To think £14 an hour for a cleaner is too much??

[LucieLucie]

Booked a regular 2 hour cleaning slot with a local business on the understanding it was £14 an hour and work in pairs.

Discovered today that 2 hours actually means 1 hour with 2 people.

I turned up mid clean last week to find just one person doing the cleaning - I was charged for 3 hours.

Challenged her today after coming home to a half hearted attempt at cleaning, beds not made, bins not emptied, glass & mirrors not polished, only floors mopped.

Owner went mental at me on the phone for , only questioned how I can be charged for 3 hours when I was only out for 2 hours and it was some time during this time the clean was done.

When I asked for key back she hung up.

If she'd explained her terms and conditions properly and calmly rather than acting like a loon I may have given them another chance.

AIBU? Is it really the norm to pay a cleaner £14 an hour EACH??

I wouldnt clean someone elses toilet for anything lrss.

Less

I think there is a fair amount of sexism about "the getting cleaners" issue. Traditionally cleaning is seen as women work and thus to out source is seen as a luxury. As QueenMortificado said above, we outsource a lot of services and tasks this days but to out source cleaning is viewed in a different way. In the pub last night heard a man who happily takes his car to get cleaned and his garden regularly tended too, but wouldn't countenance getting a cleaner as that was too fancy. In essence, mens tasks could get outsourced but cleaning was too insignificant, though he admitted he spent longer on cleaning than the other tasks. Don't understand it myself.

I love having a cleaner. I can afford it and can think of a million things I'd prefer to do than cleaning and laundry. I love gardening, sewing and DIY and having someone do the boring everyday stuff for me means I have more free time to do the things I like. I love to have the house looking tidy and clean. I find it relaxing.

If I couldn't afford a cleaner then I'd get on and do it myself. 💁🏼

I pay £12:50 but if I was going through an agency I would expect to pay more. My cleaner comes for about 8 hours a week. I've had the same cleaner for years and I have a lot of respect for her.

Men still think it's woman's work Thatts why they are happy for wifey to get a cleaner rather than muck In and clean themselves.

I guarantee It's the woman who outsources the cleaning and not the man in a relationship.

I'm a cleaner / housekeeper and get paid £10 an hour , I work 34 hours a week and have worked in large country houses to two bedrooms terraced, actually two hours is possible depending on size of house, how clutter free it is, it's tidying up that can take away cleaning time, and lots of people have cleaners which I'm very glad about lol as its great if you are lucky enough to work for lovely people and as a single mum of three I needed something fairly flexible and things like cleaning loos didn't bother me st all, we all use them so what's the problem lol

You'd be surprised at how much a professional cleaner can get done in 2 hours. We use a local company, they pay their staff above the minimum wage by quite a fair bit, holiday and sick pay. On top of that they are VAT registered so the hourly rate works out at around £20 per hour. Is it worth it? It is to me, I hate cleaning!

I loved having a cleaner. (When I had one). I'd come through the door of my lovely clean house, that I'd left a tip, and just walk around the house smiling. Well worth £20.
Yanbu op, some cleaners are rubbish, some are fab, dump this one and find a new one.

Arietty have you thought of a self employed cleaner rather than agency, they will be cheaper , just make sure you ask for references

Most people I know have a cleaner! I have a cleaner because: I am a lone parents, I work nearly full time in a busy job, when not at work I spend my time preparing meals, tidying up, taking dd to activities, supervising homework, etc.

Littlefrog - I would say maybe 75% of the people I know have cleaners.
And I have had a cleaner since as soon as I could afford one - mid twenties - because I really hate cleaning and I can afford it.

I don't know anyone who has a cleaner.

It sounds like you just picked a bad apple, OP. The charge seems reasonable to me, but the service doesn't come up to scratch. Dump them and look elsewhere.

My mum's cleaners charge £17.50 per hour. She has a 2-hour clean. Two people turn up and clean for an hour, so that's £35. They do a great job and mum's very happy with them.

Cleaning is always priced by the hour, OP. That is, per cleaning hour not the number of hours that the cleaners are in the house!

At my workplace, we pay for 24 hours of cleaning per day. The cleaners are actually in the building for 3 hours - but there are 8 of them!

80smum thanks for the explanation re the hours. I didn't know that, it didn't even occur to me.

I think it's just been a misunderstanding on my part from the off about what I was paying for.

I can't afford to pay £28 for an hours clean every week by two? people so I'll go back to doing it myself.

strygil

No paperwork or formal written agreement. Nothing signed."

In which case you haven't a legal leg to stand on.

I'm not sure if you've got the wrong end of the stick but I've not mentioned anything about legality. I've purely asked about the reasonability of paying £14 an hour each to a business who is meant to supply 2 cleaners for a poor cleaning service.

Not to mention being ranted at and hung up on when I opted to stop using her service and asked for my door key back

I would love a cleaner, but I'm too embarrassed by my house, so I have to do it myself.

I used to have a cleaner. I worked 6 days a week. She quit, and I don't blame her.

I work 5 days now, yay me!

I'd sack them off tbh. Doesn't sound like they've done a good enough job. They need to hand the key back though. I'd turn up on their doorstep demanding the key back.

Littlefrog....mum had cancer and between ths hospital appts it nice to come back to a clean house for her and dad. My sister pnd....a clean house might it was one less thing for her to do. Ive never had a cleaner but would never rule it out if i had the money.

Get a new cleaner OP.

As for the pp saying they can't understand what can be done in 2 hours!! Well I cleaned for a neighbour when I was younger and in 2 hours I ....

Cleaned the kitchen including fridge etc when required
Cleaned the bathroom and downstairs loo
Dusted in sitting room
Hoovered all carpets in living room and bedrooms (x3)
Swept, mopped, then swept again all floors in bathrooms, stairs, hallway and kitchen
Tidied kids playroom
Even had time for a spot of ironing sometimes

Wasn't asked to change beds but could have easily done this for a little extra time.

YANBU

MrsMoasty cleaning properly is harder work than an admin job, plus cleaners have to travel between 2 hour jobs and are not paid for travel time. I'm not sure why you feel they should earn less than someone sitting at a desk?

My cleaner, on the outskirts of London, is £12.50 per hour. That's for one person.

I think if a cleaning job is advertised as £x per hour then that should be regardless of how many people they put on the job. If they want it to be per cleaner per hour they need to be specific or clear about it from the get-go.

My cleaner is currently £13 an hour. If you use a company then they will be more than any old bod doing it cash in hand as they will have public liability insurance, bring their own cleaning products and cloths and mine even brings their own mops and hoover. So you will have all that factored into the price. The actual people they use will not be on the full £14 but a lower hourly rate. The owner will be making a smallish profit per hour after paying for all of the above.

As regards hourly rate: the rate reflects 1 person for one hour.

I previously had a different cleaner where I used to live. I paid £12 per hour.

If she came alone it was 2 hours x 1 person = £24

If she came with her sister it was 2 people x 1 hour = £24.

Littlefrog - I wouldn't expect everyone's choices to compute with you - variety is the spice of life & all that.

It's a lot for the North East. And cleaning is cleaning not making beds!

I have a cleaner as do most of my friends. Yes I agree I wouldn't expect the cleaner to make beds - that's not cleaning! Having said that my cleaner probably would.