Most people booking a cleaner 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. It also decides which set of terms you are signing up to, because recurring clients are usually held to different cancellation, rescheduling and payment rules than someone booking once.
Here is how to pick a frequency, what actually changes between weekly, bi-weekly and monthly, and which questions to ask any Portland company before you commit to a schedule.
What changes between weekly, bi-weekly and monthly
The task list barely changes. Kitchens, bathrooms, floors, dusting and surfaces are on every visit at every frequency. What changes is how much soil has built up since the last one, and therefore how much of the visit goes to catching up rather than maintaining.
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 detail instead of recovery. Weekly makes sense for full houses, homes with pets that shed, households where somebody has allergies, and anyone whose kitchen gets cooked in every night. It costs the most per month and the least per visit in terms of effort.
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 starts to look like it needs doing again. Dust is noticeable, the shower needs real work, but nothing has hardened. A crew can still do a maintenance clean rather than a rescue.
Monthly
Be honest with yourself about monthly. Four weeks of soap scum, hard water spotting and kitchen grease is a different job from two weeks of it, and the visit has to be longer or the results will be thinner. Monthly works well for smaller homes, single occupants, second homes, and people who keep on top of daily tidying themselves 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.
If you are unsure, start at the higher frequency and drop down after two or three months. Going up later is easy. Discovering after six months that monthly was never enough means paying for a catch up clean to get back to baseline.
The first visit is not a maintenance visit
Whatever frequency you choose, the first clean is doing work no later visit repeats. It is clearing whatever has accumulated since the last thorough clean, which for most homes is longer ago than they think. That first visit usually takes more time than the ones that follow, and most companies price it accordingly or recommend a deep clean to start.
Ask directly whether the first visit is quoted differently from the recurring rate. A company that quotes you 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.
We recommend a deep clean about twice a year on top of a recurring schedule, at extra cost. That covers the build up regular visits are not scoped to reach.
What happens when you skip one
Skipping a visit is the part of recurring service nobody explains until it happens. You travel, you have guests, the week falls apart. Three things follow.
- 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 companies build routes around fixed days and crews. Ask what happens to your regular day if you skip, and whether you get it back.
- 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.
Rescheduling and cancellation terms vary a lot
This is where recurring plans differ most between companies, and where almost nobody compares before booking. Some charge nothing for a cancellation at any notice. Some charge a flat fee. Some charge a portion of the service inside a notice window. Some cap how many times a year you can move a visit. Some hold your day, some do not.
None of those approaches is wrong. A company that never charges for late cancellations is absorbing the cost of a crew with an empty morning, and that cost shows up somewhere in the rate. A company with a firm window is protecting the crew’s paid hours. What matters is that you know which one you have picked before your first schedule conflict, not after.
Ask these before you book a recurring plan anywhere:
- How much notice do I need to give 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
So you have something concrete to hold other quotes against, here is what a recurring plan with us actually commits you to. We have run house cleaning in Portland since 2005 on these terms.
- 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.
- Cleaning 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.
- The same crew returns to the same home wherever possible. Illness, time off and staff changes cause substitutions, and we do not notify clients in advance of a crew change. Substitutes are given 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 worth flagging as limits rather than features. We clean weekdays only, so if your household needs a Saturday cleaner, we are the wrong company for you. And we do not warn you when a substitute crew is coming. Some people find that genuinely annoying, and we would rather you knew now than on the morning it happens. The rest of our terms, including payment methods and the full list of what we do not clean, are on the FAQ page.
Picking your frequency
Count the people and pets in the house. Count how many nights a week somebody cooks a real meal. If both numbers are high, go weekly. If one is high, go bi-weekly. If both are low and you tidy as you go, monthly will hold. Then read the cancellation terms before the price, because the price is the number you will compare and the terms are the ones you will live with.
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.
