How much to tip a maid service?

[IDoDis]

I've never used a maid service before. My mom bought a one visit maid service cleaning for me for Christmas from Groupon. It includes the kitchen, living room, dining room, entryway, hallway & stairs. I wonder if she's hinting!

How much should I tip? I think my mom paid $50 for the Groupon certificate. The regular price is $110. There will be one or two people cleaning. The person I spoke with on the phone said it would take between 1 and 2 hours, but don't see how it could possibly take 2 hours with 2 people. The spaces that they'll be cleaning are not very big. We have 2 living rooms, so I guess they'll only do one of them.

How much do I tip? What if 2 people show up? Does that change the tip amount? They'll be here tomorrow morning (Monday) at 9:00am.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

This is a tough one because if it was a regular service provided, I would say you wouldn't tip anything and just provide an annual "Christmas" or similar time frame bonus/gift of the average 1 - 2 week service cost. But because this is a one off, probably $5.00 - $10.00 is fine. I'd also offer bottled water to the cleaners as a nice gesture.

 

[sookie]

you need to tip on the un-discounted cost of the service
If your mom paid 50 dollars for 100 dollars worth of cleaning service, you tip on the full amount.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

you need to tip on the un-discounted cost of the service
If your mom paid 50 dollars for 100 dollars worth of cleaning service, you tip on the full amount.

I think that's a given, that you never tip off a discounted rate. But house cleaning doesn't follow a typical tip schedule like restaurant dining, they follow a tip plan more aptly applied to longer term contract/relationships (ie. trash service, paper delivery, etc.)

 

[IDoDis]

Aak! So how much should I tip? Also, do I divide it up and give each person half, assuming two people show up?

 

[LBIJim]

My wife owns a cleaning business. As already mentioned, most steady regular clients tip one time around Christmas. Some tip a few times a year. For a one time cleaning, though, no tip is expected or necessary.

If you'd like to, however, $5 per person would be fine.

Jim

 

[IDoDis]

My wife owns a cleaning business. As already mentioned, most steady regular clients tip one time around Christmas. Some tip a few times a year. For a one time cleaning, though, no tip is expected or necessary.

If you'd like to, however, $5 per person would be fine.

Jim

Thanks. The cleaning people are here now. Three of them! So $15? I called the business and asked about tipping. The woman I spoke to said a tip should 18-20% tip off of the regular price. 20% would be $22. That's almost half of what my mom paid for the gift. I don't even have $15 in change. I wasn't expecting 3 people -- just two.

This is more stress figuring out a tip than what it's worth! The areas they are cleaning are not really even dirty. I think they will be done in 30 minutes or less since there are 3 of them.

 

[IDoDis]

As it turned out, I didn't leave a tip at all. DH and I did some more research on the web and just about everything we read said the cleaners would not expect a tip. When they were finished, 2 of them went outside to load up their cleaning supplies. One stayed and showed me a piece of the microwave that one of the cleaners broke accidentally. It was the little plastic piece that spins the glass plate. After she showed me that she said she'd let the owner know and I'd be contacted. Then she said "sorry" and walked out before I could even get the plate back inside the microwave and shut the microwave door.

I wasn't that impressed with the cleaning. They didn't even wipe down the outside of the blender or the knife set that was on the counter and they didn't wipe the outside of the cabinets. Those were some basic things I was expecting since the kitchen was pretty clean in general. There were a few other things that I thought they'd do that they didn't, either. Also, through no fault of their own, my house now smells like vinegar. The company was an eco-friendly company that uses natural products, so I never got that fresh clean smell I was hoping for.

I'm thankful for the gift and was stressed about the tip, but everything I read (aside from what the company manager said about leaving an 18 - 20% tip), said not to tip.

Thanks for those who responded.

 

[rwdavis2]

We never tip our house cleaners although we do give each $50 at Christmas.

 

[Kellydelly]

I would not have worried about tipping them. I have never heard of doing that, outside of perhaps giving a small holiday bonus.

 

[lynxstch]

hmmm..new poster, first post is in response to a 3 year old thread? lol..Black Friday Zombies?