Crystal Clear Cleaning: ‘More Like a Family’ Than a Small Business

BY ROXANA BOYD

Team lunches, stipends for gas, and a living wage set Crystal Clear Cleaning apart as an employer and housecleaning business in Orange County and the surrounding area.

As a certified living wage employer, the business prides itself on its relationship-oriented approach and family-like trust. Owner Jane Meadows regularly takes her two team members out to lunch to local restaurants like The Refectory Cafe, Fiesta Grill, and Weaver Street Market.

Reyna Arroyo-Martinez and Yerlin Vanesa Najera Alvarenga have been working with Jane Meadows for four years and two years, respectively. Arroyo-Martinez feels lucky that she kept her regular hours despite the pandemic. “In this company with Jane…I feel very happy. She is very nice,” she says.

Meadows started Crystal Clear Cleaning in 2000, and the business became a living wage employer about six years ago. Since then, it has attracted clients who appreciate the value of the living wage mission. She sees the Orange County Living Wage program as a way to invite the community to look at all forms of work as respectable, valuable, and honorable.

The Crystal Clear Cleaning team currently has room in their schedule to onboard two to three more clients. Meadows thinks this spring will bring a surge of requests for cleaning services, but she will need to hire more employees to keep up with the demand.

“It’s a balancing act between having enough help and having sufficient clients to keep that help employed,” she says. 

Prior to the pandemic, Crystal Clear Cleaning had twice as many clients and employees. In the past couple of years, loyal clients paused their appointments but continued to pay for services because they wanted the business to survive. 

When asked what makes Crystal Clear Cleaning unique, Meadows responds: “How much we care about each other. We operate more like a family than we do a small business.” 

“We clean your home as if it were our own home,” she says. “We touch everything in your home with love and respect.” Clients tell her that their house feels like new after their services.

The team brings everything they need to job sites, relying on elbow grease and scrubbing power instead of chemicals. “Our products are safe for our clients, their children, their pets, and us,” says Meadows. After an initial deep clean, they schedule regular clients every two weeks.

Mary Ann Bumbera has been a Crystal Clear Cleaning client since the fall. She heard about the business from a friend and says she would recommend them to anyone. “They do such a good job. They’re dependable, responsible, trustworthy,” she says.

For more information about Crystal Clear Cleaning or to get in touch with owner Jane Meadows, see this flyer.