First season: clean it yourself or hire a cleaner before the first guest?

Question

I close in about six weeks on a two bedroom near a small college town and I'm stuck on turnovers. Local cleaners quoted me $95 to $130 per turn depending on whether linens are included. If I average 9 turns a month that's roughly $1,000 a month off the top, which is real money against what I think the place will gross.

The case for doing it myself the first season: I learn exactly how long a turn takes, what breaks, what guests actually leave behind, and what a fair scope looks like when I do hire someone. I'd also know whether my own standard matches what reviews demand, since I've read plenty of people say cleanliness is the one review category that sinks you fast.

The case for hiring day one: I live 50 minutes away, I work full time, and a same-day turn on a Sunday is not something I can promise. Also, if I'm the cleaner, I've built a business that stops the week I get sick. And if I'm honest about the cleaning fee I'd charge guests anyway, the cash difference is smaller than the $1,000 makes it look.

I can't decide whether the first season is where you buy the education or where you buy the reliability. Where did you land?

laurenkim53 · Answer

In the rural markets I look at, the vote is often made for you. I've called around three small towns under 4,000 people and found exactly one person doing turnover work in two of them, and she was already booked for the summer by the cabins on the lake. So the choice becomes drive out and do it yourself, or find someone and pay above the going rate to keep them from leaving.

Quill, 50 minutes each way is the number I'd stare at. That's an hour forty of driving plus two to three hours in the house, so call it four hours a turn. Nine turns is 36 hours a month for about $1,000 saved. You're paying yourself under $30 an hour to do work that also puts you on the hook for a Sunday you can't control.

What I'd actually do is hire, and do the first four or five turns alongside the cleaner so you know what a proper turn includes. Linen counts, where the spare blinds cord lives, whether they restock the coffee. Then write that into the scope so the second cleaner you hire (there's usually a second one) gets handed a standard instead of guessing.

First season: clean it yourself or hire a cleaner before the first guest?

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