CHESTNUT CLEANING SERVICE

The cleaning job was great! Very thorough and we were satisfied with the result. They were very strange about the final cost, though. We have used them before and were told what it would cost beforehand. This time around, I seemed to catch them off guard that I wanted them to clean our place again, and when I asked how much it was I again seemed to surprise the planning contact, who then asked "What did we charge you last time?" I had no record of that as I had paid in cash, so when the cleaning lady was finished and told me the price I had to write her a check as I didn't know how much cash to have on me. She said she didn't know if they could cash checks and there was a whole process of calling the company and waiting to hear an answer. At the end of the day they took the check, but I likely will not use them again as I don't trust the validity of their prices.

Be VERY WEARY! I WAS a long time client (over 10 years). In Summer of 2015, Chestnut Cleaning Services, owner Mr. Pearson, offered me additional services (painting the inside of a few closets which I declined). Chestnut Cleaning Services entered my home on numerous occasions and completed additional painting services in my home against my express wishes.  As such, I refuted the charges and refused to pay for services I explicitly declined which were subsequently completed anyway. Mr. Pearson continued to call and try to justify why he hired a painting contractor to paint the interior of my closets against my wishes as "HE felt it was necessary".   Subsequently, Mr. Pearson took me to small claims court. In retrospect, completing a web search, it should be noted that I am roughly the 8th person (since 2004) he has sued in small claims court. Again, be VERY VERY WEARY before using these services.

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Sam and his crew do a very good and comprehensive job of cleaning.  Sam is great at communicating his schedule and making sure we are happy with his service.

I first contacted the team of chestnut cleaning service because of their local advertisement and promised to organize my chaos and then, at the same time, clean what was no longer my disorganization.  Chestnut and Sam kept all of their promises and did such a wonderful job;  I have kept them on as my regular cleaning services for years now.  Chestnut cleaning services are always compassionate, thoughtful, caring, and considerate of my needs and feelings. 

P.S THEY TRUELY ARE THE BEST!

The Chestnut team has performed a variety of cleaning and organizing services in my home for almost a decade.

There is no job too big or too small. Specifically sometimes only light cleaning is required and other times heavy cleaning is involved that includes doing windows and moving furniture. Whatever the task there are certain thing that you can always count on:

• Punctuality

Professional Conduct

Your Full Satisfaction

Additionally they try very hard to accommodate me when I am time constrained.

They always do not leave until you approve the work.

Before this job was done, we knew we had more than a simple cleaning job, but also that we weren't dealing with a hoarder or someone who was disorganized.  Instead, we had a one-bedroom condo that hadn't been cleaned for about eight months due to a severe bout of depression.  The mess was exacerbated by an accumulation of junk mail addressed to a non-resident and gobs of cat hair.  Add a bit of construction disarray from the repair of four broken pipes and this was not a job for a run of the mill maid service, either.  We looked to Angie's list to  find someone who specialized in what we thought of as "heavy cleaning."  Chestnut Cleaning jumped out at us because they specifically advertise as "depression cleaners," who are prepared to deal with the clutter and dirt that accumulate during a long illness.
The owner of Chestnut Cleaning, Sam Pearson, called back very promptly after I left a message on his answering service.  Sam spoke at great length about the special cleaning needs occasioned by lengthy illness and emphasized that his service was non-judgmental and had personal experience dealing with depression.  He went on to explain that rates for his service were higher than for other cleaners because of the need to deal with the clutter as well as the dirt.  We agreed to meet Sam at the condo to get an estimate.
Sam arrived at the condo at the appointed time.  He spent 30 minutes describing the services Chestnut Cleaning would be providing, again emphasizing their experience and describing their procedure which involves Sam individually handing each item to the owner or his delegate, who must be present throughout the cleaning, for a decision on whether to throw the item away or keep it.  Sam would then organize the items retained and his crew of two would work behind him cleaning one room at a time. We were not sure this procedure would really work under the circumstances because there was no underlying disorganization--just a very deep layer of clutter and garbage to be removed before the cleaning could be done.  We explained that we would not want the insides of cabinets or closets cleaned, nor did we plan to go through a wall of bookcases one book at a time.  I made it very clear to Sam that I would be the boss, not him, and that if he was not willing to work that way perhaps this was not a job for him.
Sam agreed that the work could be done our way provided that he was able to select the order in which we approached the rooms to maximize the efficiency of his cleaning crew.  
Although the quoted rate of $250 per hour ($83/hour for each of the three crew members) seemed high for the work as we described it--after all, the cleaners would be doing nothing more than heavy duty cleaning--we agreed when Sam indicated that the 800 square foot condo could be cleaned in 2 or 3 hours.  He asked us to bring $500 in cash so he would be able to pay his crew in cash and agreed to take a check for any additional amount due.
We agreed to meet the cleaning crew at the premises on Easter Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m.  They were to bring their own cleaning supplies and utensils--at Sam's insistence.  He asked us to provide a box of trash bags and indicated that his crew would be responsible for carrying down the trash and putting it into the condo dumpster.  We were told that he would handle "fly-dumping" any excess trash.
Sam and his crew arrived on time and ready to work.  We started in the bathrooms at Sam's request.  Although I told Sam that we would not be discarding anything from the bathrooms, he insisted on going through things one item at a time.  Fortunately, there was not much in the bathrooms except some dirty laundry and cleaning products from under the vanities.  My husband and I then worked with Sam in the living room and den, the bedroom, the kitchen, and to remove some trash from the deck.
We had told Sam that one of our biggest concerns was that vacuuming alone would not be sufficient to clean the floors and he assured us that he would be washing the floors after each room had been cleaned.  This was what would occupy his time after the rooms had been de-cluttered for the cleaning crew.
Because we were so preoccupied with Sam, neither my husband nor I really monitored the two person cleaning crew, except to note that the vacuum cleaner was running much of the time and both members of that crew seemed diligent and busy.
While the two cleaners were working in the last room, the kitchen, Sam began "washing" the living room floor.  I should have objected at the time, but we were almost four hours into the job and I was exhausted from dealing with Sam's process for going through the clutter and disposing of trash.  I should have objected because Sam's idea of washing the floor was very different from mine--and downright unsanitary under the circumstances.  While the two-person crew was handwashing and drying dishes at the kitchen sink, Sam took a piece of an old towel to the same sink, soaked it in water, and squeezed out the excess water--at the same sink.  He then took the piece of toweling and used it to hand-wipe a section of the living room floor, not stopping until the rag was literally black with dirt.  He had no soap and no bucket.  Instead, he stood up at that point, took the rag back to the kitchen sink, rinsed it while the others were washing dishes, squeezed it out again, returned to the living room, and proceeded to wipe another section of the floor.  He repeated this procedure several times, until most if not all of the floor had been wiped with this wet, dirty rag.
Up until Sam started washing the floor, the condo had been odor-free.  After the rag had been rinsed in the sink a handful of times, the living room started to smell like sour milk--worse each time he brought the rag back into the room.  I was so ill from this odor that all I could do was breathe slowly through my mouth and count the minutes until they were finished.  I was not able to go through the condo room by room to examine the  job that had been done.
At about 11:45 A.M., after just over four hours, Sam had the crew reload their supplies into his truck and take out the remaining trash while we paid him with the $500 in cash and an additional check for $500.  While we were paying, Sam continued to importune us to keep his service in mind as a "maintenance" cleaning service once the owner returned to living in the condo.
We agreed with Sam that his crew had performed as promised and all of us left the condo together.
Two days ago, I returned to the condo with a handyman to perform a few repair tasks.  While waiting for the handyman, I began noticing layers of dust on the telephone, the nightstand, the coffee table, and virtually every other surface.  In addition, the kitchen surfaces and floor seemed "sticky" in many places.  We have now made arrangements with our regular weekly maid service to clean the condominium this coming week in hopes of bringing the cleanliness up to a livable level.  We have specified to our regular service that the entire hardwood floor will need to be washed.  In addition, the bathrooms still need cleaning to remove streaks from glass surfaces and to remove soap scum from the shower door.
It is difficult to fault Chestnut Cleaning for the poor results because the crew members did seem to work diligently, and because the surface clutter and cat hair were removed as promised.  If this was all Chestnut Cleaning had promised, we would have to be fully satisfied.  Because two members of the three person crew were identified as doing "cleaning" work, though, we entertained the reasonable expectation that no further cleaning would be required before the condo was habitable.  In this expectation, we were thoroughly disappointed.

I moved into a new Chicago high-rise building in 2009.  When I first asked Chestnut in 2011 to clean this condo, my hording was revealed by the condition of three closets and two large storage rooms.  I did not know about organizing skills offered by Chestnut.  In a short time, a carpenter recommended by Chestnut gutted the closets and storage rooms to add beautiful, white custom shelves that hold white, labeled storage boxes.  Now everything is at my finger tips.  An electrician, recommended by Chestnut, installed several light fixtures purchased by the designer I hired to decorate the new condo.  The Chestnut crew of three to five, take their assigned monthly cleaning tasks to quickly leave a clean home.  Needless to say, I still own my former condo unit.  Now I use this old condo for storage.  I told you I am a compulsive horder.  Soon Chestnut will empty this old condo so that I can take advantage of the improved real estate market.  I highly recommend Chestnut for cleaning, organizing, and overall problem solving.

I went looking for a service that offered both cleaning and organizing, since I tend to let the clutter pile up, and I had one bedroom closet that could have qualified for a mini-Hoarders treatment. I spoke to the owner about getting an estimate and we made an appointment within a couple of days for him to clean my one-bedroom apartment and give me an estimate on the closet.
First of all, the cleaning is wonderful. He brought two workers with him and they dove right in scouring and vacuuming and dusting every corner of the place. I am asked to inspect each room and if I notice anything that was missed they jump right on it.
The organizing requires full participation from me, since I have to make all decisions about what stays and what goes. That horrifying closet was finished in less time that I imagined; emptied completely, swept out, and all trash and donations went right out the door.
The cost is about what I saw from other places, $25 per person per hour. There's an extra charge for the organization. The usual crew is the owner plus two employees. I was startled once when he came with four people but they were finished and out the door in about half an hour so the cost didn't go up.
The owner is very cheerful, and seems very invested in making sure I'm happy and satisfied. When we cleaned out the closet he realized there was no light in it, which is a problem since it's rather narrow and deep. The next time he came he told me he had a gift for me and brought a hanging work light to use until I can get something more permanent in there.
I see no reason why I shouldn't be using this service for years.

       Overall I am very satisfied with Chestnut Cleaning Service and highly recommend them.

Yeah, it was fine, I guess. I called, left a message. They called back and talked to my husband. He said they talked his ear off, telling him how great they were. He set the appointment. They showed up and talked my ear off about how great they were. Well, actually, one of the first things they did (and I hate this to no end) is, as soon as they noticed I had pet bunnies, one of them told me this horrific story about the death of bunnies in her front yard. I don't why, but when people find out I have bunnies, they immediately tell me awful stories about bunnies. I really almost kicked them out right then. They brought a five or six person team (I can't remember) but there were too many of them, that there was no place for me to be out of their way. And I'm saying this as a person who prefers a team. It's faster with a team. But they were in every single room. And then, just as I would find some place to settle, the head guy would call me over to basically say, "Watch me clean; I'm so cool." Everything he did, he wanted to show me how he did it better than everyone else. The younger bunny just ran away from them, as he does whenever the house gets cleaned. But the older bunny was very old and not very mobile (he has since passed) and they kept trying to pet him and he kept trying to get away. I finally had to pick him up and just carry him with me. And they really didn't do that good of a job. To be fair, he did tell me to walk through and tell him anything they missed (they were putting on their coats when he asked me to do this.) and they would fix it. But I really just wanted them out of my house. There were too many of them and the self-congraulatory attitude was getting on my nerves.

They were very non-judgmental, gave me an accurate quote and job description, and completed the work as promised. Five people worked for seven hours (35 man hours) and didn't stop until the job was done. The forethought and organization that went into planning how to tackle the job made it go smoothly. It was not pretty work...the apartment was in very bad shape with lots of garbage, but they were very professional and understanding.