When doing a meet and greet do you ask to see the room you will be staying in? Do you ask to make sure it will be clean or do you do it yourself?
I have sat for friends that have immaculately clean homes but not everyone is like that. How do you handle a sitting job with a messy house?
Definitely ask to see the room you will be sleeping in, as well as asking about what you can use, how things operate, what they would like to you to do (take in mail, water plants), etc. You should get a decent sense of the person's overall housekeeping skills and cleanliness. If it isn't clean, tell them that you require it to be so. Let them know that you will clean up after yourself, but you are not a cleaning service and that is NOT included in your rate.
If you accept the job and the house/your room isn't clean, then you will need to address it with the client. Tell them either to hire a service or cannot stay there. If it isn't too inconvenient (distance), do drop-ins until the place is clean.
Thank you for your advice. They want to book me but the stay isn't for 2 more months. I went for a meet and greet to talk to them and meet the dogs. I said I want to meet with them again to go over the details and also talk to the dog's vet, the dog is 14 1/2.
I never bring up the cleaning subject with a client. NEVER. It's rude, in my opinion, because everyone has a different definition of 'clean'. I definitely ask to see where I would be sleeping. I make a value judgement based on what I see as to whether I want to accept the booking. If the house is cluttered but clean, that is acceptable. However, if it's dirty, smelly, and otherwise unpleasant, I won't accept the booking. I just say that I'm not the right sitter and wish them luck in finding one that fits their needs.