Whether you've gotten a referral from a friend or you've found a potential cleaning service online, it's important to ask the following before you hire:
As always, when hiring someone to work in your home, it's extremely important that you make sure they have adequate insurance. A cleaning service should have workers' compensation for the employees as well as liability insurance. If you're hiring an independent agent without liability insurance, call your homeowners' insurance company and ask what protections it offers you when someone works in your home. If the cleaner doesn't have their own insurance and your policy doesn't cover this, don't hire that person.
You'll also want to ask for and check references. Check the service's standing with the Better Business Bureau and read online reviews. When reading online reviews, try to go for the middle ground. One angry customer may leave a review that's over the top and nowhere close to fair, so take it with a grain of salt. You don't necessarily want to see all glowing reviews either, as this probably means the reviews were bought or hand-picked. Look for consistently (but not impossibly) high marks.
If someone will be coming to your home, you'll want to know how the company performs background checks on them. The crew you get could change often, so you want to make sure the company is screening the people they send to minimize the risk of problems.
You'll need to give the cleaning staff access to your home, but it's important to know how they manage and store keys. It's best to choose a cleaning service that uses a numbered key system rather than attaching your address to the key itself. When possible, it's best to give the cleaning service the code to a digital lock or garage door touchpad so that you can change the code later if you need to do so.
You also need to know who is providing the cleaning supplies the service will use. Do they provide cleaning products or do you? You may have to provide them if you want to use anything special, like nontoxic or green household cleaners. Ask how the company handles breakage as well. Accidents happen, and a good company will have a plan for dealing with them.
If you hire a cleaning service, they'll likely have enough staff so that missed cleaning appointments won't be an issue. This can be an issue with a smaller firm, however, so find out how this is handled. Will the cleaning crew come the next day, reschedule, or simply skip the session and come on the next scheduled day?
Some people are perfectly comfortable cleaning around dogs, for example, while others may not be. Find out if you need to crate your dog or confine your cat on cleaning day. Be realistic when assessing your pet situation as well. If your cat is a little Houdini who lets himself out all the time, for example, tell the cleaning staff so they don't panic if he bolts out the door.
On average, a cleaning session costs about $167. On the low end, costs can be about $70 per visit, while the high end runs closer to $250. Flat rates depend on your location, what services are performed, and how messy things tend to be. Vacuuming costs more, for instance, if the cleaner has to pick up your kid's toys beforehand.
Sometimes, you can pay less per service if you're willing to have the cleaners come more often. Keeping on top of the cleaning is easier if your house gets cleaned once a week rather than once a month. As a result, some services charge a little less if you have them visit more frequently.
Unless the cleaning service you hire offers a specialized service, such as crime scene cleanup, they probably won't be required to have any special licenses or certifications. This means oversight is limited, so you'll have to be cautious about whom you hire. You can't verify the status of a cleaning service through your local government, so you'll need to rely heavily on recommendations, references, and reputation.
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