Need Some Advice for Hiring A Cleaning Service For My Rental Property

[Ricky E. Harris]

Hi everyone, I need some advice, please. I’m just getting started with my real estate journey and right now I’m in the process of buying my first rental property. I plan to live in one unit and rent out the rest to other people. If you’re a rental property landlord or you’ve been one, and you have experience with hiring cleaning services to come and clean your common areas (i.e., scrub the bathroom, toilets, mop the floors, & clean the kitchen). I’d like to know what made you choose to hire one cleaning service over the rest. For example, I know some landlords are more price sensitive, while others care a lot about quality and customer service or even Google reviews. I also know that some of this is extremely dependent on specific locations and different customers but try to help me out as best as you can.

The reason I’m asking is because I’m debating on whether I should hire a cleaning service to clean my common areas or not or should I just clean them myself.

If I decide to hire a professional cleaning service, what benefits can I expect to receive? Any suggestions that you can give me would be highly appreciated. Thank you for your response in advance. Best.

[Liam Naughton]

Hi Ricky,

I highly recommend hiring a cleaning service. As your business continues to grow, this is one aspect that you want on autopilot from the get-go. 

In my experience, it's better to overpay for cleaning services so that you get the highest quality that you can. We've gone through multiple cleaners that were cheaper and had to deal with the hassle of finding replacements or dealing with no-shows.

We now have a cleaner that's the most expensive but provides us with detailed updates and consistent communication. She sends us pictures of her cleans after each one and is always available for questions. We even have our cleaning supplies shipped directly to her now.

The benefit is that it's a business expense and your only responsibility is noticing the small details, not cleaning them. There are plenty of cleaners out there, keep going until you find the right one that will help you with your business long term.