what is the going rate for a maid on a large property?

[Anonymous]

We just moved into a large house (7500 square feet). We are trying to figure out the best way to get it regularly cleaned. It is the two of us, two babies and a live in nanny. In our last home we had a maid every other week (but the place was only 2000 square feet). We're not particularly dirty people, but we could definitely use help, especially with hardcore cleaning and this place is much larger.

My first thought was a team of two people for 8 hours every other week.
Alternatively one person every week for 8 hours (maybe do the kitchen and baths every time, but just one floor in addition (alternating between the 3 floors).
And then there is the possibility of a live in. We have a live in nanny so I am familiar with the concept. I also grew up with a number of live in staff. We have plenty of space.

I'm open to ideas and I'd love to know what the cost for the various options might run. The only thing I know for certain is that we would do it legally and we live in DC. I'd be open to contact info for people looking for work too.

[Anonymous]

Why not just use the Maids every week? Or contact a company that does domestic placement. You will get nothing but flamed here from a bunch of have nots who are pissed about it and looking for someone to take it out on!

[Anonymous]

Sorry, can't help, but would suggest a placement agency too. What you are asking is way out of my scope of reality!

[Anonymous]

OP here. My hesitancy with agencies is that they are very focused on making the house look clean as opposed to actually cleaning it. Besides, I don't really see the need for a middleman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My hesitancy with agencies is that they are very focused on making the house look clean as opposed to actually cleaning it. Besides, I don't really see the need for a middleman.

You don't have to use them if you don't want, but wouldn't it give you an idea of what the going rate is? It would be part of the research?

I'm sorry, but I find you to be a little hostile to suggestions. Why not ask your Mom? It sounds like she would be able to answer your question.

[Anonymous]

Just get 2 maids 8 hrs every week if you can afford it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My hesitancy with agencies is that they are very focused on making the house look clean as opposed to actually cleaning it. Besides, I don't really see the need for a middleman.

You don't have to use them if you don't want, but wouldn't it give you an idea of what the going rate is? It would be part of the research?

I'm sorry, but I find you to be a little hostile to suggestions. Why not ask your Mom? It sounds like she would be able to answer your question.

OP here. I appreciate the agency suggestion, but I was hoping some people with similar size homes might be able to tell me what they are paying for individual maids and their frequency. I would appreciate answers along those lines.

[Anonymous]

if you have to ask, you probably can't afford it. lol, just kidding

[Anonymous]

I was an AP in such home in VA and the check my HM wrote for the service (3 workers) was $175.

They were done in 3 hours and came once a week.

[Anonymous]

We pay $150 for once weekly cleaning for 5000 sqft. I don't think you can go less than once per week for the areas of the house that you actually use. But even unused rooms collect dust and need to be cleaned so we have those areas done every other week.

[Anonymous]

You can hire an individual for around $200-250 each cleaning. Our home is 7,000. It depends on what you want done, how many people are living there, etc. It's also slightly cheaper if you have them come weekly as they stay on top of it. I would have one person weekly over having two every other week, but that is because I want certain tasks done every week (like cleaning the kitchen floor and changing bedding).

[Anonymous]

Two people every week, $200 a week.

[Anonymous]

I think I can extrapolate! Ha ha
I have a 2500 sq ft house. It takes two people three hours to clean it.

So in six hours (or a full day when you count breaks), two people could clean 5000 sq ft.

If you figure that not all of your house will require thorough cleaning every week, if you had a team of two come every week, they could cover the critical areas weekly and hit the less-used areas every other week.

I paid $125 for my team of two for three hours, so you could say $200 - $250 a week for a full day.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I'm also interested in a nosy way to know what happened in your life that allowed you to go from 2000 sq ft to 7500 sq ft. Seems like a big change!

[Anonymous]

Don't know what our sq ft is - 3 levels, 4 bed, 3.5 bas. We pay 185 every week, plus unemployment and social security. Agree that 250 is the right ballpark if it's every week. Probably more for every other week.