Is this hourly rate too high?

£15 -£18 is roughly the going rate in London. That seems like a lot.

For another perspective, I'm in southeastern part of the United States and pay $50.00 per hour.

I’m in north west, normal semi in ‘affluent’ town, and pay £18.50/hour and have a 3hour clean.

I did have to try three different people before I found someone who did a good job, but they were all around the same price (first was £17.50/hr but I couldn’t tell they’d been) x

i pay £17 ph in N London

25 per hour is a lot. I pay 17.5 per hour in London, providing all equipment and cleaning products. My cleaner is self-employed, very good and professional and was recommended by word of mouth.

My viewer when employing a cleaner is if it costs less than my hourly rate then I'm saving money. I would be happy with 25 an hour for a cleaner if they had good references.

Ours is a tad more than that but competition for cleaners is high in this area and they are very accommodating and quiet when they clean as I work from home and on calls alot, so can't have disturbances.

And to add to that. I have a friend who’s have several cleaners and she said they’ve all been rubbish. More interested in making shapes with towels and toilet paper than actually cleaning, cleaning around things and wanting the placed practically cleaned before they touch it. I think the tiktok/instagram cleaning accounts are fully to blame for this.

I think it is expensive. I’d be willing to pay the same as you. I don’t believe for one minute that every penny in cash is being declared either. And I have a friend who cleans houses and doesn’t have insurance and says most other cleaners she’s know don’t either. But none of them are going to come out and publicly admit that so they charge what they want and people will pay.

Come on, it's not that skilled to clean a domestic house.

£15-20/hour is the going rate around me (SW London). All self employed.

It’s a tough call, have treatment to be hopefully kept alive or have hair cut. Both are central to well-being.

If you put £25 per hour into a contractor equivalent calculator it works out at £37k per year. This is higher than the median average salary in the NW so I would say it is on the high side. It may just be a function of supply and demand for cleaners in the area though.

If you don’t want to pay £25ph, don’t. That’s market forces. If she’s priced herself too highly, she won’t get clients. That’s the rate she has set. If you want a cheaper cleaner, I’m sure you can find one rather than just moaning about someone who is trying to earn an income.

That’s simply not true - maybe on a moral basis when you’re meeting a friend and then I’d agree - I hate when people assume their time is more important than mine and think it’s ok to keep me waiting. BUT professionally it’s totally different.

It’s called equality. A basic assumption that our time is as valuable as each others. You appear to have argued that people should simply be out for what they can get. A bit like US style healthcare.
Interesting that you hear the term specialist and immediately go to medical practitioners and how much they can earn.

Jack your job in and become a cleaner?

My point is you don't wish low wages on others because you think you deserve more than them. Question your own pay.

I think that's on the high end, I have just had a quote for £15 per hour, but its been really hard to find someone with availability so if they are good and you can afford it I would grab it!

Our cleaner charges £18.50 an hour. This includes her bringing all her own materials, including vacuum and mop. She takes such a lot of stress away in keeping my home clean, tidy, sparkling etc not to mention entertaining the dogs.
I think £25 an hour for a good, reliable cleaner who you trust is not out of the question. It's what you are willing to pay, for the service you get. If you think it's too pricey, look for another cleaner, but don't give this one the boot until you've tried the cheaper one on a trial run. You might find the grass isn't greener!

I'm in London and am freelance, and industry standard rates are lower than that. I don't get holiday/sick pay or insurance, and have to spend time and money generating work for myself.
That is not bad for a cleaning job.

The company has already paid 19% - 25% on the same profits paid out as dividends. So it works out very similar compared with a sole trader.

Eg company profit £50k
Corporation tax £9.5k
Post tax profit £40.5k
Paid out as dividend
Personal tax £3,500
"Net take home" £37k
Effective tax rate 26% which is very close to what income tax (20%) and NIC would be on a £50k profit for a sole trader.

Hope that explains why limited companies aren't what they used to be under Gordon Brown's idiotic changes!

You're clearly in the finance world but a quick look at the gov.uk says that basic rate dividend tax is 8.75%? So less than half basic rate PAYE. Maybe that's not worth taking advantage of for the effort expended or some other reason.

Anyone with the skills you're referring to absolutely can charge more for it in the private sector. Even secretaries and admins (which doesn't require you to have a med sec qualification) can earn £20ph self employed privately which is way more than they get in the public sector or privately employed. All I'm saying is skills and professional qualifications don't always equate to what people can charge for their time in the private market. I'm not making a dig at highly trained people unless they're making a dig at someone charging what they perceive as too much because that person is less "highly trained" as them especially when that person is doing a pretty hard job like cleaning which is never going to pay off in the long term as well as your professional job.

Cheshire is expensive. Not many cleaners. There are lots in London and people from cheaper areas will travel in.

We pay £15 an hour but provide everything.

Everyone else I knows pays £25

Yes but they're figures you made up - no one said she has £70 of overheads per customer, you're implying she must to in order to justify charging £100ph because 'your time' is paid at £30ph you see that as all she is entitled to her for her time and anything else in the price must be overheads.