In an effort to keep her Wilmette house clean with a 3-year-old underfoot and a 6-month-old in her arms, Jennifer Connell in April moved to her parents’ home in Lisle for a temporary reprieve.
Sound rash? Not if you consider that her house was on the market. Connell, a former owner of the downtown Chicago Merry Maids franchise, understands how important cleanliness can be. “There hasn’t been a crumb on the floor for the past month,” she says.
Connell received multiple offers for her house, which went under contract in less than a month. And experts say the fact that it was sparkling clean likely contributed to its swift sale and got her a better price.
“If there are two houses similarly priced, the one that’s really clean is going to show better” and probably sell faster, says Denise Akason, a Realtor with Prudential Preferred Properties in Winnetka. How quickly a house sells often determines how close the sale price is to the list price, she adds.
While there’s no question a home looks prettier when it’s clean, cleanliness also can improve your health and lower your doctor bills, to boot.
“Health is definitely a big reason to keep your home in order,” Connell says, noting that a lot of people have allergies to common household dust and dirt.
A clean house also can provide an emotional boost. “People feel better when their house is clean,” Connell says.
For time-squeezed families, having your house cleaned is a stress reducer. “It’s a relief not to have to do it. It’s like 30 less things to do on your to-do list,” she says.
But a clean house doesn’t come cheap, and prices range widely. Only diligent comparison shopping, with attention to quality of service, will let you know if you are getting a good value.
The stakes are high: Americans spend an average of $482 a year on housekeeping, according to the Census Bureau, and that doesn’t include fees for maids and other professional cleaning services.
Americans collectively spend $2.3 billion a year on professional maid service, says Brent Armstrong, director of residential services at Downers Grove-based ServiceMaster. And they spend $1.5 billion on residential carpet cleaning, he says, citing data from Mediamark Research Inc.
Connell says she spent a relatively modest $132 to have a professional cleaning service clean her five-bedroom, 4 1/2-bath house from top to bottom to get the house ready for sale.
Maid service from ServiceMaster’s Merry Maids cleaning service ranges from $64 to $161 per week for a typical three-bedroom, two-bath house of less than 2,000 square feet.
A variety of factors contribute to the price, Armstrong says, noting that individual franchisees set local prices based on the competition in that market.
The first time Merry Maids cleans your house generally costs more because it usually takes longer to get it really clean.
To clean a three-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath home in Oak Park, Merry Maids’ Web site (www.servicemaster.com) estimates the charge would be $98 for the first-time clean, and $72 for weekly cleaning thereafter.
To clean the same size house in Evanston, Merry Maids estimates it would charge $167 for the first-time clean and $85 weekly. Estimates for both downtown Chicago and the Downers Grove area are higher still: $180 for the first time and $90 a week. The estimates are subject to change, and most franchises want to see your home before they quote a firm price.
Other companies, such as Chicago-based Mighty Maids/Mighty Men charge an hourly rate of $16 per man hour for general cleaning and $20 per man hour for window washing.
“Everyone tells you their house is 1,000 square feet and it’s not really dirty. What one person thinks is not dirty, another person thinks is really gross,” says owner Joanne Moss.
This is the time of year when Moss sees big demand for her services as people want a thorough spring cleaning but don’t have time to do it themselves.
Whole-house scrubbing
“When the sunlight comes in the windows, we see a layer of dust we didn’t see in the winter,” she says.
She estimates a top-to-bottom, whole-house scrubbing–including moving furniture, pulling out the stove and refrigerator, and washing the windows–could cost between $200 and $300 depending on the size of the house and its condition.
According to a random consumer poll taken by Maritz Research two years ago, nearly 1 out of 5 respondents had paid someone to clean their house within the past year.
While 28 percent of those who pay for professional cleaning earn $65,000 or more a year, cleaning help isn’t just for the wealthy. The Maritz poll suggests 23 percent of those using a cleaning service make less than $35,000 a year.
Cleaning a house to get it ready for sale or in preparation for an event, like a party or house guests, are common reasons people hire professional cleaners. But cleaning for health reasons is another big draw.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, health problems associated with dust mites account for about one-third of 14 million allergy-related doctor visits per year. Most people think of “air pollution” as occurring outside their homes, but in reality, indoor air quality is generally worse than the fresh air outside, notes Ted Funk, who as extension specialist in agricultural engineering at the University of Illinois in Urbana answers the public’s questions about indoor air quality.
“Good common sense will tell you if you’ve got some problems” in your home that need to be addressed, Funk says. “But since so many things can trigger allergies, it can be difficult to find the culprit.”
Dusty carpets and drapes can be another health problem. The carpet and upholstery cleaning business is a varied one, with fees all over the map. While some cleaning companies advertise rates as low as $4.95 a room for carpet cleaning, experts caution homeowners to read the fine print and ask lots of questions. Often, the companies charge extra for steps that other firms include in their regular cleaning prices. If you agree to skip a step to save money, your carpets won’t come out as clean, Armstrong says.
To have a carpet cleaning service clean a typical room well probably won’t cost less than $40 and upholstery cleaning generally costs about $10 a linear foot, says Fred Broderick, owner of Ability Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning in Lincolnwood. “Beware the bait and switches,” he says, noting that some companies advertise very low prices but then end up selling necessary services, such as prespotting, at add-on fees so that the total bill is often more than you would pay from an upfront outfit.
Multistep process
Michael Wielgat, owner of Beverly-based Eco-Fresh Cleaning Service, charges 24 cents per square foot for a multistep carpet cleaning process. It includes vacuuming, applying a precleaning solution, using a series of prespotters on stains, steam cleaning, deodorizing, neutralizing and speed drying. The company also specializes in biodegradable products.
Drape cleaning prices range dramatically as well. To have Oak Forest-based MagiKist Carpet and Rug Cleaners take down, clean and put back your 6- to 8-foot drape with 20 pleats to a side runs about $100, says office manager Tim Connors. The process also includes putting the drape on a rack to prevent shrinking during cleaning and testing the material to determine the best cleaning method.
Your neighborhood dry cleaners may charge less, but most of the time it’s “at the customer’s risk.”
Once your house is clean, the best way to keep it looking good is to stay on top of it. Connell of Wilmette says getting rid of clutter is key. Then put things away as you use them and clean up messes as they occur.
She can tidy up her house in 30 to 40 minutes, using the Swiffer, a mop system that uses disposable cleaning cloths, a Dust Buster hand-held vacuum and Windex. “They are my new favorite friends,” she jokes.
A do-it-yourselfer’s approach to cleaning
If you want a clean house but don’t want to pay professionals, you can do it yourself for a few bucks and a lot of elbow grease.
The trick is not to get overwhelmed by all the new cleaning products on the market, and use the right products for the job, says Joanne Moss, owner of Mighty Maids/Mighty Men cleaning service in Chicago. For example, she says, many people don’t realize hardwood floors that are finished with varnish, polyurethane, Glitza or Hydroline should be cleaned with vinegar and water, not oil soap because you are cleaning the finish, not the wood.
Moss recommends using a string mop with stitched loop bands for mopping floors because it will clean along the baseline better than a sponge mop. Most of the new twist-o-matic-type of string mops have heads that come off and can be easily washed. Moss recommends zipping the head in a lingerie bag when you wash it to keep the fibers together.
Vinegar and water is still the best cleaning solution for windows, but an Etorre brass squeegee is worth investing in for windows and the shower. Moss recommends using the squeegee on shower walls daily after you shower to prevent lime buildup. And to get your porcelain tub really clean, Moss recommends Duro tub and sink jelly available at hardware stores. “Leave it on for 5 to 10 minutes, then use a white Scotchbright pad and the stains will come out,” Moss says.
For dusting tabletops, Moss likes Guardsman One-Wipes dust cloths, which can be used up to 20 times before the dusting agent washes out. Aside from dusting, the best rags to work with are old terrycloth towels and wash rags, not old T-shirts, which don’t absorb water.
A lambswool feather duster is the best way to dust Venetian blinds on a regular basis. But if they’re really dirty, you can clean them yourself in the bathtub. Fill the tub with water and granular Spic ‘N Span. Then let the blind down all the way and swish it in the water. Then flip it around, put it in the closed position and wash the other side. You don’t need to rinse, but you’ll want to stand them on end to let the excess water run off before hanging them back up.
— Ann Meyer
