Well, there are a few reasons for this: We want to get your home up to *my* standards so that we are basically starting with a clean slate. When people have been sitting in a home they’re not comfortable in for a long time, when they finally find the motivation to call someone to help, it is my experience that they would prefer it completed all in one fell swoop. I like to get your home up to my standards in one day, so that all following cleans would simply be maintenance. An initial deep clean also allows the homeowner to “assess” the services they are paying for. I would hate for a homeowner to sign an agreement (not a contract) before they know what they’re getting. If they’re not happy with the final result, I would hate for someone to feel obligated to continue because they signed something. And although we consistently do our very best to deliver the best possible clean, if a client is dissatisfied with our service - for whatever reason - we would hate for them to feel locked in. And lastly, the deep clean also offers us the opportunity to assess the homeowner's home. Two homes that have 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms could be largely different in size and since many people don’t know the square footage of their homes, I don’t often ask. Additionally, everyone maintains their homes differently and since we don’t “assess” homes before we go for the deep clean (reason for that is next), the deep clean gives us an idea of all the above and can better allow us to give the homeowner a more realistic price.

NOTE: If a homeowner wants to meet with us for the purpose of assessing us personally before allowing us into their home, we are always more than willing to come meet with you. Consultations are a tricky. We have played with the idea of doing them, but at the end of the day, they just don't make sense for us. Here are some reasons why: 1. I once felt like I was being buried alive by my house. I was working 2 jobs, my husband was working long hours, but with two dogs and a preschooler, we were drowning. One day, I caved and I called a cleaning company. They expained to me that they wanted to come over for an estimate so they could give me a price that was catered to my needs and not just a standard cost. The thing was though, they couldn't come for an estimate until 5 days later. And then when they finally did come for the estimate, they couldn't actually come back and clean until 6 days later. So now I have to wait 11 days for my clean! How is my hosue going to look 11 days from now? There were certain aspect of it that I couldn't stand already - but 11 days later?! So whenever i had a little bit of free time I would quickly clean a bathroom here and wash a floor there and so by the time 11 days were up, I had already finished the majority of my house and didn't think PAYING someone to clean my home made sense (note: we were only looking for a one-time deep clean, not a routine cleaner. Had that been the case, I probably would have waited the 11 days). When a homeowner finally "caves" and calls someone for help it's because they're feeling desperate in that moment - they don't want to wait 11 days!! 2. You have a busy life! Kids have activities, homework, bed time. You have work functions, yoga, hobbies. And so do we. Attempting to navigate through all our schedules to find an hour both myself and homeowner have available is difficult. We think it's just better that we show up on the morning of the clean and assess what needs to be done then. 3. Unless I am literally crawling around on my hands and knees, in your home, on our first meeting (weird, right?) I won't see all the little things that need to be done. A lot of the time-consuming tedious parts aren't noticed until they're right in our faces. I once showed up to do a consultation and looked in a few places I always look (bath tubs, showers, baseboards, floors) and all seemed pretty straightforward. But when I showed up on the day of the clean and started actually cleaning, I thought - "What the heck did they do between then and now? This place didn't look like this when I came last time!" But it did - I just didn't notice it because I wasn't on the floor. 4. They can be a little bit of a waste of time. Although this hasn't happened to me often, it can happen. Let's say you stay home from work for an hour in the morning so we can come check out your place. I come in, look around, tell you how much it's going to be. You realize that's way above your budget and, sorry, but you will have to call back later on down the road. Now what's happened is that you have taken 1 hour of your life away, maybe even an hour unpaid from work, for nothing. And so have I. An hour may not seem like a lot but when you and I worked so hard to find that one hour, talking back and forth for days, it seems like a a bit of a waste. Also, an hour is an hour. A wasted hour is an extra hour away from our kids, an hour could be the difference between not eating lunch and eating lunch. So, in order for us to avoid potentially unercutting ourselves or giving you a price for your 4 bedroom 4 bathroom house that is larger than the one we cleaned yesterday, to avoid having to mess with everyone's schedules, we charge ONE flat rate for most homes (between 1600 an 2200 sq ft) of $130. And between 2200 sq ft and 3000 sq ft $150. Each come with a maximum of 5 hours of cleaning. It's while we are cleaning your home, really assessing it, figuring out your level of maintenance, how many kids you have, pets you have, your home as a whole, is when we come up with a cost that is customized to you for your routine cleans. We feel this is the best way to get an accurate cost both for the homeowner and for ourselves.

Well, let me ask you this: Let's say you contacted a cleaning company and told them you had a budget of $X. They say "OK, that would equal up to 3 hours of cleaning time." You think, Great! My house isn't that big, it should be able to be done in three hours!" But then on the day of your clean, the girl shows up and she's slow as molasses - she doesn't break a sweat, she washes down some things you don't think need to be washed down while ignoring things that should and then you notice the three hours is almost up. You watch the clock and at the three hour mark, she packs up her stuff and waits to be paid. It's only after she leaves that you notice she took your bathroom apart to clean it but didn't put it back together! Not only that, she only vacuumed half your rug and left the vacuum out! At 3 hours, she literally dropped everything and left! That's why we don't charge per hour. We want to give your home the clean is needs and the time it deserves. Also, each cleaner works at their own pace; for example, I am pretty slow (by choise) and Leah is quick, quick. I do, however, give my staff a guideline time frame to get your home done and this time frame is determined once I have completed the deep clean. It's a very realistic time line and if they get to it and the house isn't done, they don't leave. They stay until it's done.

Simple - to keep costs down. If I don’t have to rent/buy a vacuum for every one of my employees, or continuously purchase new mops, I don’t have to add that cost to my overhead, which means I don’t need to increase my cleaning service prices. If you supply those items, I can charge less. Also, if one homeowner has two cats and I vacuum their home and then immediately go to a home who has a severe allergy to cats, bringing the vacuum and mop from one place to another will surely expose the second homeowner to cat hair and dander - no matter what precautions we take.

This is one of those things that I learned through trial and error in life. My mom had recently broken her ankle and I was at her place taking care of her and helping her around the house. I didn't follow the same "garbage system" she did (because I didn't know about it) and I ended up putting out the garbage. Well, not that she was displeased...well, she pulled a "MOM" on me. I asked her why it was such a big deal and she explained that it was just garbage day two days ago and now she was going to have to wait another week and a half with stinky garbage in her garage. For this reason, we don't empty garbages unless it's specifically requested. Everyone has their own garbage system - especially with the recycling and composting and we don't want to interfere with that. If a client does want their garbages emptied, all they have to do is ask and we will do it without a problem! Having a little note about what to do with the garbage once we have emptied them helps, as well :)

Before asking this question you need to ask one other thing: Is your house clean? Are you getting the same clean at 2.5 horus that were getting at 3 hours? If the answer to this is yes, then you shouldn't be bothered by how long your cleaner is there for. You're not paying per hour, you're paying for a clean house. Whether it takes us 2.5 hours or 5 hours, you're paying the same rate every time. Like I said before, some cleaners are faster than others - which is why we charge a flat rate. Let me ask you another question - if your cleaner stayed for an extra half hour or an hour to ensure your home was completed before leaving, would you offer to pay more money? No. And we wouldn't expect or want you to. You're paying for a clean home and as long as you're getting a clean home at the rate you were originally quoted, then that's all that matter. Now, if you new cleaner is "faster" than the "old" cleaner and you house isn't clean, then that's a problem and that's something I need to be notified about immediately.