Most people booking house cleaning services for the first time ask what a clean costs. The more useful question is how often. Frequency changes the price per visit, what the crew can finish in the time booked, and how the house looks on day six versus day thirteen.
Here is what a weekly cleaning service actually gets you, how it compares with bi-weekly and monthly, and which questions to ask any Portland house cleaners before you commit to a schedule. For what is included in house cleaning visits, see our page on house cleaning in Portland.
What is a weekly cleaning service?
A weekly cleaning service is a recurring maintenance clean on the same day each week: kitchen cleaning, bathrooms, floors, and dusting of accessible surfaces. With only seven days of buildup, the crew keeps the house at a standard rather than restoring it. It costs the most per month and the least per visit of the recurring options.
The task list for weekly house cleaning is the same as for a bi-weekly or monthly plan, and the same as most recurring cleaning services in Portland: kitchen cleaning (counters, sinks, appliance exteriors), bathrooms scrubbed, general room cleaning in the living spaces, floors vacuumed and mopped, trash out. Changing bed linens works if you lay fresh sheets out; we make the bed but do not strip it. Maid service is the older name for the same regular house cleaning.
What changes between frequencies is how much soil has collected since the last visit, and therefore how much of the visit goes to catching up rather than maintaining. That is the whole difference, and it is why the per-visit price moves the way it does.
What changes between weekly, bi-weekly and monthly cleaning?
The cleaning tasks barely change between frequencies. The amount of buildup does. Weekly visits find a week of dust and a thin film in the shower. Bi-weekly visits find two weeks, which is still maintenance. Monthly visits find four weeks of grease, soap scum and dust, so either the visit runs longer or the results are thinner.
Weekly
Nothing has time to set. Soap scum stays thin, the bathroom floor never develops that grey film, and the crew spends the visit on attention to detail instead of recovery. A weekly cleaning service makes sense for full houses, homes with pets that shed, households where somebody has allergies, and anyone whose kitchen gets cooked in every night.
There is outside support for that cadence. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America recommends vacuuming once or twice a week and washing bedding weekly to control indoor allergens. And dust is not only an allergy question. In older homes it can carry lead from deteriorating paint, and the EPA advises people to clean weekly to minimize dust, wet mopping floors and wiping hard surfaces. Many Portland houses predate 1978, when lead paint was banned for homes.
Every two weeks
This is the frequency most households land on, and for good reason. In our experience two weeks is about the point where a home’s cleanliness starts to slip. Dust is noticeable, the shower needs real work, but nothing has hardened. A crew can still do a maintenance clean rather than a rescue job.
Monthly
Be honest with yourself about monthly. Four weeks of soap scum and kitchen grease is a different job from two weeks of it. Monthly home cleaning works well for smaller homes, single occupants, second homes, and people who keep on top of daily tidying and want the bathrooms and floors done properly. It works poorly as a budget version of bi-weekly in a busy family house. You will get a crew running out of clock.
One Portland detail helps monthly plans more than people expect. Bull Run water is soft, typically 7 to 11 parts per million of total hardness according to the Portland Water Bureau, so most bathrooms here build up soap scum rather than hard mineral scale. Soap scum is easier to catch up on. Homes on the city’s groundwater supply, which is harder, do not get the same break.
Is weekly cleaning worth the cost?
A weekly cleaning service is worth it when the house gets dirty fast: children, pets, allergies, or a kitchen in daily use. Per visit it is the cheapest professional cleaning on a schedule, because each visit has less to do. Per month it costs the most: roughly twice the visits of a bi-weekly plan.
Our published estimates for a three bedroom, two bathroom home in average condition put the numbers side by side:
- Weekly: about $135 to $175 per visit.
- Bi-weekly: about $150 to $190 per visit.
- Monthly: about $170 to $220 per visit.
Every visit has a $133 minimum service charge and a two-hour minimum, so a small apartment pays the minimum whatever the frequency. A detailed breakdown of house cleaning cost by home size is on our Portland house cleaning cost page. If you are unsure, choose weekly first and drop down after two or three months. Dropping down is easy; catching up after months of too few visits costs a deep clean.
Why the first visit is closer to deep cleaning
Whatever frequency you choose, the first clean does work no later visit repeats. It clears whatever has accumulated since the last thorough clean, which for most homes is longer ago than they think. So the first visit usually takes more time than the ones that follow, and most companies price it higher or recommend starting with deep cleaning.
Ask directly whether the first visit is quoted differently from the recurring rate. A company that quotes one number and then bills a higher first visit has not been straight with you. A company that explains why the first one costs more has. For the same three bedroom home, our published first visit or deep clean estimate is around $290.
We recommend a deep clean about twice a year on top of a recurring schedule, at extra cost. And if you have just moved, a move in clean of the empty house is the easiest possible starting point.
What happens when you skip a visit?
Skipping a visit is the part of recurring home cleaning nobody explains until it happens. The next visit then faces double the buildup in the same booked time, your regular slot may not be held, and depending on the notice you gave, there may be a charge.
- The next visit is effectively at half your frequency. A skipped bi-weekly becomes a monthly clean in the same booked time. Expect less detail, or book longer.
- Your slot may not be held. Many house cleaners build routes around fixed days and crews. Ask what happens to your regular day if you skip.
- There may be a charge, depending on how much notice you gave. This is the single most important term to read before you sign up.
Before hiring a house cleaner, compare cancellation terms
Cancellation and rescheduling terms are where recurring cleaning services differ most between house cleaning companies, and where almost nobody compares before booking. Some charge nothing at any notice. Some charge a flat fee. Some charge a portion of the service inside a notice window, and some cap how many times a year you can move a visit.
None of those approaches is wrong. A company that never charges for late cancellations is absorbing that cost somewhere in the rate. What matters is that you know which one you picked before your first schedule conflict. Ask these before you book house cleaning services anywhere:
- How much notice do I need to cancel or move a visit without a charge?
- Is there a limit on how many times a year I can reschedule?
- What am I charged if the crew arrives and cannot get in?
- Do payment terms change once I have been a client for a while?
- What happens on holidays that land on my regular day?
- Will I get the same crew, and will I be told if that changes?
Our recurring terms, in full
A recurring plan with us commits you to weekly, bi-weekly or monthly visits on weekdays, a $133 minimum service charge per visit, three reschedules a year, half the service charge for cancellations inside 48 hours, and a 24-hour re-clean window. Here is the full list, so you have something concrete to hold other quotes against.
- Frequencies: weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. Minimum service charge is $133, with a two-hour minimum visit.
- Recurring clients may reschedule three times per year.
- Cancelling inside 48 hours is charged at half the service. If the crew cannot get in, the full service is charged.
- Payment is due the day of service for the first two months, then within 7 days. Invoices over 30 days carry a 5% late fee.
- Visits run Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. We are closed July 4th, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
- Cleaners may arrive within one hour either side of the scheduled start. If it will be longer than that, we call.
- We send the same crew wherever possible, but illness, time off and staff changes cause substitutions, and we do not notify you in advance. Substitutes get full current notes on the home.
- If you are not satisfied, tell us within 24 hours and we return to touch up the areas. We do not give discounts.
Two of those are limits rather than features. We clean weekdays only, so if your household needs a Saturday cleaner, we are the wrong company. And we do not warn you when a substitute crew is coming. We would rather you knew now than on the morning it happens. The rest of our terms are on the FAQ page.
Common questions about weekly cleaning
The questions we hear most about a weekly service are how long a visit takes, whether you need to be home, and whether you can change frequency later. Short answers: two to four hours for most homes, no, and yes, with a few weeks’ notice for big changes. The details follow.
How long does a weekly cleaning visit take?
A trained two-person crew of professional cleaners is usually on site for two to four hours for a maintenance clean, depending on the size and condition of the home. Weekly visits sit toward the shorter end, because less has built up.
Do I need to be home?
No, but the crew needs one reliable way in: you at home, a key in an agreed place, a lockbox or a door code. If the arranged entry does not work, the full service is charged.
Can I switch between weekly and bi-weekly?
Yes. Tell the office ahead of time. Larger increases or decreases in service time can take a few weeks to rearrange, because regular slots are reserved on the schedule.
How do you pick a cleaning frequency?
Your cleaning needs come down to two numbers: people and pets, and nights a week somebody cooks. If both are high, book a weekly cleaning service for a clean home all week. If one is high, go bi-weekly. If both are low and you tidy as you go, monthly regular cleaning will hold. Then read the terms.
Pick the fit for your home you can keep. The price is what you will compare; the terms are what you will live with. Whatever you choose, the daily layer stays with you; our household chores list covers what to keep up between visits, and booking cleaning services in Portland covers what happens before the first one.
If you want a recurring plan on the terms above, ask for a quote. It is free and there is no obligation. Or call 1 888 404 7930.
