On the surface, hiring a cleaner to help keep your home clean seems like a simple enough task; one that should save you time.
However, many questions are likely to suddenly arise as your first cleaning appointment approaches, and determining proper etiquette towards your cleaners can seem like a mystery if you’ve never navigated this situation before.
One of the most common questions that people hiring a cleaner for the first time are wondering is about where they should be while the cleaners are doing their job. You can probably come up with an entire list of reasons you should stay and another list of reasons you should leave!
So, do you stay when the cleaning lady comes?
Whether you choose to stay or leave your home while the cleaners work is entirely up to you. Your cleaners might have an easier time without anyone home, especially children. But if you’re not comfortable having people in your home while you’re not there, it’s also acceptable to stay while they’re cleaning.
There are good arguments on either side of the question, and in the rest of this post, we’ll get into the specific pros and cons of staying at home or leaving while the cleaners work.
By the end, you’ll have all the information you need to make a sound decision of your own.
Benefits of Leaving When Cleaners Are Working
Let’s first talk about the benefits of leaving. As it turns out, there are actually quite a few positive outcomes that can arise from you leaving. Both you and your cleaners can benefit from having you out of the house while the cleaning is being done!
The Cleaners Can Focus On Cleaning
You may not realize it, but when you’re in the house during cleaning, you could be slowing the entire cleaning crew down and causing them to be far less efficient than they might be in your absence.
This isn’t to say that you’re getting in their way, per se, though that is certainly a possibility.
You have to consider how you would feel if you were the one doing the cleaning.
Do you want other people walking around the areas you’re attempting to clean, feeling like they’re watching your every move and potentially even judging your work?
That’s exactly how your cleaning crew feels when you’re at home while they’re working.
Plus, your cleaners need to move rugs around, vacuum the floors, travel between rooms, and much more.
With you at home, these vital steps could be impeded, and without realizing it, you could be inadvertently getting in the way of your cleaners. This is even more true of children who tend to be accidentally underfoot quite often.
Also, consider that you might be using things that were just cleaned!
Maybe you didn’t realize that your cleaners had already scrubbed the counters and cabinets when you decided to make a sandwich and accidentally left crumbs on the freshly cleaned countertops.
It might even be a more innocent mistake such as walking across a floor that was just vacuumed and mopped, leaving behind a few smudges of dirt and ruining the appearance of the previously beautiful floor.
No one wants to re-clean items that they’ve already spent time cleaning once.
At the end of the day, the extra time your cleaners spend working on your home comes out of your wallet, so it’s in your best interest to help your cleaners be as efficient and fast as possible.
You don’t have to be wandering through the home to be a burden though.
In fact, you might be in the way even if you confine yourself to a single room, and if you have kids, each of them will be in the way of certain cleaning tasks as well.
It’s very hard not to be in the way of cleaning when you’re in an area that needs to be cleaned.
You could be taking up floor space where vacuuming needs to occur or using a table they need to scrub down.
It’s just as likely that you might be interrupting the most efficient cleaning route, which could be slowing your cleaners down and causing the cleaning of your home to take much longer than necessary.
Of course, this also increases the amount of time your cleaners have to spend in your home, once again increasing the potential cost!
You Can Accomplish Other Tasks While They’re Cleaning
Some people decide that they’re going to use the time their cleaners are in the home to relax, maybe catch up on their favorite TV shows.
Unfortunately, you’ll find out pretty quickly that it can be quite difficult to relax while people are moving around your home, running vacuums, walking in front of the TV, and more.
Not only that, but as mentioned earlier, you’ll also be in the way! When they need to vacuum the floor or furniture, you’ll be right there where they need to work.
Additionally, your cleaners will likely feel self-conscious about having a pair of scrutinizing eyes focused on them while they’re working. Whether you’re actually watching them work or not is irrelevant, it will almost certainly feel that way to your cleaners!
All of this will slow your cleaners down, causing your home to take longer to clean.
As we know, the longer it takes to clean your home, the more money you’ll ultimately spend on cleaning services.
Instead, you could use this time to go take care of errands or get work done. It’s a great time to get out of the house, even if you just go and have lunch with a friend.
Rather than slowing down your cleaners and creating a larger impact on your finances, you could spend that time being productive and helping your cleaners to be more efficient simultaneously.
That’s a real win-win situation.
You get to save money by helping your cleaners work faster while making money by getting your own work done or at least diminishing the ever-present load of additional tasks required of you, like grocery shopping or getting prescriptions refilled.
This is a great time to take care of all these little things that need your attention.
You Get to Return to a Clean Home!
Here’s another benefit that many don’t even consider: the joy of returning to a clean home!
Sure, your home looked half-decent when you left, but everyone knows that great feeling of walking into a truly clean home.
Well, if you’re gone while the cleaners are doing their work, you’ll return home to that very feeling, which will leave you refreshed and enjoying your home far more than usual.
It’s truly invigorating to return to a spotless home, especially if getting it there didn’t require all of your energy!
Cons of Leaving When Cleaners Are Working
Even though there are some great benefits to vacating the premises while your cleaners are at your house, there are still some good reasons to consider staying.
You Might Not Meet The Whole Team
One of the main reasons to remain in your home when the cleaners come is that you’ll get to meet everyone on the team.
This is especially important the first time you have new cleaners come into your home so that you’ll know all the people who will be in your house, at least on a surface level.
Even your cleaning company would prefer for you to be home the first time they arrive at your home. It’s in their best interest for everyone to be acquainted so that there can be some degree mutual trust between the cleaners and the homeowner.
Just as importantly, when you’re home, you can share any specific cleaning requests you have with the team to make sure that they understand exactly what you want.
Remember, your cleaners won’t want to be micromanaged. Don’t break down every cleaning task for them.
They’re professionals and know how to do their jobs well. You should only specify things that are out of the ordinary or that could be considered special requests.
Build Trust if You’re Hesitant About Leaving
You might not feel comfortable about leaving people in your house when you’re not there, and that’s ok. You always have the option to remain in the home while the cleaners working.
But as we’ve seen, there are many benefits to leaving while they’re cleaning.
If you’re worried about leaving the cleaners alone in your house, then you can use these methods to build trust so that you can be more comfortable.
Read Reviews and Check References
Any reputable cleaning crew will have reviews and references available.
You can start by checking reviews on Google (you can see ours here) but it’s also a good idea to check other sources like Yelp and Facebook.
These reviews are written by real-world customers of these companies, at least most of the time.
Read through many reviews for each company you’re considering and see what people had to say after doing business with them.
If you find that there are common threads among the reviewers of a particular company, then you can bet that you’ll have a similar experience to what they’re describing.
Start by determining which companies have the most positive reviews with the fewest agitated customers leaving negative reviews.
Then, you can reach out to the company to ask for references. They should be able to put you in contact with previous or current customers that can give you a good idea of their experience with that company.
However, realize that no cleaning company can make every customer happy so instead of trying to only find house cleaning companies with perfect reviews, consider how the company responds to those bad reviews.
Meet the Team
It’s perfectly sensible to be uncomfortable with leaving strangers in your home alone.
Of course, you’re far more likely to be comfortable leaving people you’ve met in your home. This way, you at least know who is in your house and you get a chance to feel them out in person.
This is why it’s recommended for you to be home when your cleaning crew arrives the first time. This will provide a good opportunity to meet all the cleaners and clarify any special requests, as mentioned earlier.
Consider Using Cameras
Even after meeting everyone on the team, it’s ok to feel uneasy having people you hardly know in your home with no supervision.
Luckily, technology makes it easier than ever for you to keep an eye on things at home, even when you’re out and about taking care of other business.
Strategically placing a few cameras around your home can provide you with the best of both worlds.
You’ll be able to feel more comfortable with having the cleaners in your home, which allows you to leave the house so you can be more productive, and your cleaners can be more efficient.
In the end, this saves you money and saves your cleaners some time, so everybody benefits.
Today, cameras are so affordable that cleaners usually expect to be on camera. They won’t be insulted, as most understand that people feel uncomfortable having near-strangers in their home when they’re not there.
Final Thoughts
Any quality cleaning service you hire will leave the decision up to you about whether to stay or leave while the cleaners are in your home.
Our house cleaning service will leave the decision to stay or go completely up to the customer!
So long as you make sure the cleaners have access to get inside, they won’t mind if you’re home or not. You’ll have to weigh out the benefits of staying versus leaving for yourself.
But remember, you can always use a few cheap cameras to supervise your home while still getting to leave and helping your cleaners to be more expedient while allowing yourself some time to spend however you choose.