Is this standard for a cleaning service?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We used to use “The Cleaning Authority” and what I liked about them was they rotated a deep clean for various areas. So it was something like a regular clean for the house and their deep clean for the kitchen. Then the next time the regular clean plus a deep clean for the living room/family room, then next time the bathrooms and so on. So every couple of months each area got some extra attention.

My current cleaners don’t do it that way and I get annoyed when I find spider webs in a corner and such. With the other method, those things get done when it’s the area’s turn for the deep clean every couple of months. It’s a nice technique.

FYI our experience with “The Cleaning Authority” was atrocious. Their low paid cleaners cut a lot of corners and our house was still noticeably dirty and dusty after they finished their “deep cleans”.

[Anonymous]

I pay $150 for a house that is 1K square feet and my cleaners aren't perfect but the bathroom gets a pretty thorough clean (I now they map and vacuum the floor). The sink and handles gets scrubbed and my kitchen is spotless when they are done. I don't think they do my baseboards? But I never really notice those as dirty so maybe they do lol.

[Anonymous]

Ours does more with the nightstand and such and the kitchen sparkles, but we pay her $200 for a smaller house.

Biweekly will always be a surface thing. Weekly and more I think you can get more into deep cleaning rotations.

[Anonymous]

We pay $200 for a 2500sq house with 3 bathrooms. Baseboards are bot done. But floors are wet mopped. The little kitchen floor is washed by hand. Everything on dressers and counters is moved and then out back (i can tell). Glass showers are squeaky clean too.
They don't dust the ceiling fan but dust all the mirrors and bookcases.

[Anonymous]

In the last year we hired two women who have cleaned for our neighbor for over a decade. We have around 2700 square feet, 2.5 baths, and it’s $140. They do a fabulous job - always clean our bathrooms, showers, and blinds. They clean all our appliances too - even our air fryer! The only downside is that they sometimes cancel since they clean in their spare time (seems like more of a side gig for them, but they come every 2 weeks at the same time mostly) but we’ve been super, super happy with their quality of cleaning. It takes them sometimes up to 4 hours to clean our house.

Have your ladies done a deep clean lately? Maybe you need that which is usually more expensive and then what they’ve been doing which is more maintenance cleaning?

[Anonymous]

Having cleaned my house myself and used a service, I think it takes somewhere between 4-7 hours a week on cleaning, not tidying, to keep a house really clean. Like, this is when I was really on top of rotational deep cleaning. The main factors are how many people are home during the day and dogs. You could go higher or lower based on that.

So there’s no way a biweekly cleaner spending 4 man hours can do that. If you have someone for 4-7 hours a week and it’s not clean, then I would be more concerned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They ALL get lazy after a bit. They think they are cleaning more efficiently, but they are just getting through it. No exceptions in my 15 years of having various cleaners in three states.

+1000000

[Anonymous]

You certainly can't expect more for $140. Generally these cleaning companies just kind of wipe things down for that amount. In fact I think that is a low price for the size of your house and what you are getting.

I have come to the conclusion that you can't really hire people to deep clean your house the way you would do it -- at least not on a budget.

[Anonymous]

I pay $180 every 2 weeks for a two-person crew to clean 3200 sq feet (4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths). They move items to clean, dust my blinds and baseboards, clean the inside of my microwave and toaster oven, steam clean my kitchen floor. They even use the tissue in my Kleenex boxes and toilet paper to make rosettes. 😂 I’m pleased with them. The service I use constantly rotates crews so that cleaners don’t have regular customers and get sloppy.

[Anonymous]

I pay $140 to my cleaning lady per week 2400 sf house. Four bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms. one of the full bathrooms, and two of the bedrooms are rarely used. She never does the baseboards, and also just kind of dust without moving stuff on the bookshelves. Mops and vacuums all floors. Does not scrub faucet handles as good as I do, when I do.
She is family to us, has been housekeeper for 20 years and fully trust her. She is here maybe 2.5 hours.
And yes, they do get lazy after time. Someone suggested to alternate deep cleaning a room every week, that’s a good idea!
What I really need is a deep clean of my kitchen. Professionally cleaned grout, and my cabinets professionally cleaned too. When the sun shines in at 4 o’clock, my God, the dirt and the grease you see.

[Anonymous]

I pay $180 for 5 hours of cleaning (2,000 sq ft house) twice a month. That includes bedrooms, bathroom, living room, kitchen. But it's in Sacrameto. Local Oldham housekeepers charge more.

[Anonymous]

$140 seems low to me and sometimes it is a matter of getting what you pay for. Do you have any friends or locals you could ask who are happy with their cleaners? Also, in my experience, the ability to communicate what your concerns are directly to them is important (as is seeing how they respond). I pay $200 now for our 4 bedroom, it's on the high end (and I feel like my cleaner knows it) but it does allow me to kindly but openly talk to her about issues as they come up because I am paying a premium. So the job needs to be premium. It's that simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I don't think not doing baseboards or blinds or showers is normal.

Those are often add ons.
$140 for that large of a house would be low for my not fancy neighborhood in DC where most houses are smaller but the price is the same.

+1

[Anonymous]

They don't sound very good and they are not there for very long either. So you're paying less but I think that's because you're getting less.

[Anonymous]

I pay under 100 every 2 weeks, 4br home.

All the surfaces and floors do seem clean when they do them. I would say they don't get things like baseboards or the very edges of the carpet. Underneath furniture too. But since they do everything else, I get in those crevices when I notice a build up.

I know it's a good price and we trust her in our home so it's worth it.