Guide

Reviews and complaints: the two things that decide your next ten jobs

Almost every cleaner who loses work loses it in the same two places. Not enough reviews to be found, and a complaint handled badly in front of an audience. Both are learnable, and neither needs anything you do not already have.

Getting the review

Ask on the day, in person, while the result is in front of them — not by email a week later when the effect has worn off. 'If you're happy with it, a review really helps me' is enough. Most people who are happy will do it if asked; almost nobody does it unasked.

Make it one tap. A link, sent by message while you are still there. Every extra step loses a portion of the people who meant to do it.

And do not offer anything in exchange. Incentivised reviews are prohibited by the platforms and, in Australia, a review offered for a discount can be misleading conduct. The review has to be the client's own opinion, earned or not asked for.

When something is wrong

Go back. The complaint that costs one job is the one you fix; the complaint that costs five is the one you argue about in public. Return, do the missed area, and say plainly that you have done it.

Answer the review without defending yourself. A short reply — what happened, what you did about it — reads as competence to the next person who sees it, because they are not judging the complaint, they are judging how you behave when something goes wrong. That reader is the actual audience for your reply.

Write down what went wrong and change one thing. Repeated complaints are almost always the same complaint: an area nobody checked, a quote that did not list something, an arrival time that slipped.

Why this compounds

A new cleaner with no reviews is invisible, however good they are. A cleaner with twenty reviews and one honest answer to a bad one is found, trusted and cheaper to acquire than any advertisement can make them.

That is the whole of the flywheel at the level of one person: good work, asked for on the day, turned into the thing that brings the next client. Everything else is a way of doing that faster.

Questions people ask

What if the client is being unreasonable?

Answer once, factually, and stop. Not every disagreement needs to be won, and a public argument costs you more future work than the job in question was worth. If a client asks you to do something outside what you quoted, the answer is a new quote, not an argument.

Can I ask a client to take a review down?

You can ask, and you should not expect it to work. What does work is replying well, because the reply is what a future client reads. A platform that removes genuine negative reviews to protect a score is not one you want your own reputation sitting on.

Should I chase a client who has gone quiet?

Once, politely, and about the service rather than about the review. 'Is there anything I should have done differently?' gets an answer far more often than 'could you leave me a review'.

House cleaning in Australia

House cleaning Apply to clean All guides

End of lease cleaning: what the check-out inspection actually looks at · What actually decides the price of an end of lease clean · Airbnb turnover cleaning: what a two-hour changeover actually needs · Getting your first ten cleaning clients without paying for advertising · How to price a cleaning job without undercharging · Growing from one cleaner to a small team without losing the standard · Insurance for cleaners: what the policies are and what to check · A cleaning equipment checklist that pays for itself · Keeping cleaning business records that survive a tax review · Keeping the clients you have won · How much does a cleaner cost? What actually moves the number · How often should you clean your house? A schedule that holds · A cleaner or a cleaning company? What you are actually choosing

Practical advice rather than an inspection standard. The standard that matters is whatever your tenancy agreement and entry report say.

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