With all the maid services out there, how do you choose the right one for your home? In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to consider when picking a house cleaning service.
1. Ask for Referrals
The best place to start when choosing a house cleaning service is to ask you friends, family, and neighbors for recommendations. Chances are, someone you know is already getting routine home cleanings or has used a maid service at some point in the past. These personal referrals are often more informative and more trustworthy than any online reviews.
2. Stick with a Professional Service
Yes, you could hire your neighbor’s teenager to clean your home. But will your home actually end up any cleaner than it started if you do that?
If you need a house cleaning service, you’ll get the most bang for your buck by hiring a professional team. Experienced house cleaners know what nooks and crannies typically collect dust, they work to consistent quality standards, and they can develop a personalized cleaning plan for your home.
The other thing that professional house cleaners bring is insurance. This might not sound like a big deal, but insurance protects you from liability if a housekeeper is injured while cleaning your home. Always make sure that any house cleaning service you hire is fully insured.
3. Be Clear about What You Want
When it comes to choosing a house cleaning service, you have options. It’s important to know what those options are and what priorities you have when it comes to cleaning.
For example, how often do you need cleaning? Some busy services may only have time to come to your home once per week or may require that you schedule service at least once per week. If you need cleaning more or less frequently, you’ll want to find maids that can match your schedule.
4. Check Availability
How often do you need cleaning? Some of the busier services may only have time to come to your home once per week. Some may not offer 1-time or occasional cleanings and require recurring services.
Additionally, you may only be able to fit maids into your schedule in the mornings, afternoons, or on weekends. It’s important that you choose a cleaning service that can honor the times that are best for you.
After all, cleaning services are there to make your life easier, not more stressful. So you’ll want to find a maid service that can accommodate your schedule and that won’t force you to have to constantly juggle your obligations to make sure you can be home when they’re available.
5. Get an Honest Estimate
Many maid services will provide an estimate over the phone and then re-evaluate that estimate after the first cleaning. In general, most house cleaning services charge between $30 to $45 per hour for one cleaner or $50 to $90 per hour for a team of two cleaners.
Getting an honest estimate for how long your home takes to clean requires that your home be in a “normal” state of disarray when the maids arrive. If you clean up beforehand, the cleaners will underestimate how long your home takes to tidy up and you’ll end up over budget later. Commit to your normal routine ahead of your first home cleaning.
6. Ask about Cleaning Supplies
One important thing to keep in mind when choosing a maid service is that some companies provide their own cleaning supplies while others require you to have supplies available.
The idea behind having your own supplies is that a single broom used to clean five homes in a day will end up transferring dust from one home to another. But, if you’re hiring a cleaning service because you’re too busy to clean, you might also not want to worry about making sure your home is fully stocked with cleaning supplies.
If you do opt for a company that requires you to have supplies, make sure they offer guidance on what you need. Ideally, your equipment list will be customized to your home. For example, if you have a pet, your cleaning list should include a vacuum that’s suitable for picking up fur.
7. Know Who You’re Hiring
Another aspect to consider when choosing a cleaning service is the housekeepers themselves. Are they contract workers that the company replaces frequently, or are they long-term employees? Contract workers tend to be less expensive to hire, but you’ll typically see better results from employees because they often stick with a company for years and gain experience.
In addition, it’s a good idea to check how a cleaning service vets its maids. Do they undergo a background check before being allowed into your home? Trust is hugely important when hiring a house cleaning service, since you won’t always be home when your housekeeper is working.
8. Request a Dedicated Cleaner
It’s helpful to find out whether or not you’ll get the same maid or cleaning team every visit. This is something that most professional cleaning services provide, but it’s not always standard. A consistent cleaning team is able to learn your home and work with you to develop a personalized plan for what areas need cleaning on what days.
9. Look for a Satisfaction Guarantee
It’s a good idea to ask a cleaning company what happens if you’re not fully satisfied with your service. Do you get a touch-up or a free cleaning for your home? Companies can handle this very differently, and it’s nice to know that you’re going to get the cleaning service you paid for if you’re not satisfied the first time around.
You should also ask what happens if something is broken during a cleaning. Accidents do happen, after all. Reputable house cleaning services will simply pay to repair or replace anything that’s damaged in your home or give you an equivalent credit in future cleanings.
10. Ensure Good Communication
Our homes are our most important and personal spaces, and we all have our own ideas of what needs special attention. A good cleaning service is one that’s receptive to special instructions and can be counted on to implement them.
Whether you have special requests for dusting the ceiling fans or cleaning those family heirlooms, you should make sure there’s a channel for you to communicate them to your cleaners. This could be through the service, or directly to the maid. Either way, make sure that your requests are heard and taken seriously.
Fnding the Right House Cleaning Service
Hiring a house cleaning service is one of the best ways to restore your home to order and keep it clean. There are many good cleaning services available, but every home is different. As a result, it’s important to carefully consider what a house cleaning service can provide and whether your service can be personalized to fit your cleaning needs.
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