FAQ

The first visit usually costs more than subsequent visits, generally at that first cleaning our cleaning technicians get the home up to Virginia Housekeepers standards. Once the first cleaning has been completed, your home’s cleanliness can be easily maintained with our regular visits. Regular home cleaning services are charged as a flat fee. You will receive an estimate for both the initial and the regular home cleaning services up front. Once the initial home cleaning has been completed, we will confirm the regular home cleaning price. But after one month without cleaning we will consider the following visit, like a first time cleaning.

While we can commit to a specific day, there are many factors throughout the day that may affect our actual arrival time, but it will usually be the same day and time. We always call, email or text you the day before to remind you of the schedule cleaning with us. If you need to change the day and/or time for the cleaning, please email or text us with no less than 24 hours notice.

It’s as simple as this:

Don’t spend any time cleaning before we arrive! Cleaning homes is what we do, after all, right? You only have to: 

• Remove clutter so we can effectively clean all surfaces,
• Find a good spot for your pets so they are comfortable while we clean,
• Put out clean sheets if we will be changing your linens.

It’s your option. In fact, most of our customers prefer not to be home when we clean. However, if you like to be at home it will be no problem for us. If you choose to provide us with a key, the garage code, and/or assigns us a guest alarm code rest assured that your security is our highest priority.

Call, email or text us within 24 hours and we will re-clean the area at no cost.

A team of cleaning technicians, trained and employed by Virginia Housekeepers, will clean your home, and it will be the same team each time.  This approach helps our team get to know the unique needs of your home, thus ensuring a consistent, quality cleaning each and every time. Using this method also permits you, as the customer, to know who is in your home and ultimately leaves you feeling more secure.  Occasionally, there may be a change in a team member due to illness, vacations and staff changes. Each team includes a team leader who will be familiar with your home, to ensure that all the tasks are completed managers will check in with you periodically.

Call, text or email us with a minimum 24 hrs. notice prior to your home cleaning day. Respecting our procedure for reschedules helps ensure you will get the best home cleaning service possible. Our cancellation policy is $75 although we want to help you avoid incurring these fees!

We provide all cleaning equipment and products. If you have a special cleaning product that you would like for us to use, please be sure to let us know.

Just as with rescheduling fees, if you lock the team out on cleaning day, you will be assessed a lock-out fee. The lock-out fee is $75.  In the event of an accidental lockout, we will attempt to contact you to see if the issue can be resolved on the spot.

If you have pets, we prefer them to be restricted from entering the areas that we clean to allow us to clean your home better and more efficiently, however we are pet friendly and will be very careful around them. Please let us know in advance what kind of pets you have so we can take care to not startle them or accidentally let them outside. We also ask that you secure them as appropriate in case visitors make them nervous. For sanitary and safety reasons, our teams are not permitted to clean flea infested homes or pick up animal excrement.

If you have special valuables, heirlooms or irreplaceable items, please put them away or instruct us not to touch them. A closed door or drawer is your signal to us that you do not want that area cleaned. Virginia Housekeepers carries all the necessary insurances in the event of any damage.

Payment is due the day of each scheduled clean. Most of our customers simply leave a check or cash on the kitchen counter or pay by electronic transfer.  If you prefer to pay in cash, please place the cash in a sealed envelope on the counter prior to arrival. In the event you forget to leave your payment, we will process your credit card that is on file plus a $5 processing fee.

Check policy: If your check is returned for any reason by the bank, a processing fee of $50.00 will be charge.

All cleaning services can be canceled up to 24 hours prior to the schedule service. If the costumer decides within the 24 hour time limit, Virginia Housekeepers will charge $75.00.

If the team is unable to enter your home due to the customer’s fault (door is locked, pets not contained or if the team is turned away at the door of a regular schedule cleaning) there will be a lock-out fee assessed in the amount of $75.

How do I schedule an appointment?

It’s simple, call us at (703) 858-2266 or send an email to info@virginiahousekeepers.com

Your Virginia Housekeepers cleaning team will always take every measure possible to assure safe handling of your things while cleaning your home. Since sometimes accidents cannot be prevented, Virginia Housekeepers and its employees are insured and bonded so that you can be rest assured that you are protected against loss and/or breakage. When you entrust your house key to a Virginia Housekeepers manager, it will immediately be incorporated into the Virginia Housekeepers lock box system. The physical keys and corresponding location list are kept in two separate locations to provide an extra security measure for your home.

Yes. All of Virginia Housekeepers employees are authorized to work in the U.S. All of our employees must fill-out an I-9 form (employment eligibility verification form and provide necessary proof of work, before starting work.

Virginia Housekeepers is closely monitoring COVID-19 (coronavirus) and its impact in our community. The health and safety of our customers is our highest priority during this time. While we cannot control the severity or unpredictability of this virus, we can take preventive measures to limit the spread and impact of COVID-19. We are currently acting with prudence in our day-to-day operation with basic preventative safety measures following the guidance set forth by the U.S. Federal Government, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other health agencies, including:

• Cleaning hands with soap often, for at least 20 seconds.
• Using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer when soap and water are not available.
• Keeping the recommended 6 feet from people.
• Cleaning frequently touched surfaces.
• Covering cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throwing tissue in the trash.
• Staying home when sick.

We encourage our customers to let us know in advance of an appointment if there are any concerns or they would like us to take special precautions. We will continue to closely monitor the situation surrounding the COVID-19 coronavirus and act accordingly.

What we do and why we are different than most cleaning companies:

• In your home, our team uses a sanitizing solution to wipe down light switches, doorknobs, bathroom surfaces, and other commonly touched areas. We clean and sanitize your home using products that include certain Environmental Protection Association (EPA) registered disinfecting products and specific cleaning methods, such as mopping with microfiber mops, which have demonstrated a 99% reduction in bacteria.
• We switch out all cleaning cloths, microfiber towels and mop heads between homes and thoroughly launder them between usages. Plus, we Sani-Spray our vacuum rollers between each home to limit germ transfer.
• We give our teams the opportunity to wash their hands with soap and water and use antibacterial hand sanitizer between homes.
• We are closely monitoring national, state and local health agencies for the most recent developments and following the guidance of government and public health officials.
• Our teams are provided with masks and gloves for use while cleaning your home.

When we work together, we can keep your home clean and a little safer.

What can you do:

Follow these tips from the CDC to help prevent the spread of the seasonal flu and respiratory diseases like Coronavirus (COVID-19): CDC Coronavirus Website

Cleanliness plays a large role in the comfort of your home, but many homeowners simply don’t have the time to complete this task due to their busy lifestyles. At Virginia Housekeepers, we recognize that a cleaner home is a happier home, which is why we’re proud to offer comprehensive home cleaning services.

Virginia Housekeepers pays all local, state, federal and social security taxes. So when you hire Virginia Housekeepers to clean your home, there is no need to be concerned with tax forms and paperwork because Virginia Housekeepers will properly handle those issues.

Before the first cleaning, a Virginia Housekeepers Estimator will come and conduct a free, in-home estimate that will allow us to assess and better understand your house cleaning needs. Our cleaning service includes cleaning and dusting baseboards, pictures, lamp-shades, knick knacks, windowsills, furniture and basic light fixtures in all rooms and washing and/or vacuuming floors throughout. In the kitchen we will spot clean cabinets, dust and wipe appliances, clean the sink, and wash the floor. In the bathrooms, sinks, floors, tubs and shower stalls will be scrubbed and cleaned. We will try our very best to meet your special needs as well.

We would greatly appreciate it if you can communicate any special instructions directly to the office via e-mail so that we can update your file accordingly to enhance the cleaning experience you receive. This will help us update the notes available to any team that may clean your home in the future, as well as a reminder for your regular team.

We would need an extra time to clean your house thoroughly during the initial cleans to bring it to Virginia Housekeepers standards where we can maintain on a recurring visits. During the initial cleaning, Virginia Housekeepers will clean your home top to the bottom. Initial cleaning takes longer since your house has not been cleaned at Virginia Housekeepers standards. The initial cleanings based on the amount of time it takes to clean your home. Our recurring services will help to maintain your clean home.

Our cleaning services can be provided on a weekly, every other week (bi-weekly), or monthly, depending on your cleaning needs. Virginia Housekeepers also offers cleanings for special occasions, as well as move-in, move-out cleaning services.

Virginia Housekeepers cleaning crews consist of two people. Occasionally, we may send our quality control manager with the team to ensure the quality of our services.  Larger homes may require a third or fourth team member.

We make every effort to ensure that our regularly scheduled customers have the same cleaning team come to their home week after week, however, we may send a different crew due to illness, vacation or scheduling conflicts.  All of our cleaning crews are trained to provide a consistent service each time. Our cleaning crews do not smoke, eat or drink in your home.

If your cleaning falls on a major holiday, we will always call you or email you to reschedule your cleaning for a time that is convenient for you.

Please ensure that if your home is equipped with a security system it is turned off or disarmed on the day of your scheduled cleaning. If you choose to provide us with instructions for arming or disarming your security alarm, we will not be responsible for any alarms that may be set off or associated dispatch fees for first responders.  If you live in a gated community, please be sure to add your specific housekeepers name to the authorized entry list.

Our team members are compensated based upon reviews and the quality of their service and do not expect tips, however, the teams do appreciate them and are allowed to receive them if you would like to leave them a tip as recognition for exceptional work. You can leave a tip in an envelope or you can ask us to add it on your charge.

Call us or email us within 24 hours and we will re-clean the area, free of charge.  Pictures can always help us, so please take a picture and send it to us (if necessary).

We do our best to handle your things with the utmost care; however, sometimes accidents cannot be prevented.  Should damage or breakage occur while we are cleaning your home, we will make every effort to repair the item or replace the item should repair not be possible. Insurance claims will be filed when appropriate.  Pictures can always help us, so please take a picture and send it to us (if necessary).

We clean some interior windows; like glass doors.  However, if you would like the interior of all of your windows cleaned or a set of specific windows, please contact us for an estimate.

Here at Virginia Housekeepers our goal is to provide a consistent, quality cleaning services to all of our customers during each visit. We customize our house cleaning services to fit your home’s unique needs and budget. To provide this level of exceptional service to all our valued customers there are some areas and items in your home that Virginia Housekeepers does not clean.

• Do laundry and ironing services
• Pick up and remove excessive clutter
• Clean outside of windows
• Steam carpet cleaning

Simply call our office prior to your cleaning day. We require a minimum 48 hours notice to reschedule your house cleaning.  Unlike the airlines, we do not overbook our schedule. So, if you need to reschedule a cleaning without proper notice, we will not have enough opportunity to fill the schedule with another client. This decreases the team’s pay. Without consistent wages, we cannot retain the best housekeepers to clean for you. Thus, respecting our procedure for reschedules helps ensure you will get the best house cleaning service possible.

Please be sure you understand Virginia Housekeepers’ procedures for rescheduling and cancelling visits. We do have a cancellation policy and will assess a cancellation fee if necessary, although we want to help you avoid incurring these fees!

We pride ourselves on attracting the best cleaners available. Combining hourly wages and bonus programs we offer some of the best pay in the industry – to ensure we have the finest cleaners. We screen our cleaners carefully, we train meticulously, we inspect relentlessly and we insure adequately. We do all this so that you can have the highest confidence to trust our cleaners with the care of your home.

Mildew is a parasitic fungus. It requires moisture, warmth and a food source to exist. It reproduces itself by growing microscopic spores in enormous quantities. These spores are always present in the air and spread via normal air currents. A spore lies dormant until favorable moisture and temperature conditions occur for it to germinate. Mildew thrives in warm moist areas that have poor air circulation. In the average household, mildew is typically found in the bathrooms. The corners, cracks and crevices of the tub, shower, sink and toilet are the most common areas affected. It ranges in color from a pinkish-orange to black.

Your Virginia Housekeepers’ team will be able to impede the growth of mildew by removing the built up food sources that it lives on, such as soap, skin, hair, etc. However, as long as moisture and warmth are present, the spores will immediately germinate and mildew will again be growing on the host area.

To stop the growth of mildew, the area must be kept dry or it must be chemically treated to make it an undesirable environment for the spore to germinate. Although not part of a green cleaning program, chlorine bleach is a very good sanitizer to use on an infected area.

We recommend that the bleach can be diluted up to 50% with water to reduce the pungent odor. The most practical application method would be to lightly spray the area, although it can be wiped or sponged on. It is not necessary to saturate the area or to treat uninfected areas. Leave the bleach in contact with the surface area for at least an hour. Rinse any area that you will touch in later use. Repeat the application on a bi-weekly basis or when mildew reappears.

Insurance restrictions do not permit our cleaners to use some forms of bleach. Further, bleach is not part of our Green Clean Certified® program because of the toxic nature of this substance. As a Virginia Housekeepers customer, you may choose to use bleach independently to help control mildew growth between our cleaning service visits. If you choose to do so, please do not use bleach for two days preceding a scheduled house cleaning by Virginia Housekeepers because a chlorine residue could combine with the other cleaning solutions our cleaners use and cause the formation of a toxic gas. Also, please ventilate the treated area well to clear away harmful vapors quickly.

We hope the above discussion explains why mildew is such an on-going maintenance challenge. Working together, however, it can be controlled.

In one word — absolutely! Every cleaning team goes through the Virginia Housekeepers Certification Program  before they ever step foot into your home. We train our teams on how to deliver a thorough and spotless cleaning. After graduating from the program, each new trainee works with a seasoned trainer until they have mastered the Virginia Housekeepers’ process.

Of course we are!  But unlike independent cleaners or agencies, Virginia Housekeepers’ insurance includes the most important insurance…workers compensation.

We welcome reviews on the following:

• Facebook
• Google
• Yelp
• HomeAdvisor

Because cleaning is a very personalized and subjective service, we highly encourage our customers to give us feedback so we continually customize your service. The feedback we receive helps us to serve you better, correct any problems and give praise to the cleaning teams who meet and exceed expectations. You can submit feedback at [hyperlink]

At the present time, we service the following areas:

20105  Aldie/Stone Ridge

20117  Middleburg

20129  Paeonian Springs

20132  Purcellville

20141  Round Hill

20147  Ashburn

20148  Ashburn/Brambleton/Broadlands

20152  Chantilly/South Riding

20158  Hamilton

20164  Sterling

20165  Sterling/Potomac Falls

20166  Sterling/Arcola/Dulles

20175  Leesburg

20176  Leesburg/Lansdowne

20180  Lovettsville

20184  Upperville

20197  Waterford

Yes they do.  We run a detailed nationwide background check on all applicants as the last step in our pre-screening process.

If you move or need to change your address, just call us at (703)858-2266 or send an email to info@virginiahousekeepers.com

If you need to change your payment method, just call us at (703)858-2266 or send an email to info@virginiahousekeepers.com

Simply go to our booking form and schedule your appointment online. Alternatively you can give us a call at (703)858-2266

We know that it is important to earn your trust on each house cleaning visit, which is why we do not ask you to sign a contract. We operate through open communication and honest evaluation of our service. We encourage feedback that will help us serve you better.

You can rest assured that all of our professional housecleaners are fully trained and insured. We respect all of our customers by never smoking, drinking, eating, or using appliances during our home cleanings. We wear our recognized uniforms with pride and confidently carry out services that exceed expectations. We also undergo regular training to ensure that we’re always up to date with all of the latest and greatest cleaning techniques. For additional safety and peace of mind, the work we perform for each customer is held accountable by a trusted and experienced supervisor.

This method involves the practices and products used by cleaning companies to promote a better environment and a healthier home. Green cleaning solutions don’t contain ozone depleting chemicals or flammable substances that can irritate the skin and cause respiratory illnesses.

While most green cleaning products cannot remove all harmful forms of bacteria, Virginia Housekeepers strives to use the most appropriate methods for each service. In order to protect the environment, we utilize microfiber cloths and pads during our services, rather than paper. Not only is this practice better for the environment, microfiber picks up 99% of bacteria while cotton-based mops only pick up 30%.

Many cleaning companies falsely advertise green cleaning practices. We strive to be as transparent as possible and are happy to answer any questions you have regarding our eco-friendly practices.

Environmentalists use this term to describe companies that falsely advertise green cleaning services. For example, pouring bleach into a recycled container cannot be advertised as an eco-friendly practice because it misleads consumers to think that the contents of the bottle are environmentally friendly when they’re not.

Virginia Housekeepers believes in an honest approach to finding the right balance between green cleaning practices and a safe, healthy home that’s free of harmful bacteria.

Virginia Housekeepers goes above and beyond to use cleaners that are non-acidic and free of ammonia, alcohol, petroleum, and other toxic chemicals. We recommend that you balance the use of green cleaning products and disinfectants in your cleaning plan to ensure that your home is as healthy and clean as possible. Get in touch with our team to learn about the eco-friendly practices we carry out.

Our team strives to meet the community’s need for clean homes and balanced lives. That’s why we use microfiber instead of paper, refill bottles, and protect both our professional housecleaners and customers from unnecessary exposure to toxic chemicals.

Contact our team to schedule a free in-home consultation at no-obligation. We’ll take the time to thoroughly inspect your property and discuss your budget, schedule, and cleaning preferences with you before providing a free estimate..

You’re welcome to share your thoughts about our services on our Virginia Housekeepers Facebook page, which offers inside information on tips, deals, and promotions. You can also follow our blog and subscribe to our cleaning tips e-newsletter. We value our customers’ opinions and it’s our customer feedback that has helped us become the best home cleaning company in the industry.

We’re recognized for being affordable and flexible. Some individual cleaning companies are able to offer lower rates because they don’t cover liability insurance or workers compensation. Virginia Housekeepers is proud to provide these benefits that ensure our customers’ peace of mind while still being able to offer competitive rates for our services.

The truth is if you think a professional is expensive wait till you hire an amateur.  The underground market seems less expensive on the surface but in the long run it really isn’t. What is your time worth?  Cheaper services generally require you to find to an independent contractor, verify their background, train them, and provide all the supplies for cleaning.  You have to manage, supervise, and pay their payroll taxes despite their claim that they are an “”independent contractor” (the IRS almost never agrees therefore you are liable for all federal withholding taxes and labor law compliance).  The “savings” is not worth the risk, especially if the cleaner is undocumented or brings undocumented “relatives” to help clean.  Non-professional cleaners often give the cleaning industry a bad name by not paying taxes and hiring illegal workers.

Yes!  We thrive on referrals and are generous when you refer by offering both of you a 15% discount on your next cleaning.

All of our housekeepers are employees that are thoroughly screened and trained.

No, we just look like one because we are just as professional.  But, we have the freedom to provide you with a more customized service and our prices are usually much lower than the franchises.

No!  You can cancel any time you wish.

Generally, no, as we want our team members to be able to spend time with their families and enjoy their time off.

Many of our customers elect to do a Spring Cleaning every year as it is a good practice to clean the following: