sweepsouth cleaning service

SweepSouth saved my life by cleaning my house

Dramatic much Sam?

Seriously though, in the last two months I’ve barely seen the inside of my little flat. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of early mornings, work, late evenings at events (usually working) and weekends spent at events or in other provinces. My flat became a passing ship, a place I stopped by to dump things on the table or potentially try source clean underwear.

And then I spent a day at home.

I was sick and stuck in bed but I looked around horrified at the mess that had built up around me. I had reached the point of simply piling clean clothes on a chair, to be tossed in to a suitcase when required. There were shoes everywhere. I had taken them off in the weirdest of places. My little home looked like it had been ransacked and then left for weeks on end. I’m moving at the end of the month and need to start packing (because, of course, I’m not even around the weekend of the move!). However, before I even thought of prepping for a move it was time to get the place sorted.

But where do you find a cleaner?

sweepsouth cleaning service

I don’t have a cleaner coming in during the week. I couldn’t justify it for such a small place. Also I only moved in to the area towards the end of last year: I don’t even know the first place to look for someone to assist me. Also how does it work? When you hire someone to clean your space? Do you need to factor in taxes in their invoicing? Isn’t it technically employment? How do you do a background check?

Thank goodness for the internet

I went online and started searching for cleaning services. I came up short. Most were extremely expensive and expected you to book weekly appointments up front. They also didn’t offer weekend services or, if they did, it was at double the cost. Unfortunately I work and am not able to leave keys with the complex guards. So I need to be there to open up for the service. So weekends are the only way to go for me.

Enter SweepSouth

SweepSouth Founders
This husband and wife team are the brains behind SweepSouth!

I received a press release about this clever start up a few weeks ago. SweepSouth taps in to the sharing economy by pairing people like me with professional cleaners looking for work. SweepSouth does the background checks, handles payments and ensures you’re secure in knowing there is a middle (wo)man involved. There are other services like this currently available (and with apps) where you choose a cleaner in your area. I haven’t tried them and, if I’m honest, I preferred the SweepSouth platform.

How it works

I went on to the website and inputted my area as well as what I required. You’re able to input the size of your house/flat as well as if you want SweepSouth to supply the cleaning products. You can also request additional services like window cleaning, oven cleaning, fridge cleaning and laundry services. Once you’ve inputted your info SweepSouth supplies a quote and you can accept it by putting in your credit card details. No money is taken off your card until after the service is performed (which I like). Once that is done you’re allocated a cleaner. I preferred this as well. It allows SweepSouth to ensure their listed cleaners are all allocated work.

My experience

sweepsouth cleaning service

After I made my booking I received an email notification that Viola would be arriving on Saturday morning to clean my place. She arrived a little bit earlier than the allocated time and was wonderful. In a giant stress I’d woken up a bit earlier and tried to start cleaning as I was so embarrassed about the space. Viola didn’t seem to phased and laughed at me as I stressed. She quickly got to work and I realised I was getting in her way. She had been sent my phone number by SweepSouth so I suggested she ring me when she was close to finished and I’d head out. Three hours later I received a call and headed back. Viola had done an incredible job and was extremely thorough. She headed out and I received an invoice from SweepSouth as well as a prompt to rate Viola. I’m presuming she likely gets to rate me too (oh dear!) to ensure the professional cleaners aren’t abused by those requiring their services.

The best part? The price!

sweepsouth extra tasks

What impressed me so much was the costing. SweepSouth charges R38/hour and works out how many hours you need depended on the size of your space. You are charged extra if you require cleaning products to be supplied and are also charged extra for certain tasks such as oven cleaning. My total cost came to R154 (that included cleaning products) for 3 hours. My place looks spotless and I was extremely happy with the service and the costing. I’m also now able to book Viola again if I require. I really like this because now that we’ve formed a relationship I can continue to employ Viola as my professional cleaner. That’s really rad!

I’m really impressed with SweepSouth and think it is great for single working girls like me who get nervous about strangers in their home and don’t have the time to deal with the admin of permanently hiring one. What a great service!  

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