To expect a cleaner to have done more

I used to clean houses. I would have been able to do a really good clean of your house in about 4 hours. It takes no time to wizz a damp cloth over picture frames, pick up kitchen appliances and ornaments and put them back for example. Skirtings can usually be done with an attachment on the vacuum cleaner.

Good cleaners don't need telling how to vacuum some stairs. They don't need a list of jobs either, at least not things that you routinely do when cleaning your own house, because they have eyes.

I'd have done a first clean of four hours. Followed by two hours (yes two!) each week. Some jobs I'd rotate, like cleaning the inside of windows. Add time for ironing on to that.

There was 2 of them for 3 hours I'd expect them to take a room each except kitchen where 2 could work at once. I think it's about the attention to detail and them not being very experienced maybe. You should really have pointed the things out and said, could you just do those that you missed. I'd say the fact your house was clean already might have made them think they could slack off a bit. Can you try a new one from same agency, and kind of supervise them on their first visit?

@Concannon88 I can categorically assure you that that isn't the case. I am inundated with work and am turning it down on a weekly basis. Demand for cleaners is at unprecedented levels.

At the very least ask her to come back and do the ironing / if they missed out bedrooms they had plenty of time
to do the ironing surely?!

Get her back in over weekend when you are home and can show her what and how you want things doing inc ironing

ideally the 6 hours would have been one person ironing for a couple of hours and splitting the cleaning

I had a cleaner who turned up with her teenage daughter and tried to charge me for 2 full cleaners. I told her her daughter had been following her around and didn’t do anything independently so I assumed she was there to help make your life easier not in place of another cleaner!

I’d do up a list and itemise under every week / every second week / once a month. Id print this off, and leave it on the kitchen table to tick off. If there’s a language barrier, put a photo of eg ‘lounge’ so they know what room you are referring to.

I’d also specify start time and if they use public transport, check the start time matches a bus time (my last cleaner was always texting that she’d missed the bus and trying to reschedule - I eventually ran out of patience.)

I appreciate you aren't happy and they've missed things, however I don't understand how you expected a deep clean and ironing? This was never going to happen unless it was half a basket full, although they shouldn't have agreed to it. Id have her back as I doubt they missed stuff on purpose. Cleaners are crying out for work atm

I've never been able to find satisfactory cleaners. I've had cleaners who do a good job first few visits then go increasingly slap dash. Reliability is another issue, cancelling last minute and such like. I don't bother now, much easier to just do it ourselves.
My Dad has had the same cleaner for several years, she's a nice lady but she does the bare minimum (she charges £20 ph so not terribly expensive, but still...).

Hi, myself & my friend clean together and it's really not up to your husband to say. 3 hours is plenty of time to do a good clean if it's all tidy! Think you would need a little longer to do ironing too. Myself & my friend split up like I will do the bathrooms & she will dust, she will hoover & I will mop but also both of us will pull out furniture if needed.
I personally would feel the same as you.

@QuestionableMouseIt can take me up to 30 mins to do the stairs at work - but they're massive and the carpet is horrible to hoover. And there's over 200 spindles to dust 🙃🙃🙃
OP said: The house is a 3 bed semi, a reasonable sized semi but still a 3 bed house with standard living room, kitchen, dining room, 1 bathroom, no downstairs toilet

• *so no comparison, really .........

This was a deep clean.

Just get a different cleaner, life is too short.
I had one I wasn’t happy with for similar reasons, she never wanted to do what I asked. I got rid.
my new cleaner seems much better so far

My cleaner doesn’t do skirting boards weekly, it’s a surface clean, so for example the tiles in the bathroom are not cleaned, just the tray. For the whole bathroom / tiles I’d need to ask for a deep clean of bathroom and sacrifice something else. If asked to iron they should do. Maybe worth trying someone else

The point is though that OP asked them to iron and they had an opportunity then to say no if they don’t do that. And they didn’t.

I’ve had one excellent cleaner and a lot of shit ones. It’s irritating. The good cleaner left to go back to uni and I miss her.

It can take me up to 30 mins to do the stairs at work - but they're massive and the carpet is horrible to hoover. And there's over 200 spindles to dust 🙃🙃🙃

If you want ironing and laundry doing then you need to pay for a housekeeper - most normal cleaners won't do it.

And it can take a couple of times until a cleaner speeds up. Like any job. They're finding out where plug sockets are, where all the cleaning equipment is, being extra careful picking things up until they figure out how robust things are etc but they should still get through way more than yours did in 6 hours.

Sorry you did say in your OP it was meant to be a deep clean, my bad! I definitely wouldn’t have them back. Cleaners normally try and impress first time round- sounds like they were fairly rubbish!

I wouldn't have them back. Good cleaners don't need micromanaging and they know to do skirtings, picture frames etc. They know how to manage their time and they work hard to prioritise the important jobs for clients.

Yes and if the first time was crap, I wouldn't expect improvement necessarily. I initially wanted a deep clean which she didn't really do, I kept her on anyway as I felt a bit awkward and was very clear about what I wanted but she didn't do it...

I've had a rubbish cleaner and 2 great ones.

The rubbish one spent an hour cleaning a nearly new sink (new build house, had probably used the sink 50 times and there was no staining or anything!), and we said thanks but no thanks after one visit.

You just need a different cleaner.

Yeh sounds a bit crap. I had a cleaner but she never really cleaned properly despite me giving clear instructions of what I wanted and it would annoy me that she hadn't cleaned stuff.
So I don't have her anymore and whilst I don't always have time to clean properly either, at least I'm not paying anymore!