I think I received my most outrageous quote ever the other day. And it wasn't for landlord stuff.

I'm advertising for a housekeeper. Specifically, I need one to come in weekly and do floors (vac, mop) and bathrooms. That's it. I have a very bad back and just can't do those things very well.

No dusting, no laundry, no kitchen cleaning, no dealing with clutter. I have 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, a living room, a kitchen, 2 hallways and 1 set of stairs.

Forgot to post the actual quote:

Wow! for $600 I think my housekeeper might come out there. Well, once. LOL.

I pay $30 an hour for my regular cleaning crew. They have a business license and insurance. A mom and her two daughters and they hire on additional folks, but a member of the family leads each team. They do a great job.

Plenty that was a ONE TIME clean. Not weekly. $600 for ONCE. Then we'd discuss the weekly price after that...

Had someone come today and quote me $350...I'm taking it because I need it done.

in 2017, I was remodeling a half bath in the basement, and wanted the floor tiled directly on top of the concrete. Lowes subbed out the measure to a different company than the installer. So installer shows up, says the floor is too uneven , and quotes me $400 to use cement to even the floor before installing.

We had someone clean our entire house (2,700 sqft) once per month (we have no kids, and are fairly tidy people) and we paid them $120 each time (it was a retired husband and wife couple, took them about 2.5 hours each time...so 5 "person hours"). But that was in 2017...they had health issues and had to stop...so not sure what it would cost today...but I'm guessing about $160-180? We also tipped them $10 each time and bought them something for Christmas each year. They did floors, dusting, wipe down all appliances, clean all sinks, toilets, etc....but no laundry, dishes, or picking up things. We also gave them things we didn't need, like used appliances when we got new ones...and they were appreciative of that.

regarding cleaning rentals, you should be charging the last tenant for cleaning , so why does it matter how much it costs? If it's market rate, that should be good enough if you need to go before a judge.

This isn't for rentals, David, it's for me personally. My departing tenants DO clean - it's part of the lease. They get it clean and ready to occupy, and they leave it clean and ready to occupy. I don't have a cleaner for rentals.

This quote was for us, our personal home. And I'm thinking people see the house on the water and this lady, in particular, knows we have rentals (her ex-husband is our used appliance guy) so possibly figured we would pay more than the average bear. We won't.

For about the past 10ish months, I've had a cleaning lady in my personal home. Once a week for three hours a time. We've missed quite a bit but that doesn't matter to me. My home is 3900 square feet so of course the entire thing doesn't get cleaned by her weekly. I (and my grandkids) clean as I go. What she does helps me keep up. Four bathrooms - 2 seldom used - so she does them every other week. run sweeper or dust in bedrooms that don't get used often. She actually loves to mop so she does the kitchen floor (25 x 20) weekly. Mostly due to laziness on my part. She helps me a lot with bigger things that my kids and grandkids used to help with but I am impatient and can't wait for their time schedules. She asked for $15 an hour. I give her a $50 for the three hours. One time I tried to give her extra (I forget why) and she refused. She is ... 69 years old.