Cleaning person expectations

[Bernadine]

Do you expect your cleaning person to clean the following areas, without specifically asking them to?

Baseboards
Large mirrors above dressers and sofa
Glass on French doors
Pictures hanging on the wall

[hbomdiggity]

It depends on how often they come. My housekeeper comes every week and the only item I would expect to be cleaned every week is the glass doors. She rotates the more "deep clean" items like baseboards every month or so.

[hw77]

YES! I would definitely expect that

Timely post as I am very much struggling with "are my own expectations too high"? I finally hired cleaners thru a local company and am struggling with the fact that they dont try and send the same team each time and its always someone new to they just seem to surface clean and not "deep" clean. Despite initial instructions that are included in my file to focus on the kitchen and really clean the cabinets b/c my kids have grimy hands and throw food sometimes they dont...

Only annoyed b/c I spent so much time figuring out who to hire this time after trying an individual cleaner back in 2015 that didnt work out... so are my expectations too high?

[jenny1980]

I wouldn't expect any particular service--that should be negotiated upon hire IMO.

ETA: we pay our cleaning person by the hour and she knows the priority of tasks. Sometimes she can get through it all and other times she does the deep cleaning and things like organizing the girls' rooms get skipped. 

[Deleted]

Like jenny1980, these things should be discussed upon hire. If I remember correctly, mine for example, only does baseboards every other time they come and we discussed that when I was negotiating price.

[Deleted]

Apr 11, 2018 11:31:41 GMT -5 hw77 said:

YES! I would definitely expect that

Timely post as I am very much struggling with "are my own expectations too high"? I finally hired cleaners thru a local company and am struggling with the fact that they dont try and send the same team each time and its always someone new to they just seem to surface clean and not "deep" clean. Despite initial instructions that are included in my file to focus on the kitchen and really clean the cabinets b/c my kids have grimy hands and throw food sometimes they dont...

Only annoyed b/c I spent so much time figuring out who to hire this time after trying an individual cleaner back in 2015 that didnt work out... so are my expectations too high?

If you discussed specifics of what should be done each time, and she is not doing them, then I'd look for a new cleaner.  It has nothing to do with expectations, everything to do with them doing what they agreed to do for the rate you are paying.

[janegold]

Apr 11, 2018 11:31:41 GMT -5 hw77 said:

YES! I would definitely expect that

Timely post as I am very much struggling with "are my own expectations too high"? I finally hired cleaners thru a local company and am struggling with the fact that they dont try and send the same team each time and its always someone new to they just seem to surface clean and not "deep" clean. Despite initial instructions that are included in my file to focus on the kitchen and really clean the cabinets b/c my kids have grimy hands and throw food sometimes they dont...

Only annoyed b/c I spent so much time figuring out who to hire this time after trying an individual cleaner back in 2015 that didnt work out... so are my expectations too high?

I think it’s pretty common to have different cleaners each time if you use a service. It’s one of the reasons we switched to an independent housekeeper.

Also, regular cleanings typically aren’t deep cleanings, and a deep cleaning usually costs more, in my experience. That being said, if your cabinets are dirty after the cleaners leave, I think you would be justified in saying something - wiping down cabinets doesn’t seem to be outside the scope of reasonable regular cleaning to me.

[starburst604]

I think expectations have to be discussed, but yes I would expect that a cleaner who comes regularly is going to do those things at some point, even if it's not every visit. If it's going to be a one-time service, I'd want to discuss what needs to be done. When my cleaners came once a month they did all of that, really just cleaned everything I could think of. They even line up my shoes nicely in the closet and do fancy folds on our tissues, hand towels and throw blankets. We just started doing bi-weekly cleanings and we specifically discussed that I didn't need her to do all of that at each cleaning, because we want it to stay affordable for us. So I think now she'll do like half the things you mentioned at one visit, and do the rest at the next. Which is fine, I don't need baseboards cleaned or ceiling fans dusted more than monthly. It still looks immaculate when she's done.

[Alps79]

Apr 11, 2018 11:30:27 GMT -5 hbomdiggity said:

It depends on how often they come. My housekeeper comes every week and the only item I would expect to be cleaned every week is the glass doors. She rotates the more "deep clean" items like baseboards every month or so.

ditto. How often does she come? 

[mccallister84]

Is it a service like Merry maids or something like that? I ask because you mentioned a different crew coming.

IMO chain services have a specific checklist they follow. You can get additional services for an additional fee, like they would clean the oven (inside) for an extra $10 or something but they didn’t do deep cleaning services on a normal visit.

[ssmjlm]

Baseboards - are we talking more than vacuuming them? I would only assume they would be wiped down if was requested.

Large mirrors above dressers and sofa - yes every cleaning

Glass on French doors - only if windows were part of the cleaning as discussed, otherwise I would assume they would fall under a "deep" cleaning

Pictures hanging on the wall - more than dusting? I don't clean the glass on pictures that often, but maybe I'm not the norm?

[hw77]

i understand, just when they check off the boxes on their list, all of these items are on there. So are my expectations too much for regular cleans ? I mean I guess they wipe the cabinets but do they really scrub around the handle ? maybe not as much as I would if I was doing it... I do think my expectations are too high. I wanted to maintain the work they did not have them main the "deep clean" I do... which I dont have time to do and therefore end of doing in stages.

I mean the best part of cleaners is that for 5 -6 hrs before the kids get home its nice and tidy!

[bugandbibs]

We have an independent cleaner who comes every other week for 2 hours. We have a 1400 sq ft, 3 bed, 2 bath home with an additional playroom.

I expect a deep clean of the bathrooms and kitchens every week. All windows (including the inside/outside of our patio slider) cleaned, all mirrors cleaned, floors vacuumed and mopped, tops of picture frames and doorways dusted, light switches and door handles wiped down, all flat surfaces cleaned, surface clean baseboards, and spot cleaning as needed. We do our part by clearing as much clutter away before she comes and making sure things aren't in her way.

Other things I ask her to do as times allows: vacuum furniture, wipe down doors, deep clean base boards, clean tvs.

[eddy]

I have found that with cleaning staff you have to be pretty specific. Some things I have expected, they didn’t do. And then they do stuff I wouldn’t expect.

[Bernadine]

This is all good to know. I did like her, she did a good job with what she did clean, and her price for monthly cleanings is really good. I will just ask her to add the mirrors and dusting picture frames.

[eb777888]

Apr 11, 2018 11:24:45 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

Do you expect your cleaning person to clean the following areas, without specifically asking them to?

Baseboards
Large mirrors above dressers and sofa
Glass on French doors
Pictures hanging on the wall

I definitely agree that you need to just tell them what's important to you. I have an independent cleaner and when she came for a consultation, I did specifically ask about the baseboards. That wasn't included and she charges an extra $10 for that, which I found reasonable. She also doesn't like to do any dishes at all, and if there are dishes, it's an extra $10. Good to know!

We never went over it, but she cleans- as I assumed she would, all mirrors. 

I wouldn't expect pictures on the wall or the french doors. I would definitely bring that up if it's important to you. For me, the baseboards are something I specifically want cleaned every week so I brought it up. I was delighted to learn she is obsessed with defrosting my freezer and deep cleaning my oven. I told her it wasn't important to me but I think it bugs her, lol. I swear it's not even dirty! I may use it only once that week and she still deep cleans it! Same with my freezer. I'd rather her do the few dishes in the sink than concentrate on my oven but, whatever! lol.  When my sister, who is a total neat freak, visited last November she was like "damn! I've never seen an oven that clean!" llllol. Anyway, I'm glad we discussed it all from the beginning. It does make it much easier.