Look around your home right now. Not as neat and tidy as you want it to be, huh? If you’re a normal human being, there’s a good chance you just can’t find the time to organize, dust, wash, and all the other surprise processes that constantly pop up under the blanket of “cleaning.” You set out to tidy up and find 1,000 other things around the house – or apartment – that need to be done. If you have a full-time job – especially if you have a family, too – it seems nearly impossible to find the time. Dishes, laundry, carpets, bathroom…it piles up to what seems like an insurmountable task. Breathe. There is an answer.
There are many scheduling options for a cleaning service, and they depend on your needs and your budget.
You might think a cleaning service is for those with expendable funds, but guess what? There’s a service for every budget. Even if you don’t consider yourself “comfortable,” there is still a cleaning service for you. You don’t have to be deprived of this huge convenience – nay, lifesaver! Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic – or is it? If you’re balancing your job, family, and busy schedule, why should you also have to stress over cleaning? The task of fitting in an entire home cleaning is underrated, and it’s hard work. So, whether you can hire a live-in maid or have a representative of a home cleaning service come once a week, someone is out there to help you.
There are many scheduling options for a cleaning service, and they depend on your needs and your budget. You can have someone come twice a week, once a week, once every two weeks, once a month, or just on an as-need basis. In other words, if a cleaning service isn’t so readily in your budget, you can choose to use it only when you really need it, say a particularly busy week or a day when you look around and wonder how you missed the hurricane that blew through your living room.
You also might be looking for a cleaning service for your business, and for that you can use a specifically commercial cleaning service. Within commercial cleaning services, companies specialize in offices. Usually these services will send one or two cleaners to your office after hours once a week for cleaning and light office maintenance, like emptying all the wastebaskets. Or, for larger offices, you might choose to have this done every evening. Now, if your business is more on the industrial side, you’ll want to find a service that instead specializes in machine cleaning. You want a service made up of workers who know to effectively clean without damaging.
Beyond your typical cleaning services are more specialized options. These are probably not services you would have done as regularly as general cleaning, and they include window cleaning and carpet cleaning. Needed less often, these cleaners will really bring new life into your windows or carpets. Your regular cleaners will use more common household products to upkeep the windows and carpets, while carpet cleaners and window cleaners will come armed with more industrial products to really get in there and uproot any stains, fading, and discoloring.
Basically, here are your general cleaning service options:
Live-In Maid Service: This is a blanket household service that most of us are not fortunate enough to be able to afford. A live-in maid will cover all aspects of cleaning, and most likely cooking. This person will also run household errands. The job can possibly extend to childcare, as a sort of nanny/maid hybrid. You would look into different agencies to find your live-in, instead of services. Since this person is really entering your home, it’s a much more complex process. There will be background checks, references, and you will want to make sure you are absolutely comfortable with your choice for a maid. You can prevent issues from the get-go by thoroughly researching the agencies you look at, and speaking with a few before deciding. A live-in will inevitably become more than just a maid to you, as this person is in your home all the time. So, it’s vital to hire a person you trust. Different agencies will feature recruits for maids that are also nannies. A good place to start your search is www.unitedmaidsofamerica.com.
Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Monthly, or As-Needed Maid: The most reliable and most affordable route to finding your maid is through a cleaning service, like Merry Maids. There are maids that work independently, who you would most often find in listings in the newspaper or online, Craigslist, for example. There is a possibility you could find the perfect maid this way, but remember you’re hiring someone to come into your home with no background check, and none of the approval and confidence that a company offers when they send a maid to your home.
Companies like Merry Maids are national companies that have different centers in different areas, so they are always local to you. By hiring a maid through a company, you can rest assured in the fact that the maid represents an entire company, and was given a background check. Working through a cleaning service instead of independently is a sort of seal of approval. Companies like Merry Maids guarantee their employees have been fully screened and trained.
They also guarantee the services that will be performed, assuring thorough cleaning in every room of the house, organizing and tidying up, and other tasks like oven cleaning, refrigerator cleaning, window washing, packing and unpacking, wall washing, cabinet cleaning, and furniture treatment. As far as pricing, this will depend on not only the size of your home, but on other factors that make the workload heavier or lighter, like pets and children. This way the service is giving you a fair price. You wouldn’t want to pay the same price as someone with a messier home, since the difference in necessary work is significant.
Commercial Cleaning: Commercial cleaning services are usually round-the-clock, so you can bring in cleaners after hours for your company, or on weekends, or both. They perform the typical cleaning services, but in addition they provide more industrial services, as well, like floor stripping and waxing, lighting maintenance, odor elimination, machine cleaning, carpet cleaning, window cleaning and metal maintenance and restoration. They also offer specific sets of services, such as office cleaning, school cleaning, and supermarket cleaning, since different businesses have different needs. Commercial cleaning services often offer discounts, packages, and coupons, since businesses will most likely require more frequent and extensive cleaning than a home. Again, the pricing depends on the size of the space and the amount of work to be done.
Carpet Cleaning and Window Cleaning: Carpet cleaning services and window cleaning services are one-time deals. Carpet cleaners often offer packages that include more than just the carpet, from tile and grout to furniture and even car interiors. Window cleaners often clean gutters, mirrors, fans, and sills in addition to the windows themselves. The price of carpet cleaning depends on the size of the carpet, but doesn’t vary as much as maid services do with size and workload. Most carpet cleaners will offer a flat quote based on an average square footage of a certain room (average square footage of rooms will vary), and the quote will only go up if the room is significantly larger than this. Window cleaners will obviously charge based on the number of windows. Both services are great ways to breathe new life into your home, making everything look fresh again. The carpets, windows, and everything else these cleaners take care of will then be easier for maid services to maintain.
Some of these services actually work hand in hand. If you take the time and expenses out to arrange for carpet cleaning and window cleaning, this will lighten the average workload, and therefore price – perhaps even necessary frequency – for your regular, general cleaning service.
If you are considering cleaning services, check out the following links to find specialists in your area:
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