Cleaning lady/Housekeeper--questions!

[sweetpea]

I have been asked to clean the house of a few of my brother's friends--they just lost their housekeeper (retired) and are in need of a new one. They have a 3 story condo :eek: My brother considers me the queen of clean and it would be a good one day a week job for me. Only problem is I don't know what all to do/how much to charge. I checked on internet but didn't find much. So here's what I am wondering--those of you who have one, how much do they charge? hourly or flat rate? how often do they come? do they do anymore than:

-dust
-vacuum
-empty trash
-clean kitchen appliances, etc., sinks, microwave and floor
-clean bathroom floors, mirrors, toilets, showers/tubs, sinks

Thanks in advance for any help!

[MinEaston]

I guess it would depend on what their former housekeeper was doing. You say a bunch of guys? That would make me wonder how much cleaning I'd need to be doing, especially in the kitchens and bathrooms!

When I had a cleaning person she did what you outlined below, and spent about 3 hours in my 2-story house, every 2 weeks. She'd also change the sheets (when I remembered to leave clean ones out).

Since it's a regular schedule, 1x week, I'd suggest a flat rate, and base that on how many hours you would anticipate being there. Can you find out what the previous housekeeper did and what she charged?

[Canice]

DBF's current housecleaner is the most expensive one he's had yet. Like all of them, she charges a flat rate for a half-day job. I believe he pays her $120 but I can confirm. He has a 3BR 1BA house, around 1700sf I guess.

What you listed sounds about right (but we don't really know) but importantly, she also changes the bed linens. It's kind of a pain to do, so glad she takes care of it. She also cleans out the fireplace, but we don't use it often.

The previous cleaner charged a lot less and came every week vs every other week. She always did something extra like wash out the fridge or kitchen cabinets or vacuumed the stairs down to the garage, etc. She was fantastic. The one before that was awesome, too. One day DBF "caught" her at something when she didn't know he was at home, and she was mortified, deer in the headlights when he walked in on her. She'd brought his dog a hamburger from Burger King and was having breakfast with her.

[GingerPow]

After years of searching I finally have a wonderful lady who comes once a week to help out with whatever cleaning or help I need around here. Boy have I kept her busy lately!

She charges a flat rate of $60.00 per hour. She'll clean bathrooms, or wash windows, or vacuum spackle dust, or wipe ceiling fans - you name it & she'll do it.

[Canice]

...You say a bunch of guys? That would make me wonder how much cleaning I'd need to be doing, especially in the kitchens and bathrooms!...

Oh, right. I was thinking they were separate clients. But yes, why not ask what they were paying the previous person (I'll bet they don't really know what she did) and if it sounds worthwhile, give it a contingency like every other week for six weeks and assess after that?

[Miss_Liss]

One day DBF "caught" her at something when she didn't know he was at home, and she was mortified, deer in the headlights when he walked in on her. She'd brought his dog a hamburger from Burger King and was having breakfast with her.

Oh that is hilarious (I nearly spat out my lunch :D ) and very sweet. Not so good for the dog, I guess, but still sweet.:p

We have a 3br apartment and we pay an hourly rate. Our cleaner comes once a fortnight and does as much stuff as she can in 3 hours. She prioritizes the major stuff - vacuuming, mopping, dusting and bathroom/kitchen - and then will do other stuff depending on what was done last time and what she has time for.

[mgs]

Around here it seems that the cleaning people seem to charge a flat rate and amount of time and what they can get done in the time they will. Like our house was $80 a visit. They will stay for 4 hours. They do the basics every week but with the extra time they will either clean out the fridge, do some ironing, organize the spice cabinet. those kind of things. I found it kind of a weird way to work things out, but I guess that way they are guaranteed their money and they aren't chasing around to different houses all day long. The can do one in the morning, one in the afternoon. Some of the people will even watch the kids for you in those 4 hours. Like if you are home and want to run to the grocery store they are happy to be in charge of the kids.

I say our house was $80 a visit. The previous owners told us that - and that was 4 years ago. Now I do it for the practice I suppose..... ha ha!

[Grace]

We've had the same lady for 11 years. She comes every other week. She charges a flat fee of $60, whether it takes her two hours or six. She usually finishes in about four hours though.

She cleans the kitchen thoroughly (I usually leave dishes from the night before for her when I know she's coming), cleans the stove including the burner drip pans, picks up the whole house, vacuums and dusts everything, scrubs the bathroom, and washes all the floors on her hands and knees - I tried giving her a mop once and she looked at me like I was nuts. She doesn't like the mop.

She also runs her rag along all the baseboards and makes the bed, she'll help me change the linens if I'm doing it that day, and she cleans the stairs going down to the basement (tons of dog hair collects there) and washes the basement floor as well.

On occasion I will ask her to do special jobs - clean the ceiling fans, help me with a few windows, wash the walls in the bathroom, etc., and she will never accept extra money for those things.

She doesn't clean our office (besides vacuuming) - it's too cluttered and she moves stuff around and then we can't find it, so we asked her to just leave our desks alone, and she doesn't do our laundry. I'm too picky about that, so I don't want her to do it.

That's about it.

[Loremma]

I would call a cleaning service in their neighborhood and get a general idea of what they would charge. Then you can go from there. Especially after you see the kind of mess you'd be dealing with!

[melis_d]

Our cleaning person (she comes with a partner) charges a flat rate by size of place and general assessment of how clean someone keeps things on a general basis. Before deciding on a rate she does a visit -- you might set up something like this to get a sense of what you are dealing with for these new "clients." She comes every other week and charges $75 for about a 2-3 hour visit to our 1750 3BR / 2BA (one is not really used in our toddler's room, so doesn't require freqent cleaning). Claudia and Alanna all of the things you note, plus generally neaten things up for us, which is helpful.

Edited to add: you might also think about whether you plan to bring your own cleaning supplies or have specific requests of things they should buy for you. The latter is the custom around here; when Claudia did her initial visit she did an inventory of our cleaning supplies and asked for a few things that we didn't have that she prefers to use. She doesn't have to carry around supplies (except for her own industrial strength vacuum cleaner) and we have what we need to do off-cycle cleaning when necessary.

[clairea]

I think the things you have listed are pretty good basics. I would make sure that your dusting includes what I always call high and low dusting -- tops of door and window frames, ceiling fans, baseboards, etc. It drives me crazy when cleaning people neglect that as I think it is pretty basic that you should touch every surface that can catch dust.

My current cleaning lady charges a flat rate per house, but it is based on roughly $30/hour (but I am in the middle of nowhere, TN, so everything is cheaper here than in a city. She has another lady who helps her, and she pays her out of that. For my house (3700 sq. ft, 2 kids, 2 dogs, a cat, and assorted small reptiles, rodents and fish in containers:) ) it takes about 5 hours each week. They do all the basic stuff every week -- bathrooms, kitchen, floors, dusting, and then just see what else needs to be done. Some weeks they clean the blinds, or handwash all the little knicknacks or glass lightshades (instead of just dusting, clean windows, etc.) -- the kinds of things that don't need to be done every week but do need to be done periodically to keep a house really clean. Sometimes they will straighten out a closet or something -- I love those days! Of course, these guys might not be interested in those kinds of "extras" (and might not want to pay for them). They do not change my beds because (1) I am really particular about how my beds are made so I would rather do it myself and (2) I would rather have them spend the time on something else than on changing linens (which I don't mind doing.

In Atlanta, I paid about the same amount ($120-150) for someone to clean my 1700 square foot house, and all they did was the basics - 2 people were in and out in 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

[Hoodone]

It really depends on where you live as to what you should charge. In Houston, I payed so little, looking back on it now. I think I gave my housekeeper about $60 for 4 hours? That was a good deal. Now I pay $90 and I think my housekeeper stays about 3 hours. Both individuals are on their own. I was paying a completely outrageous sum to a cleaning service, but got rid of them when their prices were going up even higher. Calgary is a lot more expensive than Houston.

[funniegrrl]

Around here it varies pretty wildly in terms of how it's structured. I got some estimates to have a pre-move, and here are some examples, based on about 1350 square feet. (These were all cleaning companies.)

#1 $249 flat w/ oven and all windows; $179 with oven only
#2 $85 first hour, $25 every hour after
#3 $75/hr, no windows or oven
#4 $75/hr, no restrictions

If you want an idea of how to structure the actual cleaning, this service has a nice outline of what they do when:
http://www.cleaningauthority.com/CleaningSystem.aspx

[Meganator]

I tried a couple of services, but didn't like them because of their lack of flexibility - I basically want someone to do what needs to be done every week, not do just what is on their list. Also, I wanted an individual because then that person feel responsible for for the cleaning in a way that I don't feel the services do. So I located a young woman on craigslist who was looking for part time work while her husband is in grad school. She comes every week and I pay her $12/hour (the upper end of the range she gave me). I think I am going to up it to $15/hr, though - $12 just doesn't seem enough. Anyway, she works off a basic list I have of weekly/biweekly/monthly and occasional tasks, and I just add or cross off items every week based on what is needed. Mostly she just cleans, but will also do other stuff as needed - dishes, laundry, change sheets, etc.

[MISSINDI]

Ours charges a flat $100 rate and is here about 4 hours. She comes bi-weekly. Will do laundry, changes bed sheets, cleans fridge, etc., plus all the basics. She's been with us for about a year or so and is good at attention to detail, doing things like the tops of door jams, etc.

[sweetpea]

THANK YOU! That is exactly what i needed to know. I planned on asking them what they paid/what was cleaned but didn't want to sound totally out of it. And is "guys" plural but there are a few of them, all separate from each other--so a possibility of three homes to clean! :) FUN! might as well make some money off my compulsion!

[Canice]

Oh that is hilarious (I nearly spat out my lunch :D ) and very sweet. Not so good for the dog, I guess, but still sweet.:p
....

It actually was very sweet. She then told DBF that every week she brought herself a breakfast muffin to eat before she began work and felt so guilted out by the dog (whom she adored) that she started bringing her a plain burger. One week she was late and couldn't stop for breakfast and said the dog wouldn't "talk" to her all morning. :o :p

Good luck, sweetpea! I agree - may as well pick up some $$ for doing what you enjoy!

[Veronica]

I don't use a cleaning service, but I get tons of mailers offering their services. Here's what one company says they do:

Bathrooms
Weekly
Tile walls, bathtubs and showers cleaned and disinfected
Shower doors cleaned and disinfected
Vanity and sink cleaned and disinfected
Mirrors and chrome fixtures cleaned and shined
Floors washed and disinfected/carpets washed
Toilets cleaned and disinfected
Mildew chemically treated
Cobwebs removed
Swiff floor

Rotating Basis
Tile grouting scrubbed
Shower door given extra attention
Spot clean doors and door frames for fingerprints
Knick-knacks individually cleaned
Fronts of cabinets wiped
Baseboards wiped
Extra attention to floors

Kitchen
Weekly
Countertops and kitchen table cleaned
Outside of oven cleaned
Stove cleaned
Sinks cleaned and disinfected, chrome shined
Fronts of appliances cleaned
Floors vacummed or swiffed and mopped
Cobwebs removed
Microwave wiped out

Rotating Basis
Grease filter cleaned
Oven cleaned
Doors and frames spot cleaned for fingerprints
Windows cleaned on inside
Appliances cleaned and shined
Knick-knack areas cleaned
Outside of cabinets cleaned
Baseboards wiped
Refrigerator cleaned
All kitchen furniture hand wiped

Sleeping and Living Areas
Weekly
Flat areas damp cloth dusted
Stairs vacuumed
Empty closet floors vacuumed
All readily accessible floors vacuumed
Wood floors vacuumed and dust mopped
Cobwebs removed
Pictures frames dusted
Window sills and ledges dusted
Mini blinds dusted
Lampshades dusted
Knick-knacks dusted

Rotating Basis
Doors and frames spot cleaned for fingerprints
Window sills and ledges damp wiped
Knick-knacks individually cleaned
Furniture hand wiped
Baseboards wiped
Furniture and upholstery vacuumed
Carpets edges vacuumed
Areas under accessible furniture vacuumed

I don't know what they charge, but a neighbor pays about $90 a visit for similar services. Hope this helps.

[alinnell]

My cleaning lady comes every other week. This is what she does:


thoroughly cleans the kitchen including cleaning all the shelves in the fridge
dusts everything (including the 7 ceiling fans)
vacuums all carpet and rugs
thoroughly cleans all 4 bathrooms (and does the shower enclosures and mirrors)
sweeps and mops all the tile
cleans out the china hutch from time to time
takes out the trash
she has offered to do windows, sheets and laundry, but I turned her down on these.


I have a 3000 sq foot house, 4 beds, 4 baths and two very sheddy dogs as well as 2 kids that are little piggies themselves. DS will pick up most of his stuff off the floor so she can vacuum, but DD rarely does. I usually pick it all up and dump it on her bed just so I know her room is getting vacuumed. My housekeeper and her helper spend 3.5 hours every other week. I pay her $120 each visit. I think she is extremely reasonable.