How much can a cleaner be reasonably expected to do in 2 hours?

[Snakesandpropertyladders]

I feel terrible as I've just sacked my cleaner. She has 2 hours to clean a 2 bedroom flat. It's kept clean and tidy in between her visits and there's not a huge amount of clutter.
I ask for the kitchen and bathroom to be cleaned, the bedrooms and living rooms to be dusted and the floors to be hoovered and mopped. Is that too much for the time?

I've never been very happy with my cleaners work. There has often still been sticky food marks on the floor ( from my toddler!), and she never moves anything to clean just cleans around it. Everything has a tiny line of dust around it where it's not been moved to clean. I even found a dead wasp the other day that must have been festering in the kitchen for weeks.

I'm trying a new cleaner next week and I want to be sure that I'm not expecting too much?

[ConstanceGoesFishing]

Watching. Just about to post on the same thing.

I'm a SAHP but really not keeping up with things; I was hoping that a cleaner would be able to do a 2-hour-a-week blitz, and then I could just keep tidy in between visits (...several people on MN claim to be able to clean a 15 bedroom mansion, in under half an hour, while they have at least six pre-school children at home).

Interested to see what's realists to expect for 2 hours work..

[soupmaker]

I have a cleaner who comes for 3 hours. In that time she does small kitchen - all surfaces, tiles, floor - a family bathroom, 3 bedrooms including 3 bed changes, and two living rooms. She dusts, vacuums rugs and wooden floor and washs tiles floors. We also have a hall which is hoovered. The skirting is dust free and she dusts doors. Every month she gives the bathroom tiles a deep clean and washes the wooden floors.

So basically, yes, what you need done can be done in 2 hours.

[OfficeNewGirl]

Your cleaner is crap!

If your flat is tidy and clutter free then 2 hours is a good amount of time to keep on top of everything including windows and skirting boards being done routinely.

[Chaby]

i think it sounds reasonable. am in a similar situation, recently tried out a new company who did far less than that in 3 hours though, so interested in what others say.

[PancakesAndMapleSyrup]

Mg cleaner comes twice a week for 2 hours in that time she dles exactly what you ask except on one day its a full kitchen clean and the other a full bathroom clean. I dont think that she could do both in those two hours as we have lots of clutter om the work surfaces in the kitchen and she takes everything off to be cleaned etc.

[WienerDiva]

Watching with huge interest. I have two cleaners for three hours and I'm not convinced that they know a Hoover from a bottle of bleach?!

[PancakesAndMapleSyrup]

However in 3 hours she coukd do both and change the beds too tbh. All floors get hoovered, cleaned, dust every where and she sometimes does the windows if i ask.

[MmeMorrible]

Our cleaner comes for 2 hours and in that time she fully cleans our 4 bed house including hoovering and mopping the entire ground floor, hoovering stairs landing and upstairs rooms. Dusting and polishing all surfaces, mirrors etc and cleaning both bathrooms and the downstairs cloakroom.

When we first started she came for 3 hours to do more in depth clean but now it's 2 hours and everything is cleaned very well. Every other week she pulls out the sofas etc and cleans underneath.

[tipsyloolah]

All floors steam cleaned - everywhere is wood or slate, no carpets. All rugs vacuumed. Kitchen completely done - everything shifted to clean under (eg microwave) - but the company did say that kitchens are easiest as people keep them clean as they go anyway. 4 bedrooms dusted, all other rooms dusted. Skirtings done, inside of windows when needed. All bathrooms.

They provide all products and their own steam mop etc and I think that helps as they know what they're doing rather than messing about with things I might buy that they don't like.

I never want beds changed, ironing done, dishwasher loaded as that's all easy and seems a waste of time for £30 an hour. I'd have them here every day if I could afford it .

[PancakesAndMapleSyrup]

£30 PER HOUR????? Surely not? My mouth is hanging!

[Snakesandpropertyladders]

Ok it looks as though I'm not being unreasonable then! That's good to know.
My cleaner did not dust everything. Definitely not doors or skirting boards but not even pictures on the mantlepiece. I've got a drinks coaster that has sticky rings on it and not once has she given it a wipe.
She never wiped marks off kitchen cupboard doors or wiped over bottles near the cooker that get a bit dusty. She also never cleans the bathroom properly.


She only dusted my baby's room once when I reminded her, and his carpet never looks properly vacuumed.

Today I have come home to find food still on the kitchen work tops, sticky marks where the floors haven't been mopped, bits on the floors and dust that will come off on my fingers when I touch certain things.

[Stillwishihadabs]

Wow.my housekeeper is.a.gem (but I knew.that already) .She does.a.4 bedroom house in 2.5 hours and irons. Having said that spare room is rarely used and she comes twice a week so nothing is ever that dirty. I do nothing in between though

[tipsyloolah]

Sometimes two of them come for that Pancakes - and they're all insured and things that calm me down . This is my first experience and when I looked, it was all people for £12 an hour who didn't bring the cleaning products and mops etc, weren't insured, were evasive about refs, and all sorts of other things. With this company, they don't charge if you don't need them during holidays or other times, they're really flexible, and pay more than minimum wage. I still feel guilty though .

[Siarie]

Depends how big in square foot your place is. I booked a cleaner for three hours and the cleaner managed everything apart from one ensuite. But I have two bedrooms, two ensuite's, one toilet w/c and a large living/dining area with kitchen. 1500sq ft so I think that is quite an area to clean, wear as my old two bed was much smaller than that.

I've booked the same lady for 3.5hrs next time as I was here and watched her. She couldn't have been going any faster and she was super detailed, washing the dishes, emptying all the bins as well as the usual clean, dust, mop, vacuum.

I was really impressed and happy to have her back!

[Siarie]

I should add mine took everything off and dusted all the surfaces.

[Viviennemary]

I think a two hour clean is a bit of a waste of time. Why not go for a longer clean once a month. I think it's better all round. Nevertheless there are cleaners who could get through a fair bit in two hours and yours just doesn't sound much good. Hope you find somebody more suitable!

[NeedsAsockamnesty]

Mine would do everything you have described in 2 hours she's lovely and all that but she's not a ninja super hero speedy cleaner she's just normal so I would guess yours is a bit crap

[DiaDuit]

I'm a cleaner and what you describe is more than acheievable in two hours. Leaving sticky marks and dust lines is laziness really. No excuse and not what you ste paying for.

[PenelopeGarciasCrazyHair]

I used to clean a 4 bed house as you describe in the same time. Sometimes it took 15-20 mins longer so I upped to 2.5 hours and added cleaning windows or hanging up washing if I had spare time.

However, my own house never gets a solid 2 hours spent on it, so I don't know if that would be the same with any house. Theirs was always very tidy and kept clean in between times. Mine sadly is neither

[PenelopeGarciasCrazyHair]

That was for £10 an hour too.

[TheGrinchWearsStripes]

Yes, my cleaner does our townhouse in 2 hours - not the bottom floor, which is one room and bathroom. It's barely used, so she does it once a month for another hour, in which she usually also does the washing, tidies, cleans something like the oven or the fridge...
I have a small shrine to my cleaner.

[Snakesandpropertyladders]

I can easily clean my flat in 2 hours myself so did wonder why a professional cleaner was struggling.

[Bugaboom]

Mine does my 3 bed house in 2 hours but not very well. She dusts and cleans around things, and does a mediocre job of the bathroom and kitchen. I'd rather she just did a really good clean of bathroom and kitchen in that time. But she does more than I can manage at 32 weeks pregnant, so we're keeping her on until baby comes.

[PancakesAndMapleSyrup]

Tipsyloolah, yes we have the same arrangement with our agency only have to give 24hrs notjce if we dont want them to come and they dont charge. We pay £15 ph too, i just thought you meant one!

[Bonsoir]

Not much in two hours. My cleaner does 9h per week and that doesn't include laundry/ironing/windows.