cleaning service recommendations, Boston area?

September 3, 2017 10:56 PM

I need a new cleaning service. Snowflake-y details inside.

I'm partially disabled, my wife is the breadwinner, we have a ten-month old, and the cleaning is not getting done by us as often as anyone would like. It's time to throw some money at the problem.

We had a cleaning service for a while, but the price they charged was high enough that we could only afford to have them every six months, and it's a moot point anyway because their email address has stopped working. So we need new cleaners, and I don't actually know what a reasonable rate is around here? The last people were charging $350 (before tip) for our 1450 square feet. That feels high to me, but I grew up in the nineties in Ohio and have to assume that everything in this region will feel expensive from my point of view. If that's substantially higher than market rate, maybe there are good cleaners out there we could afford monthly, or every three weeks? I'd also just like to have a ballpark of what we ought to be paying.

Also, we have two elderly and medically fragile cats, so I want cleaners who aren't going to use any chemicals that mean we need to relocate the cats for the day.

Specific advice as to people and/or services to hire would be great, but I'd also, as I said, like some idea of what we ought to be paying, and how difficult it will be to find a service in this region that fits our needs. (If we were paying reasonable market rate, we will survive having professional cleaners every six months, as we have survived to this date, but in that circumstance I want to know that I'm going to have to grit my teeth and learn to look past the state of the house...)

Thanks!

posted by Rush-That-Speaks to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

How many hours were they there for the $350 and what did they do (deep clean, mop, light tidying or ?) That's critical to know in order to estimate a price. Usually if you have them come more often they charge less as they have less "deep cleaning" to do. The going rate for that is much higher.
posted by fshgrl at 12:11 AM on September 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Until very recently, we used The Maids for our 1100 sq ft, 2 bed, 1 bath, condo in Cambridge. When we got the initial quote from them (Sept 2016), these were the pricing/frequency options based on the size of our home:

First, deep cleaning: $160/hour, for 2-3 hours
Weekly thereafter: $162 per cleaning
Biweekly thereafter: $186 per cleaning
Monthly thereafter: $241 per cleaning

(We started out weekly and quickly changed to biweekly.)

We have a small dog, and everything they used was safe for animals. We also never had an issue with her getting out while they were there, etc.

Quality was good. Customer service was fantastic. Easy to deal with, they give you a call the day before each visit to reminder you and let you know what time the team would be arriving, quick responses to emails, etc.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:14 AM on September 4, 2017

Best answer: We use an independent family operation, but before that we used Vida Verde co-op, which is a group of Brazilian cleaners. You call the co-op and they set you up with someone who works in your area. Once you get hooked up with a person, they are your cleaner and you deal with them directly, unless you have questions or concerns. Oh, and they make all their own cleaning products, so they're all natural.

We have 1600 SF, but we specifically only ask for the kitchen, bathroom, and living room to be handled, not the bedrooms. We pay $100 every other week. I suspect it would be $150 if we added the bedrooms.

I will say, I would definitely expect every 6 months to be much more expensive, because they have to start from a different baseline. The first clean with a new service is always much more expensive; I'd expect to pay 2-3x the biweekly rate for a first cleaning.

I'm in the Cambridge/Somerville area; let me know if you want contact info for my little local operation.
posted by gideonfrog at 6:59 AM on September 4, 2017

The Arlington email list discusses this topic and personal recommendations are not uncommon, the archives are searchable but I think one needs to sign up. (do go for digest mode ;-)
posted by sammyo at 7:12 AM on September 4, 2017

I'd get on NextDoor and ask around. You'll get an idea of which services people like and what the going rate is in your area.
posted by radioamy at 3:23 PM on September 4, 2017

I live in a 2bed/2bath in Cambridge and I've had good luck hiring cleaners on Amazon for ~$150.
posted by woodvine at 4:29 PM on September 4, 2017