We know there are cheaper options out there. Here’s why busy mums still choose The Clean Life.
Sarah found a cleaner on Facebook. $50 an hour. She was sticking to her budget – we get it.
The cleaner showed up late. Didn’t have all the supplies. Forgot Sarah’s notes about keeping the dog in the laundry. Had to leave early because “time ran out.”
Sarah tried again with someone else. Similar experience.
By the time she reached out to us, she was exhausted – not from the mess, but from managing cleaners who kept letting her down.
Here’s what she told us:
“I thought I was being smart with money. But I spent so much time following up, repeating myself, dealing with no-shows. The stress wasn’t worth the savings.”
We hear this more often than we’d like.
There’s a layer of grime under the couch mixed with fossilised snacks and long-lost toys. Your fridge drawer hides something that’s turned into unrecognisable sludge. Black mould creeps slowly through the grout. Your mattress holds years of dust mites and dead skin.
And the vents? They’re quietly spreading dusty air through every room.
It’s the kind of buildup that doesn’t show up in a quick tidy, but your body notices it – in sneezes, sniffles and restless sleep.
Let’s be honest about what those cheaper rates actually cost:
The $50 Solo Cleaner:
- You wait 30 minutes because they’re running late (there goes your gym class)
- You spend 15 minutes re-explaining your preferences
- You text about a missed spot… no response (they’re cleaning another house)
- You text again that evening… still nothing (they’re doing admin, invoices, trying to catch up)
- They get sick or go on holiday – your clean is just cancelled. No backup. No replacement.
- You do a “touch-up clean” yourself before guests arrive
Here’s what most people don’t realise: solo cleaners are running entire businesses by themselves. They’re doing admin at 9pm, chasing invoices on weekends, and managing customer service between jobs. When you text them at 2pm, they’re elbow-deep in someone else’s oven – not ignoring you, just completely stretched.
And when they’re sick? You’re stuck. There’s no one else.
Your real cost: The hourly rate, plus your time, plus your already-limited energy, plus the mental load of managing it all, plus the unpredictable gaps when life happens to them.
The Clean Life:
- We aim to arrive on time, every time
- Your preferences live in our system – tell us once, we remember forever
- Trained teams work systematically, with fresh eyes catching what others miss
- Backup support when life happens
- You walk in the door to relief, not a to-do list
Your real cost: The hourly rate. That’s it.
Yes, our rate is higher. Here’s the three things that matter most:
1. A Team, Not a One-Person Show
When you hire a solo cleaner, you’re hiring one person who’s also running a business, doing admin, chasing payments, and managing their own life. When they’re sick, on holiday, or just overwhelmed – your clean doesn’t happen.
With us, you’re hiring a system. Your regular team might be Jane and Sophie. But if Jane’s genuinely unwell, there’s Emma who already knows your home from our shared notes system. If Sophie’s on annual leave, there’s backup.
We have 40 trained team members, a dedicated app for communication, and 2 full-time admins handling scheduling and queries during business hours. We typically respond within an hour. That means:
- When you message at 2pm, you get an actual response – not radio silence from someone juggling a mop and their phone
- When life happens to our staff, it doesn’t become your problem
- You get consistency even when individual people need time off
- No waiting until 9pm when the solo cleaner finally finishes their day and checks messages
Your preferences, your pet’s quirks, which rooms to prioritise – it’s all recorded in our system. Every team member who walks through your door already knows your home.
“Great work, they gave my dog a lot of attention and made sure she was ok as she gets nervous about the vacuum.” – Ailsa G.
That didn’t happen by accident. That happened because someone wrote it down, someone else read it, and there’s a system in place to make it work every time.
2. Individual Cleaning Kits That Stay in Your Home
Here’s something most people don’t think about: cross-contamination.
Other cleaning services use the same cloths and sponges across multiple homes. The cloth that wiped someone’s mouldy bathroom? It might be touching your kitchen benchtop tomorrow.
We leave individual starter kits in your home – your cloths, your mop head, your grout brushes, your squeegee. They stay in a tub at your place and never leave. They’re never used in another house.
We bring our own eco-friendly cleaning products and shared equipment like vacuum cleaners and mop buckets, but the actual tools that scrub your surfaces? Those are yours alone.
No other cleaning company in our area offers this. We invested in it because it matters.
3. People Who Actually Want to Be Here
We pay above industry standard because we believe our team deserves it. But here’s the selfish reason: when people feel valued, it shows in their work.
Our cleaners have opportunities for pay rises, career progression, and a rewards program that recognises great work. Most of our 40 team members have been with us for years, not months.
Lower rates often mean rushed jobs and burned-out cleaners. We’re building something different.
No sales pitch. Just the process:
- You tell us what matters – Your home, your routines, your dog’s anxiety triggers
- We record everything – Into our system, where every team member can access it
- Trained teams arrive prepared – With supplies, skills, and your notes already read
- You come home to relief – Not perfection (we’re human), but care
And if something goes wrong? We own it. A client’s door camera got knocked during a clean. Our cleaner told us immediately. We replaced it.
The client wrote back: “I can’t tell you how much I value your honesty. It’s so rare.”
That’s our Happiness Guarantee. We’re not done until you feel good about your clean.
We often hear: “I tried cheaper options. I’m not going back.”
Not because we’re superior. But because:
- We show up consistently
- We remember what you’ve already told us
- We treat your home like it matters
- When we mess up, we fix it
You’re not paying for the cheapest option. You’re paying for one that works – without adding to your mental load.
You’re already managing so much. The last thing you need is a cleaning service that creates more problems than it solves.
We’re not for everyone. And that’s okay.
But if you’re tired of unreliable cleaners and just want someone who’ll show up and do the job with care?
We’d love to help you reclaim some breathing room. 
Want to learn more about how we work?
