I need an occasional cleaner. What things should I know before speaking to cleaning agencies?

[Meglet]

Not sure if this should be here or not, as all of you GH people probably don't use cleaners as you are all so good at it , but here goes anyway.

I have decided that I need an extra hand with keeping on top of general house cleaning, 2 dc's, lone parent, recovering from hysterectomy, family do help with dc's but are so busy there's not much time to sort the house out, I'm back to work in the Autumn so life will be even busier then. I have no idea how to go about finding a nice cleaner who can come round probably every other week and blitz the kitchen, bathroom, run the dyson round etc.

Any know any good companies (or any bad ones I should avoid!). I'm in north hampshire BTW.

TIA

Avoid Merry Maids, very expensive for a poor job in my experience

go to your local postoffice or shop and ask the local font of all knowledge if they know of anyone - a local recommendation is worth its weight in gold - or you could put up your own advert and trust your instinct (just stay close by when they're in the house for the first wee while) you never know, you might actually find a right diamond

has you had a look on gumtree?

I'd try and find a cleaner who will come every other week rather than using an agency.

Agencies are very expensive and they rarely send the same person twice (unless its a small company) so the person cleaning often doesnt know your house and what really needs doing etc.

I've never used gumtree (although I know it exists), I'll take a look..

I got mine on gumtree. We had her for ten hours for a deep clean and now she does six hours a week.

Make sure you have a list of what needs doing and check stuff off it.

Plan for a long term relationship and treat them accordingly!

Gumtree is a good idea, though my last attempt using it had me staying in on three separate occasions for a cleaner who never showed up...

But lots of people do use it to advertise for cleaners/cleaning work needed.

Good luck, a good cleaner is a godsend...

wmmc I would make sure I was nice to them.

A deep clean sounds like bliss .

I found it important to have someone I could relate to. Mine has two young children herself and she's very positive about what she does. Our previous one was a miserable old woman who was constantly moaning about the mess (well duh, that's sort of what you are here for!)

With Gumtree I was really clear about what I wanted and expected and got 30 replies in 24 hours. About half hadn't read the ad properly or were clearly unsuitable, but there were a good few who were possibles.