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FAQ AND TERMS & Conditions
The Ins And Outs of How We Do Business
Setting up FAQs
General
We primarily offer cleaning services here at Mrs Connor Cleaning services. Our packages start with a 3-hr standard clean, a 4hr clean or our 5hr cleans and then go on to cleans with multiple cleaners. We offer carpet and upholstery cleaning services, oven cleaning, pressure washing and mini car valeting.
For our cleaning services, we look after Rush, Lusk, Balbriggan, Loughshinny, Balrothery, Skerries, Stamullen , Julianstown, Laytown, Bettystown, Drogheda, Ballyboughal ,Naul, Portrane, Swords, Malahide, Donabate and Portmarnock with the exception of cleans for neglected homes and large day jobs, we travel to the greater Dublin/Meath/Louth areas.
For our carpet and upholstery services & power hosing, we may also travel further afield to surrounding areas.
YES! When we 1st started up, we did not need to be VAT registered unless we sold enough services to go above the threshold! We hit that threshold much sooner than expected and naturally registered for VAT. VAT for cleaning services is 13.5% and all our prices include the VAT already so there are no hidden charges.
Been VAT registered makes us even more appealing to all businesses whether they be big offices, restaurants, pubs, BnBs or even those with small home offices as our invoices can be claimed back as an expense. This is also very appealing to landlords
We do both carpet and upholstery cleaning. Our full pricing for these services can be found on the website.
Carpet and upholstery cleaning is a great way to freshen up your carpets, sofas, mattresses, fabric chairs etc and often will remove easy to lift stains. However, it is worth noting that we can not guarantee to remove hard to lift/well settled in stains like coffee, wine, paint, sun damage etc.
The work rosters are done week to week and we send the cleaners out covering locations as close together as possible rather than having them travelling everywhere and anywhere, we feel it's a better work ethic for our cleaners and happy workers = a better work force = very clean houses 😊
We do however have a work group chat and are in constant communication with each other so if you had one cleaner 1 week and the next week, we were to send you a different cleaner, the 1st cleaner sends over bullet points of your likes and dislikes, focus areas or pet hates, so we can constantly tailor the cleans to your needs.
This question has actually come up a lot! We here at Mrs Connor Cleaning services are very germ conscious and take every precaution not to carry bacteria from one home to another! For that reason, we only use spray mops and not bucket mops. The spray mops have a detachable head and we change the head after every clean, so when we wash your floors, it's with an unused fabric cloth head along with the suitable floor cleaner..
Some clients do prefer the traditional mop and bucket, so for that reason we fully welcome clients to leave us out their own mop and bucket for their floors if that is their preference.
We do indeed change bed sheets when requested and the same for inside of windows or oven cleaning. We will never refuse to do these tasks and we will always try our best to do them as quick as possible while also at a high standard. These services can be requested on any clean booked in with us, we only ask that clients allow the time for them to be completed which may mean other general tasks not been completed.
We do not provide ironing services and staff are not trained to provide ironing services.
For oven cleaning, we certainly do it, although all the cleaners can do the ovens, some are particularly good or faster than others, for that reason, if you want oven cleaning as part of your clean, it's always a good idea to let us know upon booking as we may be more likely to send you a cleaner who's particularly good at ovens.
Not at all. Although many clients do tend to go out for cleans, it's certainly not a requirement. We understand sometimes it's impossible to get out with young children, or you may be working from home, or you may have tasks you need to do at home yourself, whatever the reason, its ok. We are used to kids, husbands, granny's and pets all been around the home 😊 All we ask, is to let the cleaner get room to room uninterrupted as much as possible so you can get the most out of your clean.
A 1.5HR OAP cleaning slot is ideal for hoovering and mopping and maybe 1 bathroom in a standard size home.
It would also be possible to use a 1.5HR slot to clean 2-3 bathrooms solely.
The 1.5HRs can be used however the client sees fit and as per their needs, if you read the description of what we get done on a 3HR cleaning slot, then its fair to say to expect half of that description to get done in 1.5HRS.
Its also worth reading the segment on how long certain tasks can take as this will help you understand what is possible in a 1.5HR time frame.
Staff always try to get as much done as possible for our OAPS within the time slot.
A standard 3 hr clean (based on a standard size home) would include a full home hoovering, mopping of hard floors, dusting and web removal throughout the home as much as possible, wipe down of surfaces throughout, cleaning of 2 bathrooms (more than 2 bathrooms we make every effort to get into them but if time is a problem we run in and bleach the toilet and wipe the sink in the 3rd bathroom), mirrors, emptying of bins throughout and wipe down of kitchen worktops or/and appliances.
Please note this description is based on a standard home and doesn't apply to more difficult homes requiring deep cleaning.
We are also happy to tailor the clean to clients needs and fully welcome instructions and wish lists, when a client wants to leave us a personalized wish list, we always advise that they write them in order of priority so we can work our way down the list completing as many tasks as possible.
The 4 & 5 HR clean covers what the 3hr clean does but the extra 1-2 hours lets us go deeper into the likes of the skirting boards, inside windows, blinds, maybe into extra bathrooms OR you might instead want the oven done, extractor fan, carpets cleaned or a fabric sofa upholstery cleaned. It gives you an extra 1-2 hrs to play with as you wish and as per time allows.
The above additional tasks are just examples of what a client may ask for when booking in for a 4HR or 5HR clean on a standard size home, a client may also book a 4 HR or 5HR clean just as a general clean (like the 3HR description) but books a 4HR or 5HR clean as they have a large home with additional bedrooms/bathrooms.
We do. We have a package called ‘’the dream team’’ package. This package is especially for this. It gives you 3 cleaners on a day job 9-5 ready to tackle the house and make it feel like a home again. This package as standard will also include an oven clean, fridge and microwave, cleaning of all kitchen cabinets, carpet cleaning throughout and upholstery cleaning as needed. The clean will be completely tailored to the focus areas of the house in question and treated with complete confidentiality. This package can also be booked for extremely large homes. This package is 1200 euro.
Sometimes we have found ourselves caught off guard where a client will book in a standard 3HR or 5HR clean when instead its this specialized package that the home would require for us to complete the home to the standards we aim to provide.
Please note in this case, we can only work with the time that was booked and we can not complete the home AND there may be areas that we can not complete at all due to the health and safety of our staff as this specialized clean usually requires different equipment and products and staff would be suited and booted for the job as required.
Unfortunately, we don’t generally offer cleans that are less than the 3hr package. The reason is that we just can't staff it...the way we have it set up, our full-time staff go to 2 cleans per day, 5 days a week. If we were to try and accommodate 1-2 hr cleans, the staff would need to travel to at least 4/5 different houses each day which is just too much travel time lost and to high fuel costs on our staff it wouldn’t be possible for us to accommodate it. However, we do have an OAP package of 1.5 hours for the elderly, people with physical and mental disabilities and also pregnant women. These times vary from week to week as they co-inside with when our cleaners are on a 5 hour clean. The cost of this is 50 Euro.
No, often we are left out keys are told where the key is located or who the key has been left with (ie a neighbour), that’s no problem at all once we have received prior instructions.
Please note:
Should you chose to leave us out a key, ask us to lock up the property (directly by asking us or indirectly by asking the cleaner on the day) or even to keep a key in our office for each clean, we do not hold any reasonability should a key be misplaced, should a cleaner lock up incorrectly or should an alarm not be set etc etc.
Its an important term and condition we need to make you aware of, even though we are 3-4 years in business and 1000s upon 1000s of cleans done and many keys left in our care with zero problems, not just in private dwellings but also businesses, its still very important you know where we stand on this.
We can not take responsibility for the security measure's of 100s of private and commercial dwellings.
This question comes up daily, we offer 3HR, 4HR and 5HR cleaning sessions and all packages can also be booked with multiple cleaners as per the clients needs.
- A 3HR cleaning session is ideal for a general clean of a standard size home (3 bed, 2 bath)
-A 4HR or 5HR cleaning session is ideal for a deeper clean of a standard size home OR for a general clean of a larger home
-Multiple cleaners are ideal for when clients want bigger jobs/tasks completed OR when clients have a really big home
Here is a general idea of some additional tasks that clients can request on their cleans and how long they generally take to complete, this is only a guideline and sometimes we get tasks done faster than we expect and other times it may take longer, it really depends on the task/size and condition.
1) Oven cleaning, an oven can take 2HRS to complete properly and to a high standard.
2) Internal windows/frames, based on a standard size house can take 1.5-2HRS to complete, if the client also wants the crevices cleaned (inside the frames when the window is open), this can take another hour.
3)Venetian blinds are a known time consumer and may take 20-30 mins per blind to be cleaned, 30 mins for large venetian blinds.
4)Skirting boards may take take 30-45 minutes per room (wet cleaning/standard size room).
5)Carpet cleaning, shampooing and water extraction of carpets including pre-hoovering, of a standard size room may take 30-60 minutes per room.
6)Upholstery cleaning, shampooing and water extraction (including pre hoovering) of a standard size 3 seater sofa may take 1HR-1.5HRS to complete OR 2HRS for a larger sofa.
7)Cleaning inside of Kitchen Cabinets, cleaning inside and outside of every kitchen cabinet/drawer may take 1.5-2.5HRS for a standard size kitchen that's in a standard condition (very greasy cabinets will take longer).
8)Fridge cleaning, a full fridge clean may take 30-60 minutes to complete, very large double fridges will take twice the time.
9)Internal doors, cleaning of all internal doors and frames in a standard size home may take 1.5-2.5HRS.
10)Deep cleaning of a standard size bathroom including limescale, tiles etc can take 1-2HRS.
11)Changing of bedsheets, we would allow 10-15 mins per bed
12)Hoovering out a sofa in full, ie under the cushions and the sofa itself, can take 15-30 mins depending on the size, condition or how on many sofas
13) Cleaning/wet wiping of walls, 30-50 minutes per room (wet cleaning/standard size room/standard condition).
14) Deep cleaning of a tiled floor via mopping, steaming and looking the grout to be scrubbed, can take 1-2HRS in a standard size room.
This is a very general idea of how long things can take, if the tasks are particularly grubby or greasy, it will take longer.
Sometimes regular clients who are set up for a weekly, fortnightly or monthly clean will request for a task or tasks such as the above to be done on their regular clean and we are always happy to oblige once the client understands the time that it will take and is happy to allocate the time to these tasks, other times it could be an end of tenancy clean booked in, a 1st time client who needs a lot of things done, maybe a pregnant client or an older client, the list is endless really and clients may not realize just how long some of these tasks can take which can lead to disappointment from under booking the service.
We always try to advise clients as best as we can and we are always transparent on the time needed for certain tasks, if we suspect a client doesn't realize how long it may take, we will always tell them so they can decide weather or not they want to allocate the time to it.
Communication and transparency with us is the key here, when you tell us what you need, the size of the home or tasks and the condition of the areas to be cleaned, we can better advise.
YES! We do often (not always) take photos on our cleans. The photos we take will never have a background to them that makes your home or business identifiable, it would be solely of an area up close before/after cleaning, regular examples of this would be sinks, taps, baths, showers, toilets, ovens etc, this list isn't exhaustive but more of an example.
Why do we take before and after photos on our cleans?
We do it for a huge range of reasons, most commonly would be the following reasons:
1) Advertising purposes, to share on social media showing the before and after's of our work.
2) For advise purposes, as an example if your cleaner wanted to ask advise from their colleagues like what product to use or how to remove limescale from something or how to get a stain out of something etc
3)For office purposes, as an example, if your cleaner was about to clean something that they saw was damaged (before they ever touched it), they would take a photo and send it to us in the office to cover themselves.
4)For health and safety purposes, if your cleaner was unable to clean something in your home due to health and safety, they would take a photo/video of the area and send it into the office to show us to cover themselves.
5)Proof of work completed, if your cleaner felt you may be unhappy with the service provided (especially 1st time clients or clients who may have under booked the service), they would take some before and after's of their work to show what they got done.
Please be advised, by using our services, you agree to the above, HOWEVER if you would prefer us to not use the photos from your clean for advertising purposes, you can certainly let us know via our website.
As a general rule of thumb, if we break or damage something in your home or business on a clean, we will tell you straight away and we will rectify it. As an example, if we broke something like a soap dish, a lamp, a glass or vase etc, we would offer to replace the item OR to compensate the cost of it.
We will always take responsibility when we are at fault and we will never try to beat around it.
We urge clients to not have sentimental items on show/in areas that we are cleaning as we would hate to knock it down or damage it, we try to take the utmost care but accidents do happen and we know that some things just can not be replaced. If you have something sentimental in your home that you cant move, just highlight this to us so we can make the cleaner aware.
However, it is worth noting that there are things that we will not take responsibility for, mainly pre-damaged things. If there is something in your home/business that's already damaged with a crack, nack or a DIY fix etc, its up to you the client to make us aware of it so we don't clean it and avoid it as we don't want to be the unfortunate person who happened to touch it and it fully breaks!
The list below will give you some examples of what we mean by this, this list is not exhaustive but instead its a general guide:
1) Toilet seats that are cracked, lose or not stable to begin with.
2) Sink/shower drains that when the plug goes in, it gets stuck and doesn't come back up.
3) Shower doors that get stuck/pop in and out of the rollers/sliders.
4) Household bins that are cracked/damaged.
5) Fridge shelves/doors that are already cracked.
6) Oven screws that are old/no thread or rusted and cant be put back on or opened in the 1st place.
7) Shelves/units/TVs or other fixtures that are mounted onto unfit plaster board walls and not secured/fit for purpose that come down with the wipe of a cloth.
8) Old toilet brushes that snap.
9) Sentimental items that a client didn't put away OR didn't make us aware off, we can not take responsibility for these breakages, HOWEVER if you made us aware and we damaged it... then it is our responsibility.
YES, we have a 24HR cancellation policy that applies to all bookings. If you need to cancel or reschedule your clean, we only ask for 24HRS notice so we can rebook the slot.
Without 24hrs notice, we charge in full for the service booked.
The cancellation fee will apply regardless of the reason for cancelling last minute.
Yes and No, a bit of both! Majority of our staff are pet friendly and there's a few staff who LOVE animals but there is also a number of staff who are nervous of dogs and 2 staff who have a fear of cats!
Personally, I am an animal lover myself and I have 5 pets, 2 dogs and 3 cats! So I know 1st hand how pets are part of the family.
However, if you have any pets, its a good idea to let us know so we can allocate our pet friendly staff to your cleans, this is better for you and for our staff.
If you have a less social pet who may not like a cleaner coming into your home, we would ask that they are safely restricted to one area for the duration of the clean.
If there will be nobody home when your clean is taking place, we would ask that you don't keep dogs in particular inside with free run of the home as often the dog will feel like the cleaner is an intruder!
Over the years and in our experience, we have been told plenty of times how friendly a clients dog is...to then be chased around the house and in some cases, even bitten!
Please remember to keep the safety of our staff in mind.
We would kindly ask that clients do not smoke indoors for the duration of their clean.
We appreciate that some clients smoke in their homes and that asking them to smoke outdoors in an inconvenience, however, for the duration of your clean your home is our staffs place of work and we need to provide a smoke free work environment.
If clients smoke in their homes when the clean is taking place, this may result in the cleaner avoiding the smokey rooms and certain areas, which then may not be cleaned.
I know this question sounds hilarious, I'm half laughing even writing the answer BUT you'd be surprised how often we have come across this!
Lets start with the big guys, rats and mice, from time to time many property's will get some rats or mice! That doesn't bother us unless there's a clear infestation that's not been treated, we don't mind seen the odd trap and that doesn't interfere with your clean taking place.
Then we have the little guys, anything from flour mites, flies, maggots, silverfish or fleas... depending on the situation would depend on how we would go about this, as an example if you had flour mites in your presses, we would tell you, advise you on what to do and just avoid that area on the clean.
If you had maggots but maybe its due to something near the bin left open and it was restricted to that area, we would tell you, advise you on what to do and just avoid that area on the clean.
If you had silverfish OR fleas, the clean will not go ahead and the cleaner will have no choice but to leave. You will be charged in full as we cant rebook the slot. Its up to the client to make sure their property is ready to be cleaned and its a safe environment for our staff to work in. We can not risk carrying these mites back to our own homes OR been bitten by them.
In the unlikely event that a client is unhappy with the service received, we ask that they inform us within 24HRS of the clean taking place. We can not assess a complaint outside of this 24HR window.
When we receive a complaint, the 1st thing we do is ask the client for more details, maybe more information, some photos or videos or maybe a phone call to discuss in more detail.
Then we ask the cleaner who was on the clean for more details and we check if they have any photos of the work they completed.
Once we have the information from both the client and the cleaner, we then assess the complaint to see if we were at fault and if we were, we would rectify it via discounting the service received/partial refund, sending another cleaner back to re-do the areas in question OR offering the client credit/another service with us.
Clients must notify us within 24HRS of the clean taking place so we can see the areas cleaned/not cleaned AND so we can talk to the cleaner who was assigned to the clean while its fresh in their mind.
Staff are in multiple houses on a daily basis and after a few days, its very hard for them to remember exact details of a particular clean, leaving us with a 1 sided complaint.
We want clients to be happy with the service received and to be able to recommend us OR in the least, if they were unhappy with the service received, we want to be able to rectify it and provide a top notch customer service.
No, we will never guarantee a particular cleaner, even when you book the clean in online. The website will give you the cleaners name as its reading who's currently available BUT the website does not recognize where you live OR where the cleaner lives, therefore we regularly change the cleaners assigned to tie in with other locations.
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