Why I Started Tend
A note from Brenna
Hi, I'm Brenna. I built Tend because I couldn't find it, and then I needed it.
For years my family used the same cleaning company. They'd been coming to our home for most of my life, and I trusted them without really thinking about it.
Then my cat, Jax, got seriously ill from the residue they left on our floors. He walked across the floor and then cleaned his paws, the way every cat does. He needed IV fluids. He recovered, but I didn't get over it.
I started reading labels. I bought safer products and asked the company to use mine instead.
They said no. They told me what I'd brought wasn't "real chemicals," and wouldn't work.
That was the end of them entering my home.
So I learned to do it myself.
Around the same time, I was paying closer attention to my own health. I realized the stress of everyday life was never going to let up, and everywhere I turned there was more noise about toxins I had no control over. The one place I could take back some sense of safety and control was my own home. That meant auditing everything that came into it, and everyone who came through the door.
So I cleaned my own house, for years. I learned the products, the surfaces, and the dilutions. I learned which cleaners need time to sit and which surfaces can't take an acid. I built a protocol: color-coded cloths that never cross between rooms, a set order for every space, and nothing in my home I couldn't name.
It became something I knew properly, the way you end up knowing anything you've had to figure out alone.
And then I couldn't do it all myself.
When I needed help at home, I went looking for someone who would clean the way I'd been cleaning. My products, my protocol, someone I could hand it to.
There was nobody. Plenty of companies used the word "green," but when I asked what was actually in the bottle, the answers got vague. Others ran one cloth and one spray bottle through a whole house, bathroom to kitchen.
So the question became: if not me, then who?
I'd already spent years learning it because nobody would do it for me. So I built it.
What that means in practice
Everything we use is fragrance-free: Branch Basics, Branch Basics Oxygen Boost, Briotech hypochlorous acid, 3% hydrogen peroxide, food-grade citric acid, and baking soda. No bleach. No ammonia. No quats. No synthetic fragrance. Ask, and I'll send you the full ingredient list for everything in our kit.
Nothing crosses between rooms. Color-coded microfiber: pink for bathrooms, green for the kitchen, white for living areas and bedrooms, blue for glass. Every home gets a fresh set, laundered in fragrance-free powder.
HEPA-filtered vacuuming that captures fine dust instead of pushing it back into the room.
We take the time it takes. Our products work by sitting on a surface, so our visits run longer than a conventional clean. On purpose.
The person in your home is a real employee. Every cleaner at Tend is W-2, background checked, insured, covered by workers' compensation, and paid for their training from the first hour.
Who this is for
People who read the labels. Families with kids who spend their days on the floor. Pet owners whose animals groom whatever they walk through. Anyone who wants to know exactly what's being used in their home.
I'd rather look after a handful of homes properly, for years, than move through as many as I can fit in a day. If that's the kind of care you're looking for, I'd love to help.
Warmly,
Brenna