Frequently Asked Questions

How may we help you?

Have a question that isn’t covered here? Please call us at 203.647.0383 – our friendly, knowledgeable staff will be happy to help you!

I’ve never had a professional housecleaning service before. What can I expect?

The day before your cleaning, we text and email you a reminder.  The day of your cleaning, your assigned housecleaner (or team, if it is your very first cleaning) arrives at the agreed-upon time, and gets to work cleaning the surfaces in your home.  When your cleaner is done, she walks through your home and uses our 50-point checklist to ensure that everything was cleaned to our standards. When we are done cleaning, we do a final check, put your bagged garbage in your bins, pack up our cleaning supplies and equipment, and lock the door behind us when leaving (unless instructed otherwise). Our office puts through payment using your preferred credit card, which shows up on your statement as “Belle Home”.

You come home to a sparkling clean home.  It’s as simple as that.

What if I have a special cleaning request?

Call or email us and let us know what you’d like done, and we will let you know if we can do it, and will give you a price for the service.  Some examples of special services are:

  • Refrigerator cleaning
  • Oven cleaning
  • “Spring” cleaning
  • Interior window washing
  • Pre- and post-party cleaning
  • Movein/moveout cleaning
  • Seasonal cottage cleanings

If you have any suggestions, we are always happy to hear them. We’ve received many great suggestions for products, services, and procedures from the people we serve and we appreciate your suggestions as to how we may continue to raise the bar on housecleaning service.

What if I need to cancel or reschedule a cleaning?

A block of your cleaner’s time is set aside for your requested cleaning.  We require a 48-hour notice if you need to cancel or reschedule a scheduled cleaning so that we can assign other work to your cleaner(s). We understand that this is sometimes unavoidable, so if you must call within the 48-hr window, we do have to charge you in full for that date. We will however, happily reschedule this clean to be performed for you within the next 5 business days to make up the charge.

What is the Belle Home Happiness Guarantee?

Our goal is to do your cleaning just the way you’d like it done, every time.  If you are dissatisfied with anything we’ve cleaned for you, please call us within 24 hours of your cleaning.  We will send a Cleaning Technician to your home to redo any work that was not done to your satisfaction.

Should I tip?

Tipping is optional, although most of our customers do tip, either in cash, or by calling the office and tipping via credit card (if you’d like to automatically tip the same amount each cleaning, we can do that, too – one less thing to remember.)  Your Cleaning Tech is enthusiastically appreciative of any tip she gets!

How do I pay for my housecleanings?

Payment is expected at the time of service. We accept Mastercard, Visa, Discover and American Express credit/debit cards.

What about my pets?

We are pet-friendly and will be happy to clean your home while your indoor pets are in the house (just let us know if they are escape artists, so we will take extra care when entering and leaving your home!)  If you have any aggressive pets, please keep them in a secured area that we will not need access to, such as a crate, or in the garage, for the duration of the cleaning. If you have glass tanks for fish or other animals, and prefer that we do not clean the outside of the tank, just let our office know and we will note that on your cleaning checklist. (Note: We do not let any pets in or out of the house during the housecleaning, and we do not clean pet waste.)

Do I need to be home during the cleaning?

Most of our customers are not at home when we clean.  If you prefer to be at home while it is being cleaned, we will be happy to work around you. We do ask that you not clean alongside your cleaners, as it is a bit disruptive to our cleaning methods and makes for a less efficient cleaning. If you will not be home at the time of your cleaning, we can work that out in several ways.  Some customers give us a code to enter the house through a front or garage door.  Many customers supply us with a spare key to their home. (For security, all keys are coded with a numeric code. Only our office staff has access to our key codes). Some customers place a key in a certain location – under the back doormat, in a mailbox, etc. You can also purchase a lockbox (like the ones that real estate agents use, available in hardware stores or through the internet) and leave the key in it on your scheduled cleaning day.

What happens if my cleaning falls on a holiday?

We do not clean on the following holidays when they fall on a weekday:

  • New Year’s Day (January 1)
  • Memorial Day (Last Monday in May)
  • Independence Day (July 4)
  • Labor Day (First Monday in September)
  • Thanksgiving Day (Last Thursday in November)
  • Christmas Day (December 25) and the day after Christmas (December 26)

We will contact you the week before a cleaning visit that falls on a holiday, to schedule your cleaning at an available time that is convenient for you.

Are you insured?

Yes, we are insured and bonded.

What are your hours?

Our office hours are Mondays through Fridays 8 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The arrival time for the first clean of the day is 8:30-9:00 a.m.  Arrival time for the second cleaning of the day generally falls between the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Will the same Cleaning Technician be cleaning my home every time?

We assign one Housecleaning Technician to your home so that your home is cleaned by the same maid consistently – we’ve found that makes for a more personalized housecleaning experience.  If your assigned housecleaning technician  is on vacation, or ill, we will send another experienced Housecleaning Technician who can step into their shoes for the day.  (We fully document your household cleaning needs and setup on our work orders, so that any senior cleaner that we send will do the same work in your home that your regularly assigned cleaner does.)  Our General Manager and Home Checkers also conduct pop-up “White Glove” inspections now and then at the tail end of your cleaning, to ensure that we are consistently giving you our highest level of service and that the same detail and care is shown to your home each and every time.

Do I need to provide supplies?

You don’t need to provide anything for us to use, except for a toilet brush (for sanitary reasons we do not bring them with us). We bring our own supplies and HEPA filtration vacuum cleaners, and we use eco-friendly products wherever possible. Each home we clean has fresh set of microfiber towels and mop heads. If you’d like us to use a specific cleaning product that you have on hand, please let our office know and we will be happy to note that on your cleaning checklist.