Cleaning company run by, for Bruins

Class in the morning, cleaning an apartment at 3 p.m. followed
by research, then baby-sitting at 9 p.m. ““ all in the day of
Claudia Sandoval. For this Bruin and her colleagues at the KC&M
cleaning company, odd cleaning jobs are nothing new and are in fact
a part of her daily schedule.

Sandoval, a fourth-year political science student, and her
friend, Kency Cornejo, a fourth-year art history student, head
their own domestic cleaning service for UCLA students, which they
founded two months ago.

Though they also take non-student clients, they’ve been
mostly catering to Bruins who have never seen AJAX or who
haven’t touched a vacuum in months.

David Ha, a fourth-year psychobiology student, fits this profile
perfectly.

“We are all too lazy to clean and the mess doesn’t
really bother us,” Ha said, referring to himself and his
apartment-mates.

College students have no time and no desire to pick up after
themselves after a long day on campus, Sandoval and Cornejo
said.

Both of them said they know how to clean well because Sandoval
used to watch her mother clean houses and Cornejo is a
self-proclaimed neat freak.

“We get asked by clients how and where did we learn how to
clean like this,” Sandoval said, “but most of this is
just common sense.”

KC&M cleaning service was founded when Sandoval and Cornejo
were strapped for extra cash to cover the numerous expenses of
attending college. Living on a strict budget meant there was no
time to wait for the weekly or monthly paycheck, Sandoval said.

The need for fast cash is understandable and reasonable, but the
two students’ parents still question why Cornejo and Sandoval
had to take up domestic cleaning.

“My parents did it to prevent me from ever doing
this,” Sandoval explained.

They respond by arguing that the domestic cleaning of apartments
is economical in capital and flexible in time.

“Most of the supplies we use are from our own
apartments,” Cornejo said, “and if we do run out
““ they don’t cost much anyways.” The cost of the
supplies is then split between the two, just as the fees collected
are split.

In addition, running the service does not take a lot of time
““ Sandoval takes the calls, sets up the appointments, and
gives the client an estimate of the service.

Together Cornejo and Sandoval figure which week of the quarter
would be best for their already busy schedules.

Like baby-sitting, which Sandoval is also doing in her free
time, and tutoring, which Cornejo has just taken up, the KC&M
cleaning service fits in their schedules whenever and however many
times they want it to.

The students take their jobs seriously, they said, and when the
apartment is finished it is “eat-out of-the-tub clean,”
Cornejo said.

Cleaning one standard two bedroom, two bathroom apartment takes
a little over five hours and on average costs the client $100,
Sandoval said.

The two founders said that the service they provide is worth
every penny.

In a regular service trip, clients have their kitchens and
bathrooms entirely scrubbed with strong cleaners and blinds and
windows washed, on top of the standard vacuuming and mopping.

The service is a top-to-bottom seasonal cleaning which will
leave clients pleased and guests impressed, they said.

A stay-at-home dad who KC&M cleaning service cleaned for,
hired the company so that he could say to his working wife that he
cleaned and was deserving of hosting a poker tournament at their
apartment, Cornejo and Sandoval said.

But when the wife found out from the couple’s small
daughter, she was not impressed ““ the only negative remark
about the cleaning service.