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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU to think my cleaner is too expensive?

162 replies

BoldAmberCat · 04/04/2026 07:07

I have a new cleaner. She charges £75 for a fortnightly clean. I have a 4 bedroom house. Before she started, I asked her how long she would be at the house for each time. She said it would, “take as long as it takes”. The first week she stayed for two and a quarter hours. When she came for the second time she only stayed one hour. I feel ripped off. Is this ok or not? Thank you

OP posts:
Proudofitbabe · 04/04/2026 11:30

Rip-off (and you’d think not long enough for one person to do a good job on a 4-bed house). I pay £20ph to a private cleaner for a weekly 2-hour clean, which I don’t think is cheap but is probably about right. This person is charging you £35-75 an hour! As others have said you need to agree an actual hourly rate.

ChopstickNovice · 04/04/2026 11:29

She must be superhuman if she's actually cleaned a 4 bed to a good standard in an hour!!

CherryBlossom321 · 04/04/2026 11:24

Cleaner: “It’ll take as long as it takes.”
Me: “No, I will pay you an hourly rate for a set amount of hours. If that isn’t what you’re offering then I thank you for your time, and I will find another service.”

mondaytosunday · 04/04/2026 11:21

How can she clean a four bed house in an hour?
A friend of mine was home unexpectedly when his cleaner arrived with her DD (a teenager, she wasn’t part of the deal). He hadn’t told her he’d be WFH that day. They went to the next room and he heard her say: if it looks tidy just spray this room scent around they won’t know the difference!!
£20/hour seems the going rate these days, but no one can do a whole house properly in an hour so she’s just not good at her job irregardless of what she charging.

loopyloolou · 04/04/2026 11:14

£15 an hour , I have a 2 hour clean weekly on a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom and extra toilet , sometimes two of them come so they are there for an hour, but still 2 hours worth of cleaning, they are super fast and do not stop for a second . You are being really ripped off !

Original poster
BoldAmberCat · 04/04/2026 11:12

jgjgjgjgjg · 04/04/2026 10:11

No sorry she'd have to go, the trust is broken. She must know as well as you do that taking £75 for one hour isn't okay. What did she say when you talked to her about it?

I haven’t talked to her about it yet, but I will do so next week.

OP posts:
Original poster
BoldAmberCat · 04/04/2026 11:10

purpleygrey · 04/04/2026 10:08

how much of the house is she getting cleaned in 1hr ?

I think she hoovered the whole house and cleaned the toilets, bath, showers and sinks. It takes me an hour just to hoover the house, to be honest. But perhaps I’m very slow!

OP posts:
Original poster
BoldAmberCat · 04/04/2026 11:03

LaburnumGrove · 04/04/2026 10:39

Why did you not set out your terms beforehand?

Is this your first cleaner?

Show quote history

I’ve had cleaners before but they always came for 2 hours per week and charged an hourly rate.
When this cleaner quoted £75 for a fortnightly clean, I did ask how long she would be there, as I wanted to make sure it was reasonable value. She wasn’t able to give an answer so I thought I would try out the service and see how long roughly she was cleaning for. I was assuming around 3 hours work for £75 but it seems I was wrong.

OP posts:
GremlinDolphin4 · 04/04/2026 10:54

I pay £60 for 2 cleaners for 2 hours. In the SE. They are exceptionally good!

Ionlymakejokestodistractmyself · 04/04/2026 10:48

Obeseandashamed · 04/04/2026 10:13

I get 4 hours for this amount. She usually even puts on a laundry during this time and does the kitchen, bathroom thoroughly, changes bedsheets, vacuums, dusts etc

This is the dream

patate10 · 04/04/2026 10:46

I would expect 6 hours cleaning work for £75

mushmallow · 04/04/2026 10:44

I pay £51 for three hours fortnightly . Surrey.

Elfie23 · 04/04/2026 10:43

Wowwww! I haven’t read all the comments but that is a lot!!

I have a 2 bed flat and it takes a couple of hours for a thorough clean so a 4 bed house has to be at least 4 hours?

TheSecretAgent1 · 04/04/2026 10:42

1h for a 4-bedroom house? She is taking the piss, that's how long my cleaner takes for a one-bedroom

LaburnumGrove · 04/04/2026 10:39

BoldAmberCat · 04/04/2026 09:53

Thank you very much for all your responses. I will tell her that I’m not happy to pay £75 for one hour of cleaning and look for someone that I can employ on an hourly rate instead. The house has 4 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, an en-suite, a downstairs toilet, a kitchen and a lounge. Plus hallway and landing. I was expecting at least 3 hours of cleaning for £75

Why did you not set out your terms beforehand?

Is this your first cleaner?

Janus · 04/04/2026 10:38

TheChosenTwo · 04/04/2026 10:22

My cleaner is £21 an hour, she comes weekly for 3 hours. Ideally I’d like her for 4 hours but she doesn’t have the time available although says I’m first in line for when she has a 4 hour gap come up.
£75 fortnightly doesn’t sound unreasonable but if you’re not satisfied with what you’re getting for that you need to let her know.
I’m happy with £63 a week because she leaves my house looking and feeling lovely - not all those little jobs (dusting skirting boards etc) are done weekly of course because she doesn’t have long enough but the kitchen and bathrooms are sparkling and the other rooms are immaculate to a casual observer.

But she’s doing the whole house in one hour so that’s £75 an hour! There’s no way the house can be spotless!!
@BoldAmberCat I have a 4 bed, 4 bathroom house that I have cleaned once a fortnight and I have a team of 3 people who do 2 hours each so that totals 6 hours and it’s a good clean that couldn’t be done in less time. I often don’t have the 4th bedroom done as my daughter is away so only after visitors. So there’s just no way she could even hoover the entire house in an hour let alone clean the bathrooms, dust, mop the floors etc. The only possible way to resolve this is to leave a proper list of every job you need doing and say to her I imagine this will take 4 hours. I pay mine £18 an hour but they work really hard for that and are definitely worth it. I’d want 4 hours cleaning for £75. So I’d say that’s what you expect and if she says no then bye bye!!

LaburnumGrove · 04/04/2026 10:37

Surely you would discuss the hourly rate before employing her and also what you expected her to do in that time?

You can hardly expect her to work through your list and then t ell you it's taken her 8 hours at £25 an hour (or whatever fee she decides on.)

Piknik · 04/04/2026 10:37

Text her OP. Polite but firm.

Hello

Whilst I was originally happy to pay a flat fee and be guided by your expertise on time required to clean, there is no world in which £75 for one hour represents value or promised outcome. I am giving notice as of now.

TrashHeap · 04/04/2026 10:35

£75 would be a reasonable price if she were staying for three to four hours, but if she isn't, then she's taking the piss.

kohlrabislaw · 04/04/2026 10:35

That’s too much. I pay £35 for 2 hours in London. That’s enough for a basic clean of 4 bed house… vacuum, mop, bathrooms, bit of dusting. House is very tidy anyway.

Truetoself · 04/04/2026 10:34

What was she getting done in 1 hour? No way can you clean a 4 bed in that time

MyDeftDuck · 04/04/2026 10:33

Thinking about my own house, only 3 bedrooms admittedly, it would take a good four hours to clean it from top to bottom and that wouldn’t include bed stripping etc. She is taking the piss OP!

boringperson123 · 04/04/2026 10:32

Yeah we also had a cleaner charge £75 and stayed less than 2 hours, safe to say we didn’t bring her back 😂

StephensLass1977 · 04/04/2026 10:31

Medium sized 3-bed house here, and a couple of bathrooms alone can take an hour if I'm doing a proper clean. Add kitchens, bedrooms etc to that, it would all take a good 3-4 hours.

frenchvanillacoffee · 04/04/2026 10:29

Of course this isn’t reasonable !! The set up you agreed to ‘as long as it takes’ and the charge.
Most cleaners agree an hourly rate and the number of hours. You then agree a list of things to be done in that time and I also have a few things that are ‘If you have time…’
If you find someone new, agree upfront the number of hours each week and the hourly rate. I pay £17 an hour but that is private. Via an agency would be more. But also depends on where you live. For a 4-bed house I think at least 3 hours is needed and depends on number of bathrooms too.