Not sure what I should be expecting from a cleaner?

[hillsandvalleys]

I recently employed a cleaner who has done two cleans for us. Both times I've felt a bit underwhelmed by the clean but don't know if I am being overly pedantic and wondered what other people's experiences are.

We had a two hour clean to focus on 2 rooms (bathroom and kitchen) which were not filthy to begin with. Small bathroom, medium sized kitchen.

The sorts of things I'm not happy about but may be too pedantic-

• things like shampoo bottles are left disorderly rather than lined up
• bits of food still stuck to the hob and crumbs
• not everything in the kitchen has been cleaned (eg spice rack not been cleaned)
• bins not left empty
• dirt still in nooks and crannies eg around cupboard handles and toilet seat fixtures

I don't know whether I am expecting too much of a deep clean. I also have a feeling she should be able to cover more of the house in 2 hours?

Grateful for any thoughts, it's a perfectly adequate clean but missing the wow factor which I thought having a cleaner would bring but I've never had one before and might be expecting too much?

That's not good enough. Can you review with her what you are expecting and see what she says?

IMO there’s two different types of good cleaners.

1. Obsessed with anti bacing and cleaning everything but terrible at tidying up.
2. Brilliant at tidying, house has that wow someone’s cleaned today look but doesn’t always do spotless cleaning when you look closer.

You sound like yours is crap at both 😂

I’d chose a no.2 all day long.

It sounds like she's not fulfilling the fairly fundamental aspect of her job! We have a smallish three-bed which the cleaner manages to get sparkling in 2.5 hours. (I don't agree with pp on clean vs tidy as we tidy it before she comes as we're paying for her to clean).

However to give cleaner the benefit of the doubt, if you haven't been having regular cleans perhaps it needs a bit more work than you think?

without knowing how filthy the bathroom and kitchen were, it's hard to assess but certainly this doesn't sound right. And to leave food on the hob still is a basic thing - I mean, I do this level of basic cleaning every night after dinner!

You are the employer. You need to make it clear what you expect. if she feels she can't do that in the time you've allocated or for the fee, that's fine, but then you need to let her go and find a cleaner who can.

I have had about five cleaners now.

2 were brilliant, one particular outstanding. The first cleaner a large 4 bed detached in 2 hours and the house literally sparkled. Nobody has ever topped her. She even got a few bits of ironing done at the end. She got a more regular job with a more reliable income.

The second and third were also v good, but couldn’t finish the whole house so we alternated between the dining room and second floor each week. That was fine. Then we moved.

The fourth and fifth, utterly useless! One left paw prints on the lounge floor near the door and food on the hob like you said.

I find some cleaners clean what they think looks dirty - the issue being that that’s their value judgment and didn’t match my own. I knew what surfaces looked like before they had been and expected they looked better and not the same after they had been. Other cleaners clean from top to bottom each time they come - those are the best!

@CodenameVillanelle I feel like it could be flogging a dead horse... like I could pinpoint about 20 things but then feel a bit like with a good cleaner I shouldn't have to point out food on the hob :-/ and it might be worth cutting losses now

@Dinosforall that was what I thought about getting round more of the house in that time. Pre-baby I was obsessive cleaner so I think nothing should be particularly filthy, I want to give her the benefit of the doubt but my gut feels it's just not quite professional enough

The bathroom and kitchen were both tidy so it would have just been a case of putting things back neatly. Things like the tea and coffee cannisters were left lying on the worktop rather than lined up

Thanks for all the responses. Really helpful.

@BlingLoving I think I am going to have to find another cleaner or at least have someone else in to compare cleans as my gut says this isn't right. But felt it was worth posting first as I did wonder if I was expecting what you'd only get from a deep clean

@HotDogKetchup it's like she's tried to do a top to toe clean but managed to clean the bits that weren't dirty (like the cupboard fronts) and miss the bits that were (like in the handles)

It's difficult to say without seeing what the before and after are.
I always say those first few weeks on a new clean will take longer as i get the feel of the house, how it runs, what needs more attention paying to etc
Crumbs shouldn't be left tho!

Get a new cleaner? Standard is not good enough. You would expect a cleaner to know which nooks and crannies gather dirt, and put things back as she found them or better.

Judging by my experience of cleaners, you can't expect much. I have given up and loathe to pay someone to do a crap job, so I now do it myself even though I am disabled. Your current one needs sacking. From experience cleaning standards always go downhill, so if they started badly, things will only get worse.

From experience cleaning standards always go downhill, so if they started badly, things will only get worse.

Definitely this.

It helps that my DH is very direct but somehow polite about it and it is well received, so he tends to get the best of people. I, on the other hand, end up kind of apologising whilst asking them to do certain things and come across like an ass!

@flamingo40 yes, I think you responded to my previous post about cleaning and that was partly why I went for the second weeks clean as I thought it was v sensible that the first time would take longer. This time was definitely better than the first and she got more done in the time

It depends what the rooms were like at the start.

My cleaner comes twice a week and also does laundry. I have a fairly spacious two bed, two bath flat with a seperate utility. When she has been the areas she have cleaned are clean enough to be lickable.

A cleaner shouldn’t have to move lots of things to clean, the spice rack for example, had you emptied it or was it still full of little containers?

I would suggest a list of what you want doing. A kitchen can take a fair amount of time to do if every week the cupboard doors need cleaning especially if they're gloss as you have to clean them and then buff them up, the same goes for granite work tops. What about the floors, they'll need hoovering then mopping. The spice rack probably only needs wiping at the top if you want each section of it cleaning then think how long this would take. Also is there any tidying up to do, I would make sure all surfaces are clear before she arrives

Best advice, go for a recommendation.

This is the hob

Yes that's me that replied on your previous post.
I'm just looking at your hob picture... horrified to be honest.
I certainly wouldn't leave it like that

This is the loo post clean

Having looked at the pictures they need washing in the sink I'd class that as an extra job. I'd expect the hob to be wiped but not those. I think it's acceptable to expect them to be cleaned but two hours to do all the little jobs too is not long enough.

Nah sack the cleaner, that's piss poor cleaning. Also don't listen to cleaners do x,y,z. You get to discuss what you want from your cleaner when you explain the job. Loads will tidy too, or even take ironing and do big cleans ...it all depends on what you want and if this is something they feel like doing.

keep looking for a better cleaner.
look in shop windows for adverts, also word of mouth, but they tend to be too busy !
lots of polish and east european people around here, often do this kind of job as in-filler between other things. they tend to be excellent; attention to detail, high standards and hard-working.
don't bother about the one you had. visible crumbs etc, no good.

That toilet too?!
No I honestly would prefer one room sparkling than a few badly done rooms!

@cheeseychovolate that was the kind of thing I wondered like whether I'm expecting 'extra' but I think I want a cleaner who will focus on the things that look dirty and prioritise them rather than clean stuff that already looks clean and leave things that look dirty. I feel prioritising what's needed in the time should be part of the job/expertise that I'm paying for esp as she charges on the higher side

I don’t class those as extra jobs. Cleaning the oven would be an extra job, or changing the beds. Giving the hob a decent wipe down is a weekly job.

From the other perspective - my cleaner doesn’t do a lot in the kitchen, as I do that every day, and similarly, I will give the sink and loo a quick wipe round when they need it rather than leave it a week.

So while I do like it if she has time for that, and wiping up crumbs etc, it’s more important for me that she does the hoovering and floor mopping etc as I don’t do that myself. And I love that she plumps the cushions and put any random bits into neat piles so it looks super tidy, even if only for an hour or two!

I’ve been through loads of cleaners - one only managed to hoover the upstairs in two hours. She did a fucking magnificent job of it, but that wasn’t really enough! Someone else made my shower absolutely sparkle but again, not much more in two hours. Others have blitzed the whole place with enthusiasm and good cheer! I had one who started off brilliantly, but then left her husband, lost a load of weight, started getting her hair and lashes done and from then on she spent the whole time texting her new boyfriends . I would hear her phone ping, her stop doing what she was doing, silence for a minute, Hoover back on. Ping, stop work, silence, Hoover back on etc for the whole two hours.

My current cleaner is an absolute god send - she’s one of those people who actually LOVE cleaning and does it even though she has a really busy home life and her H earns well, just so that she can get out of the house and do something for herself once a week! She’s a great combo of quick/efficient and thorough, so best of both worlds.

Just keep plugging away until you find a good one!