London Cleaning - by Northfields Clean - July 16, 2026

I run Northfields Clean, a cleaning company based in west London. Every single week, I’m on the other side of this conversation — vetting cleaners, deciding who joins our team, and figuring out who we’d trust in someone else’s home. That’s given me a slightly different view of what actually matters when you’re hiring a cleaner, versus what most advice online tells you to look for.

This isn’t a generic checklist. It’s what I’ve learned from years of interviewing cleaners, watching some of them succeed brilliantly, and occasionally getting it wrong myself.

The Red Flags I Watch For When Hiring Cleaners

There are two things that come up almost immediately in an interview that tell me whether someone is going to work out.

The first is references. If a cleaner can’t provide them, or gets cagey when I ask, that’s an instant concern. Experience without anyone willing to vouch for it isn’t experience I can trust.

The second is more subtle: the questions they ask me. If someone asks what cleaning supplies they’ll need, that tells me they haven’t done this seriously before. Experienced cleaners already know. It’s a small thing, but it’s one of the fastest ways to separate genuine experience from someone padding a CV.

A Mistake That Taught Me Attitude Matters More Than Credentials

I once hired a cleaner who checked every box. Years of experience, proper insurance, full documentation, strong references. But there was something slightly argumentative about them in the interview — not a dealbreaker on paper, so I let it go.

On one of their first cleans, they got into an argument with a client. That should never happen. Any friction with a client needs to go straight to the office, not be handled cleaner-to-client. It was a good reminder that credentials tell you what someone can do, not how they’ll behave when something doesn’t go their way. Now I pay much closer attention to attitude, even when everything else checks out.

The One Question Homeowners Never Think to Ask

If you want real insight into a cleaner, ask them what they enjoy about cleaning.

Most cleaners are ready to talk about past jobs and references. Almost none of them are prepared for this question. The answer tells you a lot — cleaners who’ve done this a long time and genuinely take pride in their work will have something thoughtful to say. Someone who’s only doing it as a stopgap between other work usually won’t. It’s not a way to disqualify anyone outright, but it’s a very quick way to spot pride in the work.

Background Checks, Insurance, and ID: The Non-Negotiables

This is the part I’d never compromise on, and it’s the part I think homeowners underestimate most.

DBS checks should be a given. We don’t hire cleaners without one, and neither should you accept a cleaner or company that can’t confirm this.
Insurance matters more than people realise, because even the best cleaners make mistakes. We restrict full, unrestricted access to a property until we’ve seen a cleaner’s insurance certificate. The one exception is end-of-tenancy cleans in empty properties, where there’s simply less that can go wrong.
References give you a track record, not just a promise.
Government ID lets us confirm exactly who is going into a client’s home, not just who they say they are.

None of these are nice-to-haves. They’re the baseline for letting someone into your personal space.

Understanding Pricing Without Undercutting the Cleaner

Before you even start the conversation, have a rough sense of what cleaning costs in your area. Cleaning companies will typically charge more than individual cleaners because of overheads, and that’s worth knowing going in so you can judge whether a quote is fair.

Here’s the part people get wrong: trying to negotiate a price down to the lowest possible number doesn’t get you a better deal. It gets good cleaners and companies wanting to distance themselves from you. You get what you ask for. If you’ve been quoted something reasonable and you push too hard to shave it down further, don’t be surprised if the best people quietly step away from the job.

Clarifying Supplies, Access, and Parking Before the First Clean

Our cleaners bring their own supplies and equipment as standard — mops, dusters, solvents, vacuum cleaners, all included in the price. If you want specific products used, in your home, say so upfront. We don’t run a model where clients are expected to supply their own cleaning materials, so this is worth clarifying with any cleaner or company before you start.

Access is the obvious one: if you won’t be home, the cleaner needs a way in.

Parking is the one people forget. We always ask about it, because if there’s no free parking available, that cost gets passed on to the client. It’s a small detail that can turn into an awkward surprise on your first invoice if nobody mentions it beforehand.

What Happens When Something Goes Wrong

This is where the difference between a cleaning company and an individual cleaner really shows.

With a company, you’re usually covered from two directions — the company’s insurance and, often, the cleaner’s own personal insurance. If something’s damaged, you contact the company, not the cleaner directly. The company deals with getting the cleaner’s insurer involved and getting things resolved.

With an independent cleaner, that layer doesn’t exist in the same way. You’ll likely be dealing with the cleaner directly, and then their insurer, to sort things out yourself. Neither approach is wrong, but you should know which one you’re getting into before something breaks, not after.

Should You Run a Trial Clean First?

If you’re hiring through a company, the trial process has usually already happened on our end. If you’re unsure about an individual cleaner, or unsure about pricing, it’s worth asking them to clean one room — a bathroom or kitchen — rather than the whole house. It’s a low-cost way to see their standard of work before committing to anything ongoing.

The other approach I’d recommend: look for local recommendations on social media. Posts where someone says a cleaner has looked after their home for years and vouches for them are genuinely useful. It’s not foolproof, but a recommendation with no financial incentive behind it is one of the more honest signals you’ll find.

The One Thing to Remember Before You Hire Anyone

A cleaner isn’t just doing a job. They’re coming into your home. That changes what “vetting” should mean.

If you do nothing else, check for a DBS background check. If that’s not available, references are your next best option — and this applies just as much to companies as individuals. Ask a company whether their cleaners are background-checked, and look at their reviews on Google, Facebook, or Nextdoor. It won’t guarantee a perfect experience, but it gives you real assurance that you’re inviting someone trustworthy into your space, and that the inevitable small mishaps stay small.