It's spring: Say buh-bye dust bunnies

When choosing pros to help keep your home clean, the little details really make a difference

Now that spring has arrived, it is time for the annual rite of spring cleaning. But instead of getting grubby to make everything else sparkle, some people hire others to do the dirty work.

The Globe tested three national maid services, Merry Maids, MaidPro, and The Maids Home Services. They each cleaned a 900-square-foot portion of a home that is dirtied thoroughly by a shedding, and often muddy, long-haired mutt.

All three services cleaned the space well, mopping wooden floors, scrubbing the tub, and leaving the home smelling clean. And they all spent less than two hours cleaning.

But Cynthia Townley Ewer, who runs the Washington-based OrganizedHome.com and wrote "Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos," warned that even good first-time cleanings may be deceptive.

Companies usually send out their best teams to wow a potential repeat client. Then, the service will likely fall off, she said, as the regular crews take over and high turnover brings in new faces.

They also focus on top cleaning, she said, instead of deep cleans. "Using light-weight vacuum cleaners, they're trained to create regular patterns of stripes in the carpet, not to vacuum in order to remove dirt," she said.

They also often use their own scent-heavy cleaning products. "And before they leave," she said, "a cleaning service will spray a scent solution into the house, so that your nose will suggest 'clean' when you walk in the door."

We found that some services did skimp, failing to clean the dust bunnies under the couch, but also missing some highly visible layers of dust on a platter in the dining room. That should warn clients what to expect on subsequent cleanings.

They also might not clean what you most dread doing yourself. None of the services we tested washed laundry or cleaned the oven. The Maids Home Services doesn't do dishes. And most won't take out the trash, polish the silver, or clean windows unless you negotiate to pay extra.

Heloise, a cleaning expert who writes a nationally syndicated column, suggests giving clear instructions on exactly how and what should be cleaned if you can't be home for the cleaning.

In our test, the differences became clear in the services' attention to details and their customer service. Only Boston-headquartered MaidPro included little touches such as folding a blanket left on the couch and cleaning inside the toaster oven. Those details, plus consistent customer service, won our vote.

But it's a business based on humans, who often aren't that well paid. (Some of our cleaners said they earned $8 to $13 per hour.) And the services are franchises so they can vary substantially branch to branch. Still, good companies should offer a guarantee to come back and clean missed areas, plus have quality controls.

When picking a service, make sure it is bonded, insured, and runs background checks on employees. Townley Ewer also suggests asking for the same "team leader" on every subsequent visit to ensure consistency. And it doesn't hurt to tidy up before they arrive, so they actually clean the home, not spend all the time picking up socks.

Maid Pro
Franchise in West Roxbury
Cost: One time, $198; regular cleaning, $96 every other week.
Pros: Great customer service. They called to follow up after our initial call about rates, and after the cleaning they left behind a customer satisfaction survey and 49-point checklist of what they had cleaned. The two-person team also showed the best attention to detail and cleaned some of the spots the other services missed, including the insides of the microwave and toaster oven, plus the dust on a dining table centerpiece. They also folded a blanket left on the couch and cleaned the front entry hall though they weren’t asked to do so.
Cons: Some things, such as the kitchen trash can, weren’t put back in their original spots . And some kitchen tools in a drying rack were put away in odd spots.
The final word: Competitive price and an organized back office, plus good attention to detail, won our vote.

Merry Maids
Franchise in West Roxbury
Cost: One time, $200; regular cleaning, $95 every

other week.
Pros: The two-person crew cleaned inside light fixtures and returned most items to where they belonged.
Cons: Their office didn’t seem very efficient or organized. They forgot to call when a manager was already 30 minutes late for an in-person cleaning estimate. A requested receipt was sent by mail, not electronically or by fax. They filed the account by first name but looked for it with a last name. Office manager Yasmari Tapia said she was out of the office for maternity leave during that time and came back two months early to straighten out the office. Even when the Globe called back, she had multiple phones to answer. They also gave the estimate in person as opposed to over the phone like the other companies, which could be a hassle for comparison shoppers. The company offers estimates seven days a week and says the meetings allow the customer to explain exactly what they want.
The final word: A good service but the West Roxbury office needs more support to make it run smoothly. And time-hungry customers may not want a service that conducts in-person estimates.

The Maids Home Services
Franchise in Jamaica Plain
Cost: One time, $164 per hour for a total of $213; regular cleaning, $145 every other week
Pros: They were flexible about scheduling their ‘‘22-Step Healthy Touch’’ cleaning on short notice and called when the crew was slated to come earlier than expected. They cleaned the front entry hall though they weren’t asked to do so.
Cons: They threw the dirty dishes in the sink pell-mell into the dishwasher, as opposed to the other services that washed them and carefully arranged them in the drying rack. They also lacked attention to last-minute and obvious details: failing to return a coaster under a chair leg, leaving dust on a dining table centerpiece, and drops of cleaning spray on the toilet. And they broke part of a window blind but they did point it out and offered to fix it. We declined the offer.
The final word: Although it was a four-person cleaning crew, they lacked attention to finishing touches and cost more.