The short answer
- Ask who the insurer is and what the cover includes, not simply whether they are insured. A good answer names the insurer and offers the certificate of currency without being chased.
- Continuity is worth more than most people expect. A cleaner who already knows the shower screen needs citric acid is faster and better than one meeting the house for the first time.
- Get the inclusion list in writing, then ask separately what is excluded. Exclusions are where 2 quotes on the same house end up hundreds of dollars apart.
- Fragrance-free is a question most cleaners can only half answer. The follow-up is what is already in the kit, on the cloths and in the mop heads, because essential oils are still a fragrance.
- Hourly and fixed pricing both work. Agree what happens when a job runs past the booked time before it does. We charge $85 per hour and price the time honestly.
A quote tells you the price. It tells you nothing about whether the clean will be any good, whether the same person will turn up in a fortnight, or what happens when the bathroom gets skipped. Most people booking a cleaner ask 2 questions: how much, and when can you start. Here are the other 8, and more usefully, what a good answer to each one sounds like.
None of this is specific to us. Use it on anyone, including us. For the wider version of this decision, including how to shortlist in the first place, start with how to choose a cleaner in Brisbane and come back here for the interview.
1. Are you insured, and with whom?
Boring, and the one people skip because it feels rude. Ask it anyway. Public liability cover is the baseline, and it exists for ordinary accidents: a tap left running, a stone benchtop chipped, a vase knocked off a shelf by a vacuum hose.
A good answer names the insurer, states the cover amount, and offers to email the certificate of currency without being asked twice.
A weak answer is the phrase "fully insured" with nothing behind it, or a hesitation followed by "I'll have to check". If a business sends people into houses for a living, that certificate is a file on their phone. Where a cleaner brings staff rather than working alone, ask whether those people are employees or subcontractors, and whether workers compensation is in place. In most cases it is not your legal problem, but the answer tells you how the business is actually run.
2. Will it be the same person every visit?
This is the question that separates a service from a roster. Someone who has cleaned your home 6 times knows the shower screen needs citric acid rather than the general spray, knows which cupboard door sticks, and knows you would rather the study desk was left alone. That knowledge is most of the difference between a good clean and a fast one.
Larger agencies often cannot promise continuity, and that is a legitimate business model rather than a scandal. What matters is whether they say so honestly, and whether the job is documented well enough that a new cleaner is not starting from scratch.
Good answer: yes, the same person, and here is what happens when they are sick or on leave, and you will be told in advance. Also acceptable: no, we rotate, and here is the written scope every cleaner works from. Poor answer: a vague "usually", which in practice means no.
3. What exactly is included, and what is extra?
Quotes on the same house can sit hundreds of dollars apart and both be honest, because they are quoting different work. Get the inclusion list in writing. Then ask the harder version of the question: what is not included?
A complete standard list covers benchtops, tables and general surfaces; kitchens including sinks, splashbacks, stovetops and cupboard fronts; bathrooms including showers, grout, tiles, taps, basins and toilets; skirting boards and windowsills; doors, door frames and high-touch areas; furniture and accessible shelving; floors vacuumed and mopped; and cobweb removal where needed. If the list you are handed is much shorter than that, the difference is not efficiency.
Then ask specifically about the items that generate most of the disputes:
- Inside the oven, and inside the fridge
- Interior windows, and window tracks
- Ceiling fans, light fittings and cornices
- Air-conditioning vents and filters
- Blinds
- Wall spot cleaning
- Bed linen changes
- Balconies, patios and outdoor areas
Some of that should not be done every single visit, and a cleaner who says so is being straight with you. We rotate the higher detail work across visits so nothing accumulates unseen, and nobody pays fortnightly for a ceiling fan that was done 3 weeks ago. What you want to hear is a rotation, not a silence. Silence usually means never.
Worth understanding here too: the first clean of a home that has not had this done before is not a different list, it is the same list on a house where everything takes longer. That distinction is covered properly in reset clean versus maintenance clean, and it explains most first-quote sticker shock.
4. Whose products, and can I request fragrance-free?
Almost everyone will say yes to fragrance-free. The useful part is the second question: what does fragrance-free mean to you?
"Unscented" often means a masking fragrance has been added to cover the smell of the base chemistry. Essential oils are still a fragrance and still a common trigger, so a product scented with lemon myrtle instead of parfum has not solved the problem you were asking about. And a cleaner whose whole kit is fragranced cannot simply leave a bottle in the car: the cloths, the mop heads and the vacuum have been carrying that scent for months.
So ask: what is in the kit as standard? Will you use my products if I supply them? What are the cloths laundered in? A cleaner who takes this seriously answers in specifics about what they exclude rather than reassurances about what they use. Our own answer is on the natural and fragrance-free cleaning page: no synthetic fragrance or parfum, no essential oils, no bleach, no dyes or added colours, no antibacterial agents, and no SLS, parabens or phthalates in anything that comes into the house. The cleaning gets done with professional HEPA vacuums, the right brush for the surface, citric acid for mineral build-up and soap scum, and physical effort.
A safety note if you do supply your own products. Tell the cleaner plainly what each one is, and never combine a bleach-based product with vinegar, a citric acid cleaner, or an ammonia-based glass cleaner, either mixed together or used one after the other on the same surface. Bleach plus an acid, or bleach plus ammonia, releases dangerous gases. That is a hard never, not a caution. Keep those products apart, and if one has already been used on a surface, rinse it and let it dry before anything else goes near it.
Beyond Clean Living is a cleaning service, not a health service. Nothing here is medical advice, and cleaning does not treat, manage or prevent any medical condition. What we change is the home: less dust, less fragrance, less residue on the surfaces you touch. For anything to do with your own health, speak to your doctor or specialist. Belinda's cleaning business is separate from her clinical practice.
5. How do you charge, and what happens if it runs over?
Hourly and fixed price both work. They just fail in different directions.
Fixed price gives you certainty, and the risk is that the job gets priced on speed. When the minutes are squeezed, something has to make up the difference, and it is usually harsher chemistry doing work that time and technique should have done. Hourly is transparent about what you are buying, and the risk is that you need to trust the hours are used well. We charge $85 per hour and price the time honestly, which is the trade we have chosen deliberately. There is more on how that adds up in cleaning costs, and a longer argument in why the cheapest cleaning quote costs more.
Either way, ask the overrun question. Do you call me before going past the booked time, or do you stop at the hour and leave the rest? Is there a call-out or travel charge? Are the rates inclusive of GST? Is there a surcharge for public holidays?
The best answer is that overruns rarely come up, because the time was estimated properly and the list was agreed first. The second best is a clear rule: we call you, we do not just keep going.
There is a related question people never think to ask: what happens when a well-maintained home takes less time than booked? Leaving early is the easy answer. Spending the remaining time on the shelf at the back of the pantry, under the kitchen sink, or inside the fridge is a better one.
6. What happens if something is missed?
Everybody misses something eventually. Anyone who tells you otherwise has not cleaned many houses. The question is what happens on the following Tuesday when you notice.
A good answer has 3 parts: a window to raise it, a fix, and no charge for the fix. Ours is 7 days, tell us, and we come back and put it right at no cost. What you do not want is a policy that only exists verbally and evaporates when tested, or a discount offered instead of the work being done.
There is a front half to this that helps more than the guarantee does. A clean is booked for a set amount of time and worked through against an agreed list. If particular areas matter most to you, say so before anyone starts, and they get prioritised. Half the "they missed the" complaints are really a mismatch between what the household cared about and what the cleaner assumed.
7. Is there a minimum booking?
Most cleaners have one, often 2 or 3 hours. That is not a red flag. Travel, setup and pack-down cost real time, and a 90 minute job across town does not pay for itself.
What is worth probing is whether the minimum is honest about what fits inside it. A 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home is not getting cleaned in 2 hours. It is getting wiped over. If a cleaner quotes a duration that sounds implausibly short for the house you live in, ask them to walk you through what they would actually complete in that time, in order. The answer is usually informative.
8. What do you need from me before you arrive?
My favourite question, because the answer reveals how much thought has gone into the job before the money is discussed.
A considered answer is specific: how to get in, whether pets will be home and whether they need containing, where to park, which surfaces need particular handling (natural stone, unsealed timber, unsealed grout, induction cooktops), whether benches and floors will be clear enough to actually clean, and which 2 or 3 areas matter most to you.
"Nothing, just leave the key out" is not a reassuring answer. It means nobody has thought about your house yet.
The cleaner who asks you the most questions back is usually the one to hire.
Reading the answers
Across all 8 questions, the pattern matters more than any single response. Specificity is the signal. A cleaner who answers with a number, a name, a document or a rule has thought about the problem before you raised it. A cleaner who answers with reassurance has not, or is hoping you will not follow up.
The other thing to watch is whether they will tell you something you would rather not hear. That the house needs longer than you hoped for the first visit. That fortnightly will not hold a home with 2 dogs and 3 kids. That the mould in the bathroom is a ventilation and moisture problem, and cleaning it will not stop it returning. Someone who will not say the inconvenient thing during the quote will not say it later either, and later is when it costs you.
You are not obliged to run through all 8. Pick the ones that matter for your house. But ask enough of them that you are choosing a cleaner rather than accepting the first person who answers the phone. If you would like our answers, they are yours in writing, before anyone books anything, through the contact page.
Common questions
What are the most important questions to ask a cleaner before booking?
If you only ask 3, ask whether they hold public liability insurance and who the insurer is, exactly what is included and what is excluded from the quoted price, and what happens if something is missed. Those 3 cover the risks that cost the most money and cause the most friction later.
Should a house cleaner be insured?
Yes. Public liability cover is the baseline for anyone working in your home, because ordinary accidents happen: a chipped benchtop, a knocked vase, water damage from a tap. A cleaner should be able to name their insurer and send you a certificate of currency without hesitation. If they cannot, that tells you something about how the business is run.
Is it better to pay a cleaner hourly or a fixed price?
Both models work, they just carry different risks. A fixed price gives you certainty but is usually built around speed, and when the minutes are squeezed something has to compensate, often harsher chemistry. Hourly is transparent about what you are buying but requires trust that the time is used well. Beyond Clean Living charges $85 per hour for that reason. Whichever you choose, agree in advance what happens if the job runs longer than estimated.
Can I ask a cleaner to use fragrance-free products?
You can, and most will say yes. The more useful follow-up is what fragrance-free means to them. Unscented often means a masking fragrance has been added, and essential oils are still a fragrance and still a common trigger. Ask what is in the standard kit, whether they will use products you supply, and what the cloths and mop heads are laundered in, because fragrance carries on equipment as much as in bottles.
How long should a house clean actually take?
It depends on the size of the home and how long since it was last done properly. A first reset clean on a 3 bedroom home that has never had this level of attention typically runs 10 to 15 hours, usually 2 cleaners across a day, because it is the same list as a regular clean on a house where everything takes longer. Ongoing weekly or fortnightly maintenance is much shorter. If a quoted duration sounds implausibly short for your home, ask the cleaner to walk you through what they would complete in that time.
What should I do before the cleaner arrives?
Clear benches and floors so surfaces can actually be cleaned rather than worked around, sort out access and parking, decide whether pets need containing, and flag any surfaces that need particular handling such as natural stone, unsealed timber or unsealed grout. Most importantly, tell them which 2 or 3 areas matter most to you before they start, so those get prioritised within the booked time.
Is it safe to leave my own cleaning products out for the cleaner?
Only if you label what each one is and keep incompatible products apart. Never leave a bleach-based product alongside vinegar, a citric acid cleaner or an ammonia-based glass cleaner with any expectation they will be used together or one after the other on the same surface. Bleach mixed with an acid, or with ammonia, releases dangerous gases. Never combine them, and never assume a cleaner knows what is in an unlabelled bottle.