Our Policies

Helping Hands Policies

Our policies are designed to help minimize risks and clarify expectations. Please do not hesitate to contact us at 630-530-1324 or email us at info@helpinghandsmaidservices.com if you have any questions about our policies. We appreciate your trust in allowing us to care for your home!

Pricing and Payment Policies

Flat-Rate Pricing. We offer a simple flat-rate pricing structure that allows you to get a fair price based solely on the square footage of your home and the services you select. That’s it! The price is the price, regardless of the amount of time it takes or how many cleaners are needed. This makes it easy to schedule by phone or online and gives you a predictable upfront cost. We offer several levels of cleaning, plus many add-ons so that you can customize our services to suit your needs. If you would like a specific service that is not on our cleaning menu, please contact our office and we will be happy to accommodate you if possible.
Changes from Original Quote. We offer an upfront price estimate before we even enter your home, based on what you tell us about the size of your home and the cleaning service selected. We reserve the right to change the quoted pricing, including any applicable discounts if the actual size or circumstances of your home are not as described, or if the booking options selected are inappropriate.
Non-Refundable Deposit. We require a $200 deposit for all first-time cleanings. This will be charged upon booking and will be applied to your cleaning. In the event that the cleaning is canceled, outside of our cancelation policy the deposit will not be returned.
Please be sure your credit card is updated and on file in our system, failure to do so does not guarantee the appointment is booked.
Payment must be made in full after the completion of the service. If payment is not received before the next cleaning, the cleaning will not be scheduled and a $25 late fee will be applied. If payment is not received for 90 days it will result in a property lien.
Rate Increases. We reserve the right to raise our rates as needed to adjust for costs, however, we will always give our clients advance notice of any price increase.
Scheduling Requests. We employ the best cleaning technicians in the Chicagoland area, so when you hire Helping Hands, you can trust that you’ll get a great clean every time. While we cannot guarantee the availability of a specific cleaning technician or precise arrival window in advance, we will always notify you of our estimated arrival time in advance of your cleaning date, with a follow-up notification the day before we arrive. For clients who book our recurring services, we offer the convenience of the same day of the week for every cleaning, whether you prefer every week or every two weeks. We do NOT book every 4-week cleanings on Thursday or Friday. Please note that if you reschedule a cleaning, we cannot guarantee the same day of the week for the new cleaning date or the same technician. See our Reschedule Policy below for more details.
Rescheduling. All rescheduled requests must be made using our online Schedule Change Form. Any rescheduled request will apply only to the date that you specify on the request form and will not affect your regular cleaning schedule. If you need to reschedule more than one cleaning, please submit a separate reschedule request form for each date. If you need to change your entire Recurring Cleaning schedule, please contact our office. Recurring Cleaning customers may reschedule an upcoming cleaning for any day prior to the next scheduled cleaning at no extra charge, except Late Change Fees, if applicable.
Skipping a cleaning. If you are a Recurring Cleaning customer and you need to completely skip a cleaning, you must use our Schedule Change Request Form. Please note that Helping Hands offers discounted pricing for Recurring Cleanings so that we can keep your home consistently clean and provide our cleaning technicians with a predictable work schedule and stable income. The longer we go between cleanings, the more work our technicians will have to do to restore your home to the appropriate condition. If you skip a Recurring Cleaning, you will be charged a $50 Skip Fee on the catch-up cleaning.
Cancellations. Once a service is scheduled, all cancellations must be made using our online Service Cancellation Form.
Last Minute Changes and Cancellations. Because our cleaning technicians are scheduled in advance, last-minute changes and cancellations deprive them of income. If you cancel or reschedule a service less than 48 hours before your originally scheduled date, we will charge a $100 late cancellation fee to help compensate the cleaning technicians for lost income. If your cleaning is scheduled for a Monday, we request notice of cancellation by 9 a.m. on the preceding Thursday to avoid the fee. If the cleaning is canceled less than 24 hours prior to your scheduled time, the full amount of the cleaning fee will be charged.
Please be sure the entry method is provided if you do not plan on being home for the cleaning. Our technicians have a 10-minute wait period, after this time our technicians must leave for the next job. If our technicians have to wait for a longer period of time to begin service, the waiting time will be added to the service.
Lockouts. Lockouts deprive our cleaning technicians of their income. If you do not contact us to cancel a cleaning and the technician arrives at your home at the scheduled time and cannot gain entry or is denied access, we will charge you a lockout fee of the full cost of the cleaning to compensate the cleaning technician for their lost time.

Happiness Guarantee

Happiness Guarantee. We want you to be delighted with our service! If you are dissatisfied with any of our cleaning services, please contact us right away so that we can make it right. We will first assess the situation to make sure that we understand the concern, then will re-clean the area of concern at no cost to you. The re-clean must be completed within two business days following your initial date of service. If you are still not satisfied and Helping Hands is at fault, we will offer a partial refund according to the circumstances. Please note that in order for us to offer a refund, we require that a re-clean must be accepted and completed within two business days from the initial date of service.

Dependability Guarantee

Dependability Guarantee. We want you to be able to count on us. Our cleaning technicians rarely arrive later than scheduled unless there is extremely heavy traffic or another unusual occurrence, in which case we will notify you as soon as possible. If the arrival window has passed and you have not heard from our office staff, please call us at 630-530-1324 so we can investigate. In the unlikely event that we do not clean your home the day of your scheduled appointment, the cleaning will be rescheduled for the earliest possible date and will be provided at no charge to you. That’s our Dependability Guarantee.
Billing. Payment is due at the time of each service and your card will be charged on the day of each cleaning. If your credit card is declined for any reason, we will contact you and ask for this to be remedied within three (3) business days. If payment is not made within three (3) business days following a cleaning, we will assess a late payment fee of $10 per day and will pause all scheduled services until payment is made. If your service is paused, you may lose your place in the schedule. All recurring payments made by credit credit are subject to 4% credit card processing fee.
Tipping. Tipping is never required, but it is a lovely way to tell your cleaner that you think they did a great job. If you would like to tip your cleaner, we suggest a range of 15 to 25% of the price of the cleaning. You can add this amount to your credit card either as a one-time or a recurring charge “Add a Tip Form”. Also, when you answer our SCORECARD- survey you have the option to add a tip there. If you would prefer to give cash, we ask that you put it in a labeled envelope or otherwise clearly label it to make sure that our cleaning technicians know it is for them!

Breakage Policy

Our professional cleaning technicians do their best to protect your home and possessions, but we know that sometimes things get broken despite precautions. Accordingly, we have worked hard to develop a clear and fair policy to cover accidental breakage.

Please call us at 630-530-1324 to report any instance of breakage as soon as possible after you notice it so that we can make it right. Breakage must be reported within 2 (two) days of the incident. Please save the broken item for our inspection. We will review every incident of breakage on a case-by-case basis.
When the value is verifiable and breakage is clearly due to negligence on the part of a Helping Hands employee, we will reimburse the cost of any broken item or we will contact our insurance. Item values over $25 must be verified before replacement or reimbursement will be authorized.
When appropriate, we will pay to have the broken item repaired by a professional restoration company instead of reimbursing the cost of the item.
We cannot accept responsibility for breakage due to objects that are inherently unstable or delicate, or inappropriately placed, such as top-heavy items with inadequate bases, improperly hung pictures, or wobbly objects. Such situations are regarded as accidents-in-waiting and may occur no matter how carefully our cleaning technicians are working.
In addition, we have noticed that the materials used in many window blinds can become brittle over time and may break while cleaning, or even while opening or closing them. Therefore we cannot accept any responsibility for damages to older blinds. If this is a risk you cannot accept, please let our office know which areas we should avoid and we will add it to your home details.
Please move fragile, unstable, or expensive items to a location we do not clean, or ask us to skip that area completely if you do not wish to accept the risk of accidental damage.
Please make us aware of any sensitive furniture or areas, such as improperly mounted blinds, to avoid any breakage.

Other Cleaning Policies

Employee safety. Our cleaning technicians are the heart of our business and their safety is extremely important to us. The areas to be cleaned must be accessible without excess clutter or hazardous conditions. Indoor temperatures must also be appropriate for them to work safely. For this reason, be aware that in warm weather, we ask that you set the air conditioning down to 73 degrees Fahrenheit while we are working in your home. During the winter season please be considerate of our technicians and salt driveways, walkways, and stairs.
Firearms: We ask that all firearms be locked. Our technicians will leave the home if they find a firearm in the home.
For safety reasons, our technicians must wear shoes inside the home at all times. We are unable to clean bodily fluids, pet accidents, etc. A call will be made to inform of any pet accidents in the home. Bodily fluids will be left untouched and a call will be made to inform of the location and extremity.
No unfair solicitation of employees. At Helping Hands, we are proud of our wonderful employees and we put a lot of time, money, and effort into recruiting, hiring, and training only the best people. Sadly, some past clients have tried to take advantage of our hard work by trying to “poach” our employees. Please note that our employment contract prohibits employees from accepting private work for Helping Hands clients unless Helping Hands is compensated with a finder fee of $2,500. Please do not solicit our employees for side jobs or direct hire outside of this contract. Not only does this place our employees in an awkward situation, but it is also unfair to our small business. If you attempt to solicit an employee for private hire without paying the required finder fee, all future services will be immediately terminated.
Additional Services are available with advance notice. In addition to our standard cleaning menus, we offer an array of Add-On-Services that can be booked along with your main cleaning. These services may be added to any cleaning on a one-time or recurring basis. Please contact us at 630-530-1324 or email us at info@helpinghandsmaidservices.com for pricing and scheduling. Add-On services must be requested at least one business day in advance of your scheduled cleaning and cannot be added on the day of the cleaning.
Please be sure to pick up toys, shoes, clothes, or any items off of your floor. Failure to do so may potentially lead to an additional charge.
Our closed-door policy. Please leave any rooms you do not want us to clean or enter with the door closed. It is important that rooms you do wish us to clean remain with the door open.
Please do not cook before or during the cleaning, we do not touch hot stoves.
If you are scheduled for an oven cleaning, please be sure your self-cleaning mode in your oven is completed a day prior to our arrival. We are no longer supplying Easy Off, instead, we will be using a degreaser. If you would prefer something else to be used in the oven, you are welcome to spray the product in the oven and we will wipe it out.
If you are scheduled for interior refrigerator cleaning, please be sure it contains as few items as possible. Help us help you by not going grocery shopping the day before and by tossing out any expired items. If the interior has too many items the interior fridge cleaning will need to be canceled. We will gladly wash shelves, drawers, and other refrigerator parts if they are taken apart prior to the cleaning. Our technicians will not take it apart or put it back to avoid damage.
If you are having linens changed, please be sure to have them laid out on top of each bed prior to the cleaning. We do not want to invade your privacy and will not go through closets. There is an additional $10.00 fee per bed for a linen change. Our technicians will leave all the linen in the laundry room.
If your cleaning has already been confirmed and you wish to include the basement the day of, please confirm with the office via call, email, or text. It is our pleasure to accommodate your needs however we need to update arrival times for homes scheduled after yours, as well as adjust the price of your cleaning.
Client’s products and equipment. All of our employees go through extensive training on the proper use of cleaning supplies and equipment that Helping Hands provides. Technicians will not clean with products or equipment provided by the client. If a client does request our technician to use their cleaning products, cleaning tools, or equipment, Helping Hands does not take responsibility for the quality of the cleaning or any damages done to the surfaces or equipment such as vacuum cleaners, etc.
We kindly request that each bathroom in your home is equipped with a toilet brush. It is essential that a separate toilet brush is available in each bathroom to prevent the risk of cross-contamination and potential damage that could occur from carrying the brush from room to room. Additionally, for reaching higher areas, please provide a stable 2-step ladder.
Services We Do Not Offer. We specialize in cleaning your home effectively and efficiently and we offer a wide array of cleaning services to suit many different needs. However, we do not offer:
1. Dishwashing. If there are dishes in the sink, we will work around them to clean the sink. If there are too many dishes for us to reasonably access the sink, we will not be able to clean it.
2. Cleaning inside of laundry appliances.
3. Laundry or laundry folding.
4. Shopping or errands outside the home.
5. Cleaning inside of curios, china cabinets, stocked cabinets, stocked closets, or drawers.
6. Cleaning behind glass or solid doors on shelving units or furniture.
7. Organizing items or picking up clutter, which is defined as five or more items in any given area, such as books, dishes, boxes, mail, papers, clothes, or trash that is not in a trash receptacle.
8. Washing exterior windows or washing any interior windows that cannot easily be reached with a two-step ladder.
9. Cleaning window tracks and sliding glass door tracks.
10. Cleaning anything more than six feet above the ground. Due to insurance restrictions, our cleaning technicians may not use any ladder higher than a two-step ladder and extension pole (4-8 feet) to clean accessible areas. Ceiling fans will be cleaned with a duster or brush if technicians can reach the blades by using a two-step ladder.
11. Heavy lifting. Due to insurance restrictions, our cleaning technicians may not lift anything weighing more than 25 pounds.
12. We do not change bunk beds. Due to insurance restrictions, our technicians are unable to climb to the top bunk to change the sheets.
13. We do not empty diaper genies.
14. Cleaning in areas that are difficult or unsafe to access.
15. Inside of the hood.
16. We do not open paper shredders to remove shredded paper.
17. Specialty cleaning such as post-construction cleaning, patios, garages, television or computer screens, steam cleaning, or carpet cleaning.
18. Cleaning of bodily fluids, mold, toys, pet waste, or other bio-hazards except for an ordinary level of bathroom cleaning.
19. Cleaning heavily soiled areas or areas of disrepair, including rooms or homes with extreme dirt build-up, mold, mildew, peeling paint, or other unsafe conditions. If your home is in this condition, we can refer you to another company that can provide appropriate services.
20. Cleaning extremely cluttered rooms or homes. Our cleaning technicians must be able to move freely and safely through your home with their tools and supplies. If your home is extremely cluttered, we can refer you to another company that can provide appropriate services.
21. Cleaning excessive hard water or mineral stains or buildup. If you have areas of your home that have hard water or mineral buildup beyond what we can clean with standard cleaning supplies and tools, we can refer you to another company that can provide appropriate services.
22. Any cleaning that would require cleaning supplies or tools beyond what Helping Hands supplies.
23. Cleaning inside dishwashers, washing machines, and dryers.