Renovated town home. 2B 1 1/2 BA. will be used as a rental in the future. I explained to Tom in a telephone conversation that we were doing a partial renovation - floors were new, new paint throughout, new baseboards, new toilets. At the time of the conversation, no work was being done due to rain and the house just sitting there doing nothing. I felt I could at least get the cleaning done in the mean time. There was a 3x5 piece of drywall missing from the ceiling in the living room because they were patching a leak in the roof and about half of the downstairs floor was covered in plastic to protect the floor. No active leak in over a month but plastic was a precaution. I told Tom not to worry about that area of the house - less work for them. I specifically said that the REST of the house had not been cleaned in a while (kitchen and bathrooms) because my 96 year old grandfather lived there by himself. So anyone could see - because of all the finished work - the two bedrooms, closets, hallways, living area etc were perfect -ok maybe some dust had settled. Left to clean was 1 1/2 baths and a VERY small kitchen. 14 cabinet doors/drawer faces total. (My kitchen in my personal residence has 33 cabinet doors) I told him - the square footage you need to clean in not large (small kitchen, 1 1/2 baths) but needs elbow grease. I also said we would not be needing window service. He said no problem. Did not need to have someone come in to assess prior to job.
So they came in and did the job and sent me an invoice. I went in a couple days later to check on the work. I do understand that some materials hold stains (like laminate etc) and cannot be helped. I do understand that my Grampa lived alone there for 10 years. BUT I did tell Tom these things and he said he understood. But Ive cleaned homes before so I know you can get a lot off of porcelain with some elbow grease. So I would say the bathrooms were good-ish. I still had to wipe some hair and particles out of the medicine cabinets. Tub looked great and sinks were 90% good. Kitchen was ok. There was still grime left over on some of the cabinet doors and the refrigerator still had mildew on the rubber mounding which in both cases I was able to rub off myself with my fingers.
So I emailed Tom and explained that some areas need more attention in the kitchen and I attached pictures. What I got was a bunch of excuses and I basically felt like he was saying it was my fault the house wasn't finished. He said that someone spent 4 hours cleaning the kitchen alone and it it was one of the dirtiest kitchens he'd ever seen. FOLKS - if THAT was one of the dirtiest kitchens he's ever seen I would question how many kitchens he's actually cleaned! How ridiculous! I have two other rentals that I clean MYSELF. I know what a dirty kitchen looks like. He also said that the "construction" was a complication. Again how ridiculous! He was asked to avoid the entire area where the floor was covered. LESS to clean. In no way did it impede either bathroom or kitchen which was the only two places they had to put any effort into and those were left UNFINISHED. Sink in the kitchen was unpolished and was covered in water spots.
So I interpreted his response as a "no" we will not come back to complete the job he was charging me for. To make matters worse, they charged me for window service which I specifically told them NOT to do.
I should've given my 16 year old the job. She's been trained by me and helping clean our other units and would've done a thorough job. No excuses.
This was our first time using a cleaning service and I gotta say, if you want something done right, just do it yourself. I'm sure they spent some time cleaning- sure - but the house is not move in ready when they left. I will need to go through each of the kitchen cabinets, sinks, medicine cabinets myself which was 80% of their job in the first place.
I probably would've given 3 stars if I wasn't, on top of everything else, over charged. read more
