If you decide to hire someone to clean your house, make sure you go
about the task the right way. With a little forward thinking, you can
hire a maid who will help you keep your space neat and tidy, all without
taking on too much of a risk.
One of the first things you need to do is make the decision carefully.
When you allow a housekeeper into your home, you are, in effect, letting
a stranger into your personal space. This is not something to do
without some forward thinking. There is simply too much at risk. Instead
of just opening the phone book or Googling for cleaning services in
your area, talk to friends or family members who have used one and see
if you can get a good referral. Find out what they thought of the
service and work ethic of the individual they used. You need to find
someone who is honest, and word of mouth is almost always the best way
to find one.
Next, decide whether you are going to hire an individual maid or a
cleaning service. With an individual, you may be able to pay less for
service that is just as good as with a cleaning company. Hiring an
individual will also guarantee that you only have one stranger in your
home, rather than a rotating team of cleaners. This can give you peace
of mind when you leave the key behind for your housekeeper.
There are some decided benefits to hiring a service, as well, however.
When you use a service, you will not have to perform any background
checks, worry about paying taxes, or verify that the individual is
working the state legally. This is all something that the service will
do for you, so you can just sit back and watch your house get cleaned.
Also, bonding and insurance is not a problem if you hire a service, and
it might be if you hire an individual. Some homeowners insurance
policies require their users to increase insurance levels if they have
an uninsured cleaning person.
When you are ready to make your decision, always start by asking for
references, and actually calling them. If the service claims to be
bonded and insured, ask for proof. Similarly, ask for proof of
background checks done by services.
When you interview a potential maid or cleaning service, outline what
you want to have done, and find out how long they think it will take to
accomplish. Do not assume that the tasks you want to have done can be
completed in a certain time frame, unless the cleaning professional has
agreed that it is possible.
Dont hover while your maid is doing her job, but be available to
provide supervision and feedback after the first few times she is in
your home. This will ensure that everyones expectations are being met,
and that you are completely happy with the service. If you are not,
remember that you are the employer, so you can fire the cleaning
professional if the work is not up to your standards, but only do so if
you have been clear about what you expect.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A Boulder CO
maid will make sure that your home is clean, so you don’t have
to worry about it. If this is something you need, visit: http://www.merrymaidsboulder.com/.