I debated whether I wanted to do this review, because I got the sense the owner had had a rough day…read moreand our experience may not have been typical. First, the cleaners arrived three hours late--a job ran over, then they got lost. (I had given her the address of the complex when I booked the cleaning and she assured me she was familiar with it, but apparently not). Wouldn't have known any of this had I not called and texted to find out where they were.
When they arrived in the early afternoon, The owner quoted us a final price and took payment before leaving for another job, and the other person stayed to "clean" our 2 bed (only one being cleaned though), 2 bath apartment. "Clean" is in air quotes because Cleaner #1 didn't do much during their four hours beyond clear the counters off, unplug the cable box from the TV, sweep the kitchen and living room, mop one of the bathrooms and take a long smoke break.
The cleaner took a second smoke break at around the 4 hour mark and said the owner would be meeting him downstairs because he had left his cell phone in her car. 45 minutes later the owner returned, and stuck around for about 3 hours to finish the job (Per the owner Cleaner #1 went to get a drink and we never saw him again). I'll give the owner this--she is a hard worker and was pretty clearly trying to salvage the situation. (it's the only reason this is a two star review).
She accomplished several times more than cleaner #1 in a little less time.
However, in the interests of triage (we were most concerned about the kitchen) we asked her to emphasize cleaning the oven, microwave, and fronts of cabinets above the microwave when we saw how long it was taking, as the stove had a lot of grease buildup. She did a good job on the interiors of both appliances, but left a lot of grease on the fronts of them. I re-cleaned them both this morning, and did a better job in 15 minutes than their combined 8 hours.
Long story short, I don't wish them ill, and we may well have caught them on an off day, but we won't be taking her up on her offer of ongoing cleaning.
If you want to take a chance on them, I recommend doing so in a low stakes situation (not right before a party or house guests), on a day you have a flexible schedule, and to be very clear on what your top priorities are in the event they run out of time. If I were to do it again I would have told them at the start to just do the kitchen and baths and ignore the rest of the house, given they were already 3 hours late and the rest of the place was reasonably tidy.
To the owner: At a minimum, I'd recommend having a performance conversation with cleaner #1. We got the sense he may have created a lot of unnecessary stress for you yesterday, and as a manager myself you deserve better.
