Pet Friendly House Cleaning and Etiquette

[veda815.livejournal.com]

I've read through all the great recommendations under the housecleaning tag. Now I have a question about pets. Does anyone know if any of these recommendations are pet friendly? Are there pet people here who have cleaners come while they are at work? I have two cats and a dog who are all very friendly but I fear someone unfamiliar with animals may accidently let the pets outside or be unkind to them.

Secondly, I have never had a house cleaner and I'm not really sure how it works. Would it be reasonable to hire someone to come and just do my kitchen and bath twice a month? Or maybe the whole apartment just once a month? Is there such a thing as too small of a job?

Comments

[georgy.livejournal.com]

I am curious about this, too. I may be interested in a once-a-month deal, but most things I see mentioned are every-two-weeks.

I hired a housecleaner once in advance of a special guest, but she refused to clean my stovetop. Is that typical?

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

I can only answer based on my experiences with the only cleaner I've ever hired, but she had a once-a-month deal and always cleaned the stovetop. We were always home when she came by... she would never be deliberately unkind to my cats, I'm sure, but vacuums and such are going to upset them in any case, so I felt it was just as well I was always there.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

our house uses alda gutierrez of smile cleaning, and she and her crew are utterly cool about our five cats, one dog, and a canary.

can't help with the small-house issue, as ours is big.

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

Our cleaners, Sister Services, charge a little bit more to come less frequently than every 2 weeks, but I think they're willing to do it.

When you talk to a prospective cleaner, you can ask if they have experience with pets and ask for a reference who has cats or dogs. We have 2 indoor cats and have never had any trouble with our cleaners.

[trixafaerie.livejournal.com]

http://healthyhomescleaning.com/ is my best suggestion, as I used to work for them. There were many clients that had pets and any specific requests were always welcome. There are also clients who can just have bathroom/kitchen done on a less frequent basis if you preferred that. Hope this helps :)