Never employed a cleaner before

[AmyCleaning]

Thanks for your message.

I'm sorry to hear that your husband is ill and you work on a shift basis and find it difficult to keep up with your cleaning duties. Having a cleaner would definitely ease the stress.

At Amy Cleaning all our cleaners are carefully checked and carefully vetted, they are trained, monitored, friendly, local, honest, reliable and most importantly they are fully experienced. The cleaners are also very knowledgeable in products that would enhance your cleaning.

This is a good question and is something that is asked by a lot of people and over the years we have found that:

-if it really needs a lot of work then a big clean with a team is advisable before you start with your regular cleaner
-if it is something that can be brought up over time then it is best to do this with your regular weekly or fortnightly cleaner and do this over time and build a relationship with a regular cleaner

There is no need to read the rest of this reply, but I have put it in just so you can see why we have found this.

We have found this because many companies recommend a big clean before starting to bring things up to scratch, in our opinion though the need for this depends on the situation.

If the home really needs a lot of work or it is in such a state that a regular cleaner will not be comfortable working there, or it is not a good place for you live, then a team doing one big starter clean who are trained for this is best. However this is an extra cost so without this situation the extra cost of this clean is normally not needed and your regular cleaner can bring your home up to scratch over the time of their visits.

In the long term what matters is that you have a cleaner that you are comfortable with and you build a relationship with them, this is much like a 'dating agency' in that all the cleaners are good cleaners but there is also the personal element. Some examples are there is a cleaner that lots of customers love, but I find her a bit bossy and would not want to work with her. Another cleaner is very fast and is great for student houses, but not quite right for a lady of mature years who has been looking after their home for many years, likes a very detailed clean and likes the cleaner to really take time over the cleaning.

So in the long term it is best if you do not have a big clean first as you can try a cleaner first time and if they are not right for you, have another one the next week. This means that your home is really cleaned as you personally like it and you build up a relationship with the cleaner while this happens. However if you have a big clean to start with then there is not this chance as the big clean has already been done and although all the cleaners are good, we regard cleaning as a very personal thing.

For your regular cleaner it is best if they are the cleaner you had all the way through so they really get to know your home, it is a bit like it is easier to repair a blanket that you knitted yourself and it is like that for the cleaner.

I would love to know what you think about this and please do feel free to disagree with it ?