You are giving somebody a key to your house and several hours alone in it. That is a bigger decision than the price, and it is worth eight questions and ten minutes on the phone. Ask these of every company you are considering, including this one, and compare the answers rather than the quotes.
Are you insured and bonded, and can I see the certificate
Insurance covers damage to your property. A bond covers theft. They are two different things and a company should be able to say which it carries and send proof without hesitating. A good answer is a certificate in your inbox the same day. A bad answer is the word "fully" doing all the work.
Who is actually coming to my house
Ask whether you get the same people each visit, how many of them, and how they were screened. Consistency matters more than most homeowners expect: a crew that has cleaned your house six times knows where things go and gets more done in the same hours than a rotating pool ever will.
Are the cleaners employees or subcontractors
This decides who is responsible if something goes wrong and who is covering the workers on your property. Neither model is automatically wrong, but a company that cannot answer plainly is telling you something.
What happens if something is broken
Ask for the actual process, not a reassurance. Who do you call, how quickly does somebody respond, what is documented, and who decides what it is worth. Accidents happen in every trade; the difference between companies is entirely in what happens next.
What if the work is not right
Ask how long you have to say so and what the remedy is. A company that will come back and put it right within a stated window is offering something specific. A satisfaction guarantee with no window and no remedy attached to it is a slogan.
How is the price set, and what would change it
You should be able to find out what a cleaning of your house costs without an in-home visit and without a sales call. Ask what the price is based on, what is included at that price, what counts as an extra, and what would make the number move on the day. If the answer is that somebody has to come and look at the house first, ask why.
Do you bring your own supplies and equipment
Ask what is brought, what is expected to be at the house, and what products are used on which surfaces. If anyone in the household reacts to fragrance, or the house has a floor that needs a specific product, this is the conversation where it gets settled rather than discovered.
How do I reach a person
Find out who answers when there is a problem on a Tuesday afternoon, and whether that is the same person who scheduled the work. For a small company this is usually its strongest answer, and it is the one thing a national franchise almost never beats.
Then ask us
Every question above is one we would rather answer before you book than after, whether the house is a village home a few streets from downtown Barrington or an estate on five acres in Barrington Hills. The phone number is at the top of every page on this site, and the price for your own house is on the calculator without a call at all.