A Clean Success
By Chattanooga Magazine Staff

Doing business in Chattanooga, or anywhere, is easier when someone else is taking care of the housecleaning chores. Molly Maid has been providing top-notch housecleaning services for the residents of Chattanooga for the past two years, and its young president hopes to keep that trend going for a long time to come.

Ashley Doherty began work as the president of Chattanooga's Molly Maid branch in the summer of 2007. Originally from Franklin, Tennessee, Doherty studied at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and graduated with a business marketing degree. Doherty, 26, says she did her stint in a "real" career after graduation, but something was missing.

"I thought, you know, I really do like the small business, and I think Chattanooga could use it," she says. "My house could use it."

Molly Maid is a national housecleaning service franchise. The Molly Maid franchises in middle and east Tennessee are owned by Doherty's family, most of whom live in middle Tennessee. The family had been planning to open a branch in Hamilton County, and when Doherty expressed that she missed the atmosphere of the small family business, the family decided to go ahead with their plans and make Doherty the president.

The Chattanooga area Molly Maid is located in the Eastgate Shopping Center, next to the YMCA. From this base, Doherty, the office manager, and four teams of two people each serve about 200 area clients.

The original Molly Maid began in 1979 in Canada as a small but professional housecleaning service. Since then, it has grown and is internationally recognized. When Doherty's mother and uncle were looking for a franchise to own, they decided on Molly Maid. Their first branch opened in Franklin in 1992.

"Being 16 years into it, they were on the forefront of Molly Maid and a lot of the things they do," Doherty says, adding that her family's businesses helped formulate the development of many of Molly Maid's modern practices and programs.
Though this newest branch is only two years old, Doherty is surprised at how quickly it has changed.

"Even as early as two years ago we were still using pagers instead of cell phones," she says. "When we opened we weren't using green products. Now we're using green products." Being "green" is one of Molly Maid's commitments, and it's a concern of many prospective clients.

"That's the first question: Are you green? Yes." She says. "We recycle. We use all of the same product bottles over and over, recycle all our rags, and except for the restrooms, we don't use paper towels or anything that gets thrown away."

Chattanooga's Molly Maid has won the Seal of Satisfaction two years in a row, and it's obvious that clients appreciate the thorough job that the teams do. Part of that thorough job includes customizing the cleaning service to meet the needs of each individual home, a process that Molly Maid terms its "Pink Glove Treatment." Employees go through weeks of training, during which they learn the Molly Maid way: top to bottom, left to right around the room.

Most clients have their homes cleaned on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. Sometimes, especially during the holiday seasons, clients will hire Molly Maid for a one-time emergency clean to get the house sparkling before big events like parties or family visits.
Many clients are senior citizens who physically can't clean their homes and need the assistance. Other clients are dual-career households that simply don't have the extra time after working all day and coming home to take care of the kids and run errands.

"We like to think that by us taking care of that stuff, you have more time to spend with your family," Doherty says. "If you're spending Saturday and Sunday cleaning, that's not a very good end to your five-day work week."

Doherty often gets together with her teams to talk about how they can do better. They discuss the little extra things they do for the clients, like changing the dog's water or leaving notes.

"We're constantly trying to improve our system, whether it means getting new products, new vacuum cleaners, or working on our maintenance," Doherty says. "We're always talking about what we can do to improve." The teams form a connection with their clients, and the same team usually cleans the same homes regularly. Molly Maid is also very pet friendly, and the teams know many of the household pets by name. 

Doherty says the economy hasn't hit Molly Maid as hard as it has hit other companies. Her branch is on an upward swing, and she is even more confident as she sees the economy improving.

"I think people are a lot more careful with their money," she says, adding that some clients will have Molly Maid clean certain floors or certain rooms on a regular basis, rather than the whole house. "Ideally we want to come in and clean your whole house because that's how we like to do things, but if it's not what you need and it's not what you can afford, we can definitely work with you."

Besides giving clients a thorough cleaning, Molly Maid also works to improve the community. The Ms. Molly Drive, part of the Ms. Molly Foundation, raises awareness for domestic violence. Last year, Chattanooga's Molly Maid partnered with the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults to raise funds. Many Molly Maid clients donated items or money, and during October, Molly Maid donated a dollar per cleaning to go toward raising awareness. Doherty says her branch will also donate ten cents per cleaning throughout the year. All the funds that Chattanooga's Molly Maid raises stay in Chattanooga.

"If you don't have money you can donate your time, and if you don't have time you can donate your stuff," Doherty says. "Everybody giving of something of themselves will make the community a little bit better."

Doherty says she has big dreams for the future. She hopes to make next year's Ms. Molly Drive even bigger, perhaps with an online auction. Doherty says she wants her company to clean more houses, make more people happy, and continue its success.

"We're here to be a part of Chattanooga for 25, 30, 40 years if I have anything to say about it," Doherty says.