10 Tips on Hiring Maid Service Help

When considering a house cleaning service or professional housekeeper, it's important to do some background checking. Before you let professional cleaners into your home, check out these tips on hiring professional cleaners:

Bonding: Inquire if the home cleaner/ professional cleaning service is bonded. Many are not, while others protect only themselves, not the customer. Make sure the company is bonded for its clients, that way if a theft occurs, you'll be protected.

Insurance: A home cleaning service/individual cleaner absolutely must be insured. If a maid slips and falls while on the job, your homeowner's policy might not cover it. Ask to make sure their insurance has liability and employee accident coverage that includes your home, the housecleaner(s) and the company.

References: Ask for contact information of references and a work history to make sure the company is reliable. Another good question to ask is how many years the company has been in business. Ask references questions such as:

• How long have you been using the home cleaning service?
• Have you ever made a complaint? If yes, how did the service resolve the issue?
• Would you recommend the service to family and friends?

Screening and hiring: Inquire about the employees that will be cleaning your home. Are their references checked and is their residence status confirmed? Typically an established company will have screened all new employees for honesty and dependability. Make sure the company's workforce is comprised of employees, not subcontractors. A maid service using subcontractors does not provide staff training and might not have liability insurance. Plus, there may not be set procedures for complaint resolution. Find out how the company handles complaints/issues and make sure they're backed by a written satisfaction guarantee. Before your house cleaning appointment, inquire about the limitations of the guarantee and what steps consumers should take to execute the guarantee.

Cleaning products: Ask what products the home cleaning service uses. Make note of any harsh or toxic chemicals that might be unsafe for use around kids and pets or that could do damage to furnishings. Some independent home cleaners and maids services expect you to supply all cleaning products, so make sure to double check.

If the maid service touts using “green” products or environmentally friendly products, inquire if the products effectively clean and disinfect pathogens like Staphylococcus (Staph.), Salmonella and E.coli If the maid service is "Green Certified," find out which certifying body certified the cleaning products and their certification process. Some products, although certified "green" actually use standard chemicals at a lower ratio, literally watering down a chemical until it passes standards.

Equipment: Ask if the service brings in its own vacuum, cloths, cleaning brushes, etc. or if you're expected to provide these. If the service uses their own vacuum cleaner, find out the efficiency of the vacuum and its filtration system. Definitely ask if the equipment is sanitized after cleaning each home. You don't want another home's dirt and germs!

Quality assurance: What are the service's quality assurance procedures? Ask how quality of service is measured and verified. Does a manager inspect the clean to be sure the quality of service is upheld? A maid service should have quality assurance procedures in place to ensure their house cleaning meets quality standards at every appointment.

Customer surveys: Does the service have a third-party customer satisfaction program in place? If they have a survey system, ask what the survey includes. What scores did the service receive from prior customers? Be leery if the service doesn't have a program in place to gather feedback from clients.

Taxes: If you pay a housekeeper a certain amount per year you're required by federal law to pay social security and other taxes on that person. Some states may require you to withhold state taxes on payments less than $1,000, check if yours does. Typically, maid service companies withhold taxes for their employees, but double check with the service you're considering. Check with the Internal Revenue Service For more information about household employee taxes. Make sure you're not breaking any tax laws when you hire a home cleaning service.