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I am a house cleaner and charge $25.00 per hour. Most professional companies charge between $35-$40 per hour with a 2 person 2 hour base. I know 2 other independent cleaners one charges 28.00 and the other 33.00 per hour. Most independents are not licensed and bonded. The advantage to an independent is that you do get the same person every time, they generally become very loyal to you, they have more flexibility with their time and sometimes even become a friend. Recently I dog sat for one of my clients and even overlapped my cleaning time with watching their 2 small children (at no additional charge) so they could attend a parent teacher conference together. Like the old saying goes, you get what you pay for!
You make me feel good because we pay now $130 for a day's work (4 to 5 hours). It can take less if our cleaning lady has a friend come in - like 2 1/2 hours and they are done, for $130.
I also pay her if she is sick or I want to cancel that week: I pay regardless. We respect each other. I give money if she is going on vacation, or I am.
I have contempt for people who are cheap and don't do that. How would they like to be treated that way?
Hello there,
How much do you pay to get your house cleaned?
I am starting to think I am being overcharged. I pay $70 and the person spend around two hours cleaning. Is this a reasonable fee?
Thank you.
I've seen signs at the supermarket for cleaning people and they usually charge $12-$15 per hour. If I could afford a housekeeper or cleaner, I wouldn't trust a person from a bulletin board ad, though. I would go through an agency or through word of mouth. It would cost a lot more but it would be worth it.
I started my House Cleaning Services in 1991. I started a one week add in a Free Newspaper/rates @ $10.00 an hour. I had two calls and after that the clients came by word of mouth. I came to this site to see what the going rates were now in 2013. I am @ $25.00 hr and raising them again this year. I have keys to all of my homes, I clean the kitchens from top to bottom, bathrooms, dust, windex all pics, glass, mirrors, vac, wash floors some on hands n knees/some with mops, change beds, do laundry when asked, iron sheets & cloths, clean fridge, ovens, microwaves, suck up cobwebs, wipe down baseboards/radiators, water plants. When one is gone on vacation, I do windows, cupboards, closets, walls, weed gardens. The alarm systems contact me (for errors home owners do), I send faxes, get mail, newpapers, take out trash, contact plumbers, heating company, oil company, trash company, snow removers. I walk the dog if they are running late, watch cats when they are out of town, check the premises when they are gone on vacation. Pick up milk, bread, eggs, etc. for their late arrival home, bring them to airport. I open camps/cottages for the snow birds and find a spot for them when they return. I have lost many to old age/death, retirement/relocating, visit the Seniors who moved on to Senior housing, take them to lunch or shopping. Seen their children grow and welcomed their new Grandchildren, seen their pets pass on who became my pet. Purchased a headstone for one who passed. I am appalled at some of the comments on here. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to put the toilet paper roll back on the despencer so why can the one with the degree not put it on? The ones with the Great degrees and huge incomes can't clean their own filth, then don't complain about how much you are paying someone to do it for you. By the way, Thanks for leaving two weeks or one week worth of food all over the mirror for me when you floss! Do you know how much strenght it takes to scrap some of that nasty stuff off? I bet not, because you don't even attempt to clean it up yourself, all it takes is a wet piece of TP and wipe off! Saves your house cleaner the fun of scrapping! Oh and Thanks for not covering your food in the Microwave, it looks like you opened the door and vomited in there! If you would rather have me cleaning then picking up after you, then pick up. I am a House cleaning Service, NOT a MAID! Look it up, there is a difference! I have abused my body with this service for others...torn rotator cuff, clavicle problems, knees problems, carpel tunnel, arthritis in hands and feet, back pain. So, if you were to tell me that $10-12 an hr. was fair, I would laugh in your face. I wouldn't have the time to clean for you not would I want to lower myself to your insult! I have more important people whom appreciate me for what I do. Because I know they know I am worth it!
You sound more like a housekeeper, with more varied duties than the typical house cleaning service does. Some people even call themselves household engineers or household technicians. I'm sorry that your body is getting so abused by your job. You certainly sound as though you are worth more.
I cleaned houses for 15 years. From my experience house cleaning is back-breaking work that generally is not appreciated and 90% of the time the pay does not reflect the degree of hard labor that is involved.
Think about it, you are cleaning someone else’s mess and many times when a person has a housekeeper they become abnormally negligent and sloppy.
MOST PEOPLE DO NOT WANT TO PAY WHAT IT IS ACTUALLY WORTH!!!!
They don't want to do it themselves and they don't want to pay more than $10 hr.! Some have never cleaned before, therefore they have no idea what is involved. They want a top quality thorough job and they want to pay very little. They want someone who is reliable, honest, and thorough, detail oriented, and even does a few "extra" things now and then, but they only want to pay $10 hr.!
For those of you who are saying that it should only cost this or that should stop to think about the points above as well as the fact that this is a person’s business, many times their only source of income, and it is MANUAL LABOR, and some would say it’s on the list as one of the worst kinds of manual labor jobs because you are cleaning behind someone else’s toilet habits, bedroom habits, eating habits, living habits etc.!
FYI - "General house cleaning” is: vacuuming, dusting, (and dusting can include dusting baseboards, but washing baseboards falls under wall-washing) mopping, cleaning mirrors, light bathroom cleaning, washing, folding and putting away a few loads of clothes, anything over and above that is NOT "general house cleaning”!
Organizing, washing walls & baseboards, washing windows, cleaning ovens and refrigerators, doing laundry that is backed up from weeks ago, cleaning basements, (unless it is a finished basement that is actually a part of the actual "living: space) attics and garages, each of these tasks fall under different categories. There are "Home Organization" companies, which only do “organization”. There are “Wall Washing” companies that only wash walls. There “Window Washing” companies that only wash windows. There are companies that do basement, garage, attic, and shed cleaning only, and each of these companies charges a pretty penny.
People that have housekeepers that are thorough, detail orientated, trustworthy and honest, reliable and who do extra tasks that extend beyond “general house cleaning” should first of all thank your lucky stars and before you think about complaining or adding extra tasks without expecting to pay for it should think twice!!!! And if your housekeeper is washing walls, windows, cleaning basements, organizing, cleaning out ovens and refrigerators, as well as “general house cleaning” and you are paying between $10 and $20 hr. YOU ARE GETTING OVER LIKE A FAT RAT!!!!!!!! Those tasks are considered “Ala-Cart” and should be charged accordingly. If you are paying your housekeeper $10-$20 for "general house cleaning" you are under paying.
The comment above by goldenrain is to the point and exactly right! I think you definitely should raise your fee this year!!!
A good honest, thorough, detailed oriented, reliable, thoughtful, giving housekeeper, one who actually likes their job and is gratified when they leave a sparkling house is HARD TO COME BY!!!!!!
To you housekeepers out there, I would advise that you take another look at what you are doing versus what you are charging!!!! I am not trying to make trouble but if your client really values, appreciates and respects you, they would be more than willing and opened to sitting down and discussing your “fee” like two reasonably intelligent adults. They will be more than willing to do this if they live in the real world, where money or the lack thereof is real, manual labor is no joke and finding an employee like you whom they can trust is nothing to take for granite!!!
I cleaned houses for 15 years. From my experience house cleaning is back-breaking work that generally is not appreciated and 90% of the time the pay does not reflect the degree of hard labor that is involved.
Think about it, you are cleaning someone else’s mess and many times when a person has a housekeeper they become abnormally negligent and sloppy.
MOST PEOPLE DO NOT WANT TO PAY WHAT IT IS ACTUALLY WORTH!!!!
They don't want to do it themselves and they don't want to pay more than $10 hr.! Some have never cleaned before, therefore they have no idea what is involved. They want a top quality thorough job and they want to pay very little. They want someone who is reliable, honest, and thorough, detail oriented, and even does a few "extra" things now and then, but they only want to pay $10 hr.!
For those of you who are saying that it should only cost this or that should stop to think about the points above as well as the fact that this is a person’s business, many times their only source of income, and it is MANUAL LABOR, and some would say it’s on the list as one of the worst kinds of manual labor jobs because you are cleaning behind someone else’s toilet habits, bedroom habits, eating habits, living habits etc.!
FYI - "General house cleaning” is: vacuuming, dusting, (and dusting can include dusting baseboards, but washing baseboards falls under wall-washing) mopping, cleaning mirrors, light bathroom cleaning, washing, folding and putting away a few loads of clothes, anything over and above that is NOT "general house cleaning”!
Organizing, washing walls & baseboards, washing windows, cleaning ovens and refrigerators, doing laundry that is backed up from weeks ago, cleaning basements, (unless it is a finished basement that is actually a part of the actual "living: space) attics and garages, each of these tasks fall under different categories. There are "Home Organization" companies, which only do “organization”. There are “Wall Washing” companies that only wash walls. There “Window Washing” companies that only wash windows. There are companies that do basement, garage, attic, and shed cleaning only, and each of these companies charges a pretty penny.
People that have housekeepers that are thorough, detail orientated, trustworthy and honest, reliable and who do extra tasks that extend beyond “general house cleaning” should first of all thank your lucky stars and before you think about complaining or adding extra tasks without expecting to pay for it should think twice!!!! And if your housekeeper is washing walls, windows, cleaning basements, organizing, cleaning out ovens and refrigerators, as well as “general house cleaning” and you are paying between $10 and $20 hr. YOU ARE GETTING OVER LIKE A FAT RAT!!!!!!!! Those tasks are considered “Ala-Cart” and should be charged accordingly. If you are paying your housekeeper $10-$20 for "general house cleaning" you are under paying.
The comment above by goldenrain is to the point and exactly right! I think you definitely should raise your fee this year!!!
A good honest, thorough, detailed oriented, reliable, thoughtful, giving housekeeper, one who actually likes their job and is gratified when they leave a sparkling house is HARD TO COME BY!!!!!!
To you housekeepers out there, I would advise that you take another look at what you are doing versus what you are charging!!!! I am not trying to make trouble but if your client really values, appreciates and respects you, they would be more than willing and opened to sitting down and discussing your “fee” like two reasonably intelligent adults. They will be more than willing to do this if they live in the real world, where money or the lack thereof is real, manual labor is no joke and finding an employee like you whom they can trust is nothing to take for granite!!!
I accept that house cleaning is hard work and undervalued, but if what you're saying is true, maybe many of the indebted, unemployed/under-employed college graduates should try this. At $20/hr, it sure sounds like better pay than some of their options like unpaid internships.
80 bucks for a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath colonial. They also change the sheets and out them in the washing machineif it is empty. They spend about 3 hours depending hoe many helpers come with her. I am in Commack if you want her number. She is great.
Could you send me the contact info... I'm in Deer park. Thanks
When evaluating the cost of cleaning consider the following: (a) is the person/company legally working in the United States? If you are hiring an individual, not a company, remember that you are responsible for completing the I-9 form to verify employment eligibility - check with your attorney, but you may be criminally responsible for hiring illegal help (b) If you are using an individual, are you paying her or him enough to trigger unemployment/social security, state and federal taxes? Check with your accountant, but chances are if you pay someone $75 every other week for a year, you will owe taxes, and have the quarterly burden of getting all that paperwork done (c) are you supplying the cleaning chemicals and equipment? If so, remember that is an added cost that you should use in a comparison with a company who brings their own supplies/equipment (d) is the cleaning person / employees insured and bonded? Are the vehicles they are driving insured? If someone falls in your home, or gets injured on the job, or if something valuable goes missing, how will you handle it? Paying for a cleaner who is licensed, insured and bonded is smart and responsible. (e) is your cleaning person/team well trained? I have sen plenty of people who are not willing to pay for quality cleaning and then are dismayed when their leather furniture /granite counter tops /oriental rugs / stainless steel appliances, etc get wrecked because the cleaner used the wrong product or technique for cleaning. All that being said, I own a professional cleaning company in a major urban area and we charge $30 per hour per person for cleaning. We are very thorough and do excellent work. We lose a lot of potential customers who feel that the cost is too high, but there is no responsible way to do the cleaning for less. Can you have cheaper rates if you hire someone and don't pay any taxes? Sure. Or if you buy the products separately so you don't really factor that into the price of the cleaning. Maybe. But its the same as with any other service. If you hire people who are not trained, licensed, insured, bonded - and you don't pay taxes on their work, of course the price will be cheaper. If you want the job done right, and all above board and legal, you will pay for that service.
Don't laugh - but get a background check done. If you're ok with sharing that personal info, then you can submit it to your customers after you've crossed out all your personal information, like address, age, DL #, SS # etc. Ask your clients to fill out on-line surveys through "Survey Monkey" -it's free - you can design your own survey and it can be anonymous. You can tabulate those responses and at some point, register yourself with the local BBB. Provide references - ask your customers if they wouldn't mind being contacted by other prospective clients. Be honest. Investigate / do your research on what the going rates for these services are in your area and be VERY specific about your services -i.e. WHAT you're going to clean, HOW LONG it'll take you to do it, ANY OTHER HELPERS you'll bring with you (ask permission) - do a "walk through" of the home first. Put a clause in your contract that speaks to damaged items (broken) as a result of cleaning - if you break something, it's YOUR responsibility - how do you want to address that? Make sure all your employees go through a background check. Make sure you set expectations on how and when you'd like to be payed. Create a business plan before you go into business. Talk to someone who's done it - ask them what their greatest challenges are. Think about how you're going to advertise: word of mouth? References? Web? What geographical area will you cover? In other words, put yourself in their shoes. Help them feel comfortable by offering them as much assurance as you can. THe more bases you cover and the more sophisticated you are, the more your client will take you seriously. Make them feel at ease. Make establishing trust your FIRST priority. I hope this helps. BTW, I'm not a business owner - I just know what I WOULD LIKE in a housekeeper. I want a professional. Someone who is serious about their work and accountable.
My mom recently used a cleaning woman and she charged her $70.00 for 4 hours of work,she cleaned out all of my mom's kitchen cabinets, washed floors, vacuumed, dusted, cleaned 2 bathrooms. My mom had broken her tibia and had surgery last August and it's hard for her to be on her feet too long.My mom does light house cleaning but really wanted someone to tackle the bigger stuff. She's coming back to help my mom clean out 3 closets on the main floor and help her organize.Her house in immaculate but it's the BS stuff that she does not fell like doing herself.
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