We tried an independent contractor and she did "okay" for a while, but had to be told EVERYTHING, in excrutiating detail. We switched to a national company, Merry Maids, which is a division of ServiceMaster, who is a major provider of commercial janitorial services, and they clean the bank where I work. They seem to work out a lot better because they usually send two of them and they check up on each other and the area supervisor pops in on them on occasion.

On the other hand, my parents have used the same independent lady to clean their house for more than 20 years and she has become more like one of the family than anything else.

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"Sex should be friendly. Otherwise, stick to mechanical toys; it's more sanitary". Lazarus Long in Robert Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love"