I want to hire a cleaning person, but I don’t know what I’m doing!

[Carrie12345]

I’m not in any rush, but I’ve been wanting help for ages and I think I have to start considering it more seriously, as my POTS-like symptoms continue to get more annoying.

 I’ve been looking around online, and the rates posted on care.com are *dirt* cheap. I really want someone insured and registered as a business, so I would expect to pay more. But I want an operator, not a company, to have a regular relationship and really customized service. That’s proving hard to find, but I have a couple of potential leads.

I’m wondering if anyone could guesstimate the cost of that type of service before I consider scheduling walk-throughs, if Care rates are in the $20-30/hr range.  Also, companies advertise to pay their workers $20-25/hr.

I would be looking for kitchen, dining, living, bonus room, loft, 2 hallways, a staircase , and a powder room, not bedrooms or full baths. So maybe 1200-1400sf.   No laundry, dishes, or organizing.
My kitchen gets the most cluttered, but the rest is generally tidy. I keep a fairly clean house, but I have a German Shepherd, so there’s always more to do.

I’m mostly asking because it could be the difference between looking for a weekly clean and begging someone to agree to a 2x/wk clean, which isn’t advertised anywhere. I’d like to have a better idea of what I could swing before throwing that out there.

[Carrie12345]

Adding, I know we’ve had lots of threads on this, and it’s always “It depends on the area.” That’s why I included the local rates I’ve been able to find, in hopes of calibrating a scale.

[Pawz4me]

I think MIL (almost 90, lives alone, no pets -- house doesn't get very dirty at all) pays her cleaning lady $40/hour. She's there two hours at a time. At first the cleaning lady wanted to come every two weeks, but after seeing that MIL really doesn't generate much dirt she agreed that once a month was sufficient. MIL mostly needs someone to mop, vacuum, scrub the tub, clean/dust light fixtures and ceiling fans, and things like that. She has no trouble keeping her kitchen and bathroom counters and sinks clean, sweeping/Swiffering, and dusting easy-to-reach surfaces.

[Katy]

I think it really varies based on where you live, so asking strangers online is useless. I’d ask on facebook if anyone local can recommend a person. Chances are you’ll get 2-3 names of good people, local to you. 

[Shelydon]

Locally, my 2600 house would be $200 each time. A few hours away, the same house would be about $75.

[Home'scool]

I use Merry Maids because if I ever wanted to cancel the service - like during COVID - I didn't want to be the reason someone goes out of business. I also liked the idea of having an office manager to contact for problems.

I live alone, about 1100 sq. feet, one bathroom. The team comes every other week and I pay $140. I live in the Northeast.

[Spryte]

We always find our best cleaners by word of mouth. Is there anyone you can ask? My very favorite is a mother/daughter team that our former next door neighbor recommended — she’s a real estate agent, and really knew her stuff. They have been with us now for 8 years, and except during lockdowns when we agreed to wait a bit for them to resume. We offered to pay them anyway and they refused.
 
We pay $160 every two weeks, for two people — once in a while they bring a third. They stay about 2-3 hours. We tip, and give the same amount in summer when we go away on vacation and again at Christmas.

What’s up with the POTS symptoms? You don’t have to answer and probably already know all this: have you done an orthostatic test (at home)? First line of defense is increasing fluids and salt. A quart of an oral rehydration solution in the am and again at noon can help. I’ve had POTS since 2005, and suddenly am surrounded with POTSy teens and people, who have it post-Covid, so just throwing out some initial ideas, in case you haven’t already tried them. In acute situations (not the loading out kind, but the oops, I overdid it kind), lie with feet/legs up on the couch and hopefully someone can bring salt water and snacks. Meds can help, too.

Edited August 28 by Spryte

[Carrie12345]

1 hour ago, Spryte said:

What’s up with the POTS symptoms?

Just a frustrating increase in pre-syncope feelings. No new changes in vitals. I do tend to bend over too much while gardening. My cardiologist just discharged me the other day. He doesn’t want me on meds b/c my Bp isn’t low enough to counterbalance. 

[Harriet Vane]

My best experiences are almost always with an individual or a team who do their own thing, and I have often been incredibly frustrated when I tried hiring a bigger, established company. I find that the larger companies often cut corners, so I feel like if they are going to give it a lick-and-a-promise I'd just do that myself for free, kwim? 

For example, my favorite housecleaner was a 20-something girl from my martial arts studio. She was meticulous and fast and did a fabulous job. I paid her $25 an hour and it was worth every penny. I was so sad when she was done with university and moved on to a full-time job using her degree. Good for her, but sad for my poor house straining under the weight of my iffy housekeeping. I myself did cleaning through high school and college, and it was such a help for paying my bills. I became friends with my clients--we mutually appreciated each other for the trust and friendship and work.

I contrast that to three separate times I've tried hiring a team through a larger cleaning service. In each case, the team will do only certain things and nothing more. They come for an hour or two and the people swarm all over doing their set tasks so they can leave as quickly as possible. Every time, I have found things undone and the work has been shoddy and incomplete. The most recent one I tried I felt more hopeful about, as it was a small business. The owner had done a lot of cleaning over the years and was now trying to branch out into having a bigger business, running a team. The first time they came I was very happy with the work. They sent a team and it was understood that this was a deep clean. When they came a month later, they sent 2 people who stayed 90 minutes, saying that since I'd had the initial deep clean they would do only maintenance.  I have a four-bedroom house with a finished basement. If they're coming only once a month, it's not maintenance. More of a deep clean is needed (even though I do basic cleaning of bathrooms etc in between.) Plus if I'm hiring people I want the deep clean that's so hard for me to attain with my arthritic joints. I'd definitely pay more for it--I am quite willing to pay fairly or even generously for a person's time and effort. But they wanted to be able to zip in and out so that they have less time at my house and therefore more clients. That's not worth paying that money for me. 

[Lady Marmalade]

I used a local cleaning service and paid $245 every two weeks ($270 by the time I added a tip) for a timed clean of my home. I gave them a priority list of what I would like cleaned. Priority was all the bathrooms, floors and kitchen, but not appliance interiors or dishes. If they'd completed my list and still had time they would do some extra cleaning that was always appreciated. I paid for 5 hours of cleaning, which was usually two people in my home for 2 1/2 hours total.  They generally used more natural cleaning products like Mrs. Meyers, and if I wanted decluttering they would do that too.  They were so thorough in ways I never would have expected. They always emptied the crumb tray from the toaster, for example. That's not even something that crosses my radar! 

I miss them a lot and wish I could afford to have them back!  They don't put pricing on their website, but here is a link to their site that explains how they do things. Maybe that will help you in your search. https://queenofcleaningwi.com/  I frequently see people asking for recommendations for home cleaning on nextdoor- asking around will likely get you the best odds at finding a local company. TBH, I'm not even sure how I found this place the first time, but I kinda want to say it was the product of a Google search and wanting to avoid the chains. 

 

[Ann.without.an.e]

5 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

my POTS-like symptoms continue to get more annoying.

 

 

I don't know anything about cleaning rates but I'm sorry that you're struggling with your health ((hugs)). 

[Carrie12345]

1 hour ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

 

I don't know anything about cleaning rates but I'm sorry that you're struggling with your health ((hugs)). 

Thanks. It’s not nearly as bad as some people’s , but it really stinks when it messes up a day of plans!