Q: What do maid services include?
A: Maids are professionals in household chores. They can wash the dishes, dust the shelves as well as wax the floors or cook the dinner. Maids help busy homeowners go through their day taking the housekeeping burden off their head.
The range of services a particular maid performs varies significantly. Some do only the basic cleaning around the house while others can cook meals, wash and iron the laundry, and declutter the attic. The list of services is usually discussed at the initial meeting with these home keeping experts.
Q: How do maids charge?
A: Most often, maids charge per hour of their services; and this charge is related to one person only. This means that if you need two maids in your home, then you pay a double per-hour price. In case you’re opting for more of a housekeeper than a maid, meaning that you need someone to take care of your home 24/7, you can expect daily rates per person. The latter case is, however, less common among the maid services.
Another charging method is also not that common. Yet, some maids can charge you per square footage of the home. Such payments are common for cleaning experts working under the company supervision and operating in large mansions.
Q: What is the average cost of the maid services?
A: The average cost homeowners pay for the maid services is $20-$40 per hour of work per person. In case the charges are based on the square footage of a home, the cost is $15-$25 per square footage. You can learn more about the charges and particular prices for this service in our maid service cost guide.
Q: What factors affect the cost of the maid services?
A: There is a vast number of factors that may change the cost of the maid services, from the cluttering level to the pets living in your home. Below we collected the most common and influential of them.
- Number of hours. The more a maid spends in your home, the more you pay. So the dirtier and bigger your home is, the higher bill will be cumulated for you.
- Experience. Yes, more experienced maids charge more. They usually require less time to perform the service but their hourly rate is higher.
- Individual or company. When you hire a maid from a company, you will likely to pay more for the service. This is due to the company’s charge for the hourly rate of a maid. When hiring an individual maid, you will get a lower per-hour rate and also a possibility to negotiate the price.
- Number of people. The more cleaning people, the higher the price.
- Additional services. All maids have a standard list of services they perform and those they will do for an additional charge. For instance, fridge cleaning or carpet shampooing are among the must-dos. Should you need a maid to do something out of ordinary, be ready to pay on top of the hourly rate for such a service.
- Pet occupancy. Some maids will charge extra per hour if you have pets. This charge is related to the larger scope of work a maid needs to do in homes with pets.
Q: How to avoid dealing with a scam maids company?
A: Maid scams are, unfortunately, far too often in the modern world. These non-reputable cleaners steal your belongings, eat your food, and on top of that don’t perform their primary function at all! We would like to urge you against such scams and so offer a list of signs that will help you hire a reliable and trustworthy maid.
- Documents or references. Individual maids may not often have a business license. Even though it’s better to hire a person or a company with a license and proper documentation, it is not always possible. In this case, the only thing you can rely on is references and reviews. Get the maid’s name and just search online for any reviews about a person. If nothing pops up then just ask for a couple of referential phone numbers from the previous employers to verify the reputation of a particular maid.
- Legal status. Don’t hire maids who don’t have a legal status in the country. Otherwise, you risk getting in trouble with the migration office in the future.
- Low charge. The low charge usually means a maid lacks experience, has legal problems, or is not reliable in any aspect of work. Avoid those offers that seem too good to be true.
- No contract. When you hire a maid from a company, you must have a contract. In the case of the individual maids, it might be a little more complicated. It’s always better, however, to have any kind of legally binding paper to protect yourself and your belongings should anything go wrong with the service.