Hiring a cleaner?

[Thistledew]

DH and I have admitted defeat with regards to having the will finding time to keep the house clean and have decided to get a cleaner.

How many hours would the cleaner need for a small, two-bed terrace house? Just to do the hardwood floors - vacuum weekly and maybe mop once ever month/ six weeks, clean the bathroom and dust?

Sorry for such a boring thread!

[paperbaghag]

You only want hoovering once a week and mopping once every six weeks? Why bother with a cleaner at all?

We have a one bed flat and everything gets done once a week including changing bed sheets, bathroom, loo, kitchen, dusting, hoovering, mopping, any washing up that needs doing and have a cleaner for 2 hours. We pay for another hour on top for ironing. We should probably cut back...

£10/ hour

[nooka]

We have a four bedroom house (with two teens, a dog and two cats) and it takes us all about two hours to clean the lot, that is dust, vacuum, mop and clean two bathrooms and a kitchen. So say your house is half the size and the cleaner is twice as efficient I'd have thought two to three hours.

In the days when we had a cleaner (bliss) she found all sorts of things to clean that we didn't get around to very often, and I think took about 4 hours (different house, similar size).

[Thistledew]

Thanks for the responses.

Paperbag - it's just me and DH at home and we both work full time so I think once a week cleaning is sufficient. We need a cleaner as at the moment neither of us has the time or inclination to do even this much.

Things like kitchen work surfaces we do daily anyway. Getting the cleaner to change the bed linen is a good idea too.

What else would you expect a cleaner to do?

[polodoris]

Thistledew... You would just need your cleaner for a 2 hour stint as what you require is not too much. I have a cleaning company based in Swindon; not sure where you are BUT.... make sure you ask for references and outline clearly what you expect.
Kind Rgds

[KayVerinder]

I love my cleaner.

She has a couple of specific jobs to do and then 'whatever else she has time for' as some days sorting the kitchen will take longer than others.

2 hours for a 3 bed semi but I do the bathrooms and bedrooms- she starts from the stairs.

[HeartsTrumpDiamonds]

Our cleaner does our ironing too.

We pay about 10 per hour but that is central-ish London.

Small two-bed, one bath I agree 2 or 3 hours should be MORE than enough.

[SpecialCircumstances]

We're hoping to ask a cleaner to do 2 hrs a week to cover hoovering, dusting, moping hardwood floor and cleaning bathroom small 2 bed house. My only issue is how to pick the right person? Go for a company or an individual? Dh isn't keen but we just don't have the time to get it all done!