How good is your cleaner?

[Sugarfreerage]

If you have a cleaner, how good are they?

Do they do the edges of your carpets? Keep the shower tracks clean? Dust EVERYWHERE that dust gets or just the obvious spots?

I'm onto my fourth cleaner now;

First one started great as a pair, then just one started coming and she complained the whole time about how tired it made her.

Second one started as a pair and did a great job, expanded and sent someone new who took much longer and literally just flicked a cloth around and left things filthy.

Third was a trial clean, lovely lady but didn't dust any frames on the walls, and didn't vacuum behind doors/under the dining table etc.

Fourth will be doing a trial clean next week, I guess I'm trying to see whether my expectations are unreasonable before she arrives? 😅

Why don't you tell them what you want done? They're not mind readers. My current cleaner is brilliant and needed very little direction. However, I have had others in the past where I had to list what I wanted done beyond the basics.

Make a list and give it to them, rather than treating the ‘trial clean’ like some kind of psychic test where you arrive home and start running the fingertips of your white cotton gloves along the door tops and shower tracks?

Yes I agree with pp you need to make it clear exactly what you want done.
And also make sure your expectation of what needs to be done in the time you are paying her for is realistic.

Totally agree on telling them what I'd like done. I definitely try to be as fair as possible.

The second cleaners for example, I asked specially could you spend some extra time on the bathroom tiles today as they're getting build up on - I got charged a longer time slot but the tiles weren't touched 🤣

Cleaner number 3 when she arrived I went around and told her my priorities, I explained the reasons I'd been disappointed with the last cleaner and showed her the dust on the frames etc. Then she left them too 😩

Why don't you tell them what you want done? They're not mind readers

No, but they are cleaners and should be able to tell what visible surfaces need cleaning. I wouldn’t expect them to move furniture or clean inside cupboards without being asked but I do expect them to clean the corners of the bathroom floor or behind the kitchen sink without being asked.

Are you giving them enough time? Our house (4 bed, 3 baths) needs 2hrs a week just for basic cleaning- bathrooms, kitchen and floor, vacuuming.

If I want everything dusted too I ask them to do an extra hour or rotate jobs (eg- told them to leave kitchen and dust all blinds upstairs etc).

Yes, those are fairly obvious things but depending on the time available, not everything can be done so it's important to tell the cleaner your priorities.

That said, it sounds like the op's last two were not particularly good cleaners.

@BeenThere101 where do you live 😂😍 can you send him my way.

That's insanely fast but the main thing is he's actually doing a great job.

We've really struggled to find a decent cleaner. First one was okay but quite slow. What she did was great but it worked out very expensive (think 4.5hours for a fairly tidy 1200 foot space). She ended up leaving a a she got a job outside of cleaning.

We recently had someone else who was sure she could do it all in 2.5 hours. We told her to let us know if she needed more time. She never did. In the whole time she came she never dusted anything, despite me occasionally asking her too!

I tend to book 2.5 hours, our house isn't small but also not absolutely huge.

4 bed (one not used), 2 bath, very uncluttered. All surfaces and floor spaces are always clear from any clutter and there's never any tidying to do. I do clean inbetween them coming - hoover hard floors daily, mop any spillages, kitchen 'shut down' every night so it's never back-breakingly filthy.

I set out my priorities and none of the cleaners I've had in have said there's not enough time.

However, for the next cleaner coming in I've actually said not to do any dusting as I'll do the whole house before she arrives so I'm hoping this might allow her to spend a little more time in areas other's haven't.

I had a cleaner for one year, two hours a week for a small 3 bed semi, one bathroom, one bedroom used as a small office. 34 a week.

they sent two cleaners for one hour, which actually ended up being 40 mins, which I wouldn’t have minded but they just didn’t clean it very well!

I tried politely asking for more, e.g saying oh if there’s time this week could you focus on the bathroom (knowing there definitely was time as they’d clean for 40 mins rather than the hour for two of them), but they never got better and i am a wimp so didn’t want the conflict .

they were lovely ladies and i needed them for the year as i had baby twins and just couldn’t do it all, but I ended it about two months ago and my house has never been cleaner, despite me struggling to balance it !

I used to have an amazing cleaner, really thorough and fast. Unfortunately she stopped cleaning. She recommended the one we have now, nowhere near as good, not terrible but think she also has got slower over the years. But we've known her for 10 years now so we would feel bad stopping. Also we have had other cleaners in on occassion when she's on holiday - including for "deep cleans" - and invariably they range between not great to OK, none of them has done an impressive job.