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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think a cleaner should be able to clean 3 rooms in 2.5 hours

41 replies

deliverdaniel · 03/12/2013 22:32

genuinely want to know if IABU here. i recently employed a cleaner. i could afford 2.5 hours a week so asked her to just do downstairs. its a smallish living room to be dusted and hoovered with some light tidying away of toys etc; a largish kitchen and a small bathroom with bath sink and toilet. the house is relatively tidy and clean when she starts although obv not perfect, hence the need for a cleaner in the first place. Ive tried two different people now and neither of them have been able to do these rooms in the time. i have done this amount of cleaning in much less time, often (not trying to be smug here as im probably doing a terrible job or something) and not quite sure what is taking so long. Do you think my expectations are reasonable and i've just had bad luck so far, or do i need to wise up? thank you!

OP posts:
formerbabe · 03/12/2013 22:34

I can clean my whole 4 bed house in that time...easily!

fanoftheinvisibleman · 03/12/2013 22:38

No idea about cleaners but that doesn't sound unreasonable to me to be honest. It takes me an hour and a half to do conservatory and kitchen including the pots and tidying away before cleaning. Then half hour each to do lounge/diner and bathroom.

I must be a slattern compared to a cleaner if that isn't long enough.

Amy106 · 03/12/2013 22:38

That's more than enough time to do the job.

DirtyDancing · 03/12/2013 22:44

In 3 hours, every other week, ours does 4 bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and downstairs loo. That includes mopping a hall way, hoovering everywhere and changing one double bed.

YANBU

FunnysInLaJardin · 03/12/2013 22:46

YANBU. My cleaner does our house - 3 bedrooms, big kichen dining room, playroom, sitting room and 2 toilets/bathroom - in 3.5 hours.

LindyHemming · 03/12/2013 22:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

formerbabe · 03/12/2013 22:48

I time myself when I can clean. In 7 minutes, I can clean my entire kitchen...this includes loading the dishwasher, emptying bins, cleaning all surfaces and hob, sweeping and mopping floor. I set my oven timer...yes, I'm a loser.

BackforGood · 03/12/2013 22:50

Even my teenage niece (who cleans for me, and can get a bit distracted by the small detail on occasion) can et far more than that done in just 2 hours.

StatisticallyChallenged · 03/12/2013 22:51

ours is in for 2.5 hours a week - does kitchen, livingroom/dining room, downstairs loo, upstairs bathroom, changes 2 beds, mops floors downstairs, hoovers hall stairs landing and bedrooms (as well as hoovering downstairs before mopping)

So definitely possible!

Sexykitten2005 · 03/12/2013 22:52

Formerbabe a kitchen in 7 minutes? I will PAY you to teach my dp to do that. He's of the 'slow and steady lots of breaks' type!

ThatWasPoo · 03/12/2013 22:54

How much do you all pay a cleaner for 3 hours?

Cityofgold · 03/12/2013 23:14

YANBU. I guess they are angling for more time so they get the whole house. Our cleaner in our old place did a whole 3 bed mid-tarrace in 2 hours.
Make a list of exactly what should be done, and (importantly) what should not be done. Ask the cleaner what it is that takes up their time - perhaps they are spending too long doing something random and unnecessary. Have the conversation; but YANBU.

HereIsMee · 03/12/2013 23:20

Sounds like you are giving them more time than they need. Maybe offer the same money for two hours because it sounds like enough time but maybe they want to be paid more.

mrscumberbatch · 03/12/2013 23:21

I get two hours and get a living room, kitchen,hall and bathroom cleaned. Including steam cleaning for the floors.

I don't think it's a huge workload but it takes me forever to get round to it and the peace of mind knowing that it is done is worth it

LessMissAbs · 03/12/2013 23:22

Of course its not unreasonable, but I recently got a quote from a cleaning company for the same size of house, 3 rooms with small living room and kitchen combined, 2 small bedrooms and a bathroom, and they said they needed 3 hours at £12 an hour.

DoYouLikeMyBaubles · 03/12/2013 23:42

If I clean my apartment properly, 4 rooms it takes me about 3 hours so I don't think it's unreasonable.

YoureBeingASillyBilly · 03/12/2013 23:45

Im a cleaner- what you describe is more than doable in that time.

Have you been there when theyve been cleaning?

spongebobscardypants · 03/12/2013 23:53

I think that there must ne a bit more to this. If this is your second cleaner and they both did same amount something isn't right.

pippop1 · 04/12/2013 00:00

Do you have the right tools or cleaning products? Do you want something done in a particular (slow) way? as Spongebob says, something isn't right.

crescentmoon · 04/12/2013 06:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HanneHolm · 04/12/2013 06:11

Mind does a 4 bed house 2 bathrooms and changes out bed in 3 hours.
Sack her. I tell you I laboured on with a shit slow one who seemed unable to bend over

HanneHolm · 04/12/2013 06:11

Our bed.

wigglesrock · 04/12/2013 07:02

I'm a cleaner too : Did you start each cleaner with a list/ job description, go through it with them, find out where they are "losing time".

Do they bring their own stuff, or are they wasting time looking for yours - cleaning the vacuum cleaner out etc.

They should be able to do it, but the fact that you've had 2 tell you the same thing - maybe look over the rooms again, ask the cleaner what they think the problem is?

LessMissAbs · 04/12/2013 09:16

I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't anything to do with the house or the OP. The small house I mentioned above that they wanted 3 hours for, I can clean myself in just over an hour. That means changing two beds (clean spares provided), cleaning the bathroom, furniture polish on all surfaces, cleaning the shower screen, washing all floors with floor cleaner, wiping all kitchen surfaces, hovering stairs and upstairs carpets, going around wiping door knobs, doors and any marks on walls near doors, cleaning inside and around appliances, and checking the oven. Its lived in by one person. I know perfectly well that if I paid someone for 3 hours to do that, quite a bit of that time would not be spent cleaning, because there simply isn't 3 hours worth of cleaning to do.

I've also experienced slow and reluctant cleaners for my holiday lets. Ones we had in the summer to clean alongside us to get them used to the property were lets say very well paid for what they were to do, but had to have the obvious pointed out to them - eg clean all surfaces in the kitchen, not just next to the sink, hoover and dust along skirting boards as well as carpets, bathrooms have to be done as well, etc.. It was odd, they kept trying to say they were finished after an hour and a half in a 6 bedroom house and we kept pointing out more to be done. It felt like flogging a tiring horse in the Grand National! Needless to say we didn't ask them back - its easier to clean ourselves.

Also rarely have known cleaners paid for by outgoing tenants to make a good job either - there is a difference between a superficial clean and an acceptable clean.

If I could find a good and reliable cleaner, they would get plenty of work from me!

Lovecat · 04/12/2013 09:23

I've had good and bad - we have a 4 bed house and are messy cluttered. Our first cleaner did the entire place top to bottom in 3 hours and left it all gleaming (and a pile of our crap in a box on the living room table that she just chucked in as she came to it, as agreed). Then she went on maternity leave and her replacement was constantly doing a half-arse job, moaning it wasn't long enough and she needed more time and, we later found out from our neighbour who liked to spy on the street, only coming in for an hour if I was at work. She got really pissed off if DH or I were working from home and now we know why... now I'm at home F/T I do it myself and of course it takes a lot longer because I'm lazy

Neither of them did skirting boards though, no matter how many times I asked them to...

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