I wish we had the ad he posted somewhere about needed cleaners for his homes. If he posted that he was paying $500 for each job, he would get many responses IMO.
Ok I can only speak for here in Nashville TN. People seem to be amazed at killer paying 500 for cleaning.
I started cleaning houses this year. I have been working for a cleaning company, but I am going to branch out on my own.
First.... different prices for different jobs. Second, my friend who cleans for herself makes a minimum of 500 per day, closer to 700 usually. For the company I work for, I'm bringing in 600 to 800 a day.
For move outs, the cleans we do after someone moves out.... it's more. And whoever on last thread who is a painter and said they do most of it and the cleaners do nothing....so wrong. The painters do the window sills and tops of doors and walls.
The cleaners on a moveout....
Kitchen: Clean inside and outside of cabinets. Sounds easy right? Huh. There are some nasty people out there, even in the 5000-10000 sq foot homes that are priced over a million. You wouldn't believe! I have spent 2-3 hours just getting the outside and inside of cabinets clean. Think of that grease that is in the air, and then you have sticky invisible crud that is almost impossible to get off without sanding.
Then the fridge has to be cleaned inside and out until it looks like new.
The oven.... same thing....
Counters.....
Floor.... this takes time as no-one seems to know how to clean floors and you have to get on hands and knees with a scraper to get stuff from the corners and along baseboards etc....
Baseboards....
Any light fixtures inside and out....
Crown molding....
Bathrooms
Need I explain? We literally hand scrub inside and outside of toilets, showers, tubs, and those showers with glass doors with film that is really hard to get totally off. Floors, sinks, counters, drawers, cabinets and mirrors.
Many of these houses have hardwood through out.... and that is also quite alot of work to get totally clean and shining....
I am currently on workman's comp.... and they are actually paying me to stay home while I heal...which is almost unheard of. They usually make your employer find SOMETHING you can do... I messed up my right arm so bad that I tore muscles, ligaments in addition to giving myself both golfers and tennis elbow (tendonitis on both sides). I did it by scrubbing ovens tubs you name it.
The last house I did was an empty 5500 square foot house that was almost empty.... the poor womans' husband ran off with younger version, his attorneys have been dragging divorce for 4 years and she has had to sell everything in house to pay legal fees. 5 bedroom, 6 bath house only furniture was the den, one bedroom and kitchen table in kitchen. Hardwood everywhere. It took 2 of us 4 hours to clean we charged her 600. And we would have charged her more, but she told boss it was 4500 sq feet.....
We do apartment moveouts.... little bitty 900-1200 sq foot.... we charge 125-160 per apartment depending on size. To clean a 2500 square foot house (occupied, not move out) we charge about 250. And I know price differs according to geography.
But I just want to say that paying someone 500 for a moveout is NOT cray cray or impossible. Try getting your house cleaned in Naples Florida. The woman running our office had her own business there and fell over when she saw our prices. . She easily made twice as much. She doesn't she how my boss stays in business.
Oh.... I trained horses for 20 years and sold my farm last summer. Turned 50 and thought I'm too old for this... I need something less dangerous now that I splat instead of bounce when I hit the ground.
My husband told me last month: I can't believe you managed to find something even MORE dangerous than training horses....within 6 months you are laid up and getting paid for it.... oh the irony.