I booked a cleaning with 2 Girls and a Mop for an initial deep clean followed by monthly maintenance cleans. Here is the good and bad of our experience. Before we even got started, I appreciated that they don't make you sign a contract or pay for a year's worth of cleaning upfront. The initial estimate based on the size of our house, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, etc was $240-$320 +HST. When they came to do the assessment, they noted that we still had some drywall dust from a recent reno, and that this changed it to a construction clean. The cleaners went through the house and described what was needed, and said that it would be much more than they estimated. What they outlined to us included a three step process (dry, wet, dry) to remove drywall dust from baseboards, the tops of door and window frames, shelves, and even the windows themselves, as well as any other surface they found it. They emphasized the importance of doing a corner-to-corner clean when dealing with drywall dust because otherwise it resettles and you never get rid of it. They said that there was so much that "it will take us 10 hours to clean, so we cant do it in one day". They said they could either do it over two days and risk having some of the dust resettle in between (causing them to redo parts of the house on day 2) or they could come back on a day that they could bring a third person with them. They also said that they didn't have a ladder or step stool with them and would bring those when they come back, at which point I offered ours so they wouldn't need to. The new quote was $850 ($752.21 +HST) which was much more than we intended to spend, but for all that was going into it I thought it seemed reasonable, and was saving me a big job (including some areas I never clean, like the tops of my door frames). They didn't pressure me to move forward, and even offered to leave me with some tips to clean the drywall dust myself if we didn't have them do it. This was another positive, as was the friendly nature of the cleaners. We decided to move forward and went with a different day when they could get it done in one day with 3 people. They arrived that day with just two people, and no ladder or step stool (and also didn't borrow mine), and they still got it done in one day. As they left they made a comment emphasizing that it took 10 people hours. The email confirmation of the updated quote also specified 10 people hours, and I very much wish I noticed before they returned so I could have questioned the discrepancy before they cleaned and before I paid. I wouldn't have minded if they at least did the intensive clean that they described to help justify the much higher price, but when I swiped a door panel that evening to show my family how clean our house was it came away covered in dust. I checked several others, as well as tops of window and door frames, and several were just as dusty as they started. They also missed the rangehood, the kitchen windows, the fronts of the kitchen cabinets, one third of my bathroom floor (where we have pebble tiles), and some areas of the floor where there was a bit of clutter (moving the clutter was also part of why the quote was so high). Some of these areas missed I noticed right away and contacted them, and they were very responsive and returned the next day to clean them. Much of it I didn't notice until after they returned the second time, but at this point I no longer want them to return. The way the clean ended up going has left me with the feeling that I was right in my interpretation of their initial description to mean that they were quoting me for 20 people hours ("it will take us 10 hours, which means we cant do it in one day" and the fact that they said they would need 3 people to do it in one day and would need a ladder or stool). They also advertise competitive pricing, and $75/person hour is not competitive in this area. I emailed to share how I was feeling. After some unpleasant back and forth by email, Alecia (their admin) called me to talk it through which I appreciated, although their explanations are still not sitting well. Here is how they explained each of my concerns, and how I am feeling about those explanations: 1) The description of the clean that made it sound like it would be 20 people hours was a miscommunication. The cleaners said they couldn't do it in one day because they had other cleans to do each day, but they ended up managing it in one day because another client was able to move their clean. I think if that is what they meant they would have said something more like this will take us a full day and we don't have a full day available in our schedule. 2) The explanation for not using a ladder or step stool (until they returned the next day to do some of the missed areas) was that they had extenders and found that they were able to use those. I think that these very experienced and competent cleaners knew that they had these extenders, and probably have a pretty good sense of whether or not they can use them when they do an assessment. 3) On this phone call, they initially said that they don't promise competitive pricing, they promise a high quality clean by people we can trust in our homes. I told them it's right on their website, they asked me if I could tell them where I saw that, I told them its on the "About the Company" page under their corporate goal. Then the response changed to "that doesn't apply to construction cleans" because construction cleans are so much more work. The three step process for removing drywall dust from the tops of door frames turned out to be swiffering them (when the cleaner returned the next day they said that they swiffered the areas that were still covered in dust, but that maybe they needed more than that). For a bit of context on what made this a construction clean, we added a small mudroom that was separated from the house by an exterior door which was kept closed until after dust was swept and vacuumed. The only reno that was inside the house was two small (about 6 inches by 4 inches) cutouts in one wall by the back door. These were the source of most of the drywall dust that ended up in the house. We don't have vents in the house to move the dust around, so the dust was mostly concentrated by the back door with decreasing amounts as you move through the house. Nothing that would be noticeable if you're not looking for it, except in the hallway right by where the pieces were cut out. And this hallway was where I first noticed that the door frames were still covered in dust. So in summary: the people were friendly, good with my dog, and did a really good job of cleaning SOME parts of my house, but I am still left feeling like I have been overcharged at best. I do not recommend this company and we are unsure if we will ever get a cleaner again, which is unfortunate because we both work full time, have two small children, and have a hard time staying on top of the cleaning.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $850.00