Reasonable expectations for house cleaner?

[Anonymous]

I have had the same housecleaner for 2 years and pay her $80 for a clean every two weeks. I have never given her a raise, but I do give her a Christmas bonus of $100 and give her an extra twenty every few weeks for doing something like wiping down the ceiling fan blades or cleaning our refrigerator. We have a 3 bedroom in Friendship Heights DC (although the third bedroom is the size of a crib so there is not much cleaning to do in there) with one very small bath and a powder room, small kitchen and a living room and dining room. All hard wood floors with area rugs. We are VERY neat people so she never has to move any toys or dirty dishes or papers, and I clean in bn her visits. On a normal week, she vacuums and dusts, damp mopping in the kitchen, cleans glass tables, and changes the sheets on one bed. She does not do laundry, clean the hardwood floors, the windows, sills, blinds or curtains, the light fixtures and ceiling fans, or use anything special on our wood furniture. She does not do any deep cleaning of the kitchen or bathroom.

In the first year her cleaning was more thorough. She has never been spectacular, but she puts up with our dog following us around and is very honest, both of which I think are hard to come by. I finally had a talk with her about it today and essentially she seemed to say that I was expecting too much. I dont speak spanish, so part of the problem may be communication about what I want her to do each time. I told her that I would pay more, but only if things got cleaner.

Am I expecting too much for the floors to be sparkling when she leaves, and not have the same spots as before she came? Do you expect the house to be cleaned as well as when you do it?

[Anonymous]

I don't think you are expecting too much, but I am a pretty neat/clean person. I too expect my housekeeper to do as good a job as I do (she does not). And I too am regularly disappointed to find the same fingerprints on woodwork after she leaves. I haven't yet had the talk, but am getting close to it. She makes about 25 bucks an hour, and spends 5 hours here each week. In other words, I think she is paid really well.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response - it is hard to do that "talk" with someon who is in your home in such a personal way... I could do another thread on that!

I should have mentioned that she is usually here for 4 hours, sometimes 5, so it works out to $20 an hour. I am home part of the time and she does not spend the entire time cleaning - I am not sure what takes so long since I do the whole house more thoroughly in less than 2 hours...

[Anonymous]

I pay someone $90 once a month to come and clean my 4 bedroom rambler. My place is pretty much sparkling when she leaves. She deepcleans the bathrooms, dusts the blinds... you name it! I do pick up before she comes and she doesn't make the beds... but has if I have left sheets on them. If it wasn't sparkling I would not have her continue to come and I would just do it myself.

[Anonymous]

I have a home very similar to yours and our cleaning lady also comes every two weeks for $80, so I feel we can compare. Our lady does more cleaning--cleans hardwood floors, windows, wood furniture, changes/washes sheets and towels, etc. I would say, at this point it might make more sense to find someone new. If you have tried to ask for more, and/or offered a raise and it isnt happening, then really it becomes an issue of trust and bad feelings. Sometimes its just time for a change...

[Anonymous]

Out of curiosity, what is "deep cleaning" as it refers to cleaning one's house?

[Anonymous]

Omg mine charges me $120 and I found out from the nanny is there less than 2 hours. She doesn't even do a great job. I have decided to move on. Where did you find these 80 dollar people? I have a 3 BR.

[Anonymous]

I have a cleaning company every two weeks to clean our 2b/2b apt.. When I hired them, they said they had 3 people coming, but I said two people is enough for our apt.. They listened to me and sent two young ladies. I didn't like one of them because she was very lazy in the kitchen, had personal conversations over her cell ph. and I hear she was complaining about her job. So, I contacted the manager and ask him to send another person instead of her. The new cleaning employee is a spanish speaking guy too, and as I speak spanish too but from a different country, they started to ask questions like...how long I've been living in the US, what's my profession, how's my pregnancy going, etc....
Of course I don't answer those personal questions and ask him to clean the shower curtains, dust here...there and not to clean the keyboard on my PC and the oil paintings hanging from the wall.
The company charges $75 including the products.
I'm home when they clean, otherwise, they'd do what they want.

[Anonymous]

I realized that if I want my house clean to my standards - I need to do it myself! The "usual" cleaning is so light and I realized what is done is something i can do in less than an hour and save the $100. So, now I do a deep cleaning twice a year and quick sweeps, vaccum and wiping down once every week or two.

[Anonymous]

Wow, nope, my cleaners do a fantastic job and my house sparkles when they leave. Now, mind you, I am a slacker mom when it comes to where my bar is set for clean but I do know the difference between half-ass and excellent.

Deep cleaning to me, is vacuuming my couch cushions both on top for cat fur and removing them and vacuuming the underneath springs for popcorn, lint, etc. It's also moving the couches to get the dust bunnies underneath it, instead of just sweeping the exposed wood floors. It's using windex to wipe down all the surfaces of my stainless trash can. I could go on, but I think this is excellent quality work.

If the PP is really interested, I use the maids from HR Maids (571-259-6064) and they charge $80 for this and come 1-2x/month to my 4 bdrm, 3 level SFH, about 3000 s.f. I think their prices are great.

[Anonymous]

I think you are overpaying, except we do not have them sweep outside. In NWDC we have a 5 bedroom, 4.5 bath, 3 finished levels, 4-5 beds to change sheets weekly, mop whole house (all hardwood floors except tileds bathrooms), dust/wipe everything including chandeliers, pictures, etc... take out garbage, scrub bathrooms from top to bottom, do extra projects if we ask (like vaccuum/clean shoe cubbies in mudroom). We are very very neat & clean generally except we rarely (never?) vaccuum between weekly cleanings. We pay $90/week. Before kids we had every other week cleaning (same 2 women) and that was a bit more as there is more to clean if you come only every other week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you are overpaying, except we do not have them sweep outside. In NWDC we have a 5 bedroom, 4.5 bath, 3 finished levels, 4-5 beds to change sheets weekly, mop whole house (all hardwood floors except tileds bathrooms), dust/wipe everything including chandeliers, pictures, etc... take out garbage, scrub bathrooms from top to bottom, do extra projects if we ask (like vaccuum/clean shoe cubbies in mudroom). We are very very neat & clean generally except we rarely (never?) vaccuum between weekly cleanings. We pay $90/week. Before kids we had every other week cleaning (same 2 women) and that was a bit more as there is more to clean if you come only every other week.

Thanks for your response. Is your person a legal US resident, and if so, any chance your person has any open days?

[Anonymous]

OP here - sounds like I need to expect more to be done, and pay more too. I might have to start looking... Thanks for all your help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are overpaying, except we do not have them sweep outside. In NWDC we have a 5 bedroom, 4.5 bath, 3 finished levels, 4-5 beds to change sheets weekly, mop whole house (all hardwood floors except tileds bathrooms), dust/wipe everything including chandeliers, pictures, etc... take out garbage, scrub bathrooms from top to bottom, do extra projects if we ask (like vaccuum/clean shoe cubbies in mudroom). We are very very neat & clean generally except we rarely (never?) vaccuum between weekly cleanings. We pay $90/week. Before kids we had every other week cleaning (same 2 women) and that was a bit more as there is more to clean if you come only every other week.

Thanks for your response. Is your person a legal US resident, and if so, any chance your person has any open days?

Yes, they are legal (I am a fed employee). 2 sisters who have an LLC so you do not have to worry about taxes either. I will check if they have any availability and re-post for you if they say yes. I just love them. They have been our cleaners for over 7 years. I do give them a big cash bonus at Christmas as a way to express my huge gratitude and if they ever need to temporarily switch the day they clean, they know they only need call me 24 hours in advance. I try to be as easy and flexible for them as possible and I think this is one reason I get such great service. However, if anything is ever done poorly, I give them a second chance, and then I say something in a low-key yet direct way. Works every time.

[Anonymous]

If you have pets, it should cost more because it is more work. The hair issue adds up to more dust and mess. Our cleaning lady charges a premium for homes with dogs and cats because the hair, unless they do not shed, is everywhere and cat litter gets tracked onto floors, furniture etc. The vacuum bag gets full quicker and there are sometimes smells to track down and eliminate.