Cleaning services in Corpus Christi

HomeGuide's national figures from April 2024 are the starting point for a Corpus Christi quote. A visit averages about $200, and most people pay $120 to $280. Cleaners charge $25 to $75 an hour per worker, and a typical visit of two workers for two hours runs $100 to $300.

Some companies quote by square foot instead: $0.10 to $0.17 for regular cleaning, $0.11 to $0.30 for deep cleaning and $0.22 to $0.33 for move-out work. Most price by the hour, the crew size and the number of rooms, so ask which method the quote uses. The full cost guide is in our Texas house cleaning guide.

Texas lists building cleaning, janitorial and custodial work as a taxable real property service in the Tax Code, and the Comptroller's rule applies it to homes and businesses alike. A cleaning company must hold a sales tax permit and collect state tax plus any local city, county, special district or transit tax on what it bills.

Texas caps the combined rate at 8.25%: the 6.25% state rate plus up to 2% local. On a $200 visit (HomeGuide's April 2024 national average), the most tax that can be added is $16.50 (8.25% of $200).

When a Corpus Christi housekeeper isn't taxed

The Comptroller says there is no tax on a self-employed person providing traditional household services, such as housekeeping, but only when that person works for the household and not as a subcontractor for a service. A maid company that sends a cleaner charges tax. The company also pays tax on its soap, chemicals and equipment, though it can buy items it leaves with you, like paper towels, tax-free for resale.

The broad definition matters when you add services. Window washing, floor, wall and ceiling cleaning and duct cleaning all count as taxable cleaning, so expect tax on each line.

Before you hand over a key, run a few checks:

• Tax permit. Ask for the company's Texas sales tax permit; a business collecting tax must have one.
• Background. DPS runs a public conviction database searchable by name. It covers offenses of Class B misdemeanor and up that were reported to DPS, and a blank result doesn't prove a clean record.
• Insurance. Ask for proof of liability cover and whether workers are employees or contractors.
• Complaints. The Texas Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division takes complaints online, and they are public under Texas law.

If a seller signs you up at your door for services over $25, Texas law generally lets you cancel by midnight of the third business day after you sign. That rule covers sales solicited at your home; a cleaning you book online or by phone yourself falls outside it.

A Corpus Christi landlord must refund your security deposit on or before the 30th day after you surrender the home. They can deduct damage you are liable for, but nothing for normal wear and tear, and they must itemize deductions in writing. They don't have to pay until you give a written forwarding address, so send one when you hand back the keys.

A landlord who keeps a deposit in bad faith can owe $100 plus three times the amount wrongly withheld and your attorney's fees. Take dated photos after the move-out clean so you can answer any itemized deduction.

Bagged trash goes in the city's brown or green cart, collected weekly; for a big clear-out, the city services 40-yard containers through Litter Critter. Book movers in Corpus Christi first and the clean for the day after, and see our Corpus Christi hub for utilities. For the same service inland, see maid service in Laredo.