Before booking a cleaner for your property, you should ask several questions to make sure they're the right fit. Here are some must-ask questions if you're planning on hiring a cleaner.
When a professional is working in your property, you need to feel sure that, should they cause damage, you'll be covered. When cleaning companies have public liability insurance, it alleviates any doubts you might have.
Always ask cleaners whether they have public liability insurance and, if they avoid the question or confirm they don't have it, move on to other cleaning companies that do have it. This could save you a major headache in the long run.
If you're dealing with a cleaning company with several employees, you might want to find out whether they conduct background checks while hiring. Choosing a company that completes basic background checks makes sure you'll only have individuals you trust in your property.
Since cleaners have unfettered access to your home – your most personal space – feeling comfortable with who you're hiring is important. If your chosen company does not complete background checks, you might consider picking a different service provider.
Cleaners don't hold formal qualifications, so you'll need other forms of proof that they're legitimate professionals. Reviews, references, and testimonials will give you the clearest insights into a cleaner's service value and standards.
You'll learn about the effectiveness of their cleaning, their punctuality, reliability, communication style, and everything else needed to decide whether to hire them. If a cleaner doesn't want to give you their references, it's a major red flag and a good reason to consider other cleaning professionals.
There will almost certainly be occasions when you need to cancel your regularly scheduled cleaning appointments. In some cases, cleaners will expect partial or total payment for these appointments, and that's most often the case when you cancel at the last minute.
If you cancel with enough warning – usually at least 48 hours before the booking – there's a good chance you won't be charged anything. Cancellation and change policies vary from one cleaning company to the next, so you should always ask about how they handle these situations.
Many people prefer to stick around for home cleaning appointments, but that's not always possible when working a full-time job. If a cleaner is willing to visit your property in the evenings and on the weekend, you'll find it much easier.
When taking quotes, you can ask whether they clean during evenings and weekends. If they do, you should also find out whether they charge extra for bookings during those times. This is the easiest way to balance convenience and costs when hiring a cleaning service.
When comparing quotes from cleaning companies, don't just ask about their rate or the total cost of your appointment. You also need to know when you're expecting to pay, whether they demand a deposit, and whether they offer discounts for booking blocks or regular appointments.
Once you're armed with this information, you can compare your local cleaners fairly. Take some time to consider whether better cancellation terms, deposit requirements, and payment schedules are worth you paying extra.
In the UK, many cleaning services bring their own cleaning supplies to client properties. This includes both cleaning products and equipment, like vacuum cleaners. In general, this is the simplest way to make sure they have everything they need to clean effectively.
Of course, some cleaning services do not bring their own supplies. If that's the case, you need to know about it with plenty of advance warning, otherwise, they might not have the materials to clean your property effectively once they arrive.
When asking about whether they bring cleaning supplies, take some time to find out what kind of products they use. If you prefer natural, chemical-free products, make sure they're aware of that. If they don't use your preferred cleaning supplies, ask whether they're willing to use the products you purchase.
If you're hiring a cleaner to regularly visit your property and handle typical cleaning activities, you need to know what they're willing to do. You should ask for specific details about the cleaning routine, and whether there are any additional charges for less typical requests.
What you ask them to do will partly depend on how you're being charged. If they're charging you by the hour, you could set a hard limit and have them target specific areas. If they're charging one price for a set of tasks, you don't need to worry so much about how long it takes.
You'll need to balance your priority cleaning tasks, appointment prices, and the frequency of those cleaning appointments. By doing so, you're making sure that you get the ideal cleaning service as regularly as you need it.
When you're left dissatisfied with the quality of cleaning that you've received, you need to have an established route for addressing those concerns. Speak to prospective cleaners about what guarantees they offer, and how you're supposed to broach unacceptable service quality, should that problem arise.
Unsurprisingly, it's a red flag if the cleaners are evasive or unwilling to provide any guarantees. In those cases, your best course of action is to move ahead with other cleaning services that are willing to stand behind their service quality.
When you're hiring a professional cleaner to take on your house, there are a lot of areas and tasks they need to handle. If you want to make sure they're up to scratch, you could ask them to provide a checklist of the work they've completed during each booking.
Some cleaners provide this as standard, while others will accommodate this request. Of course, there are cleaners that will be unwilling to do this altogether. For complete clarity, establish whether cleaners will do this for you while you're taking quotes – then pick accordingly.
