Watch my video that SHOWS you what we do.
If you’d rather read it, check out my blog post:
https://chicago-organizer.com/home-organization-what-does-a-professional-organizer-do/
It depends! An average room takes 3-10 hours to get organized. How fast the process goes depends on how deep the clutter is, how quickly you can make decisions, how much you work with us, how much paper is involved (paper slows things down), and how detailed you want the organization to be. We prefer to create systems that are just organized enough and not overly detailed so as to make it hard to maintain.
It depends upon what your goals are, the depth and breadth of the project, and the items in the room. Once we have assessed your project, we can estimate how many hours it will take and the cost.
You will get the best results and be most satisfied if you are heavily involved. That being said, there are sometimes parts of a project that we can work on without the person who owns the items. We can often sort things and then have our clients look through the categories to make decisions. Given a little initial direction, we can unpack and organize with little ongoing input from the client. Once there is a plan for how the room will be organized, we can make that happen and may not need more input from you.
It’s hard to know what we will need before we have created categories and assessed how much stuff there is in each category. Therefore, no need to buy anything, but please do have bags on hand for donations, recycling, and garbage. Having a few boxes on hand for heavier donations is handy, too.
My clients often have tried to get organized and have many containers. We can empty them and reuse them more efficiently. If we still need containers or some other organizational tools, we will write a list for you to purchase, or we can purchase them on your behalf.
Definitely not. We prefer to see how your place is in its natural state.
Absolutely! We bring tools and supplies to facilitate the organizing process, and we work side-by-side with our clients.
If the project warrants a team effort, we can do that! If you have a quick deadline for project completion or you have minimal availability to work with us, a team effort is our best bet.
We will bring a team to your home, most likely the day after your boxes arrive, and get to work on key areas. We will ask for your general input and preferences and then work fairly independently. We will bring questions to you as we have them, but you don’t need to work with us hands-on if you prefer not to.
The size of the team depends on the size of your home, how much stuff you have, and how detailed you would like the organizing to be. We are happy to facilitate purging as we unpack, if that is something you are interested in. Typically, for a smaller condo or apartment, we will bring a team of 2 for a 7-hour day. A 3,000 square foot home might require a team of 4 or 5 professionals for a 7-hour day, possibly more. Sometimes, our clients have us bring a larger team on the first day, and then we come back with a smaller team for a second day. This really depends on your goals and the volume of items you own. We need about a week to plan for a team to be available, but a longer lead time is greatly appreciated.
We are not movers, so we need the boxes to be on the correct floor and hopefully in the correct room before we arrive. We can move incidental, lighter boxes as needed. We break down boxes and consolidate all packing material in one area so that it is ready for disposal.