In a CNN Money.com Small Business article, Debby Sardone, president of the Association of Residential Cleaning Services International, is quoted as saying professional maid services typically range from $30 to $40 per hour. A sampling of rates for housecleaning services in New York City shows they fall somewhere between $22 and $64 per hour, according to Jennifer Mulrean of MSN.com's Money Central. PayScale.com, on the other hand, lists $9.54 to $19.44 as the median hourly range for housecleaning or maid services in New York.

On the Other: Consider other domestic services.

Domestic help encompasses a variety of services in addition to cleaning. Rates for in-home chef services in New York range from $20 to $65 per hour, according to Mulrean, and getting a helping hand with grocery shopping or errands typically starts at $35 per hour. She adds that you should expect to pay $20 or more per visit for pet care. Childcare is another form of domestic help, and Payscale.com lists a range of $9.83 to $15.11 as the average cost for nanny and aupair services in New York.

Bottom Line

Rates for domestic help vary greatly from one home to another, Mulrean states, "depending on the task, what region of the country you are in, and whether you live in a city, suburban or rural setting." Other factors that impact the rates include whether or not the person was hired through a professional service, which will be more expensive; and whether or not the employment will be ongoing, which should be less expensive. Sardone adds that regular household cleaning generally takes about an hour for each 1,000 square feet of the home, but it can take two to three times as long on the first visit in order to bring the house up to a "maintenance level," so new clients should expect to pay more for the initial cleaning.

Source:

CNN.com

MoneyCentral.msn.com

Payscale.com

Resource:

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance - What You Need to Know if You Hire Household Help

LegalZoom.com: The Right Way to Hire Domestic Help

BetterHomeCleaning.com: Things to Consider Before Hiring a Cleaning Service