Is it unreasonable for a cleaner to charge more in pet households?

[Rareoccurrence]

Is it strange / wrong for a cleaner to have different hourly rates depending on the clients home circumstances?

I have recently been approached as one of my clients is friends with another yet I charge them a different hourly rate. This is because I charge differently if a household has pets or not. Should I have notified of this ? I have just applied the appropriate rate to pet/non pet clients.

I have allergies to cats and dogs so need to medicate myself before these sessions and also I find consistently that there is a deeper clean needed in pet households so it’s £5 per hour more.

Client isnt happy, but has been fine with my charge and work till now as they now think it’s unfair ?

No, I don’t think it’s unfair. I have dogs, they mean my house requires more cleaning than if I didn’t.

Don’t think the client should be paying for your meds but if it’s harder work and extra products fair enough

As a pet owner I think it’s fair. Pets generate more dirt and hair.

If client isn’t happy she’s free to find someone cheaper (who may not do as good of a job).

It’s a lot more work plus always have a dog getting under my feet in the houses with dogs. Cats seem to keep away but the dogs make it hard work !

I think it's reasonable to price a job according to the time + effort it will take.

But if you have clients that know each other, there's a good chance that sooner or later they'll realise that you charge them differently, so maybe transparency is a good idea. Eg, you could be charging new clients more but honouring the original price for old clients.

Still it's done now. As you say she's been happy with the price and work til now. Maybe frame it the other way round: this what you charge people with pets; you give a discount to those without.

Cleaner here...Never even considered this. Imo having a ddog under foot is a free bonus!

You're self employed, it's up to you. Just be clear that it is because it is harder work, not just more work which would be accounted for by charging for more time.

I know for a fact my (amazing) cleaner charges different clients different hourly rates. That’s between her and her clients: it’s nothing to do with me if I’m paying more (which I’m happy to, as she’s fab).

stick to your guns OP!

I guess there is a risk of sounding like you are telling them they are dirtier than other people, which is not something any client will enjoy hearing.

as pp says, you just need to be transparent. And fair obviously.

You can charge your clients whatever rate you like. I know my cleaner charges me more than the little old 90 year old lady who recently broke her wrist, and I don’t mind - I can afford it.

I would simply say to her - there is a lot more physical effort required to vacuum when there is pet hair on the furniture and in the corners and on the rugs and carpets. Therefore the effort you have to put into cleaning her house is a lot greater than the effort you put into her friend’s house, and mention that at the end of cleaning her house you are exhausted.

You’d phrase it as “your pets create more work for me with their hair and footprints”.

when I recommend my cleaner to neighbours etc. I don’t say how much we pay. I know we have much more favourable rates than new customers as we’ve had them for so long and through difficult periods.
The payment rate is between the cleaner and the client.

It’s perfectly normal. Holiday let’s often charge more for cleaning if you bring your dog on the holiday.

YANBU.

It would probably have been better to let them know there is a pet surcharge.

Surely if its more work it takes longer so you get more money through time rather than rate per hour.

Ultimately you can charge what you like and customers can choose to pay it or not, but probably better to be transparent.

It depends on if you charge per hour or per clean. By that I mean you charge £40 for, say, 2 hours and do as much as you can in that time, or you charge for the house to be spotless in whatever time @ £20 an hour and if it takes 3 hours it costs the client £60.
Whether they have pets or not is irrelevant in terms of your hourly rate.

Perfectly acceptable to have different rates as you dictate them and client decides if it is acceptable or not. I would quickly nip this in the bud and say it is a surcharge for a house with pets as there is additional work you apply to remove pet hair. They may say you are there for the same time and thus it should be a flat hourly rate in which case I would give them notice. I am a pet household and it is far more work cleaning it.

No. Pets can be more in terms of cleaning.

I would increase everyone's hourly rate by a fiver...only fair that everyone pays the same after all!!
Alternatively tell the whinger to sod off and find another cleaner.

If you’re charging by the hour, I do think it’s weird. The extra cleaning needed would be reflected in the extra time taken.

It's your rates, so you charge as you please, but I think it's unreasonable.

If it's more work, then you charge the same rate, but it would take more time so you have more billable hours so that's where you recoup any extra costs.

I am self employed, but I don't vary my hourly rate depending on how easy the patient is to work with or not. Should I charge more for patients who have more complex needs? My level of expertise is the same. What if someone gets less complicated, or more complicated over time, do I change their rate then?

For cleaning, what about people with children? Surely they are harder to clean for than people without as they will make far more mess? What about people with mucky hobbies like hiking in the winter, who trail mud behind them? Or painters or bakers who make a mess in the kitchen? Where do you draw the line?

She has drawn the line...households with pets.
I have children and pets, last time I checked my children have never left lots of body hair all over the carpet!
If the kids get wet, muddy feet you can take their footwear off at the door, you can rinse a dog and dry them but they are still 'dirtier than children.
That may not bother some cleaners but it bothers OP, people are not forced to use her! If they begrudge the extra money they can find a different cleaner.

Assuming you charge by the hour you shouldn't charge more. You either get less done in the same time, or the same amount done in a longer time, depending on how many hours they want to pay for.

In terms of the cost of your meds, it's okay to charge for these so long as you are up front with new clients. "I'm happy to take on houses with pets, but unfortunately due to my allergies I have additional costs each time for meds which I have to pass on to the client. Therefore there will be an additional fixed charge of £x per visit. Just checking you're okay with that?"

Cleaning a house with a dog in it, is harder. Blooming dog hair! Never done, just tell them. If they don't like it tough luck

Knowing how my dog used to walk around behind me while I was mopping, dropping hair on the clean parts, I’m surprised you don’t charge double 😂