Desperately need a cleaner but am I expecting too much?

Yes but she’s expecting quite a lot of it (mopping and hoovering) to be done twice

To be fair it’s not quite clear what she is expecting - as in hoovering and bathrooms could be done in one of the 3 hour blocks and beds/window cleaning/ironing could be done in the other 3 hour block. This is why it is important to have an open and realistic conversation about expectations.

If you were a new customer of mine I would suggest I do 3 hours of basic cleaning - e.g floors, bathrooms, sides and changing beds. Then the other 3 hours ironing (agree what is reasonable) quick wipe of bathrooms and floors and 1 ‘big’ job e.g skirting board/window - whatever you think.

Not for the size of house

5 bed
4 bath
toilet
3 x living spaces
kitchen

I remember when my kids were smaller it took me ages to pick up all the stuff from the floor. Hoovering was done quickly but preparation for that took ages😱🤦‍♀️

After the first couple of weeks that could easily be kept on top of by the cleaner thus giving them plenty of time to do other chores.
Going to sound like a twat now but the difference is finding a cleaner who actually enjoys it and takes pride in it and having a cleaner who does it just for the flexible hours and the cash. I honestly loved doing it and making a difference in someone’s house - I worked like a beast to ensure each time they got home something else had been cleaned that they hadn’t realised needed cleaning! If only I could apply that to my own house 🤣

Ha ha I actually had one client who said I didn’t need to hoover as she could do that in 10mins - she just wanted me to clear the toys and put them away ready for her to hoover 🤣

If it’s a total of 6 hours to do it all then that’s fine but if it’s m expected that it all gets done twice a week (3 hours each time) it’s too much

True. That’s why op needs to discuss with any prospective cleaner about realistic expectations. Last thing she wants is someone promising they can do it all and then slacking and having resentment on both sides. Best to be realistic up front.
Op - maybe do what you expect a cleaner to do and time yourself - then maybe add on an hour because they don’t know your house like you do and they will likely want to do a bit more - then see how much time you need from someone

One thing we did was chat through what kit was wanted - we bought a professional steam generator iron - it halves the time / doubles what can be done as it is so good - has paid back the cost several times over in the last 6 years since being bought

Most houses will have a £20-£50 domestic iron which might be why staff don’t want to iron! I am always amazed by the quantity of ironing achieved and our cleaner knows that we are happy for her to stop not finished if necessary but she powers through…

we also are very careful to look after our cleaner - we pay her when she is on holiday, or ill, we are flexible if she needs to move timings etc - look after the person - they after all are focused on looking after us!

I would've ignored you because of the ironing. Someone who thinks I'll have time to stand there ironing after doing all the other expected tasks is going to be an absolute pain in the arse of a client to work for.

Yes totally unreasonable.
Remove the ironing and cleaning up of toys and you might have a more positive response.

We have ours in for 1x 6 hours. Used to be 4 hours 2x week. We tidy before she arrives.
Changes our bed.
Hoovers & dusts my office, our bedroom, dressing room, kitchen, living room.
cleans our bathroom.
Mops everywhere.
Does ironing including sheets for 3 people. That takes 2 hours minimum.
We have 4 young adult kids who all have en-suites but have mostly left home so she’ll do what’s necessary there but any untidy rooms are off limits.
If there’s time she will do windows. Sometimes a fridge or whatever.
Our largest ironing producer has just left home so its possible we could reduce her hours now.

Have you asked them what they would suggest is do-able in the time available? My mum gives a note of what she wants prioritised that day, so maybe they can prioritise certain areas and you fill in the gap? Or maybe they can suggest how many hours your list will take?

part time housekeeper via your advert, 2 half days. Or just go with a local cleaning company - beds and ironing will be extra.

This.

This is just cleaning.

You can't all of this well in 6 hours per week, I think this is what puts cleaners off.

As someone who is a housekeeper in a large house with 2 children you are expecting too much in the allotted hours. I don’t even do the main cleaning but do tidying, washing and ironing plus ad hoc child care and occasional cooking and it keeps me busy for 12 hours a week. The other house, similar size to yours takes me 4 to 5 hours to clean from top to bottom plus washing and most of the ironing. I think maybe you need to be realistic about what is achievable in the time.

If you can put your headphones in and whizz through it......

I used to be a cleaner. I didn’t change beds, tidy things up or do any ironing. Remember the cleaner is going to be doing a more thorough job than you so it will take longer. It used to take me 3.5 hours to clean a five bed house that was already tidied up.

@Propagandalf 3 hours lol! Well that's what I made it to be after reading the rest of the thread!

I have a much much smaller house, 2 beds one bathroom
my cleaner does 2 hrs a week and will do bits of tidying, I pay her extra to change the beds .
its not enough hours and the wrong jobs for a cleaner.

You need a housekeeper not a cleaner but no you are not asking too much at all , just asking it form the wrong person .

To clean one bathroom properly would require one hour+ so it would be 5 hours just to clean the bathrooms. 1 hour for each of the 5 bedrooms so there is another 5 hours.
You need a housekeeper not a cleaner.
To clean to a good standard in a 5 bed/4 bath house plus extras would equal a minimum of 12 hours per week

What? I can clean both our bathrooms and the downstairs loo in an hour with time to spare. What the hell are you doing to take an hour? Cleaning it with a toothbrush?