To pay our cleaner for hours worked when the job was quicker than i expected

[puffinsaregood]

We recently hired a cleaner. When we booked her she estimated our home would take 2-3 hours and she charges 10 an hour. She employs an assistant (not always the same person) and they clean together so the job takes half the time. So far they have always stayed for 1.5 hours to clean the whole house, so this costs me 30 pounds, although I expect that in future they may need less time as the catch-up cleaning is done.

Our cleaner was ill this week so she sent two assistants instead. One had been to our house once before, one was new. Neither spoke much English. Because I wanted them to do some extra jobs in one room I asked them not to bother cleaning the spare bedroom, because I thought there wouldn't be time to do everything in three hours, and I only had 30 pounds on me so I couldn't have paid more if they over ran. I hadn't discussed that the job was usually 1.5 hours with them, I didn't know whether one of them remembered this from last time or the head cleaner had briefed them, I was looking after my sick baby and their English was limited, I figured I would watch the time and stop them after 1.5 hours if necessary!

I was looking after my sick baby in the bedroom and after an hour they knocked and said they had finished. They were putting on their coats. I was surprised they had finished so quickly and distracted as baby was just asleep and I didn't want her to wake up when I left the bedroom.

I asked how much I owed them and they said 'don't know', so I asked how long they had been and they weren't sure, so I checked the time and they had been there an hour, so I paid them 20 pounds, which they seemed happy with. It was all a bit rushed and afterwards I wished I had given them an extra fiver as they had stood in at short notice for the head cleaner who was unwell, and they had done a very good job.

When DH got home he said that he thought I had been really unreasonable for not paying them 30 as it was like I was penalising them for working quickly, and that I should contact the head cleaner and offer to pay an extra 10, explain what happened and clarify the situation for future visits to avoid this happening again.

I do wish I had given them a bit more now as a tip, because 10 each isn't much, but then if they charge per hour I think it isn't unreasonable to pay per hour too. And I think contacting the head cleaner to 'explain myself' would make me look barmy!

What do you think?

You should have paid the full amount as you told them not to do the spare room.

I pay my cleaner £10 an hour for five hours a week. If she works faster and does a good job she gets the same amount. I don't think she should be penalised for efficiency.

In your situation OP, I'd probably put it down to experience and pay a bit more next time.

Surely you just pay for the hours worked unless you have a contract/commitment to pay for 3hrs regardless. In your situation I'd have paid 20 or if I thought I had to make up the amount I'd have asked them to do an additional job or two to make up the time.

Oh dear, I am feeling guilty now.

I don't think they knew the job was usually three hours though, as when I asked how much I should pay they said they didn't know.

I don't see why you should have paid more, if anything it should make you realise that the job can be done in less time and you should be able to pay £20 in future.

If they wanted the extra money, then they could have offered to do something else in the extra time they had, or if their English wasn't good then their boss should have arranged it.

You are paying for their time, and if they are good workers that don't waste time going slowly then that's just them doing their job well as everyone should. Did you get a chance to check whether they did a thorough job before they left? Did your husband?

If 2 cleaners are there for 1.5 hours its fair to pay for 3 hours.

If they had finished in 1 hour I would have expected them to ask what else they could do in the last 30 mins. If you said nothing you should still pay for the 3 hours as you had booked them for this time. You shouldn't have paid less but they should have done more.

If you start to pay them for the hours worked, they can dawdle and take as long as they want.

Pay for the work done- then it doesn't matter ha long they take.

I hate efficiency being punished.

They had done a good job, but I didn't check before they left as I was busy with baby.

Yes if I hadn't been distracted and they had spoken more English I would have suggested they clean the spare room if they had another 30 mins. I had said there was no need to clean the bath 'unless you have spare time' (as we rarely use it) and I don't think they had understood this as they hadn't cleaned it.

They may have needed to leave after an hour to go to another house, I know they usually clean houses back to back, and as the head cleaner was sick they would have been one person down.

I wouldn't stress about it too much but I might give some feedback to the boss that you were pleased with their work in his/her absence.

You shouldve paid for the full 3 hours

If our usual cleaner finished early I would pay the full three hours.

But in this case I didn't know whether they had been told three hours, or indeed whether they had three hours to spare, as they may have had another job after and only had one hour each for my house.

I also asked them how much first, so they could have replied '30' if that is what they expected

That's why I was unsure.

Yes. Pay full 3 hours.

If they've scheduled 1.5 hours but you only give them 1hrs work each then they have lost the 0.5 hrs pay each through no fault of their own with no chance to replace it by scheduling in another job. That's really shit for someone on minimum wage.

I'm really surprised people are saying you should pay for three hours when you only got 2.

Why? What's the reason?

OP booked 3 hours and didn't get it because of the language barrier and because of the sickness of the person she usually deals with, neither of those things are her fault.

I'm baffled as there were 2 cleaners who worked for 1.5 hours so you still owe £30. Two cleaners made it half the time, they each need to be paid so 2 cleaners = £30 for 1.5 hours and 1 cleaner = £30 for 3 hours.

They didn't work for 1.5 hours, they worked for one hour.