Tipping House Cleaning Service

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MattInCali
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Joined: Wed Jul 04, 2012 9:24 pm

Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by MattInCali »

Looking for suggestions on how much tip for house cleaning/window cleaning.

It's a 1420 sq. ft. two-story home. Hardwood floors on top and laminate on bottom.

It's empy; no refrigerator or oven cleaning. They are not cleaning garage.

They are supposedly very good and will be staying for about 5 hours.

Total price:

housecleaning (2 women): $260

window cleaning (4-6 guys): $120

I have a coupon for $20 bringing total to $360.

Should I just cut a check for $400 if they are good?

Is that too much? Not enough?
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BolderBoy
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Re: Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by BolderBoy »

Sounds like plenty to me. Ask the recipient to share the extra among everyone.

(my housekeeper gets a Christmas bonus each year, of 2.5 times her usual, weekly fee)
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mike143
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Re: Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by mike143 »

Sound outrageous to me, no tip. Unless they are breaking out ladders to do the second floor I would do it for half, no tip.
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Grt2bOutdoors
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Re: Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

mike143 wrote:Sound outrageous to me, no tip. Unless they are breaking out ladders to do the second floor I would do it for half, no tip.
+1 - ^This. :shock: Those are extortion rates! If you were nearby, I'd go over there and clean your empty house. :oops:
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climber2020
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Re: Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by climber2020 »

Assuming 7 total individuals cleaning the house for 5 hours:

(360/7)/5 = $10.29 per person per hour.

If this is a one time expense and they are cleaning the empty house in order to get it into proper condition for the next tenant, this sounds like a perfectly reasonable rate.

I think rounding up to 400 is fine if you're feeling generous.
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mike143
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Re: Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by mike143 »

If we are talking about turning over a rental then that is a different matter. If we are talking weekly/bi-weekly/etc cleaning then it seems high.
Nothing is free, someone pays...You can't spend your way to financial freedom.
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frugaltype
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Re: Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by frugaltype »

Grt2bOutdoors wrote:
mike143 wrote:Sound outrageous to me, no tip. Unless they are breaking out ladders to do the second floor I would do it for half, no tip.
+1 - ^This. :shock: Those are extortion rates! If you were nearby, I'd go over there and clean your empty house. :oops:
I think people saying $260 is too much have never cleaned house after tenants have left. As to prices for the windows, I can't say.

They are probably washing the floors, scrubbing the bathroom(s) including the insides of the vanities, similarly for the kitchen, dusting the walls and ceiling including ceiling light fixtures, cleaning the insides of the kitchen cabinets, which may be messy where food was stored.

I would make sure they know no refrigerator or oven cleaning.
ddunca1944
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Re: Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by ddunca1944 »

climber2020 wrote:Assuming 7 total individuals cleaning the house for 5 hours:

(360/7)/5 = $10.29 per person per hour.

If this is a one time expense and they are cleaning the empty house in order to get it into proper condition for the next tenant, this sounds like a perfectly reasonable rate.

I think rounding up to 400 is fine if you're feeling generous.
+1

We paid about $250 to one person to clean a rental house after a tenant trashed it. It pretty much took her all day.
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BestWishes
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Re: Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by BestWishes »

I would wait till they are done to see how good of a job they did before deciding how much tip to give. Also I usually give cash directly to the workers. That way I know the right people are getting the amount I intended.

I don't know about window cleaning. But I agree with the others that said $260 to clean a vacant ~1400 sq ft house seems high even for one time cleaning.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by ResearchMed »

It also depends upon how dirty (or perhaps even filthy) the house was when they started, in terms of "value for the money charged" and also for any tips.

It's quite different if it is more like dusting and touching up a house that is "generally" in good order, vs. cleaning up after some rather disgusting "problems" have been left behind. This is more likely in kitchens and bathrooms, but depending upon the care taken by those previously living there (or even a "squatters" event in some locales), it could be a LOT more work, and a LOT more unpleasant.

In our high COL area, we wouldn't be able to get anyone at all to show up for ~$10/hour, to do anything at all, difficult or easy.
(Even a dreadfully incompetent "[non]handy man" charged more. We had him leave early under some pretext [like one of us needed an emergency appendectomy or brain surgery - ANY excuse that worked was fine that day :x ], paid him - with no tip - and learned our lesson.)

We have cleaners at our vacation rental properties in a much lower COL area. We pay them well AND tip them well, so we get the cream of the crop at the nearby cleaning service, even though we "compete" with other properties. After all, if the cleaners don't do a good job, our little business will go belly up in no time.

RM
Jill07
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Re: Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by Jill07 »

An average of $10.29/hr to clean doesn't sound outrageous to me. If you give them $400.. that works out to a $40 tip split between 7 .. or about $5.71 each. Seems pretty reasonable to me... assuming you are happy with the work they do.

How much do you tip the housekeeping service when you stay at a hotel?

Be generous.... I'm sure they will appreciate it.
mickcris
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Re: Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by mickcris »

The two cleaning the house will be doing the most work so they should probably get more of the tip. It shouldn't take 4 to 6 guys very long to clean the windows.
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BestWishes
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Re: Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by BestWishes »

The two women cleaning the house are getting $260. If they work for ~5 hours, that is ~$26 per hour. It is hard to believe that it would take 4-6 guys 5 hours to clean the windows.

At my very high cost of living area, house cleaners charge about $15 to $20 per hour.
cheesepep
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Re: Tipping House Cleaning Service

Post by cheesepep »

Takes 4-6 guys to clean the windows of a 2-story house? Wow. I usually see only about 3 guys cleaning windows of skyscraper buildings.
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