Do you think it's normal/common to feel like you do a better, more thorough job than them? That that's just the nature of the beast? (Basically, that you as the homeowner have more time and incentive to put some elbow grease in and really get at the nitty gritty details).
Or do you feel like they as the professions do a better job?
Because I'm an obsessive compulsive freak, I'm cleaning my house right now even though they are due to come tomorrow. They clean my house every week. It should not be this dirty. But I always have this problem. I've had three different people over the years. They always start out great and then complacency sets in and it goes downhill. Normal? To be expected?
Both cleaning ladies that I had were like that. Started out awesome and then sort of slacked until it was pointless to have them come.
Now I have a service. What they do is very specific according to their list so it's not as extensive as the independent cleaning ladies BUT what they do is done very, very well every single time. They do not do things like clean my baseboards and windows unless I schedule the more extensive clean. I try to do that a few times a year. I have the same crew each time and the crew leader is awesome and super particular and funny as hell.
We have a cleaning service and I feel like they do a terrible job at some things. Bad enough that we might stop using them. They "mop" the floors, but often leave anything dried on still there. They don't clean under things very well. Unfortunately, the main reason we hired people in the first place is we hadn't been cleaning much at all, so I won't say that we were doing a better job before. But when we do clean it ourselves, we're more thorough.
Post by UnderProtest on Sept 2, 2014 9:20:17 GMT -5
Oh so much cleaner than I could do. My cleaning lady in the States cleaned things I didn't even know were dirty. She would clean under the cushions of the couch and even move the sectional couch to clean under it. There is no way I could or would do that.
The first is why I was so hesitant to hire someone, tbh. I'm chiming in to follow and see if my fears are warranted.
I got a few quotes and couldn't wrap my brain around paying a few hundred dollars to someone else to do something I know I'm pretty particular about. Plus, I need stuff put away and organized, not just piled up and cleaned around.
What I ended up doing was hiring a teenager to be a mothers helper this summer. She would come and play with the kids for a few hours every other week or so and then I could throughly scrub the shower just the way I like it lol. I don't despise cleaning though. The reason we were looking for someone to come clean is because I just couldn't get to it with three kids around, not because I hate doing it.
We have a cleaning lady specifically because she absolutely does a better job than we do! At least on the bathrooms and kitchen... plus the time it would take to do what she does? No thank you.
The woman who cleans for us is pretty darned thorough, and much faster than I am. My only complaint is that in her mad rush to organize, she seems to throw things in places where they make no sense. It usually takes us forever to find something or a phone call to her to ask where an item ended up. This is minor considering how much time she saves me overall.
She is much better than we are. I'm not naturally inclined towards cleanliness though. Now that our house looks so good I'm much better at keeping it picked up so it's worked out well for us.
Post by Velar Fricative on Sept 2, 2014 9:24:17 GMT -5
Our current person is not the best we've ever had but she's good. I do think I do a better job but since I don't want to clean, I'd rather go for the good (not great) job that I don't have to do lol.
I'm sure she'd be better if she stayed longer each time but we like to stick to a certain amount of hours each time.
ETA: When I was in college I did use to clean some houses for extra money so I am good at deep cleaning when I have all the time in the world to do it.
Post by spanikopita on Sept 2, 2014 9:24:19 GMT -5
I felt like that at first. then I realized I had a bad cleaning service. I found one my neighbor recommended, and they are awesome, better than I could do.
We run into this problem with any type of service work. We once hired someone (with good references!) to tile our bathroom, which is not difficult right? Just time consuming. It's detail work. You have to pay attention and be careful. Well, the tile and grout were so bad (crooked, scratched, grout splotches here and there) that we eventually just paid them to go away and DH ripped out what they did and replaced it himself.
I have a hard time figuring out if our standards are too high or we've just been unlucky so far in who we've come across and hired.
Post by starburst604 on Sept 2, 2014 9:38:29 GMT -5
I've had cleaning services where they miss certain things that I wouldn't have, but overall I always feel they do a better job than I do. I hate cleaning.
We run into this problem with any type of service work. We once hired someone (with good references!) to tile our bathroom, which is not difficult right? Just time consuming. It's detail work. You have to pay attention and be careful. Well, the tile and grout were so bad (crooked, scratched, grout splotches here and there) that we eventually just paid them to go away and DH ripped out what they did and replaced it himself.
I have a hard time figuring out if our standards are too high or we've just been unlucky so far in who we've come across and hired.
We have the same problem. Much of the work we've had hired done has not been up to my standards, and I don't think it's expecting too much to have level light switches (this happened to us) and undamaged tiles. With the house cleaners, they clean the bathrooms okay, which is half the reason we hired them, but they don't scrub spit-up and food off the floors, which is the other half of the reason we hired them.
Honestly I have a cleaning lady and she is kinda lame. It's clean " enough" and I am NOT a clean freak so it doesn't bother me, I just want to not HAVE to do anything other than a quick pick up and vacuum here and there.
I hired a cleaning service because I hate cleaning and just wouldn't do it. I am more than happy to never mop the floor or clean the toilets. My standards are probably a bit low, but ours does a way better job than I would.
Post by leonard131 on Sept 2, 2014 10:06:51 GMT -5
Our is OK. I look at this way. I don't have to spend as much time cleaning becuase they come. I can do maintenance. But there are times I go behind them have to redo stuff. I hate doing the the toliet and showers and mopping so to me that is what I am paying them for.
Post by runblondie26 on Sept 2, 2014 10:14:33 GMT -5
We had one for a few months while I was pregnant. It was great, since bending over to do things like scrub the tub was nearly impossible. However, I like things done a certain way and think I'm more thorough.
Post by imojoebunny on Sept 2, 2014 10:15:00 GMT -5
I have had good luck with pointing out things they missed hat I noticed. I don't have to every time, but last time, they did not get under the sofas. We don't have carpet, so that is where dirt goes. Next time, I am going to ask them to be sure to clean under the rugs in the kids room.
I am a better cleaner than the housekeepers. No doubt about that, but I don't want to spend my time doing that on top of the daily cleaning I do. I cleaned our cabin top to bottom yesterday, and it took me 3.5 hours. I don't want to come home and have to do it here too, where it would take even longer, since it is a bigger house with more stuff.
Post by quickstepstar on Sept 2, 2014 12:04:37 GMT -5
Homeowner who hates house cleaning signing it Yeah my cleaning lady is awesome. No way would I clean as well as she does. I never clean (getting someone to do it is always my #1 priority when moving into a new area! ), but if I do, it is pretty much contained to kitchen table, toilets, and... well no that's it. After that I am like -- this is overrated! let's go do something else! my cleaning lady -- I have had her for a year, and the house looks amazing after she is done!
I am not (AT ALL) a good housekeeper, and even the most mediocre of cleaning professionals would do a much more thorough job than I would.
And let's not even get started on my DH who grew up with a full-time housekeeper.
We have many strengths, but deep cleaning is not one of them. All of that to say, I am considering switching services because my MIL (who was here for almost 3 months) found a lot of fault with our current cleaning lady.
I notice details so when I had regular cleans, I did have this issue. Now I only have them come 2-4 times a year for a deep clean....but I just had it last week & while they do an awesome job, it was $624.
I could do a better job if I had hours to clean this house. I use a service and they send 2 people every other week, it takes them 90 minutes and it's clean and I'm good with it. I hadn't cleaned our jacuzzi tub in our master for 2 months.