Cleaner leaves early.

[Greyoutkelly]

Not really a AIUB but just wanted opinions of others.

Have recently hired a cleaner to clean my house once a week. Never had a cleaner before, so went on their recommendation of 4 hours per week at hourly rate. I am usually out early on the clean day and don't come back until late on. Anyway, I came back half an hour earlier on Monday and cleaner had gone..

I don't know when she had left. I pay by the hour. Would others be bothered by this? I know it's only half an hour but if she's left an hour early, then I'm effectively paying 4 hours instead of 3.

Yes I would be bothered. Message her and say you returned early and ask her to adjust her invoice. Don’t tell her what time you got back and see how much she adjusts it by. Do you think there’s a chance she arrived earlier instead though?

She will think twice about leaving early in future, especially if you get a doorbell cam that shows her coming & going.

How do you know what time she arrived?

I guess it depends if the full clean was complete or not. But then I'd still want her to tell me so and then I'd allocate a couple more tasks to fill the time.

If it was a one off, she rushed through and pretty much did everything, and she had an excuse like an emergency of sorts I'd let it go.

But I'd ask her about it definitely. And I would not pay her the full amount again if she left early.

Ring doorbell

If Op had a ring doorbell she would know exactly what time the cleaner left.

I believe the pp was suggesting she gets one.

Message and ask her if 4 hours is more than she needs and does she want to adjust the time.

When this has happened to me I just pay them for the time done I can see if they left early. I have to say it’s very common unfortunately I’ve only had one cleaner who did the full time !

Yep. I'm going to get a ring doorbell. She told me what time she would be there from on Monday. I didn't see her but sometimes i do see her on the morning cleans and she is always there at the start times.

Interested to see what others reply, but this also happens with our cleaner. We pay for 4 hours and they regularly leave after 3.5. DH and I have been talking about how to handle it. She’s a great cleaner, and we don’t want to lose her, so we were leaning towards just not saying anything unless/until there are things we want her to do that she’s not doing.

Does she do everything that needs doing? It might be that 4 hours is too much

@Greyoutkelly

First of all, I am a cleaner and you are demonising her!
Firstly, if I was her friend, I would be telling her to charge per job, not per hour.

You should be paying her to her account not cash if she is genuinely a full time cleaner. She should be bringing all her own products including a vacuum.

Bless her, she needs to be earning above minimum wage.

Does she do a good job? Is everything clean? If you are happy paying X pounds to clean your house that you cannot or don't want to do, that should be it. Not Ooo, I'll get her to sweep the yard or clean the porch to make up the 'hours' you are paying for.
You wouldn't say this to a hairdresser or plumber would you? You would just pay them regardless of the time. Maybe you should let her go and get a bone fide one?

@Slimanda

How am I demonising her? I have come on her to ask for opinions as I have never had a cleaner before. Perhaps leaving half an hour or longer is the etiquette. I do not know.

I do pay into her account actually. Where have I said I pay in cash? And her pay per hour far exceeds minimum wage! Please stop making such assumptions.

She doesn't bring all her own stuff,.no. I supply a hoover and a mop for her. I leave her snacks and plenty of water/juice/tea/coffee. I have spoken to her and asked if there is anything she needs.

Overall, yes I'm quite happy with her cleans but some weeks can seem better than others.

We have had our cleaner for 15 years. She’s reliable, helpful and very trustworthy.

she has lots of regular clients and charges by the hour - we pay £18 and she does 3 hours a week.

we went through a period where she was leaving 30 mins early.

after a few weeks we felt it was time to say something - we said something along the lines of ‘noticed that you’re managing in
2.5 hours - shall we cut back to that or can you do extra in the 30 mins?

she said she would do extra and it’s been sorted ever since.

This is how I would handle it.

I've no idea why some people think cleaners are a special breed who can quote you for a job by the hour, quote their hourly rate, and then short-change their client? It's fucking ridiculous.

If you're being paid then do the hours you're being paid for! It's absolutely not rocket surgery.

I meant generally folk on here demonise cleaners per se.
Maybe you are one of the good ones, but pay by the job and not the hour eh?

Oh stop it! You wouldnt query a plumber or hairdresser would you? And yes we are a special breed - one that YOU can't do without!

I don’t care how long it takes as long as it’s clean. My London cleaner once said someone had had a massive go at her for leaving 10 mins early and I told her to charge per clean from now on. £30 and sometimes I knows she’s there for 50 mins because she’s literally changing changing sheets and hoovering and dusting bedside tables and cleaning the bathroom. Other days she takes 2.5 hours because she’s emptying kitchen bins, scrubbing the gas hob, Brillo padding the oven glass, washing the dish rack, washing up crap in the sink, watering plants in the garden in a dry spell plus bed linen and standard stuff.

all I care about is that it’s clean and I trust her. Small flat, visited sporadically, cleaning needs differ. I’m not expecting to be choused all the time and I’m not.

I do the invoices for a plumbing firm and for call outs which are charged by the hour absolutely customers would query us charging 4 hours when we had only been there for three.

Mine never stays the full
two hours. But she’s completely trustworthy, and reliable. So I stick with her.

@Slimanda that is what she has requested - per hour.

Ok bad example. Hairdresser then. They quote £185 for highlights and a cut, you wouldnt query that, you would just pay regardless of the time it took

Exactly, because they’re charging for a job, not the time taken.

this cleaner is charging an hourly rate!

most people would happily charge an hourly rate if they could bill for 10 hours but work less!

Get a Ring doorbell or camera and write a list of extra things that need doing if she has any time left!

The key word is quote. If you quote to complete a particular task then you are paid for that task regardless of how long it takes. So a cleaner might quote to do an oven clean for example. The task has a clear end point, you know when it is completed.

Cleaning a house is never completed. There is always something else you could do. When you are paid by the hour you complete as many tasks as you can until the time is up. Quoting to clean a room is no good in this instance as you don’t know how dirty it will be. The same as a plumber not knowing how long it will take to identify & fix a leak so will charge by the hour. But he might quote to install a new radiator.