Evaluating Housecleaners
Housecleaners can make coming home a lot more appealing. Instead of dealing with a dirty kitchen, grimy bathrooms, and dirty carpets, all the repetitive cleaning chores can be taken care of for you. Is it worth it? For around $30 an hour, you bet it is, provided you remember a few important things.
Tips for Hiring Housecleaners
Housecleaners aren’t mind readers, so it pays to understand what you want and make your wishes understood right from the start. The best way to establish a clean and straightforward relationship with a cleaning service is to ask for an onsite quote. Many services feel comfortable quoting over the phone and determining price based on the number of bathrooms you have, whether or not you have pets and what your overall floor plan may look like (how many levels, staircases, etc.) Although this is okay when you want a ballpark figure, to clarify your needs and expectations it pays to have someone come out to your home and take a look at your specific layout. This will help to avoid misunderstandings and reassessments later.
Choose a service over an individual. Services take care of some of the thorny issues for you, like bonding, employee taxes and workers’ compensation insurance. When you hire an acquaintance, you run the risk of being over exposed. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may consider her an employee and subject to federal and state withholding, and you may have increased liability if she has an accident in your home.
Evaluate services carefully. When you invite someone into your home, it pays to be careful. Give preference to companies that have a presence in your community and have been in business for over three years. Check with your local Better Business Bureau to make sure they’re members in good standing and have a clean record too. If you’ve heard good things about them from coworkers, family, or friends, so much the better. If not, ask for references, and pay particular attention to people who’ve been with the company for a year or longer. If no reference has been around longer than a few months, it should raise some big red flags.
Follow up. Cleaning can be more complicated than you think, and misunderstandings can happen even with dedicated workers. Plan on being around for the first couple of cleanings to answer questions. Don’t hover, but make yourself available. Pay attention to how long a visit will typically take. The first time a maid cleans your home, it may take longer, but after the first visit, you’ll get an idea of how long a typical cleaning should take. If visits start getting shorter in duration, you’ll know something’s wrong. Check cleaning worksheets if they’re offered for your review and be proactive about commenting about the service to both the maid and the agency. Both positive and constructive comments are important and will help you and others obtain the best service.
Housecleaners can make your life a lot easier at home. Once you stop worrying about how you’re going to find the time to polish the furniture, a whole new world of opportunities will open up to you. Get started today by making up a wish list of services and start calling around.