We all love a clean space with minimal effort. Having a scheduled cleaning feels so good, knowing that you can expect your home to be cared for regularly. But what if things are not working out the way you imagined with your house cleaner?
Hiring a house cleaner comes with a balance of trust and communication. A clean home can be essential to your mental health, so using a cleaning service should not detract from that tranquility. Even so, sometimes the work does not meet expectations and may warrant a conversation to mitigate any headaches around your home.
Before you pull the plug on your cleaning service, take time to consider all of the factors. There could be a simple explanation for your dissatisfaction, or a quick conversation could clear the air and put you in a better place with your house cleaner. At the end of the day, your house cleaner wants you to be happy, and you want a clean house, so take the time to get to the root of the issue and solve it.
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Understanding the Role of Your House Cleaner
One of the first steps to addressing issues with your house cleaner is understanding what they are expected to do. Before they start with their first cleaning in your home, the cleaning service should explain what they plan to do either for a one-time clean or a regularly scheduled cleaning.
A simple list of tasks your cleaner should address include:
- Kitchen
- Living room
- Bedrooms
- Bathrooms
- Floors
- General dusting
There may be additional tasks you can pay for, including washing and drying laundry, changing bed sheets, or cleaning the inside of your refrigerator or oven.
Take the time to go over what your cleaning service has agreed to take care of in your home and measure their performance against that list. It may take a conversation to see if either party has misunderstood the task at hand.
Relationship v. Job Performance when it Comes to Your Cleaning Professional
It is important to recognize that your house cleaner is not a tool to be used. Hiring a cleaning service comes with a balance of relationship and job performance. On the one hand, you want to be kind and understanding, but you also have reasonable expectations when hiring someone to do a service.
Talk to your house cleaner. Make sure they are comfortable in your home, and make sure you are comfortable with them in your home. Once a good relationship has been established, it will be easier to strive for mutual satisfaction.
Of course, do not allow a friendly rapport to prevent you from speaking up if the job performance is not up to snuff. Your cleaning service will want to know if something is off, especially if you have established a good working relationship.
7 Considerations for Your House Cleaning Service
You and your cleaning service should see yourselves as a team with a common goal: keeping your house clean on a regular basis. Proper communication with your house cleaner will help your team work together and achieve your goal.
1. Communicate Expectations Clearly
Whether you are just starting with a cleaning service or you have noticed aspects of the job slipping, it is vital to express your expectations quickly and clearly. How is your house cleaner supposed to know if their performance is coming up short if you never let them know what you want?
Compare your expectations with the job duties you agreed upon before your scheduled cleaning started. If those two lists line up, yet you don’t think the work meets the agreed-upon standards, it is time to have a conversation.
As with anything, a respectful and open conversation goes a long way when communicating your expectations. Your cleaning service will want to adjust where necessary to respect your wishes while staying in their realm of feasibility.
2. Did You Account for Rover?
Cleaning a home with pets is very different than cleaning a home without pets. As of 2023, 66% of U.S. households have a pet, so accommodating your furry friend is not an unusual task for a cleaning service.
Make sure you are upfront with your cleaning service about any pets you have. Not only will this ensure you are sent a house cleaner who is comfortable with pets, but this will also give them direction for cleaning with a pet in mind.
You will appreciate the care your cleaner takes with pet-related cleaning considerations:
- Pet dander
- Air quality
- Using cleaning products that are safe for pets
If you know your pet doesn’t like strangers or hates the vacuum cleaner, consider keeping them in a specific area away from your house cleaner. Reducing stress for your pet and your cleaner is a great way to avoid any conflicts or risks of a cleaner rushing to finish the job.
3. What Happened Last Week?
If you have a cleaning service come to your home on a regular basis, consider what happens between their visits that might make their job harder. Did you have a big party and leave a little extra mess that took more time for your house cleaner to take care of? Or maybe you have been busy and did not get to the dishes for a few days.
If you have a lot of time between scheduled cleanings, you should take the time between visits to keep your home as clean as possible so that your house cleaner does not have a bigger job every time they come. There are ways to speed clean so that this will take little time.
Before your cleaning service comes, spruce up any superficial messes and tuck away the clutter. This will give them dedicated time to their checklist and guarantee a cleaner home.
4. Address Any Issues Quickly
If you notice a slip in service or more frequent unmet expectations, do not delay talking to your cleaning service. There may be a miscommunication or something going on behind the scenes with your house cleaner that is impacting the job they are doing.
Your satisfaction is the top priority for your cleaning professional, so they will want to know if something is not up to par. The cleaner won’t know what is bothering you if you do not let them know. Be respectful in your discussion and work together toward solutions.
If the issues persist after having a conversation, continue to reach out to customer service to see if some other adjustments or changes could solve the problem. Your cleaning service may decide to send out a new house cleaner, or there may be other solutions.
5. Adjust Your Frequency
If your home is not staying clean long enough or you feel your scheduled cleanings are taking too long, it may be time to adjust the frequency with which your house cleaner comes. There are three primary frequencies for scheduled cleanings:
Because more time passes between cleanings, a bi-weekly or monthly cleaning will likely take longer than when your cleaning service can come once a week. Plus, a home that is professionally cleaned weekly will stay cleaner between visits.
Evaluate your budget and compare prices of different services to see if increasing your frequency would solve any issues you have seen. You might be surprised at how much more efficient your house cleaner can be when they come more often.
6. A Deep Clean May Help
Has it been a while since you dug into the crevices of your house to get all the hidden dirt and grime taken care of? It might be time for a deep clean, and that intense once-over might help your cleaning service stay on top of the cleanliness of your house moving forward.
A deep clean goes more in-depth than what your regularly scheduled cleanings will catch, including tasks like cleaning under your sinks, scrubbing grout, shampooing your rugs, and dusting every knick-knack on your shelves and piece of art on the wall.
Not only will a deep clean give your cleaner a fresh start to work with, but it could also create a healthier home for you and your family. Some of the germiest places in the home may go untouched through regular cleanings, so it’s imperative to take special care to clean places like the inside of your refrigerator and all of your doorknobs every once in a while.
7. Listen to Your Cleaner
Recognizing your house cleaner as a person and not a robot goes a long way. Consider what your cleaner might be thinking or going through and some of the challenges that come with the cleaning profession.
One common frustration within the cleaning industry is cleaners who feel an emotional toll from their jobs. After a while, people start to take them for granted and become demanding and harsh. Be pleasant with your house cleaner, and remember the golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Not every call needs to be negative. Cleaners — like all people — love to hear when their work is appreciated. If you have a house cleaner who is going above and beyond or who has made your life better, brag on them! Let them know, and then let their boss know.
Before calling it quits on your cleaning team, give them the chance to right any wrongs. As the client, you deserve to have your concerns heard and addressed, but allow your cleaning service the opportunity to adjust if needed. You, your home, and your cleaner will all benefit from open communication and a pleasant relationship.