If you have been charged extra for your house cleaning in the past after you were already given an over the phone estimate, it's probably due to your home being outside of the "standard" level. This can be tricky and might even be offensive to some people. But don't be offended, no ones home is exactly alike and house cleaners can only estimate based on what all their averages have been. Usually an experienced cleaning business will have a pretty good idea of what they can complete with the estimate they gave you. Again, this is based off their averages so far. However, some homes do fall outside of those averages. Things that can make your home fall outside of a "standard" estimation can be things like: lots of things to pickup from the floors. Most homes might have a thing or two on the floors here and there, but when there are objects everywhere for the cleaners to pick up or work around, it leads to more labor they have to do. The same thing goes for people who have a lot of fixtures and items. These items can be things like: lots of photos on the walls, lots of decor objects, lots of things on your kitchen and bathroom counters, etc. A good deep cleaning should include the wiping down of all items and surfaces, so that everything is left sparkling and free of dust and grime. So it makes sense then that a large amount of items only leads to extra labor for the cleaners. Let's say your home has average amount of objects, however it may have been months or even years since you've done a very good deep cleaning. Over time, the dust will run off and collect in very deep areas like behind furniture and underneath beds, in between nooks and crannies, etc. This again, can fall outside of a "standard" home because old dust can have the tendency to collect grease and stick onto surfaces. This then creates extra steps for cleaners to take in order to properly clean all those areas. Lastly, your bathrooms and kitchens are probably really full of buildup. On average, a home should get a thorough scrub of these areas a few times per year. We recommend at least 4 times- seasonally. If your home has gone longer than that, or even years (yes it does happen), you are most likely outside of the standard scope. A lot of people are blind to the grime in their home because they have lived in it day in and day out. It's probably not until you have been into someone's clean house or have had your house thoroughly professionally cleaned, that you will see the difference and what your home SHOULD look like. We try to avoid this as much as possible, and as much as we don't want to annoy our customers for photos and more details for the estimate, it's best to take a few minutes to submit the photos so that your estimate can be as fool proof as possible.