AIBU to expect cleaner to clean to my standard?

[Marsaday]

First world problem question: OH and I are working long hours plus i am pregnant and exhausted so decided to get a cleaner so that we can spend weekends with toddler instead of worrying about cleaning. Met cleaner, she had good references so started today.

We asked her to do basic clean, so hoover whole house, clean the kitchen bathroom and toilet, and a quick dusting of surfaces in other rooms.
We have a small house, downstairs only kitchen and small lounge diner. Upstairs are two small double bedrooms and a tiny bedroom where ds sleeps. One bathroom and separate toilet. We reckoned that 2 hours was reasonable to do this, and she agreed when she visited prior to starting.

Just got home to discover house is not cleaned to the standard I hoped for. She has obviously not moved anything, eg bathroom bin, potty, dining chairs to clean under or behind them. Lounge rug was not rolled back to hoover underneath. The tiny bedroom where DS sleep seems not to have been touched at all. There are still hairs all over the bathoom floor, and the sink in the toilet has not been touched either.

My question is, AIBU to expect a better job than this in two hours? I've never had a cleaner before and I don't know if I'm expecting too much wanting it done to my standards ( which I don't think are actually especially high!)

You should have written an exhaustive job description. Having said, the failure to even try to clean the basin in the loo should have been mentioned by her.

Has she had any opportunity to get in touch with you to debrief?

Let her go and find someone else. Life is too short to argue about this sort of thing and her standards are obviously very different to yours (and not all that great!). Was she even there at all?

I would allow 3 - 4 hours for a house that size (mine is probably similar ish) and would expect it to be spotless with the beds changed and ironing done (there's damn all) in that time, incidentally.

I hired cleaners recently and fired them after 3 weeks for this exact reason. I have a fairly big 4 bedroom house. They said 2 cleaners for 1hr 15mins would be sufficient. I thought that was ambitious - it takes me a whole day to clean the house properly. Nothing was done properly. Nothing was moved when dusting, the carpets were not vacuumed properly (have a dog and there were sill hairs everywhere), the sinks were dirty, the floors weren't mopped properly etc. I was happy to pay good money to have to done right but they just seemed to do a rush job. I would say to get rid of this cleaner and find a better one (i am still looking!)

She left a note saying she hoped everything was ok, and she spent 2 hours. She has done a good job on the whole kitchen and bathroom apart from the floor, and dusting mostly good, but hoovering is a bit slapdash everywhere.

I can do that whole clean in two hours, but had said to her that we didn't mind paying extra for it to take longer the first time while she finds her way around.

I can't have a cleaner. It would appear my standards are too high (apparently) I therefore just crack on and do it myself. :(

You can try again and be explicit with your instructions, if the second time around it's still not to your standard call it quits, try another.

2 hours is enough for a small house. The timing should not be an excuse.

May be easier for you to do the cleaning and spend the money on a takeaway one weekday night. It would save you time preparing a meal and you could do the cleaning then.
You'd still have the weekend free to play with your toddler.

She's crap.

I could have done your house to a higher standard than you asked for, in 2 hours, easy.

2 hours should be fine for that size house. My fab cleaner could do mine (somewhat larger) in that time. Either tell her that you were a bit disappointed and why or cut your losses and start over with someone else.

I would give her another chance, let her know what your issues were and that you would pay for more time if required but these things need doing too. I can understand some of it if she was just doing a brief general clean, but the sink is an essential really.

If you can't agree or she continues to not meet your expectations once they've been clearly set out, then yes let her go.

Given that she's asked for feedback then I suggest you provide exactly that. It may be that she needs more than 2 hours to clean to your standards or it may be that she isn't the right cleaner for you. I'd give her a chance to try again though.

in 1.5 hours i hoover three floors of a building.two flights of stairs. clean two toilets. three sinks. mop two floors and clean "sides"and tables. load washer and tumble dryer and fold but not put away washing. it is a commercial property and there is little/no tidying (although this seems to be creeping up).

i do this every day however so its never dirty really and i might just chuck some bleach in the general direction of the toilets on some days.

i think 2 hours is fine for a clean IF its tidy.

Don't have her back. I've wasted money on lacklustre cleaners before. They never improve and you end up resenting them.
It's disappointing isn't it.?
I had a fantastic cleaner, I'd have done anything to keep her.
I miss her so much...

when i say floors i mean levels so thats six floors in total.

I don't do much domestic cleaning any more but when I did I priced per job rather than hours. That way everyone knows where they stand. After all someone could be in your home for two hours and be on Facebook for an hour of it...
If you agree a price that you think is reasonable e.g 25 quid to clean EVERYTHING then both parties should be happy.
I appreciate this isn't for everyone as if a cleaner works like a demon and cleans a whole house perfectly in an hour a client can often think ' cleaner costs 25 per hour' and feels short changed.

jane nice idea about take away but we already do that most Fridays and don't really want to do more as I'd need to be on a diet the rest of the time! In any case I mostly batch cook at the weekend and can cook 4 meals in 2 hours which we then freeze in portions and just reheat in the week.

It always takes longer the 1st few cleans as a routine is developed. Silly things like finding plugs. I bet knowing you were getting a cleaner you had let things go. How tidy was the home? 2 hours is no time to make up time if you have spent too long cleaning one area that was particularly hard to clean. Hoovering a room alone fully can take a lot longer than you think. You sounded pleased with the kitchen and mostly the bathroom and the dusting. I would never leave a new cleaner alone. Perhaps next time stay and see her work ethic.

When I lost my brilliant cleaner, it worked for me.
Not into batch cooking here

Haha jane i wouldn't say I'm into batch cooking either but it's the only way I can make it work with a toddler who is starving when we walk through the door.

Did you give her an idea of what you wanted?
My cleaner could easily spend an hour in the kitchen; hoovering skirting boards, wiping tiles, washing kitchen units etc.
Maybe she thought you'd prefer a quick 'whip round'.

I'd give her another week, with full instructions, then let her go if she's not doing what you want.
Agree with comments about resentment though.

It sounds like she started doing it to a high standard, but then ran out of time so tried to have a quick whip round.

It is meaningless to ask if two hours are enough as it depends how dirty it is, and how tidy it is. So a kitchen can be cleaned quickly if it just needs a quick clean. But I have washed kitchen floors that need washed 3 times with frequent emptying of a bucket to be clean - they didn't look particularly dirty but were. Or had to scrub at wall tiles in a kitchen to get grease and bits off.

Be there next time and it will be obvious if you are asking her to do too much in the time allocated. and people who clean their own houses rarely just do one big clean a week. They normally do small bits of cleaning throughout the week, and then maybe one big clean.

We all have different standards- my standards are quite high and the average joe probably wouldn't be able to match up.

With that said- if your doing it in a professional capacity, you should do it to professional standards and what your describing isn't.

I'd say leave a note explaining what you have here, as politely as possible, and if she still isn't doing what you want it will be time to let her go.

I think it would be a bit harsh to not give her a second chance.

Or perhaps she ran out of time and didn't want to go over her 2 hours and take this piss, so maybe point out again that it doesn't matter if she takes a little longer and she will be paid accordingly.

springalong that's a bit of an assumption!! Actually the whole house had been cleaned top to bottom on Sunday and was spotless. Since we've only been in it for a few hours each evening since then it was still pretty clean. I went around last night making sure everything was tidy so that she would be able to clean properly.

Its very hard to say.

But on the whole I think yabu to expect any cleaner to clean to your standard unless you pay them a premium, and give them longer than average to do it, and give them an exact list of what will satisfy your standard.

Walford maybe she ran out of time, but we had specifically discussed the fact that if she spent longer this time to let us know and we were happy to pay the extra.

But in any case, surely that doesn't excuse slapdash hoovering around small, light items eg a toddler chair with no attempt to move them? Obviously i don't expect her to move heavy furniture but things like an office chair on wheels is surely not asking too much??