What to Look For In a House Cleaner: Everything You Need to Know
Finding a meticulous, trustworthy cleaning lady that gets the job done is more challenging than it sounds. At the end of the day, hiring a house cleaner or cleaning service means giving a stranger access to your home, trusting them with your belongings, and hoping they leave your residence nothing less than sparkling clean.
At Apartment Cleaning Seattle, we understand the importance of finding an exemplary house cleaning service for your needs and expectations. Below, we have prepared a comprehensive guide to help you make an informed decision that will improve your life.
What to Look for When Hiring a Cleaning Service?
When it comes to cleaning services in any city, the competition is abundant. So, to find a reliable company for your needs, keep the following seven factors in mind.
Experience, Accreditations, and Affiliations
Look for a cleaning company that has been in business for a significant amount of time. It should also hold relevant accreditations, awards, and affiliations with professional organizations. Things like that help to reassure you as the client that the house cleaner can be trusted, is concerned about their reputation and is truly committed to offering exceptional service.
Referrals from Friends and Family
You can start your search by asking friends and family whether they can recommend a reliable cleaning service. Many companies can make themselves sound amazing on their websites, but nothing can beat the good old word-of-mouth recommendation.
Reasonable Online Reviews
Go for a house cleaning service with mainly good reviews on Google with, possibly, a few bad ones. At the end of the day, no one is perfect, and having a perfect 5/5 rating might mean that the company pays people to publish misleading 5-star reviews. Needless to say, it is also a good idea to stay away from any company with mostly horrible reviews.
Insurance, Bonding, and Worker’s Compensation
You don’t want to be responsible for damaged property, stolen items, or an injured worker. Ensure that the cleaning company has all the proper insurance, licensing, bonding, and worker’s compensation and will cover the costs associated with home damage, theft, or injury on your property.
Satisfaction Guarantee
A good cleaning company should stand behind its work and employees, offering an absolute satisfaction guarantee on its services. If you aren’t happy with the cleaning, it is reasonable to expect a touch-up, a discount, or a free cleaning in the future. Companies have different policies around the satisfaction guarantee, so be sure to know what to expect in advance.
A Written Contract
A cleaning lady or cleaning company can promise you everything you want to hear, but you must ensure they can confirm their promises in writing. A written contract is a smart way to protect you and the company from future misunderstandings.
Due Diligence
Before setting up your initial appointment with a professional cleaning service, do your homework. Review the company’s website. Take a close look at their FAQ section and About Us page to get a better understanding of what the company represents and what are their core beliefs, values, and ethics. Next, do web searches on the company name. This may bring up additional important information, such as old customer reviews.
Once you have a couple of companies in mind that you want to hire, it’s time to converse with each of them over the phone. Ask questions regarding both your particular circumstances and the cleaning company’s practice. Don’t know what to ask them? Here are a few questions you should absolutely ask.
Questions to Ask House Cleaning Services
Before finalizing your choice and hiring a house cleaner in Seattle, it is also a good idea to conduct a quick interview and ask the following questions.
Do You Work Alone or With a Company
It is crucial to understand whether you hiring an individual cleaner or a professional home cleaning team. Hiring a cleaning lady that works independently can mean lower rates. However, it can also mean that there are no backup cleaners available to cover in case she can’t make it for the cleaning.
All in all, it is recommended to work with a professional house cleaning company like Apartment Cleaning Seattle to make scheduling easy and ensure that your home is clean at all times.
Where Can I Find Your References
Another way to make sure that the cleaning company you are about to hire can be trusted is to examine their references from past customers. Some companies share customer references and reviews on their websites. In other cases, you might need to visit independent review websites like Google, Yelp, or Better Business Bureau.
How Do You Set Your Cleaning Rates
It is essential to understand how much you will be spending on cleaning on a regular basis. Some cleaning companies set their prices based on the time spent cleaning, while others choose to evaluate the size of your home instead. A local cleaning company may also require a more expensive deep cleaning before conducting regular home cleanings on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
Do You Bring Your Own Cleaning Supplies And Equipment
Some house cleaning companies in Seattle bring their own supplies and equipment, while others will ask you, the client, to provide them. Finding out upfront whose responsibility it is will help to avoid any misunderstandings in the future.
Do You Conduct Employee Background Checks
If you are hiring a cleaning company, you need to ensure they run background checks on their employees before giving them access to your home. For example, at Apartment Cleaning Seattle, we always make sure that our cleaners are trustworthy, with an excellent reputation and track record.
What Tasks Are Included In My Service
Your concept of how to clean a home may differ from the house cleaner’s idea of how to clean a home. Find out what services are included and whether the cleaning company of your choice follows a specific cleaning checklist. Some companies do it all and charge hourly, while others might ask you to pay extra for unique packages such as move-out cleaning.
Trust Your Home Cleaning to Apartment Cleaning Seattle
Without a doubt, finding the perfect cleaning company to trust your home with can be stressful and burdensome. Luckily, with these helpful tips to consider and questions to ask, hiring a house cleaner should be a breeze for you!
We would be happy to answer any and all of your questions to help you learn more about our services. By working with us, we will be able to reduce your stress, save you time, and improve the condition of your home and life. What’s not to love? Get in touch today.