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Original poster

Self-employed cleaner - returning to work - if you *are* one or if you *have* one.....

34 replies

Classiccar · 25/05/2020 17:29

Hoping to catch some self-employed cleaners such as Dala from the previous threads but new perspectives welcome too Smile

Self-employed cleaner, been with families between 4 and 20 years.

If you have returned, have you had to work extra hours (or even an extra 30mins or so?) to get it back to how your clients would like the standard to be?

If so, did you get paid for the extra time?

If so, did you discuss this before your return?

Or if your cleaner has returned, did you take getting the house up to how it was before into account?

OP posts:
CountessFrog · 25/05/2020 17:33

My goodness, I have a cleaner. She hasn’t returned yet, but I’ve tried to keep on top of things in her absence.

When she comes back, I wouldn’t dream of expecting more from her.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 25/05/2020 17:34

I have my lovely cleaner coming back this week for the first time. She’s suggested doing alternate weeks (I have been paying her half the money every week since 23rd March, I’m not sure whether she will now be expecting to be paid on the other week she doesn’t come, but that’s a different question). I am going to suggest that she does half the house in the normal time. Then next time the other half. We have five adult here instead of the normal two so it’s a bit scruffy.

QuantumWeatherButterfly · 25/05/2020 17:44

My cleaner has come back. I've tried to keep on top of things reasonable and the house certainly wasn't a hovel, but with working full time plus childcare on top, no it wasn't up to professional standard.

My cleaner did an extra 30 minutes. She didn't ask in advance, but we trust her and her judgement. We paid her for her extra time, no question. And we've been paying her full pay while she's been unable to clean.

Interested in this thread?

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Cleaning
Dozer · 25/05/2020 17:47

Still paying ours but not having her back yet because it seems an unnecessary risk until the DC are back in school / one or both of us are WoH / we can host friends or family.

We’ve kept the house clean, so no extra time would be needed, but if it was otherwise would pay extra for extra time.

peony68 · 25/05/2020 18:09

Cleaner here , I returned to work last Monday . I sent out a text to my clients the week before explaining that I was happy to resume cleaning for those that felt ready for me to do so but there was no pressure from me ( I did this because quite a few had enquired and were keen to get me back ASAP ! ). I would say that about three quarters of my clients took me up on it , the remaining clients are shielding so have said I will keep their slots open and they can have me back once restrictions for them are eased ( however long that may be ) .
As for extra payment , I took no payment from any of my clients during lock down , I was fortunate enough to be able to claim the self employment government grant . I found that when I returned last week I stayed an extra hour at each address to " catch up " and bring things back to normal . Most clints have been working from home and home schooling and although they have done their own cleaning , they haven't been able to give the attention to detail that I would as someone who goes in to do that specific job IYSWIM . Everyone of my clients actually asked me for the extra time and were quite happy to pay for this .
I would also stress that I have used gloves , hand sanitiser and masks whilst cleaning , social distancing while I'm in homes has also been adhered to , either by people staying outside in their gardens or going out while I am there .

listsandbudgets · 25/05/2020 18:53

I've tried to ensure the basics are done. Sweeping, mopping, wiping etc. Shes said shes going to do a full deep clean for free on her return which all being well will be next week. ( she knows what my cleaning abilities are like and I suspect she thinks I will need it!!)

I've paid her in full for the whole of lockdown so a free deep clean seems reasonable return.

thecatsthecats · 25/05/2020 19:32

My cleaner will be back Thursday. I'll be asking her to do a thorough clean of every room she can manage for the next few visits to catch up. If she's happy to do the deeper clean in longer hours, I'll be happy to pay her more to cover it.

Need to pick her up a welcome back present actually!

dementedma · 25/05/2020 19:36

I'm hoping my elderly mother's cleaner will come back next week. I've tried to keep on top of it but the place really needs a good clean. Will offer her extra to give it a blitz

BlusteryLake · 25/05/2020 19:42

I think if people have been paying their cleaners whilst they haven't been coming for the part ten weeks, then an extra hour should be fine. If they haven't, though, then they should expect to pay for the extra time it takes to get back on top of the house.

alphabetspagetti · 25/05/2020 19:43

Ours came back 10 day ago. She usually comes twice a week and does some ironing and changes the bed as well as the cleaning. I'd kept on top of things but not done as thorough job as her and, of course, we're here all the time.

For her first session, I asked her to do fewer rooms than normal as we needed a couple of "shelter" in whilst she was here and I'm not happy with her doing the ironing or changing the beds yet. Nonetheless, she was here for the usual amount of time plus an extra hour. She asked me towards the end if she could do extra and told me I didn't need to pay as it was her thank you (I've been paying her 50% whilst she didn't come) but I paid it anyway.
Last week, she just came for the usual amount of time. Again, fewer rooms and no changing the beds or ironing.
I imagine we'll carry on in this fashion. If fewer rooms etc mean she runs out of things to do, she can do the skirting boards, cornices, pull furniture out etc. There's plenty to keep her busy!

mrscampbellblackagain · 25/05/2020 19:45

My cleaners have been back for just over a week. I paid her through out the time she didn't come.

When she came back I just got her to do a couple of rooms for the first couple of visits. So no extra time but she was deep cleaning each room.

Roo2012 · 25/05/2020 19:46

I've been paying my cleaner in full. She has said that as she was also able to claim for being self employed she is going to charge half rates for a period of time after she comes back. She's good but her usual clean is a keeping on top of things and then I do a deep clean every few weeks. We've been doing the cleaning while she's been off and it's as clean as it always is, she wont need more time.

WrongKindOfFace · 25/05/2020 19:47

Mine has not yet returned. I’d happily pay her extra if she needs to do more. Hopefully it’s not too bad - just a tad dusty in places.

SquigglePigs · 25/05/2020 19:49

Ours is coming back next week. We've kept on top of as much as we can but it's definitely not up to scratch. She offered extra time but it's going to be hard enough to keep our little one away from her for the usual 4 hours so we've said just do extra things over a few weeks to get back up to usual state - DH isn't going into work so she'll have some extra time that used to be spent ironing.

If she was doing extra we'd obviously pay her for it! I'm fact we have offered to increase her hourly rate given she hasn't upped it in the three years we've had her.

MrsOfBebbanburg · 25/05/2020 19:51

I haven’t returned yet. When I do I will be offering all current clients a deep clean to start off with, usual hourly rate but as many hours as they want before I get back to regular hours. So I’m not tying to undo months’ worth of build up in my normal time slot.

mooching · 25/05/2020 19:51

My cleaner came back this week. I didn't pay her any extra but I have paid her in full over the lockdown. She maybe spent an extra 10 mins here but I had tried to keep the standards reasonable. She did bring me some lovely flowers for having paid her which was totally unnecessary. It was lovely to see her!

Burplecutter · 25/05/2020 20:01

Mines been back a couple of weeks now. She didn't need to stay extra time because I kept on top of it.
She even commented about how clean I had kept it and was out the door 10 minutes early with everything done. I would have been really embarrassed had she come back and the place was awful, and definitely would have paid more if that was the case.

She did comment that a few others haven't kept on top of things and 1 or two were in a terrible state, had to stay longer at them and hadn't charged extra. I was shocked that more wasn't charged because we pay an hourly rate.

Sunbird24 · 25/05/2020 20:09

I don’t know when mine is starting again but I’ve been paying her as usual throughout. I’ve not been home as I work elsewhere and figured going back to my empty house wasn’t really an essential journey, so it’s perfectly safe for us both. When she’s missed weeks before she’s done a bit extra next time, but I don’t ask her to. She doesn’t charge me a lot but having her pop in every 2 weeks makes a huge difference

firawla · 25/05/2020 20:12

Mine has been back a couple of weeks now. I had paid her throughout anyway. She said she might have to do a bit extra to get the house back to the usual standard, but if so the money Id already paid the past few weeks of lockdown would have covered it. But then after she came back, she said it actually wasn’t that bad anyway so didn’t need a tonne of extra time

rubymaster · 25/05/2020 20:13

Ours stayed an hour longer than usual but we’ve also been paying her in full the whole of lockdown so feel like it’s balanced out.

ChateauMargaux · 25/05/2020 20:23

I paid mine for 8 weeks during lockdown and when she came back I asked her to come two days in a row and do half the house on each day. We have 3 bathrooms and 5 bedrooms. I did clean during the time she was not there but the windows, under the furniture, cobwebs in corners and dusting bookshelves were not done so it needed that extra time.

She was not paid by all of her clients so made an effort to juggle her schedule to fit my extra cleaning in. She also said that some people had not cleaned the entire time and did not expect the first clean to take longer. Her standards are high and this was difficult for her. I also gave here a mini bottle of champagne and some chocolate as a thank you for fitting my extra cleaning in.

I am very grateful for my clean house, with 2 parents working and three kids following on line school and not being able to go more than 1km from our house once a day it was pretty full on. I am so happy she is able to come back now!!

Original poster
Classiccar · 27/05/2020 13:21

Thanks all.

Was initially sad and disappointed with myself and one of my clients at reading the responses as had everything agreed so went back with it all in place to then not receive the extra payment.

However, a few days later I received a really lovely message saying it was lovely having me back and they’d topped up my account accordingly.

All good!

OP posts:
cazinge · 27/05/2020 13:42

Ours is coming back next week, she refused payment during lockdown as she was getting 100% furlough from her employed jobs (as opposed to her SE cleaning).

DS will be back at nursery and we will work from 1 room while she does the rest of the house then move rooms, keeping social distance. She will be wearing gloves and offered to wear a mask but I said no need unless she wants to.

cazinge · 27/05/2020 13:43

Sorry, should have said. We have kept up with most things but I am 36w pregnant and exhausted now, if she needs longer to being it back up I will trust her judgement and pay her accordingly.

Bloodybridget · 27/05/2020 14:23

Our cleaner came back two weeks ago, I don't think the house was dirtier than usual and she didn't do extra time. We tried to pay her for the three visits she'd missed, but she wouldn't accept the money (we'll give her a bigger bonus at Christmas).

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