Frequently Asked Questions
How it works
Busy? Need a little extra help around the house? We’re here for you! With just a few clicks in the Spruce app (available through iOS or Android), you can schedule one-time or recurring housekeeping services. Learn more about our services at getspruce.com. For additional questions or requests, contact our Customer Support team at service@getspruce.com and we’ll get back to you! Your home is your sanctuary, and we understand trust is key. Spruce housekeepers are thoroughly vetted, contracted professionals. They’re background-checked, insured, top-rated by your neighbors, and trusted by your community’s leasing team. We hope so! Download our iOS or Android app and search for your zip code to see if we’re serving your community. If we don’t serve your community yet, we’ll try to get there soon! We recommend reaching out to your front desk or leasing office, and Spruce will arrange a service demo. Your leasing office or property management community can make a request through our website or by sending us an email at sales@getspruce.com. Spruce services are competitively priced by reducing traditional overhead costs associated with one-off services. Our prices are competitive with market rates for providers who are insured, background-checked, and partnered with your community. We aim to remove wasted time by serving many residents at a time in one location. We minimize the drive time and advertising costs you’d be paying for by using another service, all while prioritizing your ease, comfort, and peace of mind. You can check prices in your area by downloading our app and registering with your community. We partner with local, professional housekeeping companies to ensure you receive the best services. Each employee is background-checked, insured, top-rated by your neighbors, and trusted by your community. They may arrive alone or in teams depending upon the size and scope of the job. We’re great at what we do, but providing a safe work environment for our housekeepers comes first. To prioritize the health and safety of our staff, we’ll abandon services and notify you if we encounter: Additionally, we will not conduct cleanings in the following areas for any service type: In rare occasions, we may have to cancel or reschedule a clean for an excessively dirty, damaged, or cluttered homes until after clutter/items have been picked up. For your first service, we suggest booking a Premium Clean so our team can get your home in tip-top shape. Then a Signature or Classic Clean every 2-3 weeks will keep your home Spruced up and looking great. Our individual Chore services, like cleaning the floors or bathrooms, will keep your home in order between full cleaning services. For more information, take a look at our Spruce Housekeeping Checklist to see what services and add-ons best suit your cleaning needs. We kindly ask that you pick up clothes, shoes, personal items, and any clutter around your home prior to your housekeeper’s arrival. To guarantee a thorough clean, we recommend clearing surfaces and countertops. This allows us to focus on your service while keeping it quick and efficient. Don’t have time to clear the clutter? We offer various add-on services including hand-washing dishes, folding laundry, and picking up clutter, which can be booked in 20 and 45 minute increments. Help our team prepare! Leave us a note about entry instructions, give us a heads up about any pets in your home, or let us know about any specifics unique to your household. You can add notes in the Spruce app while scheduling your service or after you’ve already booked. We’ve got you covered. We’ll provide all necessary supplies and equipment for performing your requested services. However, if you have any special products you would like for your housekeeper to use, please make sure that you specify in your booking notes where specific products are required and make sure that the products are left on the kitchen counter for our team to use. We recognize that not every product we use as standard will be suitable for every customer’s needs (pet safe/hypoallergenic, sensitive, etc.) but we’re always happy to use specific products if a customer provides them. While you do not need to be present for your housekeeper to work their magic, you can of course do whatever works best for you. Most customers prefer to leave while their services are being completed, but you may want to consider sticking around if someone must be present in order to get into your home. Have specific entry instructions for us? Keep us up to date on gate codes, door code, smart locks and lockbox locations by leaving us a note when booking your services. It is the responsibility of each customer to meet property specific requirements to grant Spruce access to their home. Please check your property’s specific permission-to-enter process. Common examples include: written authorization via resident online portal, providing a copy of your key to management or front desk staff, or providing Spruce access via your Smart Lock app etc. Please make sure that you respond to texts we send you asking for information to access your home, or add access instructions to your booking notes. If your housekeeper is unable to enter your home, the clean will be cancelled and may be nonrefundable. Safety is our number one concern. Per OSHA guidelines, we are unable to recommend for our Pros to remove their shoes. Spruce does not provide booties to avoid slip hazards for our pros, however we would be happy for our Pros to wear booties if this is important to you, as long as you are able to provide them and request this in your booking notes. If you are moving out, we cannot complete any service except a move-out cleaning for your home. Be sure to check in the app/website for your community to verify if a “Move out cleaning” is offered as this option is not available for certain communities. We are not able to provide any other kind of cleaning if you are moving out at this time. We can hand wash and load dishes into your dishwasher but as settings and requirements differ for every machine, our teams will not start the dishwasher for any kind of service or chore. Due to time constraints and preferences/requirements for laundry items, we cannot complete laundry in-unit during services. If you would like your items used for making the bed or a folding laundry chore, please have them washed and dried ahead of service with notes on where your clean laundry can be located. As we do not clean inside or go into closets for privacy reasons, all of your folded items will be placed on a chair, counter, or bed. We have certain requirements in place to safeguard your pets while prioritizing our housekeepers’ comfort and security. We kindly ask you to keep any dogs in your household away from our housekeepers while they’re sprucing up your home (kenneling or removing them from the home is preferred). You may allow your cats to roam around freely, but you might want to keep them behind closed doors if they have a tendency to try to escape. Your housekeeper will not be able to complete your service if an unsecured pet is keeping them from cleaning your home. Moving is a lot of work, but our Move Out Cleaning makes things easy. Click here to learn more. While we’re happy to work with you to find the arrival window that works best for you, we cannot accommodate requests for exact service times. Our service times are a reflection of our housekeepers’ availability and your property’s operating hours. If you have a more narrow preference than the morning, afternoon, or anytime, you may indicate this in your booking notes. However, while we aim to please, we can’t promise specific requests. Please note, your housekeeper will start your cleaning service within the designated window, but they may complete your booking outside of your selected time slot depending upon when they arrive and the current state of your home. We have a maximum time allotment to complete a checklist of tasks depending upon the size of your home, the cleaning package you select, and the number of housekeepers present for the service (sometimes we work in teams of two). We always strive to complete everything on our list, but this is contingent upon the current state of your home during our window of service. Setting up a recurring cleaning schedule through the Spruce app will help maintain the cleanliness of your home over time. This will keep your services efficient and will allow more time for your housekeeper, or team of housekeepers, to focus on detailed areas throughout your home. In the event that we cannot gain entry to your home, we will reach out to you directly in an attempt to quickly resolve the issue. We will wait 15 minutes on the day of service to try to get access through the customer/leasing office and if unsuccessful, we will work to reschedule your service within the next seven days or facilitate a full refund. To avoid incurring any cancellation fees (deducted from your refund at the time of cancellation), reschedule or cancel your booking by 5 AM two days prior. You are able to cancel any booking through the app until 8 AM the day of your service. This cancellation policy supports our housekeeping team’s wages and provides stability to our employees. In the event it is our error that we were unable to make it out to your booking, we will waive the cancelation fee indefinitely. You can update notes and add-ons until 5pm two days before we start your service. One of the key reasons that Pros choose to work with Spruce is that we are able to provide predictability of scheduling to ensure they spend more time cleaning and earning, and less time on the road. As a results, if you make changes to your booking or add-ons beyond after 5pm two days before your booking, we may not be able to shift your booking to another Pro or allocate more time to the Pro that has been assigned to clean your home. If you need to reschedule, make changes to, or cancel your booking, please do so at least 48 hours prior to your service to avoid any late fees or the risk of your booking being unable to be completed by one of our Pros. If you need to make a change to an add-on within 48 hours of your booking, please contact our Customer Service team via email or by responding to a text from us, and we will be happy to make the change on our end. You are able to cancel any booking through the app until 8 AM the day of your service. This cancellation policy supports our housekeeping team’s wages and provides stability to our employees. Coupons are issued to customers for promotional purposes. You may have received various coupons in a welcome package if Spruce services recently launched at your community. Not all coupons are valid for all service types. This includes Move Out Cleans, which are excluded from all discounts and coupon types. Please note that a coupon is not a credit. Coupons are non-transferable, cannot be combined, and are applicable to a single booking. Credits are a prepaid account balance, which is available as a gift from your apartment community or issued by Spruce. You can check your credit balance in the Spruce app once it has been paid and awarded to your account. Our system automatically charges your default payment method two days before your scheduled service, around 5 PM CST. If the payment method fails, it will attempt to run the card two additional times at 10 AM CST and 12 PM CST the following day. We’ll let you know if we have any issues when the system re-run your card charge. If you receive a text from our customer service team indicating any credit card or charge issues, please take a moment to update your payment method in our Spruce app under the Account page. Then, you will be all set when our system automatically re-runs any outstanding payments. After three attempts and no action to correct the payment method on file, your service will be automatically canceled. You will be able to re-book the service once the payment method has been updated successfully. Tips are not expected, but they are greatly appreciated. To tip your housekeeper, email us at service@getspruce.com along with the amount you’d like to leave for your housekeeper. We will see this charge reflected against the credit card used for your service. Our Spruce mobile app makes it easy to schedule and see your price before booking. We also offer discounts on most recurring services up to 20% depending on the frequency and services selected. It is automatically applied when making your selections in the Spruce app. The payment method on file is charged two days before the service date. After canceling the booking within 48 hours, a refund is automatically prompted to the card on file. Please allow 3-5 business days for bank processing times. To avoid incurring any cancellation fees (deducted from your refund at the time of cancellation), reschedule or cancel your booking by 5 AM two days prior. You can cancel any booking through the app until 8 AM the day of your service. This cancellation policy supports our housekeeping team’s wages and provides stability to our employees. If it is our error that we were unable to make it out to your booking, we will waive the cancelation fee indefinitely. Please contact our service team at service@getspruce.com and we can troubleshoot the error you are receiving! Please select the unit size that is closest to the bedroom and bathroom count in your home. If you do not believe there is an accurate comparison available in our selection, please email us at service@getspruce.com. Our housekeepers always take the necessary precautions to respect your home and your personal property, but occasionally accidents do happen. If you have any sentimental or valuable items that you consider irreplaceable, please put them aside in safe space prior to your service. Should something break during a cleaning, we will be in touch with you ASAP to let you know and to work with you to determine next steps. If you arrive home and discover that something is out of the ordinary, please email us at service@getspruce.com. Immediately after your service is completed, we’ll ask you to rate your service and to give us any feedback. Our Service Team monitors feedback emails and ratings closely and can assist you. In addition, you’re welcome to reach out to service@getspruce.com to resolve any issues you have. If the quality of your cleaning does not meet your expectations, please contact us within 24 hours, and we’ll work with you to remedy any issues ASAP. Sharing your feedback with us helps our team improve and keeps our services at their best. At Spruce, we understand that moving is stressful and the last thing we want you to worry about is a disappointing service. This is why we’ve got you covered with our Move Out Cleaning Guarantee. The Move Out Cleaning Guarantee means that if you are assessed any cleaning fees after moving out, send the invoice our way. We’ll be happy to refund you for cleaning-related fees due to your service not being up to standard, excluding maintenance items and other areas our team is not equipped to handle. See the “I’m moving” section of our FAQ page for more information. We leave the following specialized work to the appropriate experts: carpet cleaning, repair work, painting, appliance damage, electrical work, mold & mildew remediation, and any other items not typically booked through a housekeeper. Our team is insured for housekeeping and cleaning, so you’re covered for all of the work we do best. Need something Spruce doesn’t offer? We have partnered with top service providers to bring you additional offerings and perks. We’ve hand-picked and built connections with best in-class service providers. Because we vet our partners carefully, you can rest assured that you will have access to a standard of excellence unlike any other. Partner Services are subject to vary by market and location. Spruce credits or coupons are not applicable towards Partner services at this time. They are only applicable towards Spruce services excluding move-out cleanings. Certain coupons are specifically only valid for Housekeeping Services (Classic, Signature, Premium) while others can be applied to both Chores and Housekeeping. No, These services are not fulfilled or serviced by Spruce in any way. It will be the responsibility of the resident to book, monitor, pay for, and coordinate services. Navigate to our app or website. You’ll notice a new tile on the Spruce app or Desktop site homepage titled ‘Partner Services’. Clicking on this link will bring you to a page that will provide more information on services offered in your area. We work with a lot of local businesses and nationwide partners. It is in your best interest to add them to your community’s guest list for key authorization. Spruce is not responsible for facilitating a key release with any of our Partner Services. Use our Spruce-exclusive code WAGSPRUCE10 to receive a $10 off coupon good for your first pet care service with Wag! Yes, they sure do! When using the Wag! app, select “Drop in Visit” to schedule your service. Then be sure to select “Cat” under the Pet Profile. We have partnered with top service providers in your area to bring customers additional service offerings and perks, but please reach our to service@getspruce.com if you’d like to suggest additional services we should offer. Interested in partnering with Spruce to grow your business as a local service provider? For information please visit the Service Pro section our our website here. At Spruce, our priority is to deliver the best in-home services possible. In this light, we have decided that the best way to provide the high-quality laundry service you expect is to connect you directly with local providers. We have gone to great lengths to get the options available in your area and chosen those we feel are indeed best-in-class. We’re excited to empower local laundry pros to care for your wardrobe, and we’re sure you’re going to love the results.
To access our new partnerships, make sure you have the latest version of our Spruce app downloaded to your phone from the App Store or Google Play.
