FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
We offer flat rate transparent pricing: 🏠 1 bedrooms start at $90 for standard cleans. 🏠 2 bedroom $105 for standard cleaning. 🏠 3 bedroom $140 for standard cleaning. 🏠 4 bedroom $160 for standard cleaning. 🏠 5 bedroom $180 for standard cleaning. 🏠 6 bedroom $205 for standard cleaning. **$15 per Bathroom ** New customers can use code “CITRUS” for 10% off. Cash free payments booking can be done all online for your convenience: 🍊☀️
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
✨We’ve made our process as easy and streamlined as we possibly can.✨ Our online booking form has all the information you need, including upfront pricing and clear options for additional services, so there’s no need to call if you prefer to book online. Our online payment system is a breeze, too – you won’t need to take out any cash or write a check. We’ll charge your card only once your cleaning has been completed. You can easily manage your bookings by logging into your customer account, where you’ll find options to update your personal details, manage your payment method, and reschedule cleanings. ***Getting Your Home Ready for Us*** While it’s our job to do the actual cleaning in your home, there are a few things that you can do before our cleaners arrive to make sure that you get the highest quality clean possible. --Remove Clutter – Make sure that all clothing, kids’ toys, magazines, newspapers, mail, electronic devices, and any other loose items are put away. --Clear the Bathroom Vanities - Place items you use every day and keep on your vanity (e.g., hairspray, makeup, toothpaste, deodorant) in a bin or put them away so that our cleaners are able to clean without needing to move each of these items. --Wash and Put Away Your Dishes - This will allow our cleaners to get straight to work cleaning your kitchen instead of your dishes. --Leave Linens on Your Beds – If you request that we change your sheets before making your beds, we’ll need the linens to be left out on each bed for us. --Secure Your Pets – Finding a good place for your pets to stay while we clean will ensure that both your pets and our cleaners remain safe and secure. If these things are not taken care of before we arrive, we may have to charge extra for the additional time it will take to do them for you. Or, if you’ve booked hourly services, it may mean that our team is unable to get to other more important tasks within the time you’ve booked. Aside from these items, there is no need to do any cleaning before we arrive. We’ll take it from here. *What to Expect Before Citrus & Shine Cleans Your Home* Before we arrive at your home, it’s important to ask any questions or let us know of any special requests so that we have clear expectations and can provide an accurate quote. We may not be able to accommodate last-minute requests at the time of your cleaning. We will contact you regarding arrangements for how our team will access your home. If you will not be home, you may choose to provide us with a key or an access code. If you are uncomfortable with this option, then you will need to ensure that someone is home during your scheduled time to let us in. We provide cleaning services Monday – Friday, so there should be a time to suit you, whether you prefer to be home or out. If anything comes up before your cleaning and you need to make changes or cancel, you can do so up to 24 hours before your service appointment. We ensure that a cleaning team and time are reserved for each customer, so cancellations after this time will incur a fee. *What to Expect During Your Cleaning* You can feel confident about the people we send to your home because all of our professional cleaners have undergone an extensive background check. In addition, they have received extensive training and are also insured and bonded for your protection and theirs. When our cleaning team arrives at your home, they will bring all the necessary equipment and supplies with them. No need to have any supplies or equipment ready for us. If you’re home, our cleaners will do an initial walk-through with you to make note of any areas of concern, then they’ll get to work. No need to leave – they’ll work around you, but it may help if you’re able to move from room to room to allow them the space they need to clean. Please keep in mind that our cleaners are unable to move large appliances or reach areas over 6 feet high due to liability issues. *What to Do After Citrus & Shine Has Cleaned Your Home* After your cleaning, our team will perform a mandatory inspection with you. We advise you to refer to our cleaning checklist as you complete this walk-through and alert the team of any missed areas. We will perform a reclean free of charge if you are unsatisfied and alert us during this inspection. You should also inspect your home for any lost or damaged property and inform us as soon as possible so that we can address the issue. We will do what we can to repair or replace the lost or damaged items. A short time after your cleaning, you’ll receive an automated email to provide feedback and rate your cleaner and service. We use this information to ensure that we are meeting the highest standards, so we ask for your candid feedback.
- What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
✨✨✨The Complete Pricing Guide To Hiring A Cleaning Service✨✨✨ Ever thought about hiring a cleaning service to save you the time and effort of doing it yourself, but wondered if you could afford it? It may not be as expensive as you think depending on what options you go with! In this guide, we’ll go over the types of options you have when hiring a maid, what the pricing and costs are, and what variables affect the price which are some things to consider in advance. Below we’ve put together a list of the most common factors affecting the price of cleaning services. *How Much Does a Live-In Maid Or Full Time Maid Cost?* If you choose to go down the route of hiring a live-in maid or your own full time maid as opposed to hiring a cleaning service, the costs are significantly different. --Live-in Maids: If you choose to hire a maid that lives with you, they also tend to offer the most services and job duties from babysitting, cooking, cleaning,errands, grocery shopping you name it. But the average cost of a live-in maid is $25,000-50,000 on average per year. This is similar to having your own employee. The downsides is you’re responsible to withhold taxes, any damages done by the cleaner, follow state rules for employers, and provide workman compensation. It also comes with having to house and have someone else live with you depending on how comfortable you may be with that idea. --Full time maids: Similar to the “Live-in maids”, a full time maid’s job & scope of work is much more extensive. They can also help with cooking, errands,cleaning, babysitting & much more. The only difference is they work off an 8 hour work schedule & at the end of the work day, go back to their home. The average cost would be $1,500-3,000/month depending your state. Again the same rules apply for hiring and managing an employee to provide workman’s compensation in case they get injured, follow employer state laws & withhold taxes. *How Much Does It Cost To Hire A Cleaning Company?* A better alternative for most people is hiring a professional cleaning service or cleaning company to clean instead of hiring their own full time maid. It’s usually much more affordable and you won’t have to worry The average cleaning service or company on average costs the average home between $100-300. Cleaning services & cleaning companies are usually only limited to cleaning services and unlike hiring your own full time maid, they usually won’t be able to offer you with babysitting or other chores around the house aside from cleaning. When hiring a cleaning service you usually have 2 options. You can either hire an Independent cleaner or you can hire an Agency/ Cleaning Company. Both have their pros & cons & affects the price as well. *Independent Cleaners vs Cleaning Companies* Probably the biggest factor affecting the price of your cleaning services will be whether you decide to book with an independent contractor or go with an established professional cleaning company. Self-employed cleaners are often willing to negotiate their fees, so in general you’ll be able to pay a bit less if you decide to book with them. With that said, there are a number of benefits provided by larger cleaning companies that individual cleaners are unable to offer, such as more security, a premium customer experience, and sometimes even a satisfaction guarantee. --Independent contractors/cleaners: Self employed cleaners normally charge between $20-40/hour on average per cleaner. --Cleaning Companies/agencies: Cleaning companies normally charge between $30-60/hour on average per cleaner. Cleaning companies on average cost more for a good reasons as compared to hiring an independent contractor. ***Security*** The biggest benefit to hiring an established company is that you will be able to have more peace of mind over the security of your home and your belongings. For one thing, these companies will be licensed, bonded, and insured, offering extra protection against theft or damage. In addition, most companies vet their cleaners thoroughly, requiring them to pass a background check before employment. Knowing that your company is sending only the best cleaners to your home when you’re away will allow you to hand over the keys with confidence. ***Premium Customer Experience*** In comparison to independent contractors, cleaning agencies are generally able to provide a higher level of customer service to their clients. For example, they usually have a professionally developed website with sections like FAQs and reviews, so you can rest assured that you are making a good choice in booking with them. They may even allow for easy online bookings to take the hassle out of scheduling your cleaning. Or, if for some reason your scheduled cleaner is unable to make it, a cleaning company will be able to send someone else in their place so that your home does not go uncleaned. ***Satisfaction Guarantee*** Occasionally, cleaning companies will offer some sort of guarantee that you will be satisfied with their cleaning services, something that most independent contractors do not provide. Here at Citrus & Shine, we offer a 200% guarantee on all cleaning services. That means that if you’re not happy with your cleaning, we will come out and re-clean (within a 7 day window). And if you still don’t think we did a good enough job to recommend us to your friends, we’ll refund your money. There is unlikely to be any such satisfaction guarantee when you book with a self-employed cleaner. *What Are The Other Factors That Affect Maid Service Pricing & Costs?* Regardless of whether you choose to go with an independent maid or a larger company, there are several other factors that will affect the price of your cleaning services. Things such as the type of pricing you choose to go with, the type of service you book, how often you need services, if you require any special tasks, and even whether the cleaning products are provided can all impact the price of your house cleaning. Understanding these factors will allow you to make a more informed decision when booking the cleaning service that is best for you. *The Two Types Of Pricing Methods In The Cleaning World* When hiring a cleaning company you may notice they usually present you with either of these pricings. Some cleaning services offer their rates by the hour while some offer you a flat rate pricing and still others will present you both options. --Flat Rate Pricing Flat rate pricing as it sounds is an upfront price, which is based on the number of rooms in your house or the sqft of your home. Many companies will ask you for the total number of bedrooms and bathrooms to get an idea of how large your home is, but some companies will also ask the total square footage of your home. The larger your home, the higher the rate will be because it will take the cleaners longer to clean everything to a high standard Flat Rate Pricings almost always come with some form of standardized cleaning checklist that cover all the bases of the home. The benefit of flat rate pricing is that you will always know exactly how much your cleaning will cost in advance. This option is less common among independent cleaners and more common with professional cleaning agencies. Although you can usually add on extras to the cleaning checklist, the downside of flat rate cleaning is that you won’t be able to fully customize your cleaning if you want something completely outside of the checklist already provided. --Hourly Pricing The other common way to determine pricing is to charge by the hour. Most independent contractors charge this way, but many larger companies offer it as an option as well. In this case, customers can either choose the number of hours they’d like, or they can sometimes wait to see how many hours the cleaner took and pay for the total time. Choosing the second option can sometimes lead to unpredictable costs if the cleaner takes longer than expected. Still, this op