How to interview a house cleaner?

[quelindo]

I think I'm biting the bullet and hiring someone to come in and clean our house every few weeks. This is weird for me, because I used to clean other people's houses (as a weekend job as a teen, and then as part of a nanny job as an adult). But I'll keep my issues about this out of the discussion...

What I want to know is what I should be asking the people I'm interviewing. I have several names of people and while how much they're charging is important, I don't know if hourly wage will work out the same. What if one person works faster, or another is more thorough? One of the recommendations is asking $15 an hour and another $25 an hour. If it takes them three hours to clean our house and we have them coming twice a month, that's a $60 difference! Crazy.

Would it be rude to "try out" several different people to see which I like better?

Anyone have any experience with this? What should I be asking/looking for?

TIA!

[JamieCatheryn]

Hmm I'd think you could ask for references, show them your house and ask what exactly they clean and how, and how long it takes them to clean rooms like yours.

[chely7425]

I just went through this... we are hiring someone to come clean once a week for a couple months after I have our 3rd baby because DH is deploying. Anyway, I mostly asked what they generally do each week, and if they are coming on a regular basis how often they would do more in depth cleaning such as baseboards and ceiling fans. I had potential house cleaners come over and showed them my house and kinda went through what I normally do and what I would need done.