Average Costs for Housekeeping Services

I use a private cleaner (one recommended through friends) which is much cheaper than a service. I pay $100 every two weeks for 3 people to come in. They do the main two floors (I still do the terrace level) which is 6 full baths, 1 half bath, and 4500 SF. It includes all cleaning, dusting, mopping, bed making, windows, etc. They are here from 8 am to 10/10:30 am.

I'm going to get someone in once or twice a month soon, a friend recommends her house cleaner, who charges $100 per cleaning. I don't know exactly what that entails, however.

I have no idea but I second the virtual high five and wonder if your DH can call my DH and have a beer and he can talk mine into the same conclusion!! It is TOO about me...

Have fun with your new adventure. And don't forget to stock those bon bons. :-)

I can't answer your question, but wanted to send you a virtual "high five" anyway. It's been some years since I had housecleaning help, but I loved it when I had it, and am looking forward to a day when my budget again allows it. One piece of advice - make sure whoever you hire is bonded/insured. Even good people break things sometimes, and if the cleaners are insured, it's easier for both of you. The cleaners do not lose money from their paychecks, and you get reimbursed for the loss.

No one does windows without charging a bunch of money. Have hubby do the windows or a kid do the windows. They really shouldn't need done more than a couple of times per year. Doors? maybe...but I only do them when I feel like it.

You only want someone to come in and do the floors, kitchen, and bathrooms. Otherwise you're looking at about 8-10 hours of work and if they charge $20 per hour that's way too much to pay someone to do something you can assign to someone that lives in your home.

My husband does the dishes. That's NOT the kitchen though. I do the floors and he does the trash. Kids help by gathering the trash, litter box daily, and feeding and watering the pets. Kids also have to help with outdoor stuff when hubby goes outside to do that.

I don't take on everything. I am not their servant. I'm in a crappy mood today because I found a bunch of stuff under my granddaughter's bed and she knows better. Now I have to decide what a natural consequence is. Tossing the things is not an option because I can't go buy replacement stuff. She doesn't have anything that isn't really a necessity either.

If you have someone come in, strip the beds and if you have clean bedding ready they make that bed up right then and finish that room. They start any dishes in the dishwasher, then they wash what they took off the beds and dry it, fold it, while they're there and put it in the cabinets for next time. Then they can do that bathroom and all the floors on their way out of that room. They do the hallway bathrooms, kids rooms, etc...then they should have a majority of that level done. It's pretty easy when they get a routine down.

I know you want someone to come in and make it all go away but that will cost you hundreds each time. They can't do all that in a couple of hours and that's what they usually have available, a couple of hours once or twice per week.

It depends somewhat if you go with a "prepackaged" service, or someone who does it by the hour. The franchise-type services will walk through your house, and give you a quote. With these services, you don't really pick and choose what you want them to clean. They have a checklist, and they do it the same in every house. It's more than you are asking for (they will dust, make all the beds, etc), and fairly thorough. As for cost, it depends how often you have them come. The more often they come, the less they charge per visit. So, for weekly cleaning, it might be $80/clean. For every other week, it might be $100/clean, and for once a month, it might be $120/clean. Their rationale is that the longer they wait between visits, the more dust/dirt accumulates and so it takes them longer to clean it.

Harder to find, but worth the effort, IMO, is to find someone who owns his/her own business and charges by the hour. That way you can say - please clean the kitchen and bathrooms but don't waste your time dusting or making my bed. And you can also say - hey, my fridge is looking icky on the inside, can you spare an extra hour this week and clean it? This is what I have now, and it's great. She charges $20 per hour. The standard stuff I have her do (house about the same size as yours, but 2.5 bath instead of 3 full) takes her 4-5 hours. And every now and then, I ask her to do something extra (like clean the fridge) and she just adds in the extra time. She is worth every penny.

We pay $110 a visit every two weeks for 2,400 sq ft. 4 br. 3 ba. (full baths). That's in Northern California. You'll pay more for wood floors because they take longer and cleaners find them a PITA (we have carpet and tile, so not an issue for us). Windows are not standard, so expect to pay more for those, too.

In the end, worth every dime!

It probably varies a lot regionally. My house is 2850 square feet, five bedrooms, three baths and a bonus room. I have an independent cleaning lady, as opposed to someone through a service, and I pay her $80 per visit. She comes once every two weeks. She arrives at 8:00 and finishes around 12:30 - 1:00.

She cleans everything - kitchen, bathrooms, dusts, cleans the floors downstairs, vacuums upstairs, washes all the sheets & towels. Sometimes she adds in baseboards or shutters, but not every time.

Chances are you will pay more if you go through a service than if you can find an independent cleaner.

Walking in the house after she has finished is my favorite part of the week. : )

Lucky! is all I have to say :)
I hope you can find someone and that it's reasonable enough to make it worth your while. I do hear getting a recommendation is the way to go.

I know in my area (Seattle area) we pay about $150 for 3 to 4 hours every other week for a deep cleaning, and they (the cleaners) DON'T do windows. They consider it a liability issue. It sucks. We hire someone else to do the windows, or we do them ourselves.

Good luck, I hope you find someone cheaper.

Exciting!! For my house, which is 7 bedroom, I pay $120 every other week- and then $95 on alternate times. As Jackie said, I sort of customized mine. I don't have them clean the bathrooms, I mostly need help with dusting, vacuuming, and mopping. And we have a finished basement but it's not used that often, so they only clean it every other visit (which is the lower price when they don't, obviously). Find a service that can custom things like that for you. Some are very stringent, they want a 'deep cleaning' for the first time they come out, which can be amazingly expensive, and are just rigid on what they do. I looked around until I found one that basically has a price sheet and just went room to room with me and charged only by what I wanted done in that room. I use Cottage Care, not sure if they have that company where you are. Good luck!

I've used a couple different people. The service I used charged $99 for 3 hours worth of cleaning. They were able to do my whole top 2 floors which was around 1700sf. It wasn't detailed cleaning like oven or anything like that. She made beds, dusted, vacuumed, cleaned bathrooms and kitchen. I even had her do baseboards or blinds if there was extra time. I would say you do need to give them a couple times in your house and provide feedback so they know what your ticks are :) I used another girl that charged $28/hr but had a 4 hour min., so basically $112 for 4 hrs. I preferred the company because if I didn't like the job one was doing, they would find me someone that better fit my needs/expectations. Several friends have cleaners and cost around here at lest seems close to the same. I think one pays $60 for 2 hours.

I don't know your area. In downtown Ft. Lauderdale, 3/2 1200 sf - I pay $85 for two hours with a two person team. They will do extra for an additional fee (oven, fridge or freezer, windows outside, etc.) Otherwise, the services included are on the website:
http://www.maidforyoucleaning.com/

First of all, congratulations!!!
Around here, typical housecleaning services include vacuum/mopping, dusting, and kitchen/bath cleaning. Windows are always extra, not included in the regular rate, unless negotiated up front. While my cleaners would tidy up some I made a point to have everything picked up (and made sure my kids did too) so they could focus on the actual cleaning.
I have NO idea what the rates are in your area but around here if someone did your house twice a month I would expect it to cost about $80 each time, not including the basement (or windows.) Oh, and they almost always charge more the first time, because they work longer and do a deeper clean.
Good luck, I hope it works out!!!

We use "handy" it is a service. They charge just under $90 for a once monthly clean (3 hours/ one cleaner). Our apt is 900 sq feet and has only one bathroom.

Bi weekly is approx $75 a clean.

There are add on charges for Windows, inside appliances and laundry.

Best
F. B.

It's like insurance, you can't really compare with others, everyone lives in a different area and a different house and there are different services you can order. So call around and get some quotes for your specific needs.

We have randomly had house cleaners. I love it! Congrats!

I don't know if it varies by area, but when we listed one of our properties for sale we hired merry maids (I think that was the name). The house was empty and we had them clean the kitchen and three bathrooms and it was just over $200. (but our last tenants left the place a total mess).

I think they go by the size of the home and what they will be cleaning. You can also have someone do part of the cleaning so that it is easier on you and less expensive.

I don't know what to tell you, except that you and I apparently share a husband. Mine thinks we maybe need cleaning help.....

My neighbor has someone just once a month, to do what you are talking about - bathrooms, kitchen floor, probably major cobwebs, deep cleaning and so on. You'll do the routine stuff like dusting. She found that, because she was flexible about when they came, people were happy to squeeze her in when they had an opening, and weren't too expensive. If you can flex on the day/time, you might do well!