Etiquette on hiring a house cleaner

July 27, 2018 9:25 AM

I'm looking to hire a house cleaner and wondering about etiquette.

I've had 2 cleaners (individual women who owner their own company, no large companies that just send someone) come by to give me a estimate. Both were recommended on the town FB group.

One estimate is nearly double the other's. The more expensive one is more than what I was expecting and the cheaper one is less than I was expecting. I got the impression the more expensive was a bit more thorough when she looked around and examined the state of my house. She also noted we needed an initial deep clean, which is reasonable to me.

I had the cheaper cleaner come do my house today and while things are definitely clean, I haven't done a thorough inspection yet and there's already things I've noticed that disappoint me. I'd like to try the more expensive one, but I'm not really sure about the etiquette here and how I should manage this. I did not mention a trial or anything, just that I wanted bi-weekly cleaning. What would be the best way to communicate to the cheaper cleaner than I want to try another service before I make an ongoing decision? Same for the more expensive one. She'll notice my house is cleaner now, so I'd like to let her know I'm trialing cleaners as well. Or am I overthinking this?

posted by disaster77 to Grab Bag (6 answers total)

She'll notice my house is cleaner now

Cleaning before the professional cleaner shows up is an extremely normal regular thing people do. I don’t think you absolutely must reveal you’ve used a different cleaner if this is the only reason you think you should do so.
posted by griphus at 9:34 AM on July 27, 2018 [6 favorites]

Have you considered offering the cheaper cleaner more money to spend more time on your house? She'd probably be interested; she probably feels pressure to keep her prices extremely low and compensates for that by working as quickly as possible. Setting prices is hard! I bet if you talk to her you could work out something, you know, just right.

I get that talking to people about money can be awkward. Try framing it as, "Hey, you are giving good value for what I'm paying you. Would you be interested in doing a little more for more money? Actually, I'd really like [you to spend 50% more time | the crevices to be done | a deep cleaning for $X that includes Y | whatever you want]. You can essentially decide what you want, how much you're willing to pay, and present that to her. She can always say no, but since she owns her own business, she has a lot of flexibility.
posted by amtho at 9:37 AM on July 27, 2018 [9 favorites]

Just tell the cheaper one that you'll phone her to schedule her next visit. No explanation needed. Then in the next few weeks try out the more expensive one. Then make your decision which one to go with. If you decide to go back to the cheaper one I understand that she'll notice that your apartment is clean--again, no explanation needed.

BTW you can ask the more expensive one to lower her price. Or maybe the estimates are based on estimated numbers of hours and one of them may be more efficient. Anyway, look at the various factors and negotiate if that seems reasonable. Or what amtho said.
posted by JimN2TAW at 9:40 AM on July 27, 2018

Yeah, I've always had cleaners go based on hourly rates. If the cheaper cleaner is there for half as long and charges half as much, that could explain the disparity in outcome. My first thought *might* be to ask the cheaper cleaner to stay longer and to do a more thorough job, or to do that after seeing the outcome of the second.

I wouldn't have any qualms about telling the second cleaner "Yeah, I had someone else come through but I wasn't super happy with the job they did. Since it's cleaner than when you gave the estimate, does that change the need for the deep clean?"

That would be something totally normal to talk about with a landscaper or contractor or electrician. I'm in favor of taking the same tactic with a more traditionally female-serviced field as well. You're not doing them any favors dancing around it.
posted by supercres at 9:51 AM on July 27, 2018 [1 favorite]

Generally when a relationship involved the exchange of money, it negates the necessity to give lengthy explanations. You want a service, you have expectations of what will be completed in whatever amount of time for whatever amount of funding. They can accept, reject or negotiate that.

The cheaper cleaner basically left their calling card behind and showed you what to expect from a first impression. I doubt it gets better - if they wanted to continue, they'd put their best effort out on that first engagement even if it were a little bit more than what you paid for. It's not your job to train them or refine their business model.
posted by hey you over in the corner at 10:06 AM on July 27, 2018 [7 favorites]

I agree with "hey you over in the corner". If the more expensive quote was more in line with what your were expecting to pay anyhow, and that person seemed to have a better idea of what was needed, then just go ahead and book that cleaner and stay with them if they do a better job. I think that you should tell which ever cleaner that you don't go with permanently that you have decided to use another service.

However, I would not try to get a person with a business to lower their rates and I would not be training someone with a business either beyond mentioning, "I prefer you to use this product and I will suppy it" or giving notes on some particular area/furniture I had.
posted by biggreenplant at 10:15 AM on July 27, 2018 [5 favorites]