Another s/o Housekeepers

welly01 · May 2014

Is yours a legit company or just someone who does it individually? I'm considering getting one (since so many WMs RAVE about them, lol!) and when you ask for recommendations in my area, you get a lot of people pointing you to individuals. I think I'd be more comfortable with a company for liability, ins, etc. But I was just wondering what the norm is for most people.

Also, I know most people are not home when they clean and they have their own key, but were you home at least the first couple of times they came? I just don't know how to get from "hi, nice to meet you" to "here's a key to my house".

jf198400 · May 2014

We use a private husband and wife team. They were recommended by our next door neighbor who has used them for several years, and they had been recommended by several of her friends. We have not had any problems with them, other than 1 or 2 last minute requests to change days, which is hard for us b/c we have to get the dog out of the house.

A friend of mine was using a company, with several different people coming to her house week to week. An expensive makeup set went "missing". Now the owner of the company did reimburse her for it, but after that she was no longer comfortable using them.

It is hard to trust people in your house. My mom was here with the kids for the first few months that we had cleaners. But then we switched to FT DC and no one is home now. We just leave a key under the mat.

dashofreality · May 2014

I have it easy I WFH and we don't have her clean our FROG which is where my office is.

Amelia4 · May 2014

I use a husband/wife team that sometimes has other helpers. They work together so are in and out in less than 2 hours. They came recommended by friends so I just gave her a key from the start. I find they are cheaper and do a better job than companies, and she's licensed and insured, so I feel covered there.

KayteeGee · May 2014

I use a private woman, I found her through friends who I trusted. I actually feel better knowing this is her livelihood - not just "a job." And I like that it's always her and her assistant - never the "team of the day"

SunAndRain · May 2014

I go the private route. Our cleaning treats us like family and goes far above and beyond what a company cleaner would do. She takes initiative to do things that just need to be done like organizing our pantry.

mb314 · May 2014

A lot of the companies don't have the same person cleaning your house every time, so I prefer a small business or individual. I actually wasn't home when she first cleaned for us - I was supposed to be, but I went into labor and was in the hospital. It's all worked out fine. If you have recommendations, I would trust the person.

ss265 · May 2014

I use an individual who was recommended to me. We were very careful initially - always being home when she is there and paying with cash so that she wouldn't know our bank account information. At this point, she has been with us for more than a year and I know that she is trustworthy. However, we have a dog and I wouldn't want her to be crated while the cleaning folks are there and wouldn't want her running around and possibly getting out or getting into dangerous chemicals while they are there. So I still stay home every time they come and usually stay confined in our home office.

Mustardseed2007 · May 2014

I have a husband and wife team that was recommended to me by several people I know. One of the recommendations mentioned that the housekeeper actually found a very expensive necklace that had been lost for months. She found it when she was cleaning behind the dresser. So...the fact that she was cleaning behind furniture and she found an item of jewelry that she could easily have taken without anyone realizing she'd done it was a great recommendation.

We were there the first visit bc the wife (who seems to really run things) actually said she needed to see our home and speak to us in person before she could give us a bid. She needed to see the size, layout etc. I thought that was also very wise of her. At the first visit she quoted us a price, then we gave her the keys and then she came back on a different day to clean. We normally aren't there when they are.

*sparky* · May 2014

We have used both. If you go with an individual just make sure they are bonded and insured. I like having a service because then if one person is sick someone else can come and you are not getting canceled on. When I used an individual she was cheaper but after a while I found she was just puttering around and not doing a lot of the real cleaning.

MrsKAT11 · May 2014

I use an individual. She worked for my mom for a couple years before I used her. She usually comes right before my husband leaves for work and locks up behind herself when she is done.

snicksnack · May 2014

I had a private person for years but she retired when her husband became ill. She was the mother-in-law of a family friend. When she left I wanted a company but a small one where I had the same people because I had dealt with a large on and the service was inconsistent. Not knowing the person I wanted the insurance policy, plus you don’t have to deal with paying under the table or taxes etc…Right now we are shopping around because she is too expensive. We moved and she is charging me 135 but wants to charge me 150 every two weeks. I can tell she is annoyed with me but she is spending the same about of time (2 hours on average) at my new house that she did my old house and while this house is more than double the size we are not having her do the whole house only the bathrooms, kitchen, family room. Hall/steps and our room. Everything else I easily handle. The larger homes she is comparing mine to she cleans the whole house. So I think it is time for us to move on. She would only spend on average 2.5 hours to clean my whole house so 150.00 still seems high to me when you break it down to an hourly rate and I have a feeling for the whole house she would be highter than 150.00.

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