The insider's guide to hiring a house cleaner
Before You Hire a House Cleaner…
7 Things the Cleaning Industry Doesn't Explain Very Well
Here's what I'd tell a friend.
I've been on the other side of cleaning quotes for more than a decade, and I'm going to tell you something my industry probably doesn't say often enough:
Hiring a house cleaner is weirdly confusing.
Prices are all over the place. "Standard" and "deep" mean different things depending on who you ask. Everyone is licensed, bonded and insured. And, of course, everyone does an AMAZING job. 😂
So how the heck are you supposed to know who to hire?
There are a few things about this industry that we honestly don't explain very well.
So here are the seven things I'd tell a friend if she called me tomorrow and said:
"Okay…I'm hiring a house cleaner. What do I actually need to know?"
Make sure you're comparing the same thing.
So you get three quotes for your house…
- $150
- $225
- $300
And naturally you're thinking…
What the heck is the $300 cleaner doing in there?! 😂
Maybe more.
Maybe not.
Because here's the weird thing about cleaning quotes: the price alone doesn't actually tell you what you're buying.
Cleaning is a lot like that.
Two cleaners can quote the exact same house and still be selling very different services.
One may make beds, dust ceiling fans and bring every supply. Another may focus on kitchens, bathrooms and floors and ask you to provide the vacuum.
Neither is automatically wrong. They're just different.
Maybe you don't care about ceiling fans. Fantastic.
The point is to know what you're buying before deciding which number looks better.
So instead of comparing the prices first, compare what's behind them.
What's actually included, what's considered extra, and what are you expected to provide?
Once you know that, you can actually compare your options.
Instead of asking:
"Why are you more expensive?"
Try asking:
"What am I getting for this price?"
You'll learn a whole lot more from the answer.
"Standard cleaning" doesn't actually mean standard.
Here's something most homeowners don't realize:
There isn't an industry-wide definition of a "standard clean" or a "deep clean."
Every cleaner gets to decide what those words mean.
In fact, some cleaners think of regular or maintenance cleaning as mostly "horizontal cleaning."
Look up
Ceiling fans. Cobwebs. Tops of things.
That may require a deep clean.
Horizontal
Counters. Sinks. Toilets. Furniture. Floors.
The everyday areas right in the normal cleaning path.
Look down
Baseboards. Lower doors and frames.
That may be a deep clean too.
Those little areas quietly collect dust until one day you notice them and suddenly can't unsee them. 😂
Other cleaners include those areas as part of their regular maintenance cleaning.
And that's where things get confusing.
For one cleaner, a "deep clean" might simply mean adding all those up-and-down areas they don't normally touch.
For another, those areas are already maintained during regular visits, so a deep clean might mean hand-wiping surfaces to remove stuck-on grime and buildup.
Same words. Completely different cleaning.
The problem isn't that one cleaner is doing it right and the other is doing it wrong.
The problem is when your definition and their definition aren't the same.
Don't ask:
"Do you do deep cleaning?"
Ask:
"What does your deep cleaning actually include?"
And get the answer in writing.
"Licensed, bonded & insured" doesn't tell you who's walking through your front door.
Let's talk about the slightly awkward part of hiring a house cleaner.
You're giving someone access to your home.
Not the lobby of your office.
Your home.
The place where your kids sleep, your dog is roaming around and your Amazon boxes are stacked by the front door because apparently we're all just going to pretend those aren't there. 😂
So yes, you want someone who can clean.
But I'd be just as interested in who is actually doing the cleaning.
This is where you'll see cleaners and cleaning companies say:
- Licensed
- Bonded
- Insured
- Background checked
Great. Those things matter.
But they don't tell you nearly as much about the person walking through your front door as you might think.
A cleaning service can check all the right boxes on paper and still have completely different standards for who they hire, how they're trained and when they're ready to be sent into a customer's home.
And whether you choose an independent cleaner who personally comes every week or a service with a staff of cleaners, either can be a fantastic choice.
What I'd really want to know is: who am I trusting, and what stands behind them?
If you're hiring an individual cleaner, get to know them.
If you're hiring a service that sends other people into your home, ask:
"How do you decide who you hire and send into customers' homes?"
That's a much harder question to answer with a checkbox.
Listen to what they tell you.
- What are they looking for besides cleaning experience?
- How are people screened?
- How are they trained?
- How does the service decide they're ready to walk into a customer's home without someone standing over their shoulder?
Because at the end of the day, you're not hiring a logo.
You're trusting a person with your home.
Jennifer's Take
I always say:
Cleaning can be taught. Character can't.
I can teach someone how we clean a shower. I can teach them how we make a bed.
I can't teach someone to be honest, dependable, kind or respectful of someone else's home.
So I'd worry a whole lot less about whether a website has "Licensed, Bonded & Insured" plastered across it and ask: "How do you decide who you hire?"
That answer would interest me a whole lot more.
Your cleaning service shouldn't become another chore.
Here's something I've noticed after doing this for more than a decade:
The cleaning usually isn't the thing that makes people fire their cleaner. It's everything around the cleaning.
You hired someone to take cleaning off your to-do list.
But somehow, you can end up with a whole new list:
- What time are they coming?
- Did they get my message?
- Wait…am I supposed to remind THEM that they're cleaning my house tomorrow? 😂
That's not exactly what you had in mind when you decided to outsource the cleaning.
- Vacations happen.
- Kids get sick.
- Cleaners get sick.
- Holidays land on your cleaning day.
- Schedules change.
None of that is unusual.
What matters is whether your cleaning service already knows how it handles those things before they happen.
Is there a system…or are YOU the system?
And you definitely shouldn't need a mental file labeled Things I Need to Remember About the People I Hired So I Could Have Fewer Things to Remember. 😂
Jennifer's Take
Here's a question I'd ask:
"What happens if my cleaning falls on a holiday or my regular cleaner calls out?"
I'm actually less interested in what their policy is than whether they have one.
Because life is going to happen. You just don't want every little hiccup becoming your problem.
If you're constantly reminding, checking, chasing and coordinating your cleaning service…
They didn't take the chore away. They just changed it.
Eventually, someone is going to miss something.
I hate to break it to you, but eventually your cleaner is probably going to miss something.
We're human. 😂
- Maybe there's dust left on a nightstand.
- Maybe someone misses the crumbs hiding behind the toaster.
- Maybe you walk into the bathroom and think…hmm, that shower usually looks better.
It happens.
100% Satisfaction Guaranteed!
You'll see that on approximately 9 out of 10 cleaning websites. Cool.
But here's what I'd actually want to know:
What happens if I'm NOT 100% satisfied?
- Is there an easy way to tell someone?
- Does anyone actually respond?
- Does that feedback make it back to the person cleaning your home?
And here's the big one:
Does anything actually change next time?
Because one dusty nightstand isn't usually what makes someone start looking for a new cleaner.
- It's when you mention the dusty nightstand…
- And then it's dusty again.
- And again.
Eventually you stop saying something because it's easier to grab a cloth and wipe it yourself.
Except now you're paying someone to clean your house AND you're cleaning behind them.
And getting a little more annoyed every time you do it. 😂
That's when a missed spot stops being a cleaning problem and starts becoming a service problem.
Jennifer's Take
If something bothers you, SAY SOMETHING. Please. 😂
I promise you, a good cleaner would much rather hear:
"Hey, the shower wasn't quite right today."
than find out you've been fixing it yourself and getting more annoyed with every visit.
Give them the opportunity to fix it. Then pay attention to whether they do.
Because the problem isn't the dusty nightstand.
It's the dusty nightstand you mentioned three times.
Don't hire for the first cleaning. Hire for the tenth.
1st
Getting your house really clean once isn't the hard part.
10th
Keeping the quality from slowly slipping after 10, 20 or 50 visits is.
Because over time, it's really easy for any routine to go on autopilot.
- Bathroom.
- Kitchen.
- Vacuum.
- Mop.
- Done.
And that's when the little things can slowly start slipping.
Maybe it's the same corner behind the toilet that keeps getting missed.
Or that one cobweb in the living room has apparently signed a lease and become a permanent resident. 😂
Nothing is terrible.
It's just…not quite as good as it used to be.
And that's why, if you're looking for recurring cleaning, I wouldn't ask "Do you provide consistent quality?"
Of course they're going to say yes.
"How do you make sure my tenth cleaning is as good as my first?"
Now listen to the answer.
I'm listening for what they actually do to keep the cleaning consistently good.
- Training
- Notes about your home
- Regular feedback
- Quality checks
Some way of making sure the cleaner is still looking at your home, not just going through the motions. Something besides "I'm a great cleaner."
Because a promise isn't a system.
Getting really good at something takes focus. Staying really good at it takes systems.
Jennifer's Take
I'm a big believer in being really good at one thing.
If I'm hiring someone to clean my carpets, I want the carpet person. If I need my windows washed, give me the window person.
And if I'm hiring someone to care for my home every other week, I want someone who lives and breathes house cleaning.
Can one business do all of those things? Absolutely.
But there's a difference between offering a service and specializing in it.
Your first cleaning tells you whether someone can clean your house.
Your tenth tells you whether they've built what they do around consistently caring for it.
You're buying the part where YOU don't have to do it.
Yes, you want a clean house. Obviously. 😂
But if all you wanted was a clean house, you could clean it yourself.
You're hiring someone because you don't want to have to.
You know when you're standing in the shower, letting the conditioner soak into your hair, and you notice that ring starting around the bottom?
So you grab something and start scrubbing.
Then you notice the grout.
Then the buildup around the faucet.
And now you're scrubbing your shower, naked, with conditioner in your hair. 😂
You weren't cleaning the house.
You were trying to take a shower.
That's the part nobody really talks about.
Cleaning isn't just doing the cleaning. It's noticing what needs to be done. Thinking about it. Knowing it's still waiting for you.
A great cleaning service takes that off your plate too.
You get to walk through the front door and think:
It's already done.
And for the love of all things clean…you get to just take a shower. 😂
Jennifer's Take
A great cleaning service doesn't just give you a clean shower.
It lets you take a shower without cleaning it.
That's the whole point.
A clean house shouldn't be the best thing about your cleaning service.
Getting to enjoy it should be.
So…what now?
Now you know a few things most people don't know to ask before hiring a cleaner.
Whether you hire GreenTree, another cleaning service, or that amazing cleaner your neighbor has had for 15 years, I hope you find someone who makes your life easier.
And if what I've described throughout this guide sounds a whole lot like the kind of cleaning service you're looking for…
Well, that's exactly why we built GreenTree the way we did. 💗
Jennifer Murphy
Founder, GreenTree Cleaning Services
Ready to get cleaning off your plate?
Build Your CleaningBecause every home deserves a happily ever after.
