What would the perfect cleaner do ( or not do) ?

[Livedandlearned2]

If you could have or do already have a cleaner, what would you want them to do to make your life easier, or nicer?

And on the other side, what would you prefer they didn't do?

I’m a cleaner, anyone expecting or getting an oven clean for £10/hour is a CF. Local oven cleaning companies charge minimum of £40 here and takes them at least 45 minutes. I don’t do ovens at all and I tell people why. I do the hob but that’s it.

Haha. I fucking love my cleaner - she has probably saved my marriage - but she has not only cleaned my house today, she's also "cleansed" it of the spirit of a man who had "refused to move on."

I've got owl feathers, rose quartz and burnt sage crumbs on my mantelpiece. 🙄😂

Tbh, I love her a little bit more for her craziness (but also coz I have a clean loo).

£60 per hour for oven cleaning?

Wow..

(leaves accountancy to retrain)

My lovely, lovely first cleaner (sadly died several years ago) was hotel trained and absolutely brilliant.
She polished light bulbs and cleaned my hairbrushes!
She came twice a week, ironed DH's and DS's shirts and left the place immaculate. It was bliss to come come to a clean, tidy, sweet-smelling, thoroughly orderly home - I felt calm just walking through the door on Wednesdays and Fridays.
She was a real gem and I hope I treated her well, above average basic plus holiday pay, Xmas bonus and present and other regular extras. (She did tell me that.)
I was gutted when she retired then died a few years later.

I wouldn't clean anyone's oven either, I just can't do it and like pp said, a professional oven cleaner gets paid way more. £70 in my area.

Wow

(leaves accountancy to retrain)

I’m genuinely considering specialising in oven cleaning.

Kaytee I used to give my cleaner a Christmas box of an extra week's money plus a small gift like a bottle of something that she liked (sherry!) plus something a bit more personal.

We have a great cleaner.

She is 23.

We have a huge 4 bedroom bungalow. With a double front room, utility room, big dinning room and huge kitchen, 3 bathrooms....

We don't let her do 3 of the bedrooms but mostly because they have so much "stuff" in them...

She's great... And does what ever we ask her to do. Although we dont ask her to do anything unusual.
Partner always cleans the ensuite, even bleaches the toilet after every time so its a basic, wipe around

We pay her £15 an hour which is fairly normal i think... Suffolk

One lady I cleaned for gave me £50 which I loved but had to spend most on my kids. Another gave me a little gift bag containing a soft Christmas blanket, some yankee candles and some nice body lotion and bubble bath. I think anything you give that shows your application is lovely, a voucher is great, for somewhere like Next or Boots maybe.

Tartyflette she sounds amazing!

She suffers abit with her health, so have told her when ever she is poorly, do not come in, equally, if she had already started , she must just leave if poorly.
I reassured her , we wont get rid of her due to her being poorly... Which i can imagine is a worry for most self employed, cash in hand workers...

I always make her a tea when she gets here, and have about a half hour chat about her and any random crap, and always start the time from when she walks in.

Partner will make her another tea about an hour or so later and she will go into the garden with him for a cigarette...
She also knows where the kettle is, and knows to help herself...

I expect dusting, vacuuming, cleaning hard floors. Clean bathrooms and loos. Clean outside appliances but not in.

No laundry, no beds, no ironing.

My cleaner only started last week and I love him a little bit

He vacuumed all the sofas and armchairs (we have cats). Did a cracking job of the bathrooms too.

They charge $30 (CAD) an hour - so about 18 quid.

Livedand She absolutely was -- she'd sort through vases of flowers, get rid of ones that were past it and rearrange the rest! (and do it better than I could)
She had already retired from the hotel job when she came to us, she lived very close by so we were handy for her. She stayed with us for over 10 years but it got too much for her and she gave it up (she was over 75 by then!)
I still miss her.

My cleaner is fairly new, she does 4 hours every 2 weeks and the first week she just cleaned downstairs. It was absolutely spotless but I rang her up and explained that I needed her to be less thorough! 'Clean enough' everywhere is great!

I've replaced a few retired cleaners and it's tricky because they are usually very thorough and just know how to do a good clean. A hotel trained cleaner has got me thinking though, it would be a great skill set to take to a house, a special touch. All the little things add up.

I love how most of you treat your cleaners very well. It's definitely the type of job where a little goes a long way; a cup of tea offered, showing an interest in my family and life, it all makes me feel more appreciated and welcome.

I don't expect my cleaner to do this, but if they did, it is a wow factor: soak and scrub the cooker hood grill (the bit that air gets sucked through and becomes greasy), clean the inside of my fridge and kitchen drawers,/cupboards, clean the windows and glass on the patio doors, both inside and outside ground level, prepared to clean high up ledges.

Cleaning my oven, but that has already been discussed.

Mine worked in a fancy hotel for years so maybe that’s why she was so good.
I miss her, I’ve recently moved and fear that I will never find anyone as good.

For me the key points would be doing a thorough job, so not just wiping/ cleaning around things but then if you move stuff please put it back in the same place. I hate needed to rearrange all my bathroom bits etc every week

I don't have unrealistic expectations of the cleaners I have had. I reward them at Xmas, offer them tea, don't complain if they can't make it as their kids are ill, etc. I pay well for my area. I book them for enough time, and expect they can only do what they can do. I think I treat them with respect.

I expect a little flexibility in terms of jobs. So deep clean kitchen but very little else, occasionally.

I do mind if they take the piss, and more than one has. This includes spending the first half hour drinking coffee but on my time, going out for cigarettes, rushing to answer texts and especially leaving early. I'm happy for them to do all those things-including a quick cigarette, to be fair- but the rest has to be on their time, not mine. Especially the leaving early and starting half an hour late.