Factors That Determine Maid Sevice Cost/rates

How Do I Determine Maid Service Costs?

The simple answer is it varies! The easiest way to get good service at a fair price is by a recommendation from someone you know and trust. Barring that, you might need to interview several cleaning services before finding the right one for you. Always ask for a home inspection before hiring a service. In the mad rush of todays fast paced world, you might be tempted to rely on a phone quote without having met anyone from the service. A lot of services will provide phone quotes that are often lower than the actual cost just to get your business only to end the day with nasty add on pricing or up-charges.

What are the factors that determine Cost?

When you purchase cleaning services, what you are actually purchasing is time. Let me explain. The degree of difficulty is not challenging, but the physical labor and time commitment is critical. Cleaning estimates really boil down to how much time it is going to take and what the degree of physical activity is needed to accomplish the cleaning tasks. Lets look at a few factors:

Location: The realtors have made this abundantly clear Location, Location, Location. The same is true when it comes to a cleaning service. If your dwelling is in Miami, FL., you can expect to pay more than if you reside in Waco, TX. If you live in the city, you have many competing service providers to choose from. However, if the closest grocery store is two dirt roads, a railroad crossing, and a quarter tank of gasoline away, you need to expect to pay more for service. Not only the expense in getting to your location, but the travel time as well.

General House Keeping Tidiness: You have to determine the tasks that you want the house keeping service to perform. If your house is in a relatively tidy condition, your house keeper can concentrate on cleaning tasks like scrubbing the toilets, sinks, and bathtubs. Otherwise, you pay an increased cost because the service has to clean-up before they actually start to clean.

Square Footage: Yes, size does matter. The larger the home, the larger the price tag. If you have areas of the home that are not used and you dont want cleaned, you can let the service know so that area is not calculated in the price. However, if you own a 4000 square foot home and only want one bedroom, one bathroom, and the kitchen to be cleaned, dont expect the price to be the same as cleaning your former one bed one bath apartment. The larger home has larger areas and it takes more time to do the same services.

Frequency of Cleaning: Expect to pay more for initial cleanings, and once a month cleanings. Discounts start to take effect with bi-monthly cleanings and even larger discounts for weekly cleanings. If you need daily cleanings you should really not be hiring a maid service, but just in fact hire a maid.

Who Resides in the Home: This leads back to the general tidiness of the house. If you have teenagers with typical teenager bedrooms, expect to pay more since the service will probably have to Tidy-Up before actually starting to clean. Pets can also lead to increased costs. If you have pets in the house, they should be in a safe place away from the house keepers while the clean. If you pet sheds, this defiantly adds to the cost of cleaning. Pet hair is extremely hard to remove and time consuming.

Extra Items: Know what is considered customary and what is considered an extra by your maid service provider. Generally, things like cleaning an oven, the inside of the refrigerator, windows are considered extra.

On a final note, make sure that you and your service provider agree on a price before the work is started. Contracts are not customary, but can be used in special situation if the work is extensive or happens over a multiday period. Your service provider should be happy to provide you with a receipt for payment of services. If you find you need maid service in the Austin Texas area, I encourage you to check out Teresas Tidy-up.

Teresa owns and manages Teresas Tidy-Up maid service in Austin Texas visit her site at
http://austinmaid.net