What to discuss at an interview

An interview takes anything between 5 and 30 minutes. It is an opportunity for you to meet with your cleaner in order to show her where everything is located around your home and also for you both to discuss your priorities in terms of the tasks you expect her to achieve within the hours she will be working for you.

Cleaning priorities

No matter how obvious cleaning may seem, everyone has different priorities and expectations and it is not fair to expect your cleaner to anticipate your requirements without some direction on your part. In particular she needs to know the order of work , i.e. which rooms and which tasks are the most important to be performed each week and which jobs are not essential for every visit.

Laundry

It is fine to ask your cleaner to organise your laundry and change the bed linen but I would recommend that you are very clear in your instructions of what you expect to be washed and ironed. It is advisable to separate dry-cleaning from machine-washed clothes to avoid any potentially disastrous confusions.

Yes, it is always a good idea to meet the cleaner to discuss your priorities with her. Homeclean will arrange a meeting with the cleaner at your house at a convenient time to yourself, which can be in the daytime, evening or weekend.

Ironing

Ironing a shirt may seem obvious but in fact there are many different ways of ironing a shirt. If you have a preference in terms of the creases and folds on your sleeves, collars and cuffs then tell your cleaner so that you will not be disappointed. Also ironing is made much more difficult to achieve and time-consuming if your clothes or bone-dry and you do not have a water spray. If you can get organised so that you do your washing the day before the cleaner comes it will speed up the time spent on ironing enormously.

What to do with your rubbish?

Please make sure your cleaner knows when and where she should be depositing your rubbish. Most councils will issue fines if the rubbish is placed in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Cleaning supplies

The cleaner will be happy to advise you about cleaning products which would be suitable for your home. She will also need to inform you when you need to replenish your cleaning supplies.

Alarms

Most cleaners are familiar with alarms. From a security point of view you need to decide whether you are happy to give your cleaner your code and then explain the procedure to her carefully.

Keys

For most householders find that there is no other way of allowing the cleaner into their home other than to give her a set of keys. The cleaners well vetted by our agency for this reason and are instructed by the agency to keep all keys separate from the addresses of clients. If the idea of giving your cleaner keys is too worrying then we can arrange for a cleaner to come at any time when you are able to let her in, this could be early in the mornings, at the weekends or in the evenings.

Communication

The agency will always be able to communicate any messages to your cleaner but you may want to give a specific phone number to your cleaner so that she is able to call you directly in case of any problems out of office hours.

When should you decide to change your cleaner?

If you believe that she is cheating on the hours worked: If you find that your cleaner is not staying for the full hours then you should either revise the amount of hours agreed between you and the cleaner or inform her of what extra tasks she should be accomplishing once she has done the bulk of the cleaning and ironing.

If you feel that her standard of work is deteriorating:

Once you come home and start looking for what your cleaner has not done rather that what she has done then it is time to take action and either speak to her directly or contact the agency and we will talk to her on your behalf. Often a cleaner does not realise that the standard of her work has slipped and a discrete word from the agency will be enough to re-establish the previous high standard of her work. Of course, should this not happen or if you would rather not persist with your existing cleaner then the agency will find you a replacement cleaner straight away.

If she becomes unreliable:

The agency will always be able to find you a temporary replacement should your cleaner be unable to come to you on any occasion. However, if you feel that your cleaner is becoming generally unreliable in not informing you or the agency if she has a problem with attendance at your home then you should inform the agency straight away so that we can find you someone else more consistent and respectful of your requirements.