Ask five questions: are the cleaners employees or subcontractors, is everyone background checked, will it be the same team each visit, is the quote based on someone actually seeing the house, and what happens when something is missed. The answers to those five will tell you more than any amount of marketing copy, and they are the questions most homeowners do not think to ask until after a bad experience.
Employees or subcontractors
This is the one that determines most of the others. A company that employs its cleaners can vet them, train them to a written standard and schedule the same people to your home. A company that books subcontractors is doing none of those things reliably, however good the individual cleaners are.
A review that describes something going wrong and being fixed quickly tells you more than twenty reviews saying great job.
Who is quoting, and did they see the house
An instant online quote is a guess that will be corrected on the day. Someone walking your home before naming a number is the only way the number holds. Ask whether the quote is fixed or an estimate that adjusts, and ask whether the first clean is priced differently from the visits after it.
Deposits and lock ins
Ask whether a deposit is required before service and whether you are signing a term. Both are common in this market. Neither is necessary, and a recurring plan should be a schedule you can change, not a contract you are stuck in.
What happens when something goes wrong
It will, at some point, because the work is done by people. What matters is what happens next. Ask specifically: if something is missed, do you come back, and does that cost me anything. Then ask how you are supposed to report it, and whether anyone follows up without being chased.
Reviews, read properly
Read the mixed ones rather than the five word raves. A review that describes something going wrong and being fixed quickly tells you more about a company than twenty reviews saying great job. Look at whether the owner's name appears in reviews, and whether reviewers mention consistency of team.
