Green Earth Payment Options
- Green Earth House Cleaning accepts: Cash, Personal/Bank Check, and offers an online payment option- a secure bank transfer through our Quickbooks software. Online payments that fail to process are subject to a $10 processing fee.
- Credit Card, PayPal and Venmo are not accepted at this time
- Payment for one time or irregularly scheduled cleanings are due the day of service.
- Regular Maintenance Cleaning on a Schedule- For the first two months of service, payment for service is due the day of service.
- After 2 months, payment for maintenance service is due within 7 days of service, or 7 days after receiving an invoice, in order to avoid interruptions in service.
- Any invoices over 30 days old are subject to a 5% late fee.
- We do have a cancellation fee of $59 for cleanings canceled with less than 24 hrs notice
Green Earth employs Columbia Collection Service for all unpaid balances over 2 months.
Important Information You Should Know
Hours of operation: We are open Monday – Friday, from 9AM – 5PM. We are CLOSED on July 5th, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years Day. For these holidays, and on various other days as well, we will reach out in advance if there is a conflict of scheduling. On occasion it may be necessary to skip a service.
Your team: Having a regular team service your home has tremendous value. We make every effort to send in the same crew, but might have a few changes now and then due to illness or time off , or change in staff availability. We do not reach out in advance of this change, but please know that all of our cleaners are highly trained and will be provided with the most current and complete notes on your home and cleaning requests.
Arrival Time Window: Your cleaner/s may arrive 30 minutes prior to or after your scheduled start time. Our schedule is fairly precise but on occasion we may need to spend additional time at a home, just as we would with yours, to make sure that everything is completed. If it is more than 30 mins we will contact you.
Schedule Changes: Agreeing to a regular schedule means that you may only reschedule your regular service three times per year. After the allotted schedule changes, half or full service will be charged depending on the situation. Green Earth reserves your regular spot on the schedule and makes every effort to keep our appointments, and also counts of the projected revenue from your cleaning.
Tips: Tips are never required but always appreciated. They can be left in cash or added to your electronic payments or checks.
Parking: Any parking fees that our cleaners need to pay in order to service your home will be added to your invoice.
Keys: We do not hold keys in our possession. We will be happy to furnish you with a lockbox for a $35 dollar fee. This has proven to be the safest, most secure and efficient method of entry for our client’s homes.
If We are Unable to Enter Your Home: If we are not able to enter your home because the arranged method of entry is not available (client will be home, key left in hidden location, lockbox), then a full service fee will be charged as we are not able to re-use or make up that time and our employees are counting on the expected revenue from your cleaning. Please work with us to make sure that the method of entry is reliable.
Security Alarms: Green Earth House Cleaning respects your home, and your safety. We do our best to disarm and rearm your security system according to the directions provided, and the code provided. We do our very best to be diligent and careful, however, we are not responsible for any charges from a local police department or security monitoring company or any other associated charges related to an activated alarm while we are entering, cleaning, or leaving your home.
Additionally, you agree to hold harmless and / or release Green Earth House Cleaning company from any and all liability relating to any failure of the alarm or not arming the alarm properly.
Wear and Tear: Green Earth House Cleaning will not be responsible for items that have broken or damaged due to an accumulation of regular use/’wear and tear’. Certain areas of your home, such as a glass shower door, or fixtures, may last and function just up to the time our cleaners service. Our cleaners are trained to not apply or use too much force with any aspect of your home.
Cleaning Refrigerators: Customers should be aware that there are some inherent risks each time your refrigerator drawers and shelving are cleaned. Scrubbing off gunk / old food / sticky substances from the plastic can weaken it, and cracking or breakage can occur.
We are not responsible for any cracking / splitting, etc. for your refrigerator that is a result of this.
Settling Dust: During the dusting process, some dust becomes airborne and will not settle until we have left. This is more common in first time cleanings, and it may take several visits before settling dust becomes minimized.
Bed Sheets Changed?– If you would like linen service, please let us know ahead of time. While we do not strip beds, we are happy to make beds as long as the desired sheets are laid out on the bed in advance.
Use of Homeowner’s Vacuum: We bring and supply our own vacuum cleaners and you are not required to supply one for us.
But if you request that our cleaning technicians use your vacuum, we will not assume or accept any liability for damage to the unit. (Since we are not responsible for maintenance or training with the unit, we will not be responsible for any repairs to it).
Deep Cleanings: We’ll be in touch down the line to schedule a bi-annual deep clean as needed. The maintenance quote is based on a bi-annual deeper cleaning. An annual or bi-annual deep cleaning is an extra cost, but inevitably paves the way for much more successful regular maintenance cleanings.
Not Happy with Your Service?– If you are not satisfied with the level of your clean we do not offer discounts, but will schedule a time to send someone in to touch up areas that need improvement based on your request. However, feedback needs to be given within 24 hours of the delivered service. It is Green Earth’s goal to deliver the high quality cleaning that you are looking for and looks to address the issue asap.
Need a change in Your Service? Should the scale of work need to change for your home in any way, please feel free to let us know. You are welcome to add, remove, or request specifics- we just need to know ahead of time. Depending on the task requested, we may ask to extend your service time for an additional cost.
Illness- Should you or anyone in your household become sick with something more severe, such as the flu or COVID, please let us know so that we can reschedule your cleaning asap. We do not want our cleaners getting sick and appreciate your advance notice.
Things We Can’t Do
Pet Messes or Body Fluids – This includes, but is not limited to: litter boxes,, pet messes, bird guano, blood, feces, urine, and overflowed toilets. Cleaning body fluids (including that of our furry friends) requires special BBP certification, which we don’t currently carry.
Litter Boxes: We do not clean or empty litter boxes, and request that you provide a broom and dustpan for us to sweep up any litter, as vacuuming up litter can damage our vacuum cleaners.
Mold – Some amount of pink/orange mildew, or even darker mold, is common in most homes in our region. Large amounts of mold in shower areas, on walls, etc. can affect air quality and pose a safety issue. We aren’t able to clean in rooms that are heavily affected by mold, or in homes with heavy mold infestations. We highly recommend Portland Mold Solution for all your mold remediation needs.
Weight – We have a 20 lb. weight limit for safety reasons. We are accustomed to moving smaller items like dining table chairs, small ottomans, etc. to clean under. If you would like any heavier furniture cleaned under, you’re welcome to move it and we’ll be happy to clean under it upon request.
Heights – Because safety is of the utmost importance to us, we ask out cleaners not to clean areas higher than 8 feet. You are welcome to provide a step stool so that we can reach some higher areas in the home, but getting on a ladder to reach areas higher than 8 feet poses a safety risk.
Clutter – We will work around any higher-clutter areas to the best of our ability. Same with areas being used for storage, like underneath beds and on top of cabinets. But if you would like these areas to be cleaned more thoroughly, we do ask that you arrange to remove any clutter that may be in the way.
Outdoor Areas – Our equipment isn’t designed for cleaning outside surfaces such as patios, decks, rough concrete floors, unfinished basements, garages, exterior windows, etc. If you can provide a broom, we’ll be happy to sweep out any of those areas upon request.
Heavy Hanging Objects or Fine Artwork – Large artwork or heavy hanging mirrors that aren’t secured to the wall, are a couple of examples of heavy hanging objects that would be a risk to clean. Statues and paintings are considered fine artwork and we will leave those alone to avoid damage. We’ll be happy to dust the tops of typical picture frames, etc. as usual.
Bugs – We apologize that we aren’t able to offer post-fumigation cleanings. We ask that any bug infestations or fumigation clean-ups are completed in their entirety before we enter a home.
Chandeliers – Chandeliers require special training and tools to clean thoroughly and without risk of breaking. While we don’t clean them ourselves, there are some great specialty companies in Portland that would be happy to.
Interiors of Fireplaces: We will not clean the interior of a fireplace due to the damage that large amounts of ash and soot can cause to our vacuums and other cleaning supplies. We recommend that you consult a local chimney sweep company for service in this area.
Carpet Shampoo/Carpet Cleaning: We do not have access to carpet cleaners and would recommend that you seek additional carpet cleaning services if that is something you need done.
Heavily Built Up Oven: We will ask you to run your oven’s self cleaning cycle a day or two in advance of our cleaners coming by. If you have requested the inside of your oven be cleaned, but the self clean cycle has not been run, we may not have enough time to thoroughly clean the inside.
Removal of Oven Door: In order to clean in between the oven door, the door needs to be removed. To avoid any damage to your oven, we request that our cleaners do not do this. If you would like the inside of the oven door to be cleaned we kindly ask that you arrange to have the oven door already taken off prior to our cleaners arriving.
Dishes: We do not do dishes as a part of our cleaning service and kindly ask that you have the sink and counters of your kitchen cleared for us before we arrive. If there are just a few dishes left in the sink, this is not an issue, and we can happily work around them.