To not want to pay £18 an hour for a cleaner

[Nishky]

That is very very expensive surely

[catgirl1976]

£12 here in NW

[PerhapsNot]

Btw I don't make my cleaner come in on bank holidays it's only if she asks too, and because I pay double she always asks to

[PerhapsNot]

I pay £10 plus double on bank holidays plus 'some' holiday pay plus £150 at Xmas

[Proclean]

Sorry me again! :-)

Also please don't forget that a legal cleaning service - even if it is just an individual will entail many back-office administrative duties and shopping for supplies is continual, if one is to make a successful business one needs to constantly research the industry and learn of improvements they can implement in their service and their customer care (which also takes some time and skill!)

All these 'back-office' activities and more are involved in the management of your business if it is to be successful and if a service is charging hourly needs to be incorporated in the hourly rate as this time must be paid for too - when you are out of the field and purely managing your business you will expect a decent wage obviously and whilst still cleaning you must do these at weekends and until late into the night. Management of your cleaning business cannot be free or there is not a point to the whole project.

Obviously I am taking it as a given that such a service is to be of quality and professionally run for the benefit of the company, the employees and most importantly the clients. If not then I totally agree - waste of money, get someone else rubbish for cheaper and quite right too!

I had to come back add this part as it is a key element as to where your money goes thus ensuring you will be well taken care of and have a long-term happy relationship with your cleaning service - for example our clients literally stay with us for years, until they move or die! This is not to promote me, it is to highlight the costs involved in providing a desirable cleaning service.

I

[Proclean]

Hello! I know this is an now an oldish thread but I just wanted to add that I have a professional cleaning service and it is a given within the industry that you would not be able to pay staff the legal minimum wage and stay viable as a business unless you are charging at least £12 per hour. When you go on to hit the VAT threshold you will need to then be charging at least £15 per hour but you cant suddenly put prices up so this needs consideration from the start up of you business. Pricing is crucial as to whether you will survive in the long-term as a viable business, too cheap and you will go under at some point.

I will not repeat all the costs of doing the business as most have already been pointed out but my point is that anyone going into this as a quality professional cleaning service (of which there is a known shortage!) and not just for some illegal under the table pocket money, will need to think through their pricing right from the start and stand firm with their price - it cannot be negotiable or you will fail in the long-run. Too cheap and you will either end up working for free or even worse PAYING for someone else's cleaning if staff are involved.

Also it is not legal to hire under the table cleaners it is illegal for both parties to evade tax and not declare the income. If the IR got wind of it then YOU could be classed as their employer and then any tax you should have been submitting to the IR will be back-dated at YOUR liability not the cleaner's. Hiring an unregistered person can be considered a criminal activity but not many seem aware of this. Cheap can be very expensive in the long run.

If the unprofessional cash in hand 'cleaner' were to have an accident in your home they will not be covered with the necessary insurance and could hold YOU personally liable, they will also not be covered if they break the materials of you home or burn your house down or cause a flood! As I said cheap can turn out to be very expensive.

With a professional company you pay more for this protection and to (hopefully) receive service from fully trained cleaners who know about the basic chemistry of the products they are using and can care for you home appropriately. We have cleaned homes where a £10/hr 'cleaning lady' has been the previous service and the materials of the home have been ruined, even with our care we can only restore a small part of these damages.

I am saying this just to make you aware - there are good and bad services out there but for your own sakes and the sakes of those running professional cleaning services (which is very hard work whether out in the field or just taking care of business!) PLEASE take care to hire a professional service who is responsible for the employment, insurance and training of the staff - not you. Make sure it is THEIR liablility if anything should occur not YOURS.

This is so very important and the reason that genuine professional services are always booked up and expanding even though they do need to charge what they do.

[Blondeshavemorefun]

so you paid £18 for 1.5hrs of cleaning times with 2 woman (so 3hrs) - so really £6ph then

bloody cheap

cleaners here in kent, charge about £9/10ph - some agencies charge more like £11/12 but do bring their own products with them

[AchyFox]

I get ripped off circa £25/hr communally for the stair cleaning.

It happens.

[LEMisafucker]

What is wrong with being a housewife?

£18 an hour does seem alot, my DP always says that something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. He charges £18 an hour although he is a carpenter/builder so qualified and experienced. It works out more than a cleaner who probably can't actually get a full 8 working hour into a day due to breaks between jobs etc. However he has to pay out for expensive tools, insurance etc. Personally i don't think he charges enough i have a PhD and have never earnt that much! But then i choose to be a lowly housewife

[Nishky]

Servant? Money to burn?

Jealousy is a terrible thing. Sorry you are unhappy

[Thants]

Well the option isn't housewife or cleaner. Its just you and your family looking after yourselves.
Cleaners can only work for short hours at a time because each house only needs short shifts.They also have to live on their salary. So pay should take that into account.
I don't think the amount quoted is ridiculous and you clearly have money to burn so at least pay your servant decently.

[Nishky]

No thanks Thants I have far more interesting things to do. Housewife was never an ambition of mine

[Thants]

Clean your own house.

[Tryharder]

I have cleaned domestic houses before now for extra money.

I used to do 2 hours for £8 an hour so £16 in total. I used to spend 20 mins in stop start traffic in my own car getting there and 20 mins back (alternative £3.50 bus and 2 hours of my time) then clean non stop a very dirty house for 2 full hours and was often given extra jobs like ironing 6 shirts.

It was a LOT of effort for £16. Please reflect what £16 actually buys. Answer: not a lot! Domestic Cleaning is not like a 'proper' job where you do a full 8 hour shift with benefits and breaks. do And before anyone asks, I didn't declare it or pay tax on it!

[Mimishimi]

Couple of dollars more than the going rate for a cleaner. I suppose the cost it depends on how many people want to do the job as well. They can, like other professionals, charge what they like and it's up to you whether you want to go ahead with them. I'd rather pay a bit more and go through a reputable agency than employ someone for far less than the going rate and have to deal with all the possible problems that might arise from that...

[Mimishimi]

£15 works out to be almost $27 here in Australia, only a cou

[Nishky]

happygirl could you ask in a local shop/pub?

[happygirl87]

Anyone got any tips on how to find a cleaner? We've just moved, don't know anyone at all in the new town, and don't work there (and no DCs living with us, just DSD visiting) so unlikely to meet anyone any time soon who could recommend someone, and I'd really rather have a recommendation than just go online......

[Nishky]

Oh and it's not quite £18 per hour really, the price was quoted per visit and two of them have been here for two hours so it's about 13:50 per hour really- at the initial visit she said it would take about 1.5 hours for our house which is why I came up with the figure

[Nishky]

Well, we did- I am so happy we did.

I thought about the comments people made about the expenses involved in running a company like this and I like the fact that the company brings all their own stuff. It is like a weight lifted from my shoulders and they have only been twice!!

[PublicEnemyNumeroUno]

If one of my clients was going to give me a voucher I'd prefer an Amazon
Voucher, just because then you're not resigned to just one shop and I'm addicted to amazon at the minute

But in all honesty I'd just be over the moon with any type of gift, even if the voucher was for a shop I'm not a fan of M&S I'd still be greatful and go and treat myself to something nice with it.

:)

[polyhymnia]

£12.50 an hour, in affluent London suburb. Had her for ages and she does all the ironing. Is worth it to me.

I also give an M and S token at Christmas, plus her favourite scented candle.

[Opalite]

I was a mobile cleaner for a very long time and was poorer than I am now without a job!

[Opalite]

kalougri... it's really not. The hours aren't guaranteed!

[Objection]

kalougri - I feel that way sometimes! I've had to pass many qualifications and jump through a lot of hoops to be a Nanny and sometimes I think I should just jack it all in and be a cleaner. Even with the travelling it seems a lot of rates are significantly higher than my Nanny rate.

And dare I say it, its an easier job too ducks for cover

[kalougri]

Off, not of!