You’ve got a lot of options when it comes to hiring someone to clean your house. One of those many decisions – possibly one of your first – is whether to find and hire an individual maid yourself, or to go through a cleaning company.
Maybe when you were growing up, your family hired an individual as a housekeeper, so that’s just what you’re used to. Or maybe your friend has an independent maid that they really like, and you’re wondering if you should do the same.
While you can have a positive experience with a maid you hire yourself, there are actually a lot of downsides to going this route. We want to help you make an educated decision so your experience will be the best suited for your needs.
Here are some reasons why a cleaning service is a great option.
Reputability
By going through a reputable, established company, you are guaranteed to get qualified cleaners coming into your house. The company will vet anyone who works for them so that you don’t have to.
Just be sure to ask if the company hires their cleaners themselves, or if they use contracted help. If they use contracted help, be aware that the people they send to your home might not be employed directly through them, which has issues in itself.
All of our cleaners, for example, are licensed, bonded, and insured. This is a huge benefit to you, and one less thing for you to worry about. In the unlikely case an accident or mistake were to happen on your property, any damage would be covered under our insurance.
To be sure, you can always ask for proof of insurance before you decide to go with a maid service. A reputable company will always be happy to talk with you and provide you with answers.
Simplicity
You probably want to hire someone to clean your home so that you can save time and energy, right?
One major downside to hiring your own maid is that you will then have to serve as that person’s employer.
That naturally comes with a lot of added responsibilities that will continue for as long as that maid works for you. If you’ve never hired someone before, you may even have to do some more research so you can make sure that you’re doing everything legally and correctly.
In addition to money matters, you’ll have to check that your home and your cleaner have proper, up-to-date insurance, just in case the worst happens. No one ever tries to do a bad job or break things. But accidents can happen even to the best cleaners, and you want to be prepared.
Sound like a lot to worry about?
A maid service makes it a lot simpler for you, so you’ll never have to worry about all of the little details.
The initial booking process might take a little bit of extra effort on your part – researching companies, contacting one, and preparing for the initial deep-cleaning service. But after that, we’ll make it simple for you.
Just book your appointments and pay your cleaners through us. You’ll never have to worry about the legal or insurance side of the business.
Money and payment
Is it possible to save money by hiring an individual? Can you negotiate the price of service if you’re hiring an individual?
While you might be able to find some individuals willing to negotiate their salary, you will still find that you’ll end up paying a comparable amount as you would a cleaning company.
Cleaning is hard work, and it’s tough to find a great, qualified, insured maid who will agree to work for minimum wage. And as this will be someone you’re trusting to come into your house, hiring your own maid really shouldn’t be an opportunity for you to be cheap.
When you’re hiring someone yourself, you’ll also have to consider how and when this person should be paid. As their employer, it’s up to you to handle the tax information.
Even if you can save a bit of money, there’s definitely a lot of extra work involved.
If you go with a maid service though, you’ll never have to worry about little details like how much to pay your cleaner, employment taxes, or whether your maid’s insurance is up-to-date. This can take a lot of extra worry off of you.
Reliability
What happens if your cleaner gets sick? What if she decides to quit and move onto a new career?
This can be a huge problem if you’re simply relying on an individual. Even if this person gives you great, reliable service for years, that’s not a guarantee it will continue into the future.
By going with a company though, you’ll get a whole team of cleaners coming to your house. If one of your cleaners isn’t available to work for some reason, we’ll make sure that there’s always someone else to take their place.
And unless the weather is so bad that we can’t get to work, we’ll be there on time, ready to work. We have long-standing policies in place to ensure that you’re satisfied with your service every time.
Many of our staff have been around for more than a decade and are a part of our family. We send the same crew of cleaners to your home each time (given that you schedule us on the same day and time), so you will recognize your cleaners. They will give you reliable service every time.
Final thoughts
As you can see, it’s more of a risk to find and hire a maid by yourself.
This isn’t to say that you can’t have a great experience with a maid you hire yourself, or that there aren’t some excellent independent maids out there. Many people have no trouble and establish years-long professional relationships with their independent cleaners.
But there are a lot more things to consider before you do decide to go this route, a lot more hoops to jump through to make sure your financial and legal affairs are in order.
Overall, it’s a major benefit to have a cleaning crew backed by an experienced company. Our goal is to help you make your life simpler and cleaner.