Cleaners hourly rate

[GetawayCar]

Both me and DH work full time, long days and we have two DC age 8 and 12 and weekends are increasingly taken up with their extra curricular sporting activities. I’m tired of living in a house that’s rarely properly clean so looking to employ a cleaner. We’ve had a few quotes and they vary a lot. I’ve no idea what going rates are.

Our house is tidy, we don’t have much in the way of ornaments or clutter (well we have a ton of clutter but a lot of storage too so it’s all good until you start opening drawers and cupboards). We just don’t have time to properly clean the bathroom for example) We just about manage to hoover and flick a duster round the living room. Things like the shower screen have that translucent layer of lime scale, that sort of thing. It’s a 3 bed small semi, one bathroom.

We are in Kent, on the coast (if that makes a difference to pricing) and most cleaners have suggested two hours a week which sounds fair, but the rates vary from £15ph to £25ph which is a huge variation. They all said they use their own stuff.

Whats a reasonable rate for a cleaner (not in London). I’ve no idea.

Well this has already proven far more of a minefield than I was expecting. Went back to one I really liked the sound of and said okay can I book you in for the slot you said you had free.

She said yes no problem, she could start this week but would be 15 mins late. I said no problem, would she still fit in the two hours or would it be 1hr45mins.

She said actually it will be 1hr30mins as she needed to leave 15 mins early to get to her next appointment. I said okay if you think that’s enough time then no problem and saves me a bit. She came back and said, “how?”. I said oh isn’t it £30 instead of £40?

She replied saying “no it’s a 2 hour slot hun £40”

I went back and said, but you said you can only do 1hr30mins?

Then she blocked me!

I don’t think I said anything wrong?

Then the next one I asked said she can’t start until the end of August due to school holidays but her policy is that you pay for holiday time so I’d need to start paying as soon as I confirmed the slot? I don’t mind paying for weeks when my cleaner is on holiday actually as I’d be budgeting for 52 weeks of the year, and I get paid 52 weeks of the year, but I’d expect it to be 5 weeks worth spread out, not a 7 week block before she’d even started!!!

I see it as a professional thing, and expect them to treat it as a business transaction not a piss take!

I’m starting to think I’m just going to get up at 4am once a week and do my own two hour clean then. I just want somebody who comes in once a week, does what they can for two hours, turns up on time, doesn’t take the piss, and is happy with a standing order (lots said cash only but that’s a hassle for me as I rarely have cash and I’m away a lot).

Hence why I accept my sub-par £27/hr gal and keep my mouth shut. Mediocre, reliable, help is better than me doing 100% myself. She doesn’t take the piss or expect me to pay for hours not worked or holiday.

So £27/hr for the 1.5 hr slot lady…

Oh no I think they are being a bit cheeky with those demands. You do not pay travel time! It is very difficult to find a good reliable cleaner.

We pay £16 per hour in the Midlands and she uses our stuff. I prefer this as I can choose the products we prefer (although I have tweaked one or two at her request).

I'd pay £15 and I'm in London. But my cleaner isn't part of a firm or agency, so it's cash in hand.
If it was through a company then maybe £20?

I don't pay holiday, I'm not her employer? She always messages and says "I'm away for week beginning X date, I hope that's ok" and I say yes that's fine and always say that if she would prefer to do a bit longer the week either side so she's still paid the same then that's fine with me. She sometimes takes me up on it, sometimes not. Similarly on bank holidays (she comes to me on a Monday), she'll ask if I want a clean and I generally always say it's up to her. Sometimes she does, sometimes she has the day off.

She turns up on time but does leave just under ten mins before the 2 hours is up. I'm not sure I can be bothered to get worked up about it tbh.

We pay £15 / hour. We pay for four hours but tbh I know they are usually done in 3 1/2. However, when I looked into current rates it’s now £20-25 ph so no point switching really, I’ve also trained these ones into doing the quirks I like!

They also change the sheets on all our beds and usually wash / hang the sheets out too.

Welcome to the domestic sector of the cleaning industry...I did say that price would be the least of your worries.

The really great, reliable, good cleaners are the ones you never see...you have to know someone who has a cleaner they can recommend, and I don't mean ask people on facebook. You need to be asking friends and neighbours.

If you can get a recommendation, be prepared for them to interview you when they meet you. Make sure they are CLEARLY charging per hour, or per job for all your work, but NEVER mixing the two...i.e. a 2 hour slot that's the same price regardless of time spent there.

FWIW, I charge per job. I do not charge when I cannot go and I do not charge when a client cancels. One client insisted on paying me on the one and only time I was too sick to go, but I do not expect this. Good luck.

I'm in the SE and my cleaner started last year and charged £10 ph, which I thought was unfair, so I pay her £15 ph.

I'm near you and pay £12.50 ph

£15 for my cleaner, £21 for the holiday let as that can be a really horrible job!

NI - I pay between £15 and £17.50 per hour.

I did have an agency who claimed they charged by the job, not per hour, but they never actually did the job, stopped after 3 hours regardless and it was working out at £34 per hour. I stopped using them fairly quickly.