Maids

Our mission is to make families happier by creating clean, healthy home environments. We are always in uniform when working on any task inside or outside our offices.

We feel that a uniform gives the company a professional look. If you book a moving service for example, and a bunch of dudes in regular clothes and a truck with no company identification show up — you should feel like something is off, right?

A professional look is the most important thing for a cleaning service because first impressions are important. Messy clothes could reflect poorly on the quality of your service.

How We Do It

A freelancer creates a design for our logo, then a local company for the shirts. We use a shirt with our logo and an apron.

We put a big logo on our vans and always have some extra uniforms stored for new employees and to change out when old ones look subpar.

The best tip I can give on the design is to delegate colors and logos to a third party. Be frank— did you study logo design? Do you know anything about the theory of colors? Then pay a professional and give them your ideas. They will come up with something useful and attractive.

4. Marcos Franco, Owner of Mighty Clean Home

All home services companies should definitely have a uniform when they go to a client’s home or business. They say first impressions are the most important and when your technicians arrive at your customer’s home they will look professional and trustworthy. 

People are wary about letting strangers into their properties in the first place. Seeing a professional company show up definitely helps let their guard down. 

We shop for our uniforms online, look for the best pricing, and then buy a large quantity in every size. This always gives us the lowest cost per item though it is a higher upfront fee. 

If you own a really large service company there are many companies that lease, launder and repair uniforms. This is an option for those who want that kind of complete service experience from a merchant. 

Different Looks for Different Teams

For our carpet cleaners, our uniforms are a bit more professional than our maid service. It is usually a higher priced service and the more professional the better. It usually involves wrinkle-free flex pants and a collared polo shirt embroidered with our logo and name patch.

Our cleaning teams have embroidered t-shirts and lightweight either flex pants or scrub-style pants. This works better because the clothing is lighter, breathable, and gives the cleaners a great range of movement which they need to clean.

We do not charge our employees for their uniforms but do require them to return them if they leave.   

5. Nathan Ripley, Operator of Maid Just Right

One of the most important things businesses offering housecalls can do is instill trust with their clients. They do that by wearing professional attire that makes them stand out from any other person that may ring their doorbell. It’s also important that the uniform identifies the service providers with a business name or a brand logo.

Wearing uniforms conveys the message that the business is taking their jobs seriously and that they invested in their appearance and marketing.

The biggest mistake some businesses make is thinking that just because their staff don’t frequently interact with their clients, they shouldn’t appear professional.

Keep it Consistent

It’s important to determine a dress code that’s unified across your service, and that the attire always appears tidy and clean. Of course, the type and the appearance of the uniform will be determined by the exact service.

For example, our housekeeping cleaners look different from high school janitors, so they’ll wear tunics, slacks and aprons, and in some cases even dresses or polo shirts.

It’s best to buy uniforms in bulk, all at once. Buying on separate occasions may result in the new uniforms being slightly different.

Software for Home Services Businesses

Want to learn about how service business management software can help you grow your business? Book a free, private demo of Vonigo.