finally admitting I will never care sufficiently about tile grout

November 10, 2021 1:36 PM

How the heck do you hire a house cleaner in This Day And Age?

I am finally following up on a promise I made to myself to invest in my mental health by hiring a person to come help clean my home several hours every month. How...do I hire this person?

My strong preference is to find an independent person so they can set their own rate and keep what they earn, and also it's covid and I'm an introvert who hates people up in my shit, so I'd like to have some kind of 1:1 relationship.

I posted a (fee posting) home services gig on Craigslist which got bites from two bitcoin scammers before Craigslist removed it for being posted in the wrong spot (? whatever). And I made my nth fruitless project request on Thumbtack after an unsuccessful string of attempts to hire a handyperson last year to install something. (Is Thumbtack REALLY this useless? I literally made a search for standard cleaning 2x month pets in home and sent it to three different cleaning service posts only to get three "sorry this pro does not offer these services" messages before giving up.)

Where else should I look? Where do I post? The services-offered pages are all overrun by places that look/sound like sex trafficking fronts and so far I haven't found anything that appears to be one person looking for gig work. I live in Chicago, the population should be able to support my desire to pay a human person for 8-10 hours of work a month. I just don't know where to go to DO that.

(Many years ago I splurged and got a one-time cleaner from a service that had glowing yelp reviews. The bill rate was close to $50/hr, the actual cleaner who came to my home only kept $8.50/hr, and she hadn't been told by her scheduler there was a dog in the house, to whom she was allergic. So I REALLY don't want to go that route unless it's my only option.)

p.s. If any of my Chicago friends see this and have someone to recommend who can travel to the sw side please feel free to text me and chide me for being an idiot who doesn't think to ask folks she actually knows irl.

posted by phunniemee to Grab Bag (19 answers total)

We've had several house cleaners over the years, all independent (usually two people). All have worked out well, and every single one has been found via word of mouth. Mainly people in our immediate neighborhood, because it's much easier to get a good cleaner (who will be in demand) to find time in their schedule for you if they are already in the area on a regular basis. It's also nice if they have several houses in your area because it provides more freedom in rescheduling when/if needed (e.g. sometimes we will trade days with a neighbor if we need to — doesn't mess up the cleaner's schedule because they would already be here on both days anyway).

Generally we try to ask people who we know are similarly picky as us, but if we're new to an area we'll just ask any neighbor we meet and get along with.
posted by primethyme at 1:44 PM on November 10, 2021 [4 favorites]

I don't know if you're on Facebook but this is one of the things it can be useful for. If there is a group for your neighborhood you can join the group and ask for suggestions there.

Otherwise, word of mouth is really the best way to find someone. Ask friends, neighbors, etc. Tell them what you told us. Cleaners are out there and they want your business. Trouble is as you've found out there aren't many good ways of finding out who the reliable ones are.
posted by bondcliff at 1:46 PM on November 10, 2021 [1 favorite]

Strong agree with friends/neighbors. We found our cleaning guy from a friend/former coworker who lives in the same neighborhood. We moved to a larger apartment and decided to get a cleaner for many of the same reasons you did, so we asked around and ended up with an amazing guy.
posted by Alterscape at 1:57 PM on November 10, 2021

Care.com
Post on your local (moms) Facebook group for recommendations
posted by St. Peepsburg at 1:59 PM on November 10, 2021 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: The irony is that my neighborhood is probably a prime supplier of folks who provide housecleaning. Maybe I should put up a sign on my block? Would you take a job from a sign?
posted by phunniemee at 2:00 PM on November 10, 2021 [2 favorites]

In my area this is one of the things that Nextdoor is actually useful for. I found a small service -- basically one big, extended family -- who work for a few other people on my block. It suits my needs perfectly.
posted by BlahLaLa at 2:35 PM on November 10, 2021 [7 favorites]

I've hired both my cleaners from care.com, they provide some level of background check. Make sure you use someone who has insurance.
posted by Dashy at 2:43 PM on November 10, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'm following this with interest as I'll likely be in the market for a cleaner within the next couple of years. People say to ask your friends and neighbors but uh, I'm an historically broke-ass dirtbag with broke-ass dirtbag friends and neighbors--none of us has ever hired a housecleaner in our lives.

That said, my neighborhood's Nextdoor has a lot of folks advertising their own services or shouting out cleaning services/workers they really like. If you were to put up a post stating your needs you'd probably get a significant number of responses.

I can't vouch for the reliability of the endorsements, obviously, but it seems like a good way to get some names who aren't being screwed over by the big services, and it's no MORE biased than, like, Yelp.

Craigslist is just a wasteland, sadly, and I've never even heard of Thumbtack--not sure that it has a very significant footprint around Chicago. (I know, I know, the north side isn't *actually* Chicago, but still.)
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 2:48 PM on November 10, 2021 [3 favorites]

The first time I hired someone, I worked through a place that focused on placement for newly arrived immigrants. The lady they sent was fine, and I was happy to give her my money, but it wasn't a good fit.

The second time, I got a referral from a friend who is way fussier about cleanliness than me and it has worked out well for many years. I would just ask for referrals from any friends most likely to have a regular housecleaning service and if you don't have any of them, ask friends most likely to have friends who have a regular housecleaning service. For example, if you have a local friend who is a parent of a small child, ask if they would mind soliciting recommendations in whatever school or parent networks they might have. I think personal networks are the best for this, frankly.
posted by vunder at 2:54 PM on November 10, 2021

Does your neighborhood have a Facebook group? I often see people in my (NW neighborhood) group posting that they're available for cleaning or other odd jobs. That seems like the easiest way to have that 1:1 person you're wanting.
posted by quadrilaterals at 3:00 PM on November 10, 2021

I'm in NY, not Chicago, but I've hired a house cleaner from a cooperative (si se puede, though there are others as well), so there may be similar cleaning cooperatives in Chicago.

How it worked for me was that I filled out the form on their website and then someone called me to set up an initial cleaning, including providing the cleaner's contact information. After that, I contacted her directly for future cleanings. Every time I hire her I pay her directly, though I assume she pays dues of some sort to the cooperative. I've never used a cleaning person from a commercial service, but I believe that the prices were comparable.
posted by Caz721 at 3:48 PM on November 10, 2021 [2 favorites]

Another place I see people advertising individual or small-scale housecleaning businesses is on monthly "advertise your business here" facebook posts from my local mutual aid group. Even if you're not on facebook you could try reaching out to a local mutual aid.

The irony is that my neighborhood is probably a prime supplier of folks who provide housecleaning. Maybe I should put up a sign on my block? Would you take a job from a sign?

I mean, do you/can you talk to any of your neighbors? Can you just ask a neighbor you have a reasonably friendly nodding relationship with if they know anyone in the neighborhood who cleans houses? I guess it's potentially a bit awkward if it doesn't work out and you're living on the same block.

There's also often a lot of informal networking/referrals among cleaners - I found my current cleaner via a referral from my previous cleaner, who got out of the business due to an injury. (I found the first cleaner via a rec from my next door neighbor.) So yeah - if you have a friend who lives way across town who hires a cleaner, ask them to ask their cleaner to recommend someone! (Your friend's cleaner might even get some kind of kickback from the person she refers.)
posted by mskyle at 4:30 PM on November 10, 2021

A friend of mine has had Saya clean for her a while back and she’s based in Chicago. I don’t know her rates or availability but know my friend was very happy. She’s an interesting person who founded and run Mac & Cheese Productions, which is a totally different kind of thing. She has a cleaning page with info here.
posted by Bunglegirl at 5:08 PM on November 10, 2021

Craigslist seems really under-used and sketchy / spammy now compared to FB.
If you’re in a neighbourhood group on FB, post there:
Seeking a cleaner for 3 hours a week, $22/hour, at this intersection. People will share it with their cleaners. Then you just set dates over text, and pay in cash.

Once you find someone note that they may have requests for specific supplies - in particular many cleaners I know have a preferred brand of mop (vileda spin mop), and like spray cleaners that have bleach, and may have opinions about vacuums when it’s time for you to get a new one.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 5:29 PM on November 10, 2021

The first person we hired we found through our neighborhood FB page. If you are member of anything local you should be able to make a 'Recommendations' post and get plenty of helpful responses; at least that is the experience in both our immediate neighborhood and smallish-town community groups. After she finished school and moved we found someone else on Angi (formerly Angie's List) who has been with us for a few years now. Both were independent / local and ran their own business.

Our current cleaner did say she no longer uses Angi because of how much it costs her to advertise there vs how much business she got from them, so it may be a little more difficult to find independent business if they don't want to spend the money. I will say I have had mixed results there - this is where we found our current cleaner for example; however for some other trades it has been very hit or miss whether we get any responses at all from inquiries through the site.
posted by SquidLips at 6:03 PM on November 10, 2021

Genesis Cleaning co-op is the worker cooperative who we have hired. They do a good job.
posted by mai at 7:19 PM on November 10, 2021 [1 favorite]

Check with locally-owned/managed, in-person type businesses in your neighborhood. Diner, coffee shop, corner store/bodega/deli, hardware store, bars, even local banks. IME small, local businesses with a connection to the people who live there are good sources of recommendations. If you walked into my family's small, local garden center/farm market, I could recommend at least 3 local cleaners from firsthand experience and that's before checking with staff.
posted by Majorita at 8:18 PM on November 10, 2021

When we sold our house last year our realtor recommended a person to perform "make ready" cleaning to prepare the house for staging. We thought we got the house clean, but when this woman left it was...transformative. We didn't want to move.

So now she comes once every other week and does a thorough "reset" on our current house. It's amazing. I've also recommended her via NextDoor and the neighborhood Facebook page when people are asking. So: realtor, NextDoor, Facebook.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 6:23 AM on November 11, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've successfully hired cleaning/organizing help through FB on the Chicago Queer Exchange group. People routinely post their businesses in there or post looking for recommendations for cleaning/moving/etc. help.

*waves in northsider*
posted by All hands bury the dead at 11:05 AM on November 11, 2021