If you hire a cleaning person to clean your recently vacated rental house (Class C's),...what level of clean do you expect for $12.00/hour or whatever you are paying them? The money is not the issue here,...it is what 'degree of clean' do you expect to get for whatever money you are paying.

For example, do you expect your hired cleaning person to clean the inside of the stove and make it sparkle like it was brand new? Do you expect them to move the stove and frig away from the wall and clean underneath?

Take bathrooms that your previous tenants did not clean once in the last 3 years. Do you expect your cleaning person to make that bathroom look (and smell) brand new?

Now, if you do all of your own cleaning yourself, again what "level of clean" do you do before you show that house again?

Ya just "broke in" a new cleaner last week.

Sounds like ya didn't print out a checklist,

explaining your expectations.

Or are these just hypothetical questions

"Ready to Occupy" like a hotel room.

Sometimes ovens can't be brought back to new, but they can still be cleaned.

Yes, top and behind fridge.

YES bathroom clean!

Inside cupboards and drawers.

Closet floors.

RB,

Doogie,

What do you pay for your professional cleaning services? Do you give them a list of things you want cleaned or do you assume they know what soap scum is and how to remove it?

Doogie,

What do you pay for your professional cleaning services? Do you give them a list of things you want cleaned or do you assume they know what soap scum is and how to remove it?

Perhaps it's more of a matter of initiative. If something matters to me--- "Pull out the fridge and clean under it"--- then I'll make sure I say it (or put it in writing as part of a checklist). So then, rather than expecting my cleaning lady to have a certain level of initiative on top of all of her other qualities, I merely get to see if she (a) can clean, and (b) can follow directions.

However, my favorite cleaning lady (who I don't use nearly as often as I'd like to, because she has a full-time job, and prefers regular clients rather than my one-offs and is not very available) will clean the entire house for $50. Appliances are an extra $50.

I've had professional cleaning crews in the past, where I had pet odor, and wanted them to use a special bottle of chemical to see if that would help--- first they politely ignored my request. Then I pointed out they were ignoring it. Then they said no. Then I escalated it to the owner. The owner said, "Oh, we don't like using other people's chemicals because we don't know the hazards." And I'm like, "If you're worried about the hazards, they're written on the bottle, and there's a phone number. And yes, it's safe to use." "Oh, well, we still don't like using products we're not used to, but we'll try." And they used maybe a capful of my $30 bottle of product, and amazingly, it did absolutely nothing to improve things, and neither did anything else they'd done with their own stuff, and it was a wasted $150. I hired them one more time after that, because the owner was a nice lady from church, and you try to hire local--- "I want them to shampoo this carpet." "Oh, we don't have a shampooer." "OK, I can rent a shampooer from the store." "No, they don't shampoo, period. It takes too much time."

re: things looking brand new, I try to get things as nice as possible with reasonable effort, but there are times when there are permanent stains on things that simply don't come up. I have a tub surround that has odd orange smudges on the long wall. It's almost like someone had a chemical or something that discolored the surround, and nothing I did, and nothing anyone else can do, can do a thing to fix it.

For my clean/safe/functional houses, I try to achieve a reasonable level of cleanliness. Focus is more on the cleanliness of the interior of the fridge, the surface of the stovetop, the surface of the countertops, the cabinetry, the floors, the bathrooms, the ceiling fan blades, the baseboards. I'll sweep the pizza crumbs out of the wall oven.

WMH said, "Ready to Occupy" like a hotel room.

Roy,

Clean is clean. No degrees of clean.

It’s like being pregnant - it’s a yes or a no.

I made a 4 page checklist with specific instructions for items in each room like ‘wax the front of fridge’.

I pay by the job for a better result. No money until it shines.

PS

I find that people willing to work for $12 do a better job cleaning than folks who want $20 per hour. Those just want to dust and vacuum.

$50 base rate for small house

$10 for each appliance, basement, garage, extra bathrooms

She shows up because she can make $80-100 in a half day.

I've had the best luck with English as a second language folks. Most of them have a great work ethic. I've found them through my painter/drywall guy, he seems to have an endless supply of helpers but sometimes I have to use google translate to communicate with them.

As to cleaning level, it depends on the house. All of them get the basic cleaning which includes under and in appliances to as near new as possible. Bathrooms and kitchens cleaned top notch. Floors clean and no streaks. Cabinets wiped out, counter tops spotless, wall and baseboard dirt wiped off, ceiling fans and light fixtures cleaned. Motel 6 clean.

I have no idea how Brad finds his help.

I'm old so I have a lot of stories....sadly I'm still learning the hard way though. Case in point. Used a long term tenant to try to help her out, BIG mistake. Second mistake, didn't specify exactly what I expected, so she was back pounding on my front door for 150.00 a couple of hours later! I should have said up front a time limit, and or a total $ limit.

I had to zip my lip but I wanted to say plenty and I remember it, even if she is a "day" late.

Nicole,

Yes, I also would like to know where Brad20K finds people that will clean a filthy (ie. reeks of pet odors) house in 1/2 day for $80-$100.

Most of the people I hire would not read a 4-page cleaning list even if I had one. I do agree that a $12.00/hour person is usually better than the ones that demand $20.00.

I clean my empties using a black light.

I clean everything!

I feel it's the only time the house gets a thorough cleaning.

Also, there's no saying to me at move out that "it wasn't clean at move in ".

I can't find someone to clean the same and if I did I couldn't afford them, lol.

Roy,

I pay extra for trashout other than a basic bag or two, like moving furniture.

I also pay extra for extra nasty. But that is very rare thanks to our 2 Minute In Home prior to final approval and good move out instructions which were agreed at lease signing. (thanks W!)

Workers: cleaning people are EVERYWHERE! Contact the pastor at any church. The people with the cutely named business or business card want too much.

It should only take 4 hours to clean a small home, 5 if it's bigger.

I pay for supplies.

PS

Hire the one who is broke. She will come RIGHT NOW and work her tail off to earn future business.

NOT the couple who talk about cleaning corporate offices and million dollar homes of celebrities.

Brad20K,

This is my hardest Job to fill and I can’t understand it.

I contacted two professional companies that supposedly understood make ready for rentals. For my four bedroom house that has no carpet they wanted $650! And honestly the place isn’t that dirty!

I guess mopping is more difficult than running a vacuum?

This is the house I’m selling which oddly enough doesn’t have to be as clean as if I were renting it.

And to further answer your question Roy: Clean is clean. Hotel clean. White glove bathrooms, I don’t care how old the fixtures are.

I have found that I can attract a better quality tenant with rentals that are white glove clean, spotless. But I haven't found anyone yet that cleans a home or apartment like I do. From a national chain (terrible), to local cleaning companies (poor), to the cheaper "I clean houses" individuals (a little better), even with a checklist for them I ALWAYS have to go back over many items.

My leases all specify that the rental is to be surrendered at lease end totally clean and in the same condition as when initially rented, except for ordinary wear and tear, ready for immediate occupancy by a new resident. They almost never are. The move-in inspection checklist includes a line for the tenant to rate the cleanliness of each room on a scale of 1-10, and tenant must specify the reason for any rating of less than 10. Photos are taken with tenants in unit. I now also have an attachment to the leases that specifies specific charges for any cleaning or repairs necessary at move-out; it is referenced in the lease the tenant signs, it is attached to the lease, and each page is initialed by the tenant. This is up front at lease signing. Supplying this schedule of charges at move-out might not hold up if challenged in court since the tenant did not agree to the charges at lease signing.

Metro Detroit here. I charge my incoming tenants a $150 non refundable “cleaning fee”, and forget the “swept clean” clause in the lease.

Why? Human nature. A clean person will leave the house clean when move out because that is their character, that’s their integrity.

A dirty person will not leave the house clean, even though to them, they did.

I clean myself and would challenge ANYONE to a “clean off”

No one can clean like I can. I have it down to a science now.

I found these “professional” cleaning services only clean things that are clean, and don’t know how to do real deep cleaning.

Apparently moving a fridge or stove is considered “deep cleaning” to those people! LOL.

So I gave up after failure after failure. I clean it myself, and pocket $150.

Some of my “secret” cleaning weapons. Magic erasers, and using the right chemical for the job.

We use the same checklist for the cleaning people as the resident gets at move in and move out. We still need to go over some expectations to make sure they understand how clean we want it. We too have experienced a lot of the same problems with professionals vs someone who might be hungry that day. All that being said, it’s not something I want to devote my time to doing it myself even though we might clean it better than the next person.

On my last eight empties I offered the tenant a cleaning service for $250. All they have to do is remove all items and have all floors broom clean. Six out of the eight excepted my offer. this saves the hassle of arguing with the tenant how clean is clean!

My cleaning person Prepares prepares the property for the pickiest of tenants and deep cleans the whole home.

On my last eight empties I offered the tenant a cleaning service for $250. All they have to do is remove all items and have all floors broom clean. Six out of the eight excepted my offer. this saves the hassle of arguing with the tenant how clean is clean!

My cleaning person Prepares prepares the property for the pickiest of tenants and deep cleans the whole home.

My aunt just moved and used handy.com for movers, cleaning help, and even a special person to hang art work. I thought that was a service available in urban Texas, but not rural Colorado. I was wrong. Handy quoted me $39. An hour for move out cleaning. Instead I asked around and found someone on my own for only $30. An hour.