Hire cleaning or do it myself?

Question

Hi everyone,

looking at hiring a cleaning crew for our STRs. We are brand new to the game and will have two STRs up and running in May. After getting some quotes and seeing the services provided I feel that I could do the job myself therefore saving that money. I'm concerned that staging is not included in the services which I understand but who puts the extra touches like placing pillows where they go and such. If I do that I might as well clean. Perhaps I am over thinking this but thought I would reach out to see if any of you have advice either way? What do you do or would you do? TIA

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

If you are less than 30 minutes (or so) away...definitely do your own cleaning. Once you get it down to a routine, it does not take that long...and you will know it is done right!

You will pocket thosuands of $$ per year....Hint - make your cleaning fee = $0 and raise your nightly rates by the same amount. People love no cleaning fees....

Joseph Sauer · Answer

Hey Ashley,Welcome to the STR community!

Hiring a cleaner or doing it yourself really comes down to if you have the time? If your schedule is flexible? And how much work did you want to do with this short term terminal on a day to day basis.

Personally, my wife and I don't have the time or flexibility to be able to do a same-day cleaning or if a guest wanted to check in early to be able to get there sooner than we had planned initially. so when we ran the numbers when we bought our first short term rental, we didn't include the cleaning fee in our income numbers.

as for the staging, I haven't had a situation where I couldn't negotiate with a cleaner on making sure the STR was ready for the next booking in terms of not only cleaning, but making it look like it does in the pictures. Most of the time you can talk to the cleaner about staging and stocking materials and all that other stuff and you can negotiate prices based on how much you want them to do.

ultimately, it comes down to if you value your time for money more right now in the stage in your life or if you even have the flexibility in your schedule to be able to accommodate this into your life. also, you can always change your mind down the road, one way or another. If you wanna give it a shot right now and see how it works doing your own cleaning, go for it.

hope this helps. Congratulations again on starting the STR journey! Good luck!

Lauren Kormylo · Answer

If you don't have another job, sure you can be the cleaner.  Just remember you have to absolutely clean them as scheduled, no matter if you're sick or you're injured or there's some family obligation or emergency.  My cleaner owns her own small company with a crew of 3 who come and get the entire 4 bedroom house done in 1.5 hours and cover for each other in sickness and for vacations.  Think about planning vacations for your own family, who will clean then?  Do you want to always be tied down to cleaning those 2 houses?  When you have both houses to turnover on the same day, can you get that done in time by yourself?  Professional cleaning is a hard, physical job.

My cleaners do a great job at primping the house with artistically arranged pillows, linens, towels and TP, and putting everything in its place.  You can train yours to do that too.  Or in some larger markets, there are people who have made a job of inspecting after cleaners, for say $25 a visit, and they will do those final touches for you and make sure the cleaning is up to par.

If I were you, I'd try to train your cleaners to do the staging.  Have them take photos of what you want, so they can refer back to them until they get the hang of placement.  You inspect it after them for awhile to make sure they get it right.  And then just do that occasionally to make sure they're remembering.

John Underwood · Answer

You train your cleaners to put the pillows where they go etc.

Is your time more valuable finding your next property or doing the cleaning yourself?

I have cleaned one of our properties and helped my wife clean when the cleaners were sick. It's hard work and I have better things to do with my time.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

It all depends on what your time is worth and the quality of cleaners you can find. We used hired cleaners for the first two years, but then got tired of them missing the little things like a broken needle on the record player or a missing item. We eventually took it over ourselves, but that became a lot of extra work and we eventually gave it up. You have to see what works for you.

Ashley W. · Answer

@Joseph Sauer thank you. We are excited and nervous to be starting this business. Fingers crossed this first year goes well.

Michael Baum · Answer

Hey @Ashley W., there is something to be said for cleaning it yourself. You didn't say how big the places are but I assume you could do both in a timely manner.

One thing is that you will notice anything that is out of place, something missing, repairs that are needed etc. This is something you need to do anyways on a regular basis (I inspect ours every quarter or more).  Guests are can be tough on a STR so staying ahead of the game is best.

Another thing is it is clean to your standards. I still clean our lake house on occasion and it is 7 hours away. No one cares about your investment like you do. Even the best cleaner misses things from time to time and it is good to come in and see what's what.

I agree with @Bruce Woodruff on the zero cleaning costs. Just add your time to the base nightly rate. Looks like a better deal to guests and it covers your time.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

I forgot to add this^^. You definitely need to inspect your STRs very regularly. You will get to look under sinks for leaks that would go unreported otherwise, find loose door handles, note gas smells, and many other things that a typical guest or cleaner will not notice (or not care about).

Andrew Steffens · Answer

Our cleaners job is to make the house as good as it was the last time they were there.  If they do not have the tools to achieve that they let us know and we assist (i.e. they need replacement linen, they need maintenance assistance, etc.) they own the listing, including where to put everything.  ABQ being a fairly large city (I think it is anyways, I have never been), there should be cleaners with STR experience to accomplish this.  IMHO your time is better spent on acquisitions, and well just about anything else besides cleaning.  I know how to change my oil but there is a reason I do not.

Sameul Ahsan · Answer

No! Do not do it yourself! Your time is more valuable, don't waste it cleaning for a few dollars.

Instead of scrubbing toilets and making beds, you could be:

• Finding your next deal
• Optimizing pricing to increase revenue
• Building partnerships to scale your business
• Actually enjoying the passive income you’re working so hard for

And here’s the thing—guests pay the cleaning fee, not you. You can even upcharge it to cover extra costs and make a small profit. Meanwhile, a solid cleaning team keeps turnovers smooth, maintains high ratings, and saves you from burnout.

Your time is your most valuable asset. Protect it.

Hire cleaning or do it myself?

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