What’s the difference between a Cleaner and a Housekeeper?

We tend to use the words cleaner, housekeeper and maid interchangeably and while all of them can be used to convey the same meaning there is actually a difference in what these people do

Do you need a housekeeper or a house cleaner or a maid service?  

A cleaner is usually someone who comes to undertake a specific cleaning job. If you are looking for a one off clean, a deep clean or an end of tenancy clean then it is probably a cleaner you are looking for. Cleaners set to work on a specific task that usually involves deep scrubbing, clearing, polishing and sanitising a property. A cleaner is more likely than and housekeeper or maid to bring their own cleaning materials. They may work in teams and the service you should expect is very through, intense, professional but probably not especially personal.

A housekeeper is a cleaning professional who usually takes on more of a role as part of a family or household than purely an external service provider. A housekeeper i usually hired by a homeowner or family to perform a variety of tasks using equipment and cleaning products that are already in the home. They will almost certainly have a regular schedule to be in the home, may hold keys for the property and will often have tasks beyond pure cleaning that they undertake: such as watering plants, laundry and ironing and sorting post.

Typical duties of a Housekeeper may include:

• Cleaning, tidying, sorting, polishing, vacuuming
• Washing up, drying up, putting away dishes and cutlery
• Laundry, washing clothes and bedding, ironing, putting away
• Changing and making beds
• Removing rubbish bags, sorting recycling
• Changing light bulbs loo rolls
• Tidying and sorting everything from children's bedrooms to garages.
• Other duties may be included such as cooking, running errands, shopping​

Maid is a term that is falling out of favour since it has a long association with someone being a servant. It is most commonly used to describe someone who does a cleaning job in a hotel, B&B or other public house. Maids are usually responsible for refreshing a room, changing laundry, cleaning, tidying and restocking a guest room ready for the next visitor.

The short answer is it doesn’t really matter what you call them, the main thing is that the company supplying your professional help understands what you need.

Most of our clients at QuickCleaner are looking for a housekeeping service because they want a very personal individual service from the same person over a period of time. We also take on a lot of one-off cleaning work and that is almost always conducted by what we call a cleaner.