If you have a cleaner, how long do they do?

[Insidelaurashead]

I'm just after some opinions really. I have a health condition (fibromyalgia) and find cleaning really difficult, especially during a flare up-it's often the thing I can't do at all if I'm in a bad phase of the illness. So I decided to get a once a fortnight cleaner, so that the kitchen and bathroom gets a good clean and I know that if I'm struggling, it won't be long before someone does it, rather than forcing myself to, sometimes through tears of pain. (I am very much struggling to justify this decision to myself even though I would tell anyone else that they should be kinder to themselves, so apologies for my long justification there!)

I've had two people come and have a look. One was a girl I used to work with, who was asking on Facebook for more cleaning jobs. She knows my illness, I trust her and was very clear in that I would go with how long she said she needed for the clean, 1.5 hours in her case for my whole house apart from the room I'll be working in, and I said that if she finds she's done quicker, she's welcome to leave sooner and I'll still happily pay her for the time. She left saying she would let me know when she could start. Months have gone by and I'm still waiting.

I psyched myself up again, and a lady was coming round on Thursday to have a look at the house. She didn't turn up. I then messaged her and she said she had forgotten, and came round tonight instead. I told her ideally I wanted an hour a fortnight (she had a 2 hour free slot) and that all I was bothered about was my kitchen, which isn't overly big and my smaller than average bathroom. I said if she found she had time left she's welcome to run the vac around my living room but that's very much a bonus and if there's no time, all good. She arranged to start tomorrow.

She's then messaged me an hour ago to say that actually, she doesn't think an hour is enough to do the kitchen and bathroom. It's obvious from how she's worded it that she wants me to back out of the booking, I suspect because she's had a job come in that fills the 2 hour slot, or is weekly rather than fortnightly. That's fine, but I'm wondering if my expectations are off.

If you have a cleaner, how much time do you pay for, and what do they cover in that time?

2 hours - kitchen, bathroom. Hoover and mop. I do think she takes quite long but it is always cleaner than I can ever get jt.

4 hours every 2 weeks. Slow but thorough and trustworthy.

A proper clean of a bathroom should take an absolute minimum of 30 minutes (if you don’t have a separate shower cubicle), a kitchen again 30 minutes at very minimum. I won’t do bookings if less than 2 hours

My SIL cleans...she says 2 hour job minimum

I'm a cleaner. I find that the best way to get everything done is to do Weekly cleans of no less than 2 hours, Fortnightly cleans 3 hours minimum.

I think it should be 2 hours minimum otherwise it's not really worth their travel time is it? And it's not very rewarding to have to do a rushed, half-arsed job because you don't have enough time to do it properly.

It also depends how big your house is. Small and uncluttered, 2 hours would be fine. Bigger would need longer.

Our cleaner does 3 hours a week (3 bedroom house and it gets filthy, we have 2 young kids and do very little cleaning )

8 hours a week but that includes changing beds and also periodic deep cleaning E.g oven, fridge, cleaning out all cupboards, inside window etc.

Cleaner comes twice a week.

I think, unless they live on your street, the issue is that they will be being paid for 1 hour, but lost 2 or more hours of their day.

For most people who are self employed, it isn't worth the travel (potentially cost but mainly time that they are not being paid for) for the job.
You think you are paying {let's say} a reasonable £10 - £12 for an hour's work, but they realise that is £10 - £12 for say 2.5 hours out of their day (adding on travel there and travel home) and potentially bus fare, or petrol if they are driving. Then, it isn't really worth someone's time if you look at the whole thing from their pov.

Three hours once a week

Supposed to be 2 hours but she was in for less than 90 minutes today. And hadn't done a brilliant job. She's normally ok.

Our cleaner’s mimimim slot is 3 hours - I agree with others that you might be lucky to find someone who will do just an hour given what it means for their daily rate with travel etc.

Our cleaner does our whole house but I think if I timed just the kitchen and a bathroom it would be over an hour most weeks so I also think you might need to allow more time for the work as well as the other considerations. Any chance you could ask them to do more and justify 2 hours to yourself? It sounds like it would make a big difference to your life (it does to mine and that is without fibromyalgia).

As PP said one hour isn’t worth their time. I used to have 2 hours a week in a small 3 bed house and it was just about enough to do surface level kitchen, bathroom and change sheets and hoover / tidy. No thorough cleaning.
Now have 10-15 hours a week and house is properly clean (also bigger house).
Think you will need to offer minimum 2 hours a week to entice them to come - good cleaners are like gold dust!

Thanks everyone, that's really helpful. I wish she'd said she didn't want an hours slot when I messaged her to ask if she covered my area and did she have room for an hour a fortnight, rather than arranging to come and see the house, not turning up, then rearranging, looking round, telling me how she works, and then later messaging me with hints that she didn't want the work. Just say you don't do 1 your slots if that's the case.

I'll keep looking and see if I can find someone who will do a fortnightly clean for me, and if I have to make that up to 2 hours then so be it.