A few years ago, we had the opportunity to work on an incredible Mid-Century Modern (MCM) house in the Innis Arden neighborhood of Shoreline. The parents had donated the home to the University of Washington, and we collaborated with the family to clear it out so their realtor could put it on the market.
During our initial walk-through, we discussed our services with three siblings. Our plan was to sort through the items in the home, auction off the ones the family didn’t want, and clear out any unsold items afterward. I made it clear: "We get the house empty, but we do not clean it." Typically, the realtor arranges for the home to be deep cleaned and staged.
Over the years, I've developed a sort of intuition about people. As I left the consultation, I sensed that one family member would likely find fault with our services—and I wasn't mistaken.
We successfully sold the majority of the items the family didn’t want, leaving the home and garage empty. We broom-swept both spaces, and all services were covered by the proceeds from the sales, with a refund returned to the client.
A week later, I received a call from that one family member. She was outraged after walking through the home with the realtor and discovering it wasn’t cleaned. She mentioned spending four hours preparing the house for photographs. I gently reminded her that we had clearly discussed our policy: we remove the contents but do not clean the home. She responded, "But you didn’t remove all the contents. I had to go around and empty staples and dust bunnies out of drawers."
"Are you serious? Staples in the drawers…"
She requested compensation for the four hours of cleaning at our hourly rate. It became clear that it wasn't about the money; she was intent on finding something to criticize.
During our time in the house, we had the doors open to let in fresh air, and one of my crew members encountered a hawk perched on the staircase railing. The hawk sat there for a moment, surveying the house, before flying away.
At the end of the day, I choose to remember that cool moment—not the client who was fixated on being right.