What standard do you expect from a cleaner?

[poppym12]

A clean and sparkly bathroom? Or
Just a quick flick round with a damp cloth, leaving random hairs on the tiles barf?
A floor that was apparently cleaned but still has the evidence of husbands incapability of trimming his beard without making a mess and dust bunnies? Or
A clean floor?

Are my standards too high or should a bathroom you pay someone to clean actually be clean? The agency sent a different person today as the last one went awol leaving me without a cleaner for 2 weeks. I was pleased with the vacuuming of the 2 bedrooms and she seemed nice enough but now I've looked at the bathroom, I'm not happy with the standard of cleaning and feel really awful.

For info, in 2 hours I asked her to clean the bathroom, vacuum 2 bedrooms and hall stairs and landing. She had some time left over so quickly vac'd the living room too. I don't think that this is an excessive amount in 2 hours. Or is it?

Trying to get a cleaner who is reliable and does a decent job seems to be impossible, hence the reason I've gone through an agency thinking it might be better.

The obvious answer is to do it myself if I'm not satisfied. i have a debilitating illness so as much as I wish I could keep my own house spick and span as I always have done, I can't and I need to employ someone to help me.

I'm not sure what to do now. How do I tell someone that I don't think they cleaned well enough?

[pinkieandperkie]

My cleaner comes once a week for two hours and she's brilliant. She dusts and hovers the whole house and mops all the hard floors. The bathroom is left spotless and she changes one bed. She is a machine and I love her. She loves cleaning and takes pride in her work.

[BlondiBleach]

You didn't ask for much for two hours IMO. I think the fact they hoovered an extra room shows that they just aren't very "clean" ie didn't see the dirt.

Sometimes people who don't clean are hard on cleaners as they don't leave the correct tools (decent microfibre cloths, products, mops & hoovers) or they expect too much in the time given. Neither sounds the case here.

I think you just have to be honest & point out what wasn't done & be really clear on what you expect to be done.

[poppym12]

All of the stuff was there blondi, and more. The microfiber cloth was used as a duster, a j cloth to clean the bathroom and the yellow duster unused. The only part of the toilet that has been cleaned is the top of the cistern. Not around the seat, under the seat or anything (and no, it's never left grotty with skid marks or mess) or the pedestal part.

I'll have to keep looking for someone as I can't tell her what she hasn't done as she'd be offended.

[PoisonousSmurf]

Your best bet would be to contact a self employed cleaner. Plenty of choices on Care.com.
I'm suspicious of any cleaner who can do a whole house in less than 3 hours and in reality, if you ask someone to do such a thing in a short amount of time then you're going to get shoddy work.
Cleaners who claim to be able to clean supper quick are not doing it properly or using microfiber cloths on everything without using any products. Yuck!

[FeedMeAndTellMeImPretty]

If you've gone through an agency why can't you speak to them rather than directly to the cleaner you had?

I've had mixed results from the agency I use - my regular lady can do the whole house, dust, hoover, 3 bathrooms properly clean etc in 2 hours.

One did upstairs one week, downstairs the next.

Another one managed to hoover upstairs. Yes she did it very thoroughly, but even so...

I used to work as a cleaner and got such lovely comments about the high standard. I didn't understand why, until I started paying someone to do mine and realised how little some people get done!

Don't feel bad for saying something, the owner of the agency needs to know if people need a bit of extra training or just telling them what is expected.

I've found you can tell how much someone will get done as they walk in the door - my lovely regular cleaner comes bustling in, has a quick chat as she gets her shoes off and flip flops on and then she's off like a rocket!

[gamerwidow]

I expect my house to be spotless after the cleaner has been, and it always is. I'd love to know how she does it, I can't do anywhere near as well myself.

[poppym12]

I've tried several self employed ones smurf but ended up being let down and messed about, hence why I thought I'd go through an agency to negate this.
I didn't ask for living room or kitchen to be done within the 2 hours, just bathroom cleaning and vacuuming of 2 bedrooms, h/s/l.

[IAmAPaleontologist]

Mine only does 1 hour. She does kitchen and bathroom and downstairs floors hoover and mop.

Bathroom is well cleaned though things like limescale build up on screen etc she doesn't do and i don't expect it in the time. Kitchen clean and sparkling, she wipes down unit doors. Oven not expected in the time. After that she just has time for a quick hoover and mop so not pulling furniture out but a decent job of the pertinent areas.

Occasionally I'll ask for an extra hour to do bigger jobs or if I'm on holiday ask for a deeper clean of certain bits instead of hey usual jobs since we are not there mucking up the bathroom etc.

[Redglitter]

I've used several agencies and got rid of them because after a few weeks/months standards seem to slip

I asked on my local FB page for recommendations and got someone who's self employed

She's amazing. The house sparkles and she's like a whirlwind the amount she does. If she ever packed it in I'd go down the fb recommendation route again

[poppym12]

I asked on a fb group in the past and one was mentioned so she came for a while, depending on what life crisis she was having that week. She quit (was crap anyway......I could see her constant fb posts popping up on my feed whilst she was here 'working'). I don't use fb these days.

[mypropertea]

I had a cleaner from an agency this week. She was rubbish! I called the agency and the woman who runs it is going to come with her next week and see if she agrees with me/ give her some training.

[MerryWeber]

As FeedMeAndTellMeImPretty said, if the cleaner is coming from an agency I'd speak to them directly - explain what you want to be done, in detail if needed.
I have a cleaner that comes once a week for 2 hours. I'm pleased with her. It usually takes her an hour to do the vacuuming/mopping/dusting and then I ask her to do the bathroom, oven, etc - i'd pick different every week depending on how dirty it's got.