How to Hire a House Cleaning Service: 7 Things to Know Before Letting Someone Into Your Home
Hiring a house cleaning service should make your life easier.
But you’re also trusting someone with something incredibly important: your home.
And while price matters, there’s a lot more you should know before choosing a cleaning company.
After more than a decade owning Rise & Shine Cleaning Service and serving homeowners throughout Portland, Oregon, Vancouver, Washington, and surrounding communities, we’ve learned that most homeowners don’t know what questions to ask until something goes wrong.
So before you hire your next house cleaner, here are seven things worth checking.
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1. Is the Cleaning Company Insured?
This should be one of your first questions.
You’re inviting someone into your home, around your furniture, floors, appliances, artwork, and personal belongings. Accidents can happen—even with experienced professionals.
Ask whether the company carries appropriate insurance and what happens if something is accidentally damaged during a cleaning.
A professional company should be able to answer that question clearly.
2. Do They Background-Check Their Cleaning Technicians?
This one is huge.
Your cleaning technician may be inside your home while you’re at work, running errands, or picking up the kids.
Ask the company how they screen the people they send into customers’ homes.
At Rise & Shine, we believe trust isn’t something a cleaning company should take for granted.
3. Are the Cleaners Employees or Independent Contractors?
Many homeowners never think to ask this.
But understanding who is actually coming into your home—and their relationship with the company you hired—is important.
Ask whether the people performing the cleaning are employees or independent contractors and how they’re trained, supervised, and held accountable.
4. How Are Their Cleaning Technicians Trained?
A professional cleaning company should have standards and systems for how homes are cleaned.
Cleaning someone’s home professionally is different from simply knowing how to clean.
Ask about training.
Ask about quality control.
And ask what happens when the cleaning doesn’t meet expectations.
5. What Exactly Is Included in the Price?
Don’t compare cleaning companies based solely on the number at the bottom of the quote.
One company’s $150 cleaning may be very different from another company’s $150 cleaning.
Find out what’s included, what’s excluded, whether there are minimums, and whether certain services cost extra.
You want to know exactly what you’re buying before the cleaning begins.
6. What Happens If Something Goes Wrong?
This is where you can learn a lot about a company.
What happens if you’re unhappy with the cleaning?
What happens if something gets damaged?
What happens if your regular cleaner calls out?
Mistakes and unexpected situations happen in every business. What matters is whether the company has a process for making things right.
7. What Do Their Customers Say?
Take a few minutes to read their reviews.
But don’t only look at the star rating.
Look for patterns.
Do customers consistently mention reliability? Communication? Professionalism? Quality? How problems were handled?
Those details can tell you far more than a company’s advertising ever will.
We Made the Guide We Wish Every Homeowner Had
There’s a lot to think about when you’re deciding who to trust inside your home.
That’s exactly why we created our FREE Homeowner’s Guide to Hiring a House Cleaning Service.
It walks you through the questions to ask, what to look for, and some of the biggest red flags to watch out for.
And here’s the important part:
You don’t have to hire Rise & Shine.
We’d love the opportunity to earn your business, of course. But regardless of who you choose, we want you to feel confident that you’re hiring a cleaning service you can trust.
Download the FREE Homeowner’s Guide
Before you hire your next house cleaner, spend a few minutes learning what to look for. It could save you a lot of frustration later.
Rise & Shine Cleaning Service
Your Neighborhood Cleaning Company
2455 NW Nicolai St
Suite B-E13
Portland, OR 97210
