Q.    Whose equipment and products are used?

A.    In all cases, your cleaning equipment and products are used

Q.    How is payment made?

A.    Payment must be made in cash at the time of service being provided. Due to the high costs of petrol, public transport, childcare etc, most housekeepers are now paying these expenses, cash, on a daily basis

Q.    What about receipts or tax invoices?

A.    E very cleaner carries their tax invoice book with them. All you need do is advise your allocated cleaner/housekeeper of your requirements as to whether you require weekly, fortnightly or monthly tax invoices. Please do this at the commencement of your cleaning, as it creates extra work if your requirements are only made known, or is altered, at a later date

Q.    How often should I have my booking?

A.   All clients have individual needs. Most homes require a once per week clean. Some homes have a housekeeper attend three/four/five times a week. Some homes require someone to attend on a fortnightly or on an ‘on call’ basis

Q.    What areas do you service?

A.   We service most of metropolitan Melbourne

Q.    How soon can my home be cleaned?

A.   In most instances, one to three days. In areas that are a little harder to service, it may be a week or so

Q.    Will I have the same housekeeper each visit?

A.    Yes, providing your booking is weekly or fortnightly, and obviously excepting where a regular housekeeper is sick or goes on holiday etc. Your regular housekeeper will get to know your home, how you like things done and will be able to incorporate a maintenance program into your weekly cleaning i.e. including the oven on the first week of the month, including the inside of the fridge on the second week of the month etc, if this is required, and providing you allow sufficient time of course. It is sometimes necessary for the first one or few visits to be attended by a temporary housekeeper, where there is a temporary shortage of weekly cleaners for the area and or day you require

Q.    What is your screening process?

A.    Our screening process involves checking work and/or character references and/or obtaining police checks

Q.    Do I have to be home when my housekeeper visits?

A.    Yes, if you want to be. No, if you don't want to be.  Housekeepers are well used to working in either environment

Q.    How will my housekeeper know what to do?

A.    Easily. We ask that you provide a detailed list of your requirements and the cleaner will follow that list. This is the best way to ensure the clean you have is tailored to your home and your requirements. If you keep a copy of that list, then this will ensure any temporary or change of cleaner, can carry out the same clean for your home

Q.    What about when my regular cleaner is sick or on holiday?

A.    A Woman's Touch Domestic Agency will allocate a temporary cleaner/housekeeper when your regular cleaner/housekeeper is away sick . The most inconvenience you will experience will be if your booking needs to be reallocated to an alternative day (and if that should happen, we will of course advise you)

Q.    What about minimum hours?

A.    We have set minimum hours for various zones. Please advise your location and we will be happy to advise minimum hours.  A parking permit is also required to be provided for city and inner suburb locations.

Q.    How long will my house take to clean?

A.    We ask you to nominate the hours required/estimated. This is because each household is different. Some homes will have an hour's worth of ironing each week; other households will have none or ten minutes worth of ironing.  Some homes will require the washing to be put through and hung out, other homeowners say just leave the laundry to them.  Some homes will require the window ledges and skirting boards to be wet dusted each week; other homes would say three times a year is enough for those jobs at their place. 

If your estimate is wrong, we can always adjust the length of your booking - all you need to do is contact our office to arrange this.

Some homes have a permanently flexible booking i.e. 3-4 hrs per week. Some weeks the household requires 3hrs hour and other weeks it requires 4 hours (perhaps there are stepchildren visiting on alternate weekends)

Q.    What do I need to do to cancel or alter my booking?

A.    You must telephone our office to make any changes to your booking - your housekeeper is unable to assist you with this, only our office can.   We must have advice of your cancellation or alteration (changes in length, access etc) made to our office prior to 5pm on the business day before your booking is due, otherwise the booking must be paid for in full. 

Unless we have reasonable and adequate notice of your cancellation (i.e. before 5pm on the business day prior):

• we are unable to allocate your housekeeper to another home and the housekeeper is therefore not working but perhaps has already paid travel and/or child care costs expecting to work

• our office is turning away bookings believing we are fully booked, when your housekeeper could be allocated to one of those

• a great cleaner, turned away at the door of a home they've gone to clean, or who simply arrives to find no-one is home and no key has been left, understandably become quite disgruntled at the waste of travel and time, and feels quite put out by the lack of consideration offered.  A cleaner ceasing work because of this creates the need for a new cleaner to all the other clients they clean, therefore many people are affected and suffer loss

Q.    What if I need to turn the housekeeper away at the door i.e. if something comes up 5 minutes before the housekeeper arrives, or if I forget to provide access on cleaning day?

A.    If you need to turn your housekeeper away at the door, or forget to arrange access on cleaning day, you will need to pay the housekeeper for the booking in full. This is because she/he has had time and petrol/travel costs to get to your home, may also have had to pay for child care and is unable to now work elsewhere (which she/he normally could, if we had had the required notice).

Q.    How does the housekeeper get access to my home?

A.    Normally, one of three ways:

• Someone is home to let the housekeeper in

• A  key is given to the housekeeper to use on each visit.  We ask all housekeepers to label keys only with the client's suburb, name of day the booking is done and whether am or pm attendance i.e. 'Surrey Hills, Monday, PM'. This is enough information for the housekeeper to know which home the key belongs to, but not enough information to be a cause for concern if it should ever be mislaid or lost

• The key can be left in a hidden place each week (perhaps popped in a sock pegged on the clothes line) and the key returned to that hidden place, or locked inside the home after each visit.

Housekeepers are well used to looking after keys and security alarm codes as part of their daily work

Q.    Will it always be a female housekeeper, and only one person, who attends my home?

A.    There are both female and male housekeepers working through A Woman's Touch Domestic Agency.  Although the majority of homes are cleaned by one person, we do have some teams on board to take care of the longer bookings

Q.    What happens if I cancel for a few weeks, whilst I go away on holiday?

A.    Simple. Your housekeeper is allocated to casual (one-off) bookings during your time away and will return to you when your booking resumes (providing you are able to provide a specific, short -term, return date).

Q.    What happens if my booking falls on a public holiday?

A.    Your cleaner will offer an alternative day for your home to be attended.  Please look out for your housekeeper leaving a note for you if she/he normally does not see you, or simply call our office (03 9873 5215) to arrange an alternative day if she/he forgets to leave a note

Q.   Are the cleaners insured?

A.    Each housekeeper has public liability insurance for property damage. This insurance cover is for working in private residential residences only, and is for cleaners attending your home on bookings arranged via this office and with our knowledge. No insurance cover is provided for attending any premises other than private, residential premises, or for bookings attended without our knowledge

Q.   Can I enter into a private domestic work arrangement, at any time, with a cleaner/housekeeper who was or is booked through A Woman's Touch Domestic Agency?

A.   No. It is a condition of using this agency that you, or anyone acting on your behalf, does not enter into any private domestic work agreement, with any Cleaner/Housekeeper/Party Help Person allocated to you via this agency

Q.    How do I contact my housekeeper?

A.    All contact is made only via our office, so that we are always in the picture as to any temporary cancellations, change of times etc. This is so that we get the opportunity to offer your housekeeper a temporary replacement for your cancellation. It is also because, in our long experience, housekeepers will understandably try to oblige you with a change of day or time but will often forget to advise other clients who may be affected by such changes

Q.    Do I need to offer training/guidance to my housekeeper?

A.    We sometimes hear comments from clients such as “I don’t expect to have to provide any training or guidance to my cleaner - they should know what to do”. In reality, we find every home needs to provide the housekeeper with information as to what is expected in that particular home.  Housekeepers attend a number of homes in the average week and find each home has different requirements. Each housekeeper needs the advantage of knowing what you consider to be part of your weekly clean, as your expectations and requirements is likely to differ from other clients. Communication is the way to avoid unnecessary problems.

Q.    What happens if I’m not happy with the clean?

A.    The best way to avoid being unhappy with your clean is to:

(a) communicate well with the cleaner as to your requirements; (b)  check the work on completion and ask the cleaner to rectify any problem; (c) be realistic about how much can be done in each hour, in case you have not booked enough hours

Any problem reported to our agency is investigated so that the appropriate decision is made on how best to resolve it. This is done by talking with you, talking with the cleaner and talking with other bookings this cleaner is attending to check the work carried out at other homes

Do you have a question that is not covered on this FAQ page?

Please call us on 03 9873 5215.

A Woman's Touch Domestic Agency  ABN:21 636 843 250