Why did I decide to do this …

I started by opening the phone book and calling various cleaning companies. My purpose was to find the best results (I am demanding with a clean house) at the best price. There were many options. Under-the-table mom and daughters, local small businesses, startups, students, and chains … House cleaners seem to find most of their business from referrals. For new residents of the San Diego area, I have made life a little easier.

My residence is a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath New England cape house with hard surface floors and approximately 2400 square feet. I hired the companies once every two weeks.

# 5. Magical Maids

2.5 stars
San Diego, CA
Cost: $ 185
Two cleaners
magicmaidssd.com

Magic Maids is a small chain with an office in San Diego and a couple of locations in San Francisco. The office staff was pleasant, well organized, and did a great job of describing what kind of services to expect. Not to my satisfaction the cleaners arrived later than expected without a phone call. The cleaners apologized for being late and then began cleaning. They made several trips to his car during the cleanup. He wasn’t sure what exactly they were doing, but he greatly interrupted their cleaning. Magic Maids provided a decent result, but the team had some problems with equipment and punctuality that were not to my liking.

Final word:

# 4 dirt divas

3 star
San Diego, CA
Two cleaners

I found Dirt Divas through a website called Service Magic that matches owners with shortlisted service professionals. Their profile said that they used environmentally friendly products, so I decided to give them a call. The office staff spoke poor English, but we decided to book anyway.

The team was very experienced and professional. They worked fast to do the cleaning. They met their time goal, but several things were left uncleaned. There was mold under the toilet seat and the top of the picture frames had a layer of dust.

Final word:

The result could have been better if they hadn’t rushed our house.

# 3. The maids

3.5 stars San Diego, CA 4 cleaners, uniformed, $ 135 / hr
maids.com

Maids drive distinctive yellow Subaru’s that I come across frequently. They have a great staff (40+ cleaners) and they are a national chain. I was eager to try the Maids. They seemed very professional. Jen in the office bragged about Maid’s longtime presence at Seacoast and her reputation as a leader. When he spoke of prices, he was somewhat arrogant and protective of prices.

Final word:

Cleaning was pretty good. Some stains were left in the microwave, baseboards were not dusted, and trash cans were not re-bagged. The deciding factor is that I felt they are too expensive.

# 2. Maid Brigade

4 stars, San Diego, CA, uniformed, company cars, $ 247
maidbrigade.com

The Maid Brigade is another chain located on the rd in San Diego. He had passed by the place several times and had seen the cars parked outside. The company is smaller than the Maids and also boasts “Green Clean Certification”. The office staff was friendly and provided a house cleaning quote over the phone. He told me how long they expected to clean and how they expected to do it.

The cleaners were on time, working in an efficient and organized manner. The cleaners were great and addressed some of our specific concerns.

Final word:

I would use them again.

# 1. National maids4.5 stars, San Diego CA, two cleaners, uniformed $ 195

National maids

Like Dirt Divas, I also found National MAids of San Diego on ServiceMagic’s shortlisted professionals list. The gentleman in the office was quick to respond to my request and was very friendly and professional. He also gave me a quote over the phone. Cleaning Safari is a local company and without the trade name of “The Maids” or “Maid Brigade”.

The cleaners got to work when they arrived. The kitchen and bathrooms looked great. There was a bit of confusion about the cleaning price, but they called the office and it was fixed. They did more organization than the other companies.

Final word:

I am very satisfied with the results of National Maid. The price was ok. They were more professional than the Maids. I will use them again.

Betty Smith is a mother of three and a resident of La Jolla Ca. She went to San Diego State University in San Diego CA.