Fuentes Janitorial Services

Upon the recommendations of some fellow Unilocalers, I tried out Victor Fuentes for doing a deep clean of my house. When he came over to give me an estimate, I reiterated that I wanted a DEEP clean, not just the surface stuff that I can always get to myself. I used the word «scrub» and told him that I needed him to do behind and under furniture, and get the mold off the window frames, and that my priority was the bathroom and kitchen. Now, I have young kids, and I just don’t have time to get down on my knees with a toothbrush or mop with anything other than a Swiffer, which is why I hired him. Anywho, he said he’d have to bring someone with him and that it would take about 4 hours. He quoted $ 150 for the job.
On the scheduled day, he had some problem with his truck, but did show up a half an hour later. He got to work in the bathroom, and his wife did the other rooms. After 2 hours, they started to wrap up their stuff to leave. I went into the living room and pulled the couch away from the wall, and there were toys and crumbs back there, so I had to ask them to bring their vaccuum back into the house and vaccuum back there. Then I went into the kitchen to inspect the kitchen floor. I immediately saw crusted-​on baby food still where it had been, so I had to ask them to bring their mop back in and do the kitchen floor again. Then I asked Victor if he had done the windowsills, which he said he had, but when I took a look, it was totally still moldy, so he had to do that again.
They left soon after that, and since I was dealing with juggling my twin babies from room to room, I really couldn’t micromanage them and inspect everything when they had «finished.» Later on, I noticed the same smudgy finger prints on the side tables in the living room, they hadn’t moved any of the furniture in the kitchen to mop (there were still dropped baby toys down there), and he didn’t clean the shower mat or the bar it was on. The house was cleaner than it was before they got there, but nothing «gleamed» or «glistened.» And, Dilcia had dropped my porcelain tea kettle and broken it, which in all fairness, Victor did ask if they should pay for it, and I said no. However, after only 2.5 hours of cleaning, I was still charged the full $ 150, and I honestly would have done better to hire someone to watch the 3 kids for 8 hours and done it myself for that amount. I will not be using them again.
Update: I was called by Victor after he saw this review. He wanted to know why I was so «evil» as to write it. I told him I wasn’t being evil, only honest. He told me I was expecting miracles — I replied that cleaning a house properly is not a miracle. I reiterated everything in my review, and he then told me again that I was «evil.» I would hope that a responsible business owner would receive feedback and try to address the issues, rather than call the client and yell at them.

Having my house professionally cleaned is a luxury, typically reserved for moving out of apartments, ie, trying to get my deposit back. Once upon a time, I lived in Silverlake, the hipper-​than-​thou enclave in LA where tthe trust-​fund, tatooed, pierced kids think they are screenwriters. Slight trajectory, I found someone to clean my house off Craig’s List (uninformed of the beauty that is Unilocal), who only charged 80 bucks. Mama always says you get what you pay for. This woman forgot her vacuum cleaner (ours was already packed away), but said she’d «sweep the rug.» Needless to say, the place didn’t look any better but reeked of chemical cleaning solutions that could take the hair (or grow hair) off your chest. I’ve already spent way too much time on this lady already, so back to Victor’s magical cleaning services. Shamefully, I admit the place was pretty filthy and I even apologized in advance for this. He said: «I’ll do my best.» He came over to my house for an estimate prior to cleaning (very professional) and priced it at $ 125. Little more than I wanted to pay, but recalling the consequences of cheaping out the previous time, I agreed. Victor did a stellar job — the place just shone, gleamed, and glistened. And in only 2 ½ hours! His rates are less if you get your place cleaned regularly, ie, $ 60 or so, which is keeping the convention of industry standards. If I could afford to get my house cleaned regularly, I’d have no hesitation in calling him again.

Victor and Dilcia have been a part of the family at International Orange for over a year now. They are hard working, honest, loyal, and very open to feedback.
Victor does most of the cleaning every night and is pretty thorough. Sometimes he’ll drop the ball on the details, but a gentle reminder is usually all that is necessary.
His wife Dilcia is AMAZING! She is a spa attendant and is with us 5 days a week making sure everything is neat, tidy and stocked to the brim. We love her and couldn’t have asked for a better person to help us keep the spa looking pristine.