The first visit from a cleaning service is a sales visit with a mop in it. Everyone is polite, the house looks wonderful, and nobody has to pick a child up from practice in the middle of it. The real test comes on the second visit, when you see who shows up, what they bring, and what happens when something goes wrong. Judge the service on those things, and you will know more than any brochure can tell you.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Who arrives and who stays
Ask whether you will get the same crew each time or a rotating group. A regular team learns where things go and how you like the bathroom done. A rotating group can be fine, but you will spend more of your time explaining the house again. Ask who the people in your home will be, and ask whether they are employees of the company or contractors. The answer changes who you call when a problem comes up.
Also ask how they handle a key or a door code. Write down who holds it, who can change it, and what happens to it if the contract ends. You are letting people into a house where your kids sleep, so treat that part of the agreement as seriously as the price.
What they bring and what you provide
Ask whether the crew brings their own supplies and equipment, or whether you need to set out cleaners and cloths. If you are expected to supply things, you are buying the service and the stock, and you want to know that before you start comparing. Ask which products they use on surfaces in your kitchen and bathroom, and whether you can ask them not to use anything specific because someone in the house is sensitive to it.
Who calls back when the plan changes
Plans change in a split week. A child gets sick, a pickup moves, and the visit that was on Tuesday is now Thursday. Ask who you call, whether a person answers during the day, and what the company does when they cannot come at all. A service that answers the phone and says it will call back by the end of the afternoon is giving you a real answer. A service that says it will get back to you is giving you a hope.
Ask about insurance and get it in writing. You do not need to know the legal terms to ask whether the company carries liability coverage for work done in your home, and whether they can send you a certificate.
The second visit is the real interview
After the second visit, write down three things: who came, what they brought, and whether you could reach someone when you needed to. If all three are clear, you have a service worth keeping on the list. If any one is fuzzy, you have just learned something useful about the company, and you can still say no without guilt.
When you want a broader view of what to ask and how to check it, the How We Write page explains how this desk approaches comparisons like this one.