Cleaning for a Living - Advice

My MIL in Flower Mound pays over $100 for her house everyother week. Their house is 4 bedroom with two living areas and three bathrooms. Good luck to you! I'm also a SAHM, but work part time at Centennial Medical Center. If you are not set on cleaning I know that the hospital always has positions. Have you ever thought about working third shift overnight too? Still home with your baby but a couple nights a week you are making great money for your family? There are always so many options. Good luck with your endeavor.

pricing ranges and it depends on a few things. I pay $90 for my 3000 s.f. house and i think thats about as low as it gets in my area of South Orange County. My SIL pays over $300 to have her 3000 sf house cleaned, but they are very meticulous, dusting even the lightbulbs (both those are once monthly cleanings). I think something in between those two prices should be where you land. It depends if you are paying a person who owns thier own sole proprietership, or a large co. that has huge overhead. It depends if its a basic cleaning service that only cleans surfaces or more of a maid service that does laundry, dishes, and the whole nine yards. It depends if there are undocumented workers or above board workers. It depends if its a one time cleaning, weekly, bimonthly or monthly cleaning. It depends if the house is minimilist or cluttery. It can even depend if the client is high maintinence or easy to please. I cleaned houses in college for a company called Cottage Care (large chain). Ulitmatelly time is money, so consider how long a house is going to take you and figure out what that translates as an hourly rate. I found medium houses took 4 hours to clean (for basic cleaning/ surfaces ((no dishes, laundry, windows))) and large houses took 6-8 hours (provided they weren't filthy to begin with). I'd start at a low end of $15 hr and maybe $20 after you get proficient. Then if you have more work than you know what to do with you can raise the prices. If I were you, I'd work under a reputable co. to start with (a few weeks or months), just to learn the ropes and learn what is and is not provided in a typical cleaning service. But watch out for noncompetition clauses. You often have to sign them and are legally obligated not to start your own cleaning company within x amount of miles for x amount of time when you sign on with a cleaning co. But you will learn some very valuable things if you can work under someone for a while, from the fastest cleaning methods, to etiquite that you may have never considered, such as never parking in a clients driveway. Best of luck.

I used to clean for an hourly rate...this ended up not being a great idea. Much better to quote a price for a "first time in cleaning" then have a set rate and be clear about what extra's will cost...be very clear about what a general cleaning entails, and it is ok to be nice and do something extra from time to time, but do not de-value yourself...have an extra fee for things that some homeowners want to throw in on top of your normal general cleaning...I have been asked to do laundry, to clean wooden blinds, to clean out the fridge, to organize drawers, all manner of things that are not "general cleaning" as long as you are up front from the get go, you will be happy and not upset whomever you end up cleaning for. Lots of luck! Around here the going rate seems to be about $15 an hour...I clean a one story, 3 bedroom, two bath home for $45 a week. That is considered to be a very reasonable rate.
Lots of luck to you.

No advice. I just wish you lived a LITTLE bit closer. I would love for you to clean my house in Mansfield. I don't know if my husband would go for it regularly anyway, but it sure would be nice to have someone clean for us at least once a month, especially if it was someone I "know" from mamasource. Good luck with your new venture!

i would work for a small agency and get ur experience first. on ur own i would leave flyers with teachers, nurses, lawyers, these are the ones that seem to need housekeeping the most. stay away from rich sahm(sorry) they are the most pickiest and seem to be controlling and insecure. call a cleaning service, like merry maids or other cleaning services and get a quote, but as a potential customer not a potential competitor.

i have two houses on my own, dont want any more than 3, then u need business license, bonded, that cost money and IRS headaches, plus i work for a medium local cleaning service. a medium size house should take 3-4 hrs if ur detailing. good luck!

wow, i have the same house that betsey described, and its easily double. i think you need to find out rates where you are. and if you go a little low in the beginning to get a few clients, i think thats ok. my sister found someone at the nail place, talking, and she did a great job and word of mouth got her a whole client base. if you do a great job, show up when you say you will, and offer some kind of deal to get peoples attention, i think you will do fine. i cant afford it regularly, but i would do it once in a while if i felt like they do a better job than me. i havent found anyone yet. i cant get jerry seinfeld out of my head talking about the guy that cleaned the gunk off the top of his dishsoap bottle. haha --- ruined me for everyone :)

I'm sure geography plays a lot into it. I use an agency and have two girls come every other week. They are bonded and carry their own workers compensation insurance. I pay $115/every other week (and I tip them as well) and they do everything but laundry and cleaning the litter box. It is wonderful to come home to a house that is cleaned. They are here a little over two hours and bust their butts! Just didn't have the time and my time is money (I'm in sales). My 17 year old daughter and I both do stuff on a daily basis though to keep up with it. I'm sure I could pay a lot less for a person that is not bonded and insured but it would take hours longer and I feel pretty safe this way.

We have a 3900 sq ft home just east of Allen and pay $91 every two weeks plus tip for one house cleaner to spend 4 hours in our home. HTH!