To expect my cleaner to clean under the table, the sink, not leave smears on the shower door, wipe window sills and skirting?

[ChickenLickenSticken]

Am I?

I feel funny about pointing stuff out to her, plus her english isnt very good so I thibk it will be awkward/painful getting her to understand... Do I just get a new cleaner?

Is she charging more? Did she say she needs more time or something?

Talk to her about what she's missing, and tell her your budget doesn't go beyond £X, and she either will get it done or she won't.

I know I should but I've become really friendly with her and I feel bad about telling her off. I have this problem every time with cleaners: I get friendly and they get worse.

I used to have a really good cleaner who charged per hour like you do Katy but I got rid of her because I felt a bit ripped off about paying £15 per hour

Can I ask does anyone who has/is a cleaner do the dishes?

It's not that big, just over 2000sq ft and it's 3 bathrooms, 4 people live here. I don't want to hijack the thread. I'm quite clean so the beds are made, I leave my kitchen already clean (it's just the deep clean she does like microwave) and no ironing. But it takes my very professional cleaner 4 hours and she works very hard, I will bump her pay to 11 or 12 when I give her my key.

The stairs just make it hard.

£8 per hour isn't much. I think we used to pay £15 per hour.

It might be worth timing yourself doing these jobs to check how long it takes. That would help you to assess how much your cleaner can achieve in 2 hours

If any of you cleaners are in the south west nr Truro / Falmouth, please pm me... Desperately need someone. I have good biscuits, too * rattles tin hopefully*

Teeb I think that within reason, a cleaner will do whatever you ask - ironing, changing sheets, washing dishes etc. The real issue is whether they have enough time to do everything you want them to do

Having had a cleaner for a number of years I have resigned myself to an expectation that the house will be cleaner than I left it, but not perfect. I've ended up just being grateful that someone's willing to do a job that I don't want to do and not really get paid much money to do it (no sickness/ holiday pay/pension). That's honestly as good as it gets IME.

I really don't understand how people can finish cleaning a house in a few hours. Surely there is always something else that can be done. I have a cleaner 8 hours a weeks. (4 bed, 2 bathroom house) and we are quite tidy. She does some of the laundry too but even so she never runs out of things to fill her time. She works extremely hard. I pay £10 plus bonus, plus bank holidays. She never arrives late and never leaves early.

I still do additional cleaning. I spent two hours doing the outside windows today. (They look amazing even if I do say so myself )

2 hours for the OPs house seems too little time.

The biggest house i clean is 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom plus 1 wet room, dining room, large livingroom, kitchen, hallway and office. Im there 4 hours per week, i normally have about 30-40 mins left after doing the main jobs and thats when i do skirting boards or clean out the fridge or start cleaning windows.

I could get it done alot quicker if they didnt have 2 long haired cats and 2 dogs.

And yes i wipe all windowsills. Bit shit if she cant even wipe windowsills

I would probably take four hours for your house, too. Because without five flights of stairs, that would be approaching three hours for me.

Floors are the one thing I can't make go faster, unless I want my sore elbow to really throb. So, lots of floor means longer time, no matter how clever I try to be.

Some cleaners will do dishes. I tell them that I'm happy to wash their coffee cup and cereal bowl from breakfast, but ask them not to leave much more than that. I once had a client who got worse and worse. Eventually , it was obvious that the dishes were waiting for me all week.

I don't do ironing because I don't feel that I do it very well. And, I would have to charge per item and that would be a faff.

Very few people even ask about it, so I don't need to do it.

If it's only me, and I'm not desperate for clients, I don't think I need to try to be all things to all people.

I make sure the house is v tidy before she comes -clear floors and surfaces.

I guess I assumed she'd be quicker than me and that she'd do more than me just because, well, it's what her profession is. Sure I could cut my own hair but I go to the hairdressers because they do it better.

There is something in that I suppose I wasn't explicit in terms of what I expected (having never had a cleaner before). And yes in a way I'm just grateful someone else is doing it, though we tidy up every day and do a bit of a catch up whizz round on sunday nights (cleaner comes Thursdays).

Dunno, not sure if I've just ballsed this up or not.... Perhaps I should write a list of weekly and monthly and quarterly "tasks".

What about dado rails? Surely they are just a wipe as you walk past?? This bothers me more than skirting.

She's very keen to ensure I have lots of window cleaner, presumably for the 3 smallish mirrors upstairs, yet the shower door still looks grotty!

Maybe leave her a note telling her what you'd like done?

I do think you are expecting a bit for 2 hours work.

Just because it's her profession, it doesn't mean she can do it faster than you.
Particularly if you have cleaned your house all your life without a cleaner.

She may not be particularly efficient, or not be familiar with your house yet.

However, not cleaning under the table would be a dealbreaker for me and you may find another better cleaner.
Don't hire out straight away, give it a trial of two runs or so.

If she has her child with her then there is no way she will be able to make the best use of the two hours she is there, even with the best will in the world. If she is lucky enough to have a job where she can take a small child along with her, you'd think she'd go above and beyond to hold on to that job, and would therefore make sure she worked for a full two hours, even if that meant staying a bit longer because she's had t take five minutes out here and there to help her child go to the toilet or settle with a new toy.

I'd find another cleaner.

chicken, you should definitely tell her what you want. Otherwise you are suggesting firing someone without giving them any chance to put right your concerns - totally unreasonable. Write her a list and be reasonable about what she can get done in two hours.

Yanbu.

Small 3 bed, 1 bathroom, 1 living room-diner, kitchen, hall and utility here.

All surfaces/sinks/floors (Hoover and mop kitchen/bath), clean tables, dust, change sheets on bed, inside of windows, tidy (it's not hugely messy, but I don't tidy especially for the cleaners visit). 2 1/2 hours @ 10ph.

And although I always pay for that time she generally leaves early, but I don't mid because my house is immaculate when she leaves.

Teeb I've never done dishes. I've cleaned homes and business premises and I don't do them. It starts with doing the odd cup/ glass and then without fail clients have started to take the piss - hardened on pasta sauce etc. A blanket no is just easier - I take dishes out of rooms, stack them, scrape them but I don't wash them or put them in dishwasher.

I don't iron either but that's more a favour to the client