Dust is everywhere. It’s on your countertops, your floors, and your ceiling. You can try scrubbing it away, or you can get a maid. Nearly 800,000 Americans work as maids. This gives you plenty of options. But it makes how to find a maid a little difficult. What are some maid hiring tips you should follow?
What are the red flags that should lead you away from a company? How should you prepare before a maid comes to your house?
Answer these questions, and you can learn how to find the best maid in no time. Here is your quick guide.
1. Look at Your Home
Maids are most helpful when they have specific projects to perform. Telling a maid to clean your entire house is too indirect. They may clean areas that you can clean, which means you are wasting your money.
Go through your home and find places that you have difficulty cleaning. You may be able to clean the floor, but you may struggle to keep the ceiling tidy. You may need help with your bathroom, basement, or attic.
Keep in mind that you can also hire a commercial cleaning service. If you have a store, you need to keep your bathrooms sanitized and stocked. A service can maintain your bathrooms and give you plenty of hand soap and toilet paper.
2. Do Your Research
Once you’ve found specific areas you want someone to clean, do your research into different services. Make sure to use a few keywords. Some companies describe themselves as “maid services,” while others say they are “cleaning companies.”
Visit their websites and examine their services. The more they offer, the more experience that they tend to have. But finding someone who specializes in a particular operation means they will have high technical knowledge.
Look at more than the websites. Visit Glassdoor and examine how the companies treat their employees. How they treat them is a good sign of how they will treat you.
Visit their page on the Better Business Bureau website. The BBB logs customer complaints and gives businesses ratings based on them.
Check their reviews on Facebook and Yelp. Look at reviews that give one star and five stars. Try to see why a customer might feel that the service did not help them.
Get recommendations from your family and friends. They know your taste, and they can connect you with a maid who will meet your needs.
You can order from a service, or you can go to a specific maid. Hiring a specific person is good if you live in a rural area or need a quick clean. But a company can give you more options and flexibility.
3. Have Interviews
When you’re ready to make a call, call the service provider. Tell them what your situation is and ask for their advice. If they aren’t willing to give you tips to clean your house, they may not have experience.
Ask them about what services they can offer. See if you can assess what tools they use. Handheld tools work for most jobs, but vacuums are often necessary for basement and attic work.
Ask to speak to some employees in particular. Ask them for their individual experience and what jobs they have encountered.
You should do something similar if you choose to hire a specific maid. Assess their experience through a series of questions. If they don’t have knowledge or are not forthright, you should not hire them.
See if they can come over to your house or office. Walkthrough your property room-by-room and point out areas that you need help with.
4. Write Out a Contract
You should put everything into writing. Get a detailed description from your maid about the services they will offer.
An unwillingness to sign a contract is the biggest red flag there is. You may encounter some disputes with the service over price.
But they should draft and/or sign a contract at the end of the day. If they don’t, they are inexperienced at best and scam artists at worst.
In particular, your contract should define an exact cost. Some cleaning businesses provide their own supplies. If that’s not the case, their services should be less expensive.
5. Make Preparations
Make your home as accessible as possible. Move furniture so your maid can reach hard-to-access areas. Secure rugs and carpets so they don’t trip on them.
If you need to supply cleaning supplies, lay them out on a table. It is a good idea to give your maid a table anyway so they can place their tools down. Place it against the wall near a power outlet.
Having someone you don’t know in your house can make you nervous. Don’t worry too much.
It is okay to store valuables out of sight. Put them in a safe or keep them on your person. If you are very nervous, you can stay in the house while the maid works.
But you should give them a degree of trust. You are paying them good money, and they should be free to do their job.
Five Essential Maid Hiring Tips
Maid hiring tips are straightforward. Start by deciding what you need a maid for. One is best for cleaning ceilings and hard-to-reach surfaces.
Do your research on different companies in your area. When you’ve found a few that you like, ask them some questions. Get a good sense of their experience.
Once you’ve found the right one, write a contract. If they won’t draft one, don’t hire them. Make things accessible for the person you do hire.
You can find the best maid today. Kathleen’s Cleaning Service serves Henrico County. Request a quote today.