To sack cleaner after one visit?

[Gymmum82]

Many years ago I had a cleaner and she was pretty rubbish, no attention to detail, bare minimum. Kept her for years even though I knew I could do a better job. Ended up getting rid of her eventually after years of annoyance, all my own doing obviously.

Anyway, I’ve recently returned to full time work, young children. I can’t keep on top of the house, so I got a new cleaner, made sure to ask for recommendations locally to ensure I didn’t get stuck with a rubbish one.

We agreed 2 hours and I asked for kitchen bathroom and floors. Didn’t want to overwhelm initially. She left 15 minutes early. Bathroom mirrors not cleaned, bathroom windowsill not cleaned. Kitchen cabinets with obvious marks on not wiped.
No additional done, no attention to detail.

Do I just have unrealistic expectations? Are all cleaners just lax?
Im so frustrated that after doing what I thought was my due diligence I’ve ended up with another crap cleaner. Should I just sack her straight off? Or give her a couple of weeks to improve?

Find another cleaner and then keep going until you find a good one.

If you were clear in what you wanted, sack her and find another.

This. Mine is fantastic. I had to go through three to find her.

If they can't give a good impression from the start then I doubt things will improve. Find another.

You have had the best clean you're going to get off that woman. That was her on her best behaviour. Don't use her again and just keep going until you find someone. Maybe a list of everything you want doing in each room would help someone and you have some objective that you can say they haven't done.

I disagree that the first clean will be the best. It takes a while for a new cleaner to find their feet and their way around a new house.

Also, I don’t think I could clean my kitchen and bathroom and all floors in 2 hrs but it depends on the size of your home and how badly it needed cleaning I suppose?

Leaving 15 mins early in the first clean is bad though admittedly. Are you sure she didn’t mishear you say “kitchen and bathroom floors”?

@Gymmum82 Personally I would use her a second time but give her honest feedback about the good and bad of the first clean so she’s in no doubt of expectations. This is because she came via recommendation so it’s worth benefit of the doubt as you don’t want to be trapped in a potentially ongoing cycle of sourcing and dumping.

Mine is fab, although sometimes I felt like a slattern when I realise she has cleaned my fridge...but I got her on reference from neighbour, so knew she would be good. She did a deep clean week one, then set hours from then.

I have had three cleaners. One I had after the first lockdown was absolutely horrendous! Moaned about having to use a steam cleaner, brushed down all the paintwork in the lobby (not in her remit), but didn't wipe down the kitchen surfaces which was part of her job, then told me they didn't need doing! Was quite rude to me in front of my friend. She lasted all of two weeks before I got rid of her.

She was also doing housework once a month for my DP. She rang me before her second visit to him to ask if I thought he would mind if she took her dog along!

She was also talking to my adult DD about having children DD doesn't want children and told her so. She responded with, "Behave!".

Thankfully, my current cleaner is amazing, as was the one before who only left because she got a full-time job. I also now have a back-up cleaner to cover for holidays and sickness, and she is amazing too.

I would definitely be annoyed if she left early. How do you know this?

As for what you asked for her to do in 2 hours it is a lot but I guess it depends on the size of your home. I wouldn’t manage to clean my bathrooms, kitchen and all floors in that time. Especially wiping down doors / mirrors/ shower screens and Hoover or sweep and mop or steam clean the entire house.

When I first hired my cleaner I had a chat with them about what I wanted done regularly and what I expected (will leave a note if I want x done instead of y). Then have her deep clean once a month. I also tidy as I go so it’s a tidy environment for her to work, will wipe spills down as they happen in the kitchen and clean as I go.

if I was you why not give her another chance but explain you know she left early and that the cleaning wasn’t what you expected, ask her to explain and what she thinks she can manage in that 2 hour period of what you want done and expect. Be realistic too about how long it would take you to do everything you’ve asked for to the standard you expect. A bathroom and kitchen clean could to some just be toilets/bath/sink/worktops/microwave/cooker and to others all of that plus mirrors and shower screens/ doors etc. Similar with all floors a basic clean could be quick run around with the hoover a deeper clean under furniture moving things and then mopping or steaming where I could. for me I would say the former is a basic clean the latter deeper clean. She’s still finding her feet in your home so things might take slightly longer until she has her bearings etc.

if you feel that standards aren’t being met at this stage then find someone else.

Erm hard one because having a cleaning business and knowing how long it takes to give a normal 2 bed house I'm not sure 2 hours is long enough. On the other hand if you stated exactly what you wanted done job wise we would let you know it could be done but would take ex amount of time. Tbh I never price a job for the girls to go to until I know exactly what it is the home owner wants done and it's written down, wether it's alternate jobs weekly, bi-weekly etc...Its very rare we get a slot to add new customers because our rep is good. So maybe you would be better with a company with experience and clear instructions of what you need.

My first cleaner was the best one I've had. I used to come home from work and the house was spotless and the dining room table and coffee table gleamed. I just told her do what she could. She came 3 hours twice a week. Sometimes she'd hang out or pick in washing and she often peeled and chopped vegetables for me and left in saucepan of water for me to just switch on when I got home. She didn't mind ironing the odd shirt for DH either. All floors were vacuumed and steam mopped. She cleaned spindles going up the stairs and I can honestly say she cleaned my home far better than I ever could. I was so sad when she retired after 7 years. I've had a few since but none of them are anywhere near as good as she was.

Okay, that was a spectacularly bad cleaner! My goodness!

The cleaner rounds rubbish. Windowsills and marks on the kitchen should be the most obvious things to clean. The trouble is it seems anyone thinks they can set themselves up as a cleaners and they'll automatically be great at it. You really do need fantastic attention to detail. I'm not a cleaner, I just see so many people in my neighbour quit their jobs, or get their children to school age and set themselves up as cleaners. Yet there always seems to be so many Facebook posts of people looking for a new one.

The trouble is it seems anyone thinks they can set themselves up as a cleaners and they'll automatically be great at it. You really do need fantastic attention to detail.
Yeah, like that poster that started the thread “am I being unreasonable to think family comes first” and then she stole two of her then- friends cleaning jobs? And acted surprised it didn’t go down well 😬 I always think what if it was another professional that’s works in around/ the home; hairdresser/ aesthetician/ dog groomer/ gardener/ decorator/ tutor/ personal chef/car Valeter etc would she just decide she would do those jobs too?

I disagree with you especially if she didnt bother to clean the mirrors and wipe cabinet doors.

Leaving 15 minutes early is cheeky and unacceptable. Find somebody else. Two hours isn't that long for a first time clean.

You shouldn’t have to, but if it were me, I’d have given a list of things to do rather than relied/hoped they’d take the initiative. That’s from years of having staff in my own business and engaging various tradespersons, etc. You can’t just assume people will see what needs doing and you do need to specifically tell them.

Our son has just moved flats and we engaged an end of tenancy clean, I drafted a comprehensive list of things for them to do, which I sent them when I asked for a quote. You also see it on hotel inspector type programs when there are cobwebs , dust and hairs left in the room - the answer is always a checklist.

You’d think someone doing a job like cleaning would automatically do certain obvious things, but sadly they often don’t, so you need to be specific, make lists, etc.

I know because I have a ring doorbell. So I can see when she arrived and when she left. She arrived at 9.15 and left at 11.

I actually did a post on here asking if what I was asking for was too much, I can do the kitchen bathroom and all the floors in 1.5 hours to a decent standard.
Everyone who commented said that would be no problem and she should be able to do more.

Evidently she had 15 minutes spare so she could have done more

I've done this. Had the meet and greet with with the owner (she ran a small team) and it sounded great. Got home after the first clean and called her to ask whether there had been a mix up because no one had been in - everything was still dirty.

After the owner checked with the team it turns out that two of them had been there for TWO HOURS! I'm not exaggerating when I say that I honestly couldn't tell, and I told the owner this. She said apparently the cleaners "didn't know what to do"?!

They offered to come back and do a reclean which against my better judgement I said yes to. This was marginally better but still very poor. So I said no thanks and found a fantastic independent cleaner who is extremely efficient and organised and also lovely to have around, which is important when WFH.

It's such a shame that cleaning is seen as a fallback job for people who can't do anything else. You actually need to be quite skilled and have excellent attention to detail, and also well organised to rotate different tasks over weeks and months to keep a house thoroughly clean. I think there should be some kind of training and accreditation programme. I'd happily pay 50-100% more for a really good cleaner who takes real long-term ownership of keeping my house clean, and I'm sure many other people feel the same.

Fair enough the bathroom mirror should have been cleaned. But windowsill and kitchen cabinets?! I don't clean those routinely in my house so I wouldn't expect a cleaner to do it unless specifically asked. I'd say those come under deep cleaning which is obviously extra time and extra money.

YANBU. It’s not a case that she ran out of time since she left early. She’s not going to work out for you.

I don’t clean the cabinets routinely but there was obvious marks on them so I would have wiped those off. The bathroom windowsill is over the sink so gets toothbrushes left on it and needs cleaning routinely as every other bathroom surface

@throwawaynametoday

It's such a shame that cleaning is seen as a fallback job for people who can't do anything else. You actually need to be quite skilled and have excellent attention to detail, and also well organised to rotate different tasks over weeks and months to keep a house thoroughly clean

Nail on the head. There really are skills needed to do the job properly.

Like you Op I stuck with a shit cleaner for over a year because I felt for her and she was a lovely woman.

I bit the bullet after a stern talking to by one of my friends who said that I work my nuts off to earn money and she can’t take advantage of that by doing a shit job in half the time I pay her for.

Went without a clear for ages trying to find someone with availability and finally got a recommendation. She’s a cleaner cleaner not a hobby cleaner and there’s a huge difference.

I thought my standards were too high but honestly the cleaner I have now is like an angel sent from heaven who makes my house looks brand new every week and it makes me so happy. She’s worth every penny.

Your current cleaner won’t get better, even with feedback.