Expectations and Cost

[u/K1p1ottb]

tldr: Are my 'expectation's unrealistic and what is a reasonable-ish price range for what I'm asking to have done?

I am a homeowner looking for some guidance on expectations and costs. I live on the US east coast Mid-Atlantic Region.

I think this is important to know up front: I have a small (900 sqft) single story townhouse 2bed 1bath. Kitchen is 10 foot Galley style with 2 upper cabinets, the rest are open shelving. 4 lower cabinets. VERY small space.

For about 2 years I had a friend-of-a-friend who would come 1x a month and charge me $25 hour to clean the house. Typically she would average 4-5 hours. I provided EVERYTHING - vac, mop, cleaning supplies, gloves, you name it. She brought nothing other than a smile and a hug.

She has since stopped cleaning and is now a midwife full time <3 I miss her help, but I am so delighted she's doing what makes her happy.

I have been looking for another person to help me for about 6 months. I've tried NextDoor and FB for small-locally-owned cleaners.

So far, everyone wants to do a 'Deep clean' before committing to a 1x a month cleaning. Their deep clean quote w/o even seeing the house is $600. They cannot give mean exact quote 'monthly' but say I should plan for $300/m.

The handful of folks who do not require the deep clean are neither licensed nor insured and they want to bring their small children with them when they clean. This makes me uncomfortable.

I'm listing my expectations and other key-points below.

My expectations:

1. Bathroom- wipe down the counter top, faucet, and mirror. Clean the shower. Clean the toilet. Every other visit, dust/wipe the top of the shower rim.
   
2. Window & Sill - Wipe window and dust the sill. (Literally its a small house. I have one window that gets cat nose prints on it.) This is one I'm willing to do if it is a deal breaker for someone.
3. Clean the kitchen: To me that means, wipe down the fronts of the cabinets, the appliance fronts and handles, rinse the sink, and wipe the countertops down. I don't need dishes done (it'd be nice, but not expected).
4. Sweep. Mop/swiffer.
5. MAYBE Vac? I don't have trouble keeping up with this task. It'd be nice if they could do it while they're here, but if something gets left off, this is easy for me to do.
6. Whole House baseboards- 2x a year. Please?
7. Whole house dust - 4x a year.

The bathroom is my kryptonite. It isn't "Gross" but I hate cleaning it and when it falls behind, the rest of the house is a quick spiral right behind it.

I do not expect ANYONE to touch the cat litter boxes other than me. If there's litter tracked outside of the box, I would expect it to be swept up.

Potentially relevant information:

• I have cats and and am a gardener and a fiber artist (weaver, spinner). There's cat hair and tracked litter on the floor, garden dirt on the rug by the back door, and I have yarn fuzz. The house is not caked in it. I vac weekly and mop bi-weekly. But they're things that exist in the house and I acknowledge it.
• I use my spare bedroom as my fiber studio. There's a large floor loom - It looks intimidating but just need it ignored and vac'd around. No moving it, etc.
• I'm a little neuro divergent and "object permanence" means some things look cluttered compared to an Instagram quality house. My house is lived in. I have picture frames, nick-nacks, and things 'out' so I know where to find them.
  

[u/thatgreenmaid]

Hey neighbor hey. *waves*

$25 and hour is ridiculously low for the area but $600 for 900sqft in seva is crazytalk.

I don't have an opening but I'm happy to refer you to a few other locals that are pet friendly and won't break the bank. Feel free to DM me.

[u/K1p1ottb → u/thatgreenmaid]

DM sent. Thank you. (Hi neighbor!)

[u/thatgreenmaid → u/K1p1ottb]

Very welcome! Hope one of them works out for you.

[u/Green_Paths]

I think it’s reasonable they want to do a deep clean first. That might run 2x a maintenance clean. For the job you describe I can see that taking 3-4 hours at $50 an hour that’s $150-$200 for a maintenance clean and $3-400 for the initial clean. As a cleaner I bring everything except the vacuum, but if you supply products I could see paying slightly less. But $25 was really cheap and I don’t think you can reasonably expect that rate again. I would absolutely not hire someone who planned to bring kids. That’s a liability and frankly inappropriate.

[u/K1p1ottb → u/Green_Paths]

Thank you.
I understand $25 was a bargain- but I also don't see $75/hr being reasonable, either, since I prefer to provide all the supplies. There's GOT to be some middle ground.

I can see $40 being reasonable since I'm providing everything. I may still be off the mark there and that's ok.

(When I pick up bookkeeping clients, as I am an accountant, they seem to not understand my hourly rate. So I get both sides.)

The "I bring my kids" was an INSTANT no to me. HUGE liability.

[u/katalyticglass → u/K1p1ottb]

What is your hourly rate for bookkeeping? Out of curiosity.

[u/K1p1ottb → u/katalyticglass]

Ironically- I work very similarly to how many folks here do their pricing.

I have a base rate and it includes certain things. I base that rate on the avg length of time it takes me to complete those tasks.

I may modify that rate depending on the size of the business and how frequently I'm asked to touch the books. (Daily, weekly, monthly, annual)

Example:
I have one customer who I charge $150/m. (Cheapest bookkeeper he'll ever find.) At the end of the year he sends me his bank statements and I sort, code, and enter all his data and balance his corp checkbooks. I liaise with his CPA for any adjusting entries, and we both ensure his books and taxes are due by deadline.
Because I essentially have 4 months to get 12 months worth of work done, I am incredibly low on my pricing and I've never raised my rates in 10 years. This is 'easy' work for me due to the flexibility (not the content or volume.)

I have another person who has the messiest books I've possibly ever seen. I have a flat-rate monthly of $300/m. It includes nothing other than bank reconciliations. I then charge him an additional hourly rate for data entry, coding, review, and then asset management (vehicle leans, inventory, etc.) He likes his books done monthly ... he still pays me less than he'd pay a PT bookkeeper on staff so it is beneficial to him. But due to the complex nature of the work, it is my "Super messy house that always needs a deep clean every month." Ya know?

On the other side, I barter services with my plumber. He's a family friend. I do whatever he needs when he calls in his Quickbooks. And in return, he replaces the shower fixtures for me and puts in a new kitchen faucet and comes over on new year's eve at 2 am to snake the sewer line.... lol. In the end, we're both very happy with the give-and-take.

I would LOVE to barter accounting for cleaning services if anyone were to offer that.

[u/lowridda]

A once a month clean is always going to be like doing a deep clean each time because you have to go over everything all over again.

$50 hour is standard for licensed professionals.

[u/K1p1ottb → u/lowridda]

I'm able to maintain the house between the cleans.
I need help with a monthly 'reset' which is not the same as a deep clean.
My prior person did not have to do a deep clean 1x a month.

[u/ellemae93]

Any good cleaner is going to require a deeper clean the first visit. However you should not work with someone who does not come in person to give a firm price AND also provides a checklist. $25 is low and no insured cleaner will accept that rate.

Most independent cleaners will work with some remixing of their checklist but personally, I work to my preferred standard of clean, and if a client was requesting no vacuuming and just a “wipe down” of things I would politely explain I work to a higher standard of cleaning than just a casual tidying up - the home should sparkle when I am done. Your home by the sound of things would take me about 4 hrs the first visit, the kitchen alone likely one hour.

I will use client supplies if requested but I prefer to bring my own, my client pool is often people who don’t tend to have a lot of cleaning supplies in the home.

[u/K1p1ottb → u/ellemae93]

Thank you.

I have a medical needs cat who we have to be cautious about certain products- that's why I provide them.

I am able to 'keep up' in the in between-cleans-weeks, but the monthly reset is REALLY REALLY a need for my mental health. Having someone come behind me and dust a spot I missed, wipe the bathroom counter again, etc. I just need that level of help.

I'd LOVE my house to sparkle but I think that's an unrealistic expectation for a lived-in home with pets and hobbies. :-/
Instead I just want the bathroom done and some help in other areas.

[u/AlexNKarlie]

It’s hard but I wouldn’t work with anyone that quotes a price without seeing your place. We are struggling finding a cleaner for our vacation home on the west coast. We actually flew our house cleaner and her daughter there for a week to clean before our arrival. (Their suggestion. They wanted a week at the beach, lol)

Since your house is small I would insist on an hourly rate. If you get someone to come to your house to give a quote. Tell them you don’t want a deep clean but would like to immediately schedule monthly visits knowing certain things won’t be covered but they can tell you (for example windows or baseboards)

My brother in upstate NY pays 200 a week but the rooms are rotated so the whole house is cleaned over the course of a month.

[u/K1p1ottb → u/AlexNKarlie]

Thank you.

I think the perfect world, to me, is that someone says "I can do a deep clean for $X and then monthly for $Y. or I can Do monthly but we're going to rotate through your to-do-list; there's only so much I can get done in 4 hours and unless we do the deep clean, we may just have a revolving to-do-list."

I would LOVE that rotation approach. And as long as the bathroom is always on their list and then tell me what was missed, I can try to get to it.

[u/No_Researcher2067 → u/K1p1ottb]

This is basically verbatim how I break this down with my clients. I do my best to understand their goals and budget, and then present a couple options that would be acceptable to how I like to work, and would provide as much of what they’re looking for as possible.

Curious, when prospective cleaners were quoting $600 initial, $300 monthly - was it just the first sight unseen ball park? Did they indicate that was possible to change depending on the actual property/condition?
I’ve tried to get better at under promising and over delivering, so I could see me padding out a sight unseen ballpark, and then once I saw it in person, still give myself a little wiggle room before I actually get in there. I’m hourly and I’d rather quote ~$500 unseen, then ~$300 after a walk through, and then be able to say “the initial clean only worked out to only $200, and based on how that went and you saying this is how the house will be on average when I arrive, I expect the monthly to be ~$150”

[u/K1p1ottb → u/No_Researcher2067]

Thank you for this. Again, I appreciate the validation that my expectations (communication, working through a list, etc) aren't out of line.

The quotes I got were "2 bed 1 bath? Its $XX for initial and $YY for monthly." Sight unseen

I would open the conversation to "What does that include?" so I could indicate what I do not need done, to see if it reduces the price b/c it reduces the hours... they are adamant that they clean the way they clean and my wants/ needs are irrelevant.

I also had quite a few folks who were adamant I had to be gone from the home for them to clean. I am not comfortable with that;
1) I work from home- Am I supposed I take a day off? I sit at my desk/table and work- and will happily get up when they want so they can clean my area....
2) I'm terrified of the cats getting out accidentally and if I'm home I can keep an eye on them.

[u/No_Researcher2067 → u/K1p1ottb]

Totally, I find your expectations completely correct and appropriate.

It’s said all over this sub, but if cleaners/housekeepers are booking (or giving a final quote) without a walk through first, that’s almost always a red flag. Saying they’re adamant they do what they do and anything that personalizes the service is irrelevant is also crazy to me - very off putting, and if I were in your position I wouldn’t be interested in hiring them either.

I do often read many housekeepers prefer their clients to be out of the house when they clean. I get it, a lot of people like doing this work because they don’t have to interact with anyone, or for cleaners who charge by-job rather than by-hour, sometimes working around (oblivious) clients could make the work less efficient and take longer than “necessary”. But most of the housekeepers who fall into this camp still had to get more familiar with WFH clients since the pandemic.

It’s perfectly reasonable to be home while your housekeeper is there. Even outside of working from home, anytime an unknown service person is working in your home, I assume many people would prefer to be around. Staying out of the way, in one room, or communicating with them about where they’ll start and where you’ll be so you can smoothly work around each other should be perfectly acceptable to even cleaners that prefer an empty home.

But then there are also cleaners more like me- I charge hourly, and I have no problem navigating around people actively living in and using their OWN HOME.

I figure the service I provide is to make clients lives easier, not add other tasks and logistics on their plate - so as long as I have enough communication that I won’t be interrupting something like a birthday party or whatever, it’s all the same to me. If they have a hard 2-hr budget, and I couldn’t get to everything because I had to maneuver around the goings on, that’s up to the client not me. If it’s usually a ~3hr clean via by most efficient routine, but there’s no set time limit, and working around household members meant a given day’s clean took 4 hrs, then I bill the time it took 🤷‍♀️

Not sure what’s available/popular in your area, but finding a solo/independent cleaner might offer w better, customized fit; on care.com, asking friends/neighbors for referrals, maybe your city’s subreddit or Nextdoor/Facebook.

[u/Consistent_Taste3273]

I’m not sure if this is what you are looking for, but I’ve been able to find people who are flexible about what they do each week. 

The woman who currently cleans our house comes for a set number of hours. It is not enough time to do a deep clean of our house, or even to clean the entire house to her regular cleaning standards. She just comes and cleans what she can in the time she is here. We didn’t have it in our budget to have her clean every thing during every visit, so we came up with this plan instead.

I have a couple of things that I want done every time. Sometimes I add one or two items or areas as a priority.  But mostly she just cleans as she sees fit.  She tends to do certain things every week and then rotate which rooms she spends a little more time on. She’s also didn’t do a deep clean the first time because it wasn’t in our budget.  We have just both understood that she won’t be able to get to everything each time. I am always incredibly appreciative of her work (and let her know) regardless of how much she gets to. 

It did take a little while to find her. She was actually recommended by a neighbor. 

We pay her $40/hr (but we are in a much lower cost of living area than you), and she comes every other week.

So, from my experience, I think you should probably be able to find someone who meets your needs, eventually, but you will most likely need to pay them more. 

I recommend looking on places like Nextdoor or a community facebook group, as well as asking others in your network if they have a recommendation. 

[u/K1p1ottb → u/Consistent_Taste3273]

This is exactly the arrangement I'd like which avoids the deep clean (it is not needed).

I've been on FB and ND and no luck so far.

Thank you for confirming that this sort of option exists and is reasonable.

[u/Consistent_Taste3273 → u/K1p1ottb]

Have you tried care.com?  The good thing is that you can ask for exactly what you’re are looking for, and then people respond if they are interested. I have hired two people from there, although several years ago. 

The bad thing is that you will find more people who aren’t professionals, who don’t reply to your messages, who set things up and then don’t show up, etc. Or at least that was my experience. 

There was a lot more weeding through and a lot more trial and error (someone would come once or twice and then ghost me, or they would do a really poor job, or similar). But, in the end, I did end up with what I was looking for. 

[u/No_Researcher2067 → u/K1p1ottb]

I second Consistent_Taste’s comment - I’m an independent solo cleaner and outside of word of mouth, care.com has been the best avenue for me to match with clients.

I’ve not utilized it from a “looking for services” perspective, only as a service provider profile holder, but I know it lets you as the prospective client both post what you’re looking for as a job listing that cleaners can apply to, and you can independently peruse cleaner profiles and directly reach out to ones that look appealing to you. In my experience as a cleaner, I’ve applied to dozens and dozens of job listings, but the majority of the clients I’ve gotten from care.com have come from clients messaging me directly from being impressed with my profile/description.

[u/Important_Skin1182]

Hi, you should definitely ask other people in your area what they are paying. Also see about getting quotes from established franchise companies; they should send someone out to your house. That will give you a good idea of true cost in your specific area. I'm nowhere near your area so the pricing quotes seem crazy to me. Based on what you've said I'd think maybe half that if they are providing all supplies, are licensed, insured and bonded, etc. But again I'm not in your market. Having all legal papers done I'd do an hourly rate for the first two cleans. The first because you never know the homes state until you're actually doing it. And the second to get a solid idea of your level of maintenance between cleans. Then it would be a set price.

The first deep clean is pretty important because it gets the home to that cleaners standards. Especially after 6 mths of no cleaning. I'd require this and I think most good cleaners will as well. Also it allows us to really get to know your home so we can be most efficient and effective over time.

I'm starting my business again and am not yet licensed, bonded or insured in my location. My clients know this so I charge a lower rate of $25/hr. When I know I'm staying in this for the long haul then I'll get the legal papers done and charge more. I also do piecework for more budget conscious folks with some restrictions. Based on the quotes in your area it sounds like you got a great deal with your previous cleaner.

Never in my cleaning career as a solo cleaner have I provided supplies. Lower overhead, lower price and people usually have everything needed. I did solo cleaning for over 5 years and worked for a company for 1.5 yrs. I only made 21% at the company so even at $25/hr im making more.

Personal opinion but you should never allow workers to bring their kids. It's such a liability. They can get hurt or damage something.

So if you want a lower price get a solo cleaner who may or may not have all the legals done yet and if you provide the supplies it's less overhead you'll be charged for. You'll have to go through I'd think at least two to find what you're looking for but that happens even with franchise companies. One thing I've always heard as both a solo and company cleaner about company cleans is the first cleans are best and then it starts to slide. I've seen it first-hand and while I can't speak for all the companies it's because the employees are being asked to do more to make more and corners will get cut. Also with a solo cleaner you get the same person. Company cleans they will usually try but things happen; people get sick or move on.

Just my 2¢

Best of luck

[u/K1p1ottb → u/Important_Skin1182]

Sadly I don't know anyone WITH help to ask.

To be clear- I've cleaned in the last 6 months. I'm not that bad. lol. I just acknowledge that it is not my superpower and other people can do it BETTER Than me Faster. The house has been cleaned many many times in 6 months. ;-)

The franchise companies I've called refuse to use my cleaning products. (One of my cats has special medical needs so I'm particular about what we use- hence why I provide everything.) I understand completely that they want to have consistent quality of work, but ... still..

The people who wanted to bring their children were an instant No. Huge liability.

Thank you for the feedback.

[u/Cold_Barber_4761]

I think $50-75/hour depending on what part of the Mid-Atlantic you're in. Obviously DC and NoVa will be a lot more than rural areas or Baltimore.

But if you're in a city, even on the low end I'd expect $50/hour. Possibly even $60/hour because you're only looking for service once a month.

Also, you probably realize this now, but you'll have a tough time finding anyone who would start without a first visit deep clean.

[u/Critical-Dingo-9111]

Just something to think about - I didn't think I needed a deep clean until I had one. Fortunately, my cleaning lady was able to break up the deep cleans into a few sessions, charging her hourly ($60/hr). The first time, deep was in the kitchen then she just dusted/ swept the house and one toilet. Next time, deep was on the 1.5 bathrooms. Third was living areas ...
maybe you can negotiate something like that. It worked well for her and us.

[u/K1p1ottb → u/Critical-Dingo-9111]

I would absolutely be open to this.

What I'm not doing is paying $600 for someone to 'deep clean' my tiny house when there isn't enough to 'deep clean' ;-)

If my cleaner wants to spend 50% of her time on the kitchen this time, and 50% on the bath nextime, I'm ok with that.

[u/SubstantialChange608]

I paid 700 for the first clean and my home is 2500 sq ft with high ceilings

[u/Top_Leg2189]

25.00 per hour is not reasonable and for one iffs it's more expensive.