You are at the kitchen table at two in the morning with four browser tabs open, and every one of them gives a different number for the same kind of visit. That is not you being bad at this. A cleaning quote is only as clear as the list of work underneath it, and most of those lists are not written down anywhere yet. Start by writing them down.

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Decide the work before you compare the price

Walk through the house the way he actually uses it, not the way it looked when Mom was running it. Note the kitchen, the bathroom he really uses, the front room, the bedroom, and the stairs if there are stairs. Then note what you want done in each: floors, bathrooms, dusting, the front of the fridge, the oven, the windows. Be honest about the rooms he has closed off. A cleaner charged for a room nobody enters is money spent on a closed door.

Mark the things nobody touches. Mom's stacks of mail, the chair with the blanket on it, the shelf of cards, the box by the closet you keep meaning to open. Tell the cleaning company in writing that these are off limits. Otherwise the first visit will move something he was not ready to move, and you will be the one explaining it at supper.

What moves the price up or down

Most of the difference between two quotes comes from four things, and they are rarely listed in the same place.

How they charge: per visit, per hour, or by the size of the house. An hourly rate with no estimate can run long. A flat visit price with no room list can quietly leave out the bathrooms. Ask which method they use and how long a typical visit takes for a house his size.

How often: weekly, every other week, or monthly. Frequency changes the rate at most companies, and the lowest per-visit price is often attached to the lightest schedule. Ask whether a deep clean is billed separately.

What is included: supplies, a minimum visit length, travel time, add-on work such as windows or the inside of the oven, and whether a holiday or a rescheduled visit costs extra. Ask each company to put these in the written quote, not just say them on the phone.

How the arrangement ends: the notice you must give to cancel, any deposit or prepaid block of visits, and whether the rate changes after the first few months. Read that part before you pay anything. A quote that goes up after the first visit is still a quote.

Check what a quote cannot show you

Ask whether the same person comes every time. For a man who has kept the same routine for years, a new face each week can be harder on him than a slightly higher price. Ask who holds a key and where it is kept. Ask whether the company is insured for work inside a private home and whether they will show you proof. Ask what products they bring and whether those are safe for the floors and counters he has. A wood floor damaged by the wrong bottle will cost you more than the visit did.

Pick two companies, not five. Call both, ask the same questions in the same order, and write the answers side by side on one sheet of paper. If one of them will not put the terms in writing, that tells you what the rest of the job will be like.

What to do tonight

Take a notebook to the kitchen table. List the rooms he uses, the work you want in each, the things that stay exactly where they are, and the schedule you think he can live with without feeling watched. Then look up two cleaning companies near you and write down what each one asks you to tell them on the phone. Do not book yet. Sleep on it, then call in the morning.

When to ask his doctor

If the house is getting harder to keep up with, or it is plain that he is no longer keeping up with meals, laundry, or his own bathroom, that is worth raising with his doctor. A cleaner can help with the house, but the question of why things are slipping belongs to the doctor. Tell the doctor what you have seen, in plain words, before the appointment, so it does not get lost in the rush of the visit.

Good-week card

Add one line: the cleaning day is on the calendar by the phone, he knows which day it is, and he has been told who is coming.