What would you expect cleaner to do...

[londongirl12]

If they came every fortnight, 4 bedroom house (new build, so not massive at all), how many hours would you expect them to work and what cleaning would they do?

I have a 3 bed semi, i have 2 ladies do my cleaning for an hour a fortnight and they just get done in that time, i'm looking to move to a larger 4 bed house so will increase them to 2 hrs fortnightly.
At the current house they clean the upstairs bathroom and separate toilet room, inc cleaning the toilets, downstairs toilet, wipe down all surfaces (shelves/windowsills/desks/dining table etc), clean the kitchen sink and draining board, hoover everywhere, mop the lino floors, clean inside windows/fluff up sofa cushions.
The house smells and looks lovely when they're done :-)

That’s a bit of a “how long is a piece of string” question isn’t it. How many hours do you want them to do / want to pay them?

Our cleaner comes every week and does 2 hours, cleans kitchen, vacuums and tidies the living room, cleans one bathroom and one bedroom (but that’s just vacuuming and changing the bedding). She’s rotates the next week to do a different bathroom / vacuum spare room etc. She’s fantastic.

Wow, all that for 2 hours worth of work??? My cleaner is clearly not doing enough

@ShirleyPhallus

That’s a bit of a “how long is a piece of string” question isn’t it. How many hours do you want them to do / want to pay them?

Our cleaner comes every week and does 2 hours, cleans kitchen, vacuums and tidies the living room, cleans one bathroom and one bedroom (but that’s just vacuuming and changing the bedding). She’s rotates the next week to do a different bathroom / vacuum spare room etc. She’s fantastic.

I just wanted to get an idea of what is an acceptable amount of cleaning every fortnight. I've said don't do the kitchen as we keep on top of that, and don't want her to change bedding, tidy, anything like that. Mainly clean the 2 bathrooms, windows, skirting boards. And the bathrooms aren't super dirty as she came the week before and did a deep clean and we've been keeping on top of it

What we agreed needed doing.

I've got a 4-bed (now 20 years old) and have had a couple of cleaners over the years.

I've gone for weekly and they have done the following:

• vacuum and mop hard floors (kitchen, conservatory, utility, hall & downstairs)
• vacuum carpets (lounge, playroom, stairs, landing, master & ensuite, main bathroom)
• clean kitchen & utility work surfaces, sink etc. Last one cleaned down the cupboard doors & inside windows Inc conservatory.
• clean sinks & toilets (ensuite main bathroom & downstairs loo). I clean the shower/bath during or after use so don't need them doing weekly.
• dust/wipe down surfaces eg window sills, tv unit, coffee & side tables, chest of drawers etc (conservatory, lounge, playroom, master bedroom).

Periodically I'd get them to do the dining room (hard floors & surfaces) or spare room.

When the kids were younger their bedrooms would be done, but then that cleaner didn't do the kitchen cupboards or inside windows. Now they clean their own.

I've always had 2 hours, and the cleaner works fairly solidly for most of that to do the above.

I've never found a fortnightly clean to work in a 4 bed house. I took the hit and went weekly, and now I never have dusty skirtings, cobwebs or limescale. The house is an absolute bomb site the day after she's been, but it's always clean. I just do the kitchen tops and a quick wipe / bleach the bathrooms in between, plus run the cordless around downstairs most days, 10 minutes a day max.
When we were fortnightly things were actually dirty, and I was never on top of it.

I think you have to ask yourself how long it would take you to clean your house properly, and at a normal pace not working like a maniac. A cleaner will have a good idea of how long it will take to do when they give you a quote - but if you want what I would consider extras done - skirting boards or walls washing / oven cleaned then you have to give extra time. Do you want your kitchen units wiped down every fortnight for instance?

Also - how messy is your house & will they have to tidy up debris / clothes / papers etc before they can actually clean surfaces. Do you want them to do ironing or change the beds / towels? Clean inside windows or glass doors? Clean inside the fridge?

When I have had cleaners (which I don't at the minute) I would consider a basic clean to include wiping / dusting surfaces and cleaning hob & sink / toaster / kettle / surfaces of appliances in kitchen (putting on dishwasher if I hadn't as often they've started early morning). Things put away or tidied up & table cleaned. Floors hoovered and hard floors mopped. Bathroom(s) thoroughly cleaned beds made / straightened and a bit of a general tidy up. Bins emptied and rubbish taken to outside bin.

I live in a medium / large 4 bed / 4 bath and would pay for about 6- 8hrs per week to get it all done & my cleaner would often put a wash on for me or change kids bed linen - a good cleaner will notice what needs doing and ask you about it / offer - if it takes extra time you should be prepared to pay them! A good cleaner is worth their weight in gold

@Babysharkdododont

I've never found a fortnightly clean to work in a 4 bed house. I took the hit and went weekly, and now I never have dusty skirtings, cobwebs or limescale. The house is an absolute bomb site the day after she's been, but it's always clean. I just do the kitchen tops and a quick wipe / bleach the bathrooms in between, plus run the cordless around downstairs most days, 10 minutes a day max. When we were fortnightly things were actually dirty, and I was never on top of it.

And how long does the cleaner stay for a week?

@sideboobissues

I think you have to ask yourself how long it would take you to clean your house properly, and at a normal pace not working like a maniac. A cleaner will have a good idea of how long it will take to do when they give you a quote - but if you want what I would consider extras done - skirting boards or walls washing / oven cleaned then you have to give extra time. Do you want your kitchen units wiped down every fortnight for instance?

Also - how messy is your house & will they have to tidy up debris / clothes / papers etc before they can actually clean surfaces. Do you want them to do ironing or change the beds / towels? Clean inside windows or glass doors? Clean inside the fridge?

When I have had cleaners (which I don't at the minute) I would consider a basic clean to include wiping / dusting surfaces and cleaning hob & sink / toaster / kettle / surfaces of appliances in kitchen (putting on dishwasher if I hadn't as often they've started early morning). Things put away or tidied up & table cleaned. Floors hoovered and hard floors mopped. Bathroom(s) thoroughly cleaned beds made / straightened and a bit of a general tidy up. Bins emptied and rubbish taken to outside bin.

I live in a medium / large 4 bed / 4 bath and would pay for about 6- 8hrs per week to get it all done & my cleaner would often put a wash on for me or change kids bed linen - a good cleaner will notice what needs doing and ask you about it / offer - if it takes extra time you should be prepared to pay them! A good cleaner is worth their weight in gold

We've said don't do the kitchen worktops, ovens etc as we keep on top of them. So all I wanted doing was clean bathrooms (main, en-suite and cloakroom), clean windows (have a 3 year old with grubby hands), hoover upstairs, dust skirting. It's the bathrooms that were my main bug bear that I wanted sorted.

Today, she quickly cleaned the bathrooms (we'd kept on top of them so just needed a wipe really), did the upstairs windows and I downstairs one. Then she run out of time. That was 2 hours. I just wanted to know AIBU for what I wanted in 2 hours

The stuff you want doing is time consuming. I used to be a cleaner and things like windows and skirting were done on rotation.

However, a decent feather duster makes the skirting a much quicker job.

Also, a decent cleaner will do much more than give the bathrooms a 'wipe'.

@gobbynorthernbird

The stuff you want doing is time consuming. I used to be a cleaner and things like windows and skirting were done on rotation.

However, a decent feather duster makes the skirting a much quicker job.

Yeah that's all I want, just a dust of the skirting. And maybe a full on scrub every so often 🤣

Bathrooms are a time consuming room because if they just 'give a wipe' they might be clean but don't look great. They need to be dried and limescale /water marks dealt with as well as mopping floors. Same with windows - it's quite a skill to get them sparkly with sticky marks.

Our cleaner did our 4 bed house in 3 hours which I think was reasonable. I think you might need to be realistic about the pace that someone can sustain. 2 hours is no time at all really

Yes, sorry I took ages to post my comment yesterday as was interrupted and didn't see your second post. Bathrooms do take a bit of time to do properly even if they aren't really dirty - shower screens are time consuming if you have them, wiping down tiles / buffing taps / cleaning any bins. I would say at least 20 - 30 mins per bathroom? Less for the cloakroom. It doesn't sound an unreasonable list of tasks for 2hrs, but obviously I don't know your house or what products are being used.

The thing is when I clean I do it in a frenzy - floor mopping is like a workout & I have in the past felt a little bit aggrieved if cleaners appeared to be going at a slower pace as I felt like if the person mopping wasn't breaking a sweat & really putting their back into it they couldn't be doing it properly. BUT, I've come to realise now that if this is someone's full time job (with other clients too) it's extremely unreasonable and unrealistic to expect them to go at that pace all day.

Are you happy with the work she has completed? If she can't finish and you have discussed it with her then I guess you have three options 1) give her more time 2) accept she can't do all the glass 3) try someone else.

Tbh it sounds like you’re saying you just want her to do a quick swish and swipe because you think it’s already clean but in reality they’re not properly clean so she is doing that which does take time to do well. I’m a cleaner and I hate when people say to just do a “quick go over” in any room because it is always dirtier than they think and I’m not interested in leaving a dirty room. I have a reputation for doing good work. And I’ve seen people “shame” their cleaners online with photos of what hasn’t been cleaned.