Minding Your Business- Summers Cleaning

For nearly four decades, Summers Cleaning has been a familiar name in Chatham and throughout the Lower Cape. What began as a small family cleaning business in 1988 has grown into a full-service operation offering everything from residential and commercial cleaning to property maintenance and event construction services. Today, Sean Summers and Max Jacobs are helping lead the family business into its next chapter, expanding its services while remaining committed to the personal relationships that have helped build its reputation.

“My mom and dad, Rose and Sean, put their heads together and kind of started this,” Summers said. “They had a few houses they were cleaning and taking care of, and from there it kind of just slowly grew.”

After returning from California around 2018, Summers stepped into a larger role as his father began stepping back from the business. Summers also holds a Massachusetts builder’s license, allowing the company to take on increasingly substantial construction and renovation projects, including decks, window replacements, siding and larger building projects. Working alongside Jacobs, who brings a background in hospitality and customer service, the two have continued to expand the company’s reach to offer countless services in the area.

“We’re operating from the bridge to Ptown, seven days a week,” Summers said. “We have keys to over 1,000 houses, and we’re doing construction cleaning, property maintenance, house checks, residential cleaning, spring cleaning and window washing.”

For Jacobs, the company’s evolution represents an important shift in how customers view Summers Cleaning. He explained that many customers are second or third homeowners who depend on the company to care for their homes and while they are away.

“Customers now know that we’ve built up such a rapport with them that they are able to get what they need from us and have peace of mind if they’re not on the Cape year-round,” Jacobs said.

Despite the company’s growth through the years, Summers emphasized that the company’s services aren’t just reserved for owners of large or expensive homes.

“There’s sometimes a perception that only these seven-bedroom houses on Shore Road can get a cleaning or get a service,” he said. “Buit we really strive to offer fairness and reliability for everyone in town.”

Whether someone needs a one-time cleaning, regular maintenance or last-minute assistance, Summers said the team prides itself on being responsive.

“We hate saying no,” Summers said. “We have a lot of resources to say yes to requests.”

That flexibility proved especially valuable during an exceptionally busy summer. With rental turnovers at an all-time high, the team at Summers Cleaning worked tirelessly to provide top notch service to their clients.

“We worked every day this summer. I don’t think we were closed,” Summers said. “We worked on July 4 for the first time, which is normally a day we were closed, but we had so many rental turnovers. I was really proud of the team that day. We ended up having a great day and got everything done on time.”

Depending on the season, Summers Cleaning employs between 15 and 30 people, supplementing its workforce during the busiest months. The company also handles local rental turnovers exclusively for Kinlin Grover in addition to its regular residential and commercial customers.

But for Jacobs, who works closely with customers, the company’s greatest strength remains its unmatched personal approach.“We have a lot of face time with our customers,” he said. “Generally what we would do in the summertime is drive by, if we know customers are home, just to go and say hi, drop off a bunch of flowers because we know it’s their birthday.”

That attention to detail extends to understanding each customer’s individual preferences.

“I know when a customer calls that I know what they like. And I know what they don’t like,” Jacobs said. “We build our profiles around what they want, so all of our team members know exactly what needs to happen in the house like who has a dog, who needs the floor done with vinegar, that kind of thing.”

Summers credits Jacobs with maintaining much of that personal knowledge, joking that he probably even knows when a particular customer has a yoga class and shouldn’t be disturbed.

As the business continues to grow, both Summers and Jacobs remain focused on preserving the family-owned atmosphere that has defined Summers Cleaning since its beginning.

“We have a vision for the company, and it’s definitely going in that direction,” Jacobs said. “We’re very happy about that.”

For Summers the greatest reward is being part of the community his family has served for generations.

“It gives us a front-row seat to Chatham and our surrounding towns, Orleans and Harwich,” he said. “I like being a part of a local, truly family service. No private equity anywhere near here or coming anywhere near here anytime soon. We like helping people protect their investments, protect their houses, and we like caring for people. That’s what makes us happy at the end of the day.”

Details:

Summers Cleaning and Property Maintenance

2435 Main St., South Chatham

508-430-0340

capecleaning.com