Monday, February 22, 2010

House Cleaning Price Guide

Hiring someone to clean your house is often well worth the expense.


Many working professionals do not have time in their busy schedules to clean their houses as thoroughly as they would like. With work and family time commitments stretching you in different directions, it is often difficult to find several hours each week to devote to house cleaning. Hiring an individual or professional cleaning service to clean your house can save you considerable time and will often result in a much cleaner house. Pricing for house cleaning will depend on a number of factors. Does this Spark an idea?


Home size


The first factor that will determine the price for house cleaning is the size of your home. The price will take into account square footage, number of rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as special considerations such as outdoor patios or a lot of large windows. An average cleaning service will charge $75 to $150 as of March 2011 for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment. Some cleaning services charge per hour, with the national average at $30 per hour per person.


Children and Pets


Homes with small children and more than one pet are more difficult to clean and will often incur extra charges, whether you hire a cleaning service or an individual. If you have a large dog that sheds, such as a golden retriever, expect to pay a little more for someone to remove the dog hair. Likewise, professional cleaners may charge more if you have small children with many toys littered about the house.


Additional Services


Some cleaning professionals, especially individuals, will often be willing to perform additional services at little or no additional cost. These services might include washing dishes, laundry, ironing, taking out the trash and more. However, most house cleaners will not run errands for you, such as grocery shopping or picking up dry cleaning.


Cleaning Service vs. Individual Cleaner


When investigating prices for house cleaning, you can research professional cleaning services as well as individual cleaning people. Cleaning services are insured and bonded, but are also usually more expensive and will not do additional services, such as laundry. Cleaning people can be paid either hourly or by the house. Many individuals who clean will gladly perform the additional services mentioned in Section 3, especially if they are being paid hourly. However, they are usually not insured and will not take responsibility for any items they may break while cleaning. If you decide to use an individual cleaning person, you should ask your family and friends for strong referrals and pay your cleaning person the way you would any other employee.


Regular vs. Sporadic Cleaning


Both cleaning services and cleaning people will usually give you a better price if you commit to hiring them on a regular basis, whether it's weekly, biweekly or even monthly. A one-time, once-in-a-while cleaning will generally cost more than a regular cleaning service.







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