house cleaner questions

[takeonyou]

So I interviewed a lot of companies but really they won't do what I want done. I want the kitchen and downstairs bathroom deep cleaned on every visit. The companies all say they rotate rooms each visit, so my kitchen and bathroom would only be deep cleaned every 10 weeks or so. I don't need my foyer/living room/kids bedrooms deep cleaned ever, so I feel like it s a waste to go with a company since they are pretty rigid in what they will/won't do. Also, they won't move my very light couches away from the walls to clean under them or pick up the area rugs to sweep/mop under them.

I've decided that an individual would be more suited to what I need done in my home, so I put an ad up on Care.com. I got a ton of responses, but I narrowed it down based on proximity, age, rate, etc.

What questions should I ask an individual? When the companies came out, they ran the show and I just had to point to which rooms I wanted cleaned. Is it risky to hire an individual with no insurance, etc. or am I being paranoid? I don't want to be sued if she get hurt here and I'm not sure how that would work come tax time. I've never done this before, so I just want to be sure I am doing it correctly. Any advice?

[ijack]

I think it's so weird they won't do what you want. You're paying them, WTF do they care what they clean?

[takeonyou]

Yeah, the whole thing struck me as odd. Like the one lady moved my couch and said, "This is over 20 pounds." I just kind of blinked and she said they can't move anything over 20 pounds. I'm not asking them to lift it above their heads and toss it across the room, but slide it a foot out from the walls on the hardwood floors and sweep/mop under and behind it. I felt like that was a reasonable expectation, but apparently not. 4 companies said no and one other said that would be an extra "manpower" charge each visit.

[Deleted]

My current cleaning lady is not insured or bonded. But she has been cleaning for a coworker for almost 10 yrs. So I trust her. She cleans what I want. (We dont use most of the rooms in our house). My issue with her is that she does not clean anything at all well.

[ECB]

I do agree that asking them to move furniture does push it into the "deep cleaning" area. But that begs the question - what does "deep cleaning" of rooms like living rooms and bedrooms mean if they don't move furniture?

For individuals, I would ask for references. And actually - that's where I'd start. Ask neighbors if they use someone and would they mind sharing the name. A cleaner may LOVE to be able to come to 2 houses in the same neighborhood o nthe same day and knock them out.

That's how we found our lady - from a friend.

[pamela]

My cleaning lady isn't insured or bonded. She just comes with a ton of coworker recs. In the interview, ask what things they typically do first. Then present your needs. Don't be surprised if they won't move couches, but they may have a vacuum that can reach under them. And be sure to discuss what your idea of a deep clean is and how long they believe it will take to do it. Also ask how often she finds herself needing to change the schedule (for example on our normal cleaning day, she's always there, but may need to switch morning for afternoon, but right now we're needing a temporary switch to Friday and she has occasional commitments that day and may need to reschedule is occasionally).

[gt7301b]

What are they doing then? I mean I don't ask my house cleaner to deep clean my fridge every time she come, but she cleans my kitchen every time she comes.

We got our cleaning lady from the recommendation of a relative who had used her for several years. She is awesome, like if I had to pick between her and DH he might have to go.