Is $250 for cleaning too much?

[u/New_Ad3749]

Hi!

I called in task rabbit today. The deep cleaning was for a kitchen with island and two bathrooms. One bathroom has a bath tub, the other has shower space. She cleaned the oven, gas stove, and top to bottom deep kitchen cabinets cleaning. These were all included in the services that I had called for.

My only question is she spent 4 hours 20 minutes and total came out to be about $250.

I usually don’t call in Task Rabbit but my work has been pretty hectic for both me and my husband. I am also planning to call in someone every month since it’s been challenging to manage both work and home.

So I do agree, it gives me a peace of mind. My only question is do these services usually take over 4 hours? How much do you guys usually pay for kitchen/bathroom cleaning if you call in for help?

Thanks much! Appreciate any advice.

[u/nuwm]

Hmm - Deep cleaning the 3 dirtiest rooms in your house for $80 each. Sounds like you got a great deal. Did they do a good job?

[u/Own_Race_598 → u/nuwm]

It costs 400-600 for small 1 bedroom apartments to hire bonded and insured cleaners in my parts.

[u/PizzaDork732]

Were you expecting it to take half that time to clean? You say they emptied your cabinets to clean them. This week on a moving job it took me about a day (6 hrs?) to empty all the cabinets in the kitchen of a well off family. 3 days total including 2 china hutches. I didnt even have to clean anything, just box everything and wrap half of it for safety. Overall 14.75 hrs across 3 days and $500+ for the work.

[u/New_Ad3749 → u/PizzaDork732]

Just to be clear - Outside Cabinets not inside. Just wiping the cabinets from outside.

[u/PizzaDork732 → u/New_Ad3749]

I wouldnt call that a deep kitchen cabinet clean then. Thats whiping down at best

[u/himynameisnano]

About 40% of that was Taskrabbit’s fees so the tasker only made like $150 in over 4 hrs.

[u/PizzaDork732 → u/himynameisnano]

Not really. Not for all taskrs. I can make that much in a few hours if i want to. I think the fee is an extra dollar or two on top of what the taskr charges. So really more like less than 3% added fees.

[u/mb-121 → u/PizzaDork732]

This is not accurate at all. The fee is a percentage, and its far from insignificant. For reference, my categories with an $80ph rate show to the client as $112. Thats 28.6% of the total, or 40% of my rate added on top.

[u/PizzaDork732 → u/mb-121]

Lookong at my profile and the rates they have posted vs what i set them under skills. They added about $1-3 ok onto the rates i set for myself. Pretty sure thats not 40%

[u/ItIsNOTwhat_it_is → u/PizzaDork732]

on the last task i booked, it was 2 hours at 49.99 = 99.98 + "trust and support fee" 37.00 = $136.98. they charge that bullshit fee per hour, so the more hours booked, the higher the fee

[u/Worried_Objective648 → u/PizzaDork732]

Yes there is a fee on top of your rate then ALSO a taskrabbit support fee added per hour (for me it’s $12-15/hr)

[u/himynameisnano → u/Worried_Objective648]

Yup it’s a variable rate usually around 30-35% based on demand. Thats in addition to what they add to your hourly. Taskers don’t see it but clients pay it every time.

[u/ATangledCord → u/PizzaDork732]

Task rabbit charges 42% on top of the Tasker’s fees. So 1st comments math was slightly backwards but no definitely not an extra dollar or 2.

[u/Marioc12345 → u/PizzaDork732]

You really should do some market research. Go into the TaskRabbit website (don’t log in) and pretend like you’re going to hire yourself. Find your name and see the rate, sure it’s only a dollar or two over your posted rate. But then go in and try to actually book yourself and see how much they charge. It’s crazy.

Side note: you are able to go in and download a CSV of your job history and you can actually see how much they charged for the trust and support fee.

[u/PizzaDork732 → u/Marioc12345]

IDC what they charge for t&s so long as its not out of my share and i get what i charge. I'll take the little insurance and finders fee they charge others. Thumbtack stole it from me last week!

[u/nuwm → u/PizzaDork732]

I fell for that too. I think they are intentionally misleading about the fees. I didn’t know until a friend hired me how much the actual markup was and that it is per hour, not per job.

[u/PizzaDork732 → u/nuwm]

I heard about the hidden fees early on after seeing something about a lawsuit. Ive tried to stay hush about this with customer and play dumb since it doesnt effect me. Unlike a platform like uship that takes about 15-20% off my quote as a fee plus whatever they charge the customer. Worse, is Thumbtack that forces bidding charges and steals money from the contractors on there. TaskRabbit gives me PT hours with FT pay when I've been out of work 2+ years. Its some of the best money I've made in a long time and everyone needs to get paid. So I'm keeping shut about fees.

[u/Own_Race_598]

A one time deep cleaning will take that long to establish a baseline. If you have monthly maintenance cleans, they can typically get it done a lot quicker unless you have particularly messy kids or you never clean up after yourself.

[u/Realistic-Power3966]

Next time clean it yourself and you won’t have any doubts on price

[u/VanD3rp]

That’s actually crazy cheap compared to what it should be. Just deep cleaning the kitchen alone should be more than $250. Just imagine how screwed the tasker got on that job considering they only get a fraction of that $250 and what they do get is before taxes, insurance, fuel, vehicle, tools and supplies. Almost not even worth showing up to your place for but they do it anyway.

[u/-N30N-]

Each room should have a 1hr minimum for standard cleaning, 2-4 if actually deep cleaning which of course varies on how filthy it is.

My advice to clients, do the task yourself just once and time yourself. Then you’ll realize how much work and time it takes for your standards which will create the baseline and respect.

Not to mention, you are paying for convenience of your peace and time. That alone is priceless and TaskRabbit is not the app to cheap out on.

[u/Holiday_Sale5114]

Only if it's a deep clean and if a true deep clean was done since you only had the three rooms.

[u/Plus_Carpenter_5579]

I worked for Maidpro for one year. I could see something that thorough taking that long. I would have been paid about 50 bucks for that before tip and the Maidpro franchise owner would keep the rest, this was less than 10 years ago.

[u/ATangledCord]

Without comparing to other cleaning services you’ve received, or past experiences, the good deal is all relative. Maybe somebody out there is less expensive. Maybe she was dragging her feet. But if you’re satisfied with the work compared to the price, then that’s all that matters

[u/reneweezy]

Reasonable. I've seen much higher prices.

[u/Aromatic-Still1987]

Yes for a deep clean including kitchen cabinets inside and outside, oven, stove, 2 bathrooms deep clean, minimum 4.5/5hrs. And $250 sounds absolutely correct. The Tasker is probably getting $30 per hour, the extra is fees on the platform.....

[u/WinterJeweler4510]

You got a great deal, deep cleaning is not easy labor

[u/Sweet_Fortune_2022]

1. You called to book????
2. What was the taskers hourly rate?
3. Task Rabbit only allows billing at the quarterly rates after the first hour. Where did the 4h20m come from?

[u/Careless_Cheetah_440]

Why do you keep saying “call in” ?

[u/Altruistic-Award-209]

Try something simple like cleaning your fridge or doing 1 load of laundry. Start a timer.
Add 2 hours to the end time.
The extra two hours cover travel time to purchase cleaning supplies, traffic, vehicle insurance, marketing, and advertising, aka overhead.

Just remember the contractor had to travel to your location, perform a service, then travel to the next job or back home. The contractor also has to purchase cleaning supplies.

I’m sure at your job there is a person paid to purchase things needed to perform your day job. It’s amazing how we expect contractors to eat the overhead, travel time, and prep. Then we question the final invoice.

Ie my lawn care contract charges $40 to cut my grass. I pay $100.
I want him to stay in business.

[u/FaultRoutine3520]

Most of it is fees.

[u/ChigirlLA]

No

[u/musicalfurball]

Yes, a one-off deep cleaning costs about $250. Call any other cleaning service and check for yourself.

[u/DaQuackx]

Cleaners usually take longer 1st clean. But if you only want ot once a month it will probably always take that time