Goodwill and Intangible Assets (Details 2) (USD $)	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2013 Terminix	Jun. 30, 2013 TruGreen	Sep. 30, 2012 TruGreen	Sep. 30, 2013 TruGreen	Sep. 30, 2012 TruGreen	Dec. 31, 2012 TruGreen	Sep. 30, 2013 American Home Shield	Sep. 30, 2013 ServiceMaster Clean	Sep. 30, 2013 Other Operations and Headquarters
Goodwill balances by segment for continuing operations
Balance at the beginning of the period		$ 2,412,251,000	$ 1,458,490,000			$ 417,069,000			$ 347,480,000	$ 135,769,000	$ 53,443,000
Impairment charge	0	(417,453,000)		(417,500,000)	(794,200,000)	(417,453,000)	(794,200,000)
Acquisitions		21,431,000	20,035,000			683,000					713,000
Other		(740,000)	(75,000)			(299,000)			(8,000)	(239,000)	(119,000)
Balance at the end of the period	2,015,489,000	2,015,489,000	1,478,450,000			0			347,472,000	135,530,000	54,037,000
Impairment loss
Impairment of nondeductible goodwill being reason for change in the tax rate						$ 1,208,000,000		$ 790,200,000