Cleaner not being realistic

[kaytee87]

I have a new cleaners starting soon, there's a team of two and they'll be coming once a week to do a thorough clean and bed change.

They're coming tomorrow to do a deep clean which includes skirtings, tops and fronts of cupboards, oven, insides of windows.

They think the weekly clean will only take them an hour and the deep clean only 2 hours. I think they're bonkers...

I have 4 bedrooms, living room, study, playroom, dining room, kitchen, utility, 2 bathrooms.

How the hell do they reckon they'll get all of that done in that time?

It takes me 3 hours to do a normal clean and took my old team of 2 cleaners 2 hours for a normal clean and 4 hours for a deep clean which was realistic.

It's now making me think they won't be very good or will leave jobs not done.

Does anyone think their timescale is realistic? They've been to see the house and I've mentioned twice that they're not giving themselves enough time.

I don't think it would take 8 man hours to do a deep clean of my house which sounds similar to yours. If your cleaners have been keeping on top of it then it shouldn't take that long.

I suppose it depends on how fast the old and new cleaners work. Try it out. You never know they may do as good a job in those times and you may save yourself some money. If not, you either up the hours or find replacement cleaners.

Worth a shot first IMO

Sounds like they won't get everything done in that time (or perhaps the 'deep clean' will actually be more what you'd expect for a general clean). Perhaps let them do the first week and see what you think?

I'm a cleaner and when I work with one particular cleaner (who is like a whippet) I could probably do it in that time.
However the first visit usually takes longer as you are finding your feet and its especially important to make a good impression. It makes me wonder if they have squeezed you in. I certainly wouldn't turn down extra time offered by a client.
I always tell new clients that we require a longer time on the first visit and can usually achieve the same standard in less time as I become familiar with the property

I will defo let them come tomorrow but I honestly don't know how they think they'll get it done. The windows will take ages on their own let alone everything else, they're huge they'll have to go up and down ladders which takes time in itself.

dona they shouldn't have squeezed me in, we booked it a while ago and the day was their choice.

With the 4 man hours they're only giving themselves 20 minutes per room/bathroom

Well maybe I will be amazed tomorrow...

I have a holiday cottage ( 2 bedrooms. Bathroom , kitchen diner and hallway ) so not massive
The team of 2 can get all changed , and very clean and tidy in 45 mins
It takes me , on my own more like 2 and a half hours

I feel like I occupy a different reality when it comes to cleaning, so I couldn't tell you.

I can say, though, that my cleaner does a superficial clean of our kitchen, utility, dining room, living room, playroom, hall and bathroom in 3 hrs. No windows, doors, skirting boards, anything like that - just wiping horizontal surfaces and hoovering up.

I used to clean luxury lodge accomodation, 4 bed, 4 bath, kitchen diner, living area and extra ground room. I am quiet speedy, still thorough, and i would have to deep clean every Saturday/Sunday and it would take me around four hours, by myself. So two people, two hours... could be done.
Inspect their work and make sure your're happy with it.

Wow! If you are in London I'd like to use them too! i prefer 2 cleaners, less time! Sounds great, please report back.

I have a new cleaner starting next week similar sized property 4 beds, first clean (not deep clean but including blinds) I'm giving her up to 7 hours then after 5 hours every week.

We have a 5 bed, of which only two or three are used each week and our cleaner does 5 hours per week!!

It's now making me think they won't be very good or will leave jobs not done
Why don't you give them the benefit of the doubt and let them do the clean before you start judging their capabilities??

Until I had a cleaner come into my house, I had no idea how efficient she would be compared to me.

persian of course they are coming tomorrow and I will judge from that... I can still have doubts though. They're saying it will take them half the time as my previous cleaners - seems unbelievable really.

We have a house your size roughly and have 3 cleaners for an hour a week. They don't wash sheets in that time and I would say the kitchen and bathrooms are done well but the remainder of the house is superficially clean but not thoroughly done in that time.

I did just my windows the other day and live in a 2 bed house so it isn't very big and it still took me 45 mins. Both inside and out downstairs and inside only upstairs.

I don't see how they can get it all done in the time they stated.

Are you sure that you agreed on what a deep clean is? Deep clean for me includes moving furniture and appliances, steam cleaning wall tiles etc. My house is similar to yours (minus 1 bedroom and playroom) our house is not cluttered, we are not dirty and I would not expect a deep clean in 4 man hours.

However 2 hours a week for a regular clean was enough, including bigger jobs been done on a rota, windows, paintwork, oven, cooker hood, bathroom tiles, upholstery etc.

2 girls working 1 hour always got more done than one girl working 2 hours.

Surely it depends how dirty your house is. We have two small bathrooms that I do a quick clean of everyday, I could easily deep clean them in 20 mins each. However when I was pg with DC3 and had SPD the regular cleaning stopped and when I was able to clean properly everywhere was manky so it took me half an hour just to do the shower.

nanna yes I confirmed with her what it included when she told me only 2 hours as I was very surprised..

I will update on how it went.

They're saying it will take them half the time as my previous cleaners - seems unbelievable really
My NDN used to have a truly appalling cleaner.

There were lots of tasks that she wouldn't do like dusting and she used to make a fuss if she was asked to do a specific task.

Once when my NDN had gone out and left the cleaner and the windows were open I heard her talking on her mobile phone for about an hour of the time.

Long story short, my NDN now has the same cleaner as me and my NDN warned the new cleaner that she wasn't expecting her to do everything in two hours because the place was pretty dirty.

Anyway when we came back after two hours we couldn't believe what she had done, it was amazing.

The new cleaner had done more in two hours than the old cleaner did in a month (8 hours).

When my NDN went to pay her for the two hours, she went to give her £24 (same as old cleaner) and she said "no, no my rate is £10 per hour, so it's £20".

Some people just want to do a good job and get paid and some people resent doing someone else's cleaner so they do a crap job and get paid more.

I was always home when the last cleaners were here so I know they weren't skiving. Maybe the new folk are ultra fast, I just hope they're not in such a rush they hurt themselves on ladders or anything

Might be doable, DSIS has a team of 2 once a week, they obliterate a horrendous mess in 2 hours.....

I was just about to start a new thread of my own very similar to this! We had cleaners start today. I am paying for 3 hrs a week, 2 of them doing 1.5 hrs. We have a 4 bed house, two of the rooms are quite large and the kitchen is massive. 2 ensuite shower rooms and a family bathroom. 2 kids, but it's not full of clutter, I made sure all surfaces and floors are clear. Not loads of little nick nacks or wood to dust.
Got home today and they'd managed to hoover, but said the hoover wasn't good, I hadn't realised it needed emptying. Fair enough it wasn't then hoovered properly and probably took an age to do as it was full. Floors were mopped but badly, areas under tables and around edges not done, again they'd said they didn't like the steam mop we have (I love it as it does seem good job and dries really quick which is handy with kids and pets). I'll get them a normal one and two mops for next time. They'd done the bathrooms but not underneath containers etc and not mopped the floors, but had cleaned two massive shower screens which were awful with limescale.
So all in all I'd say a superficial clean, in a house that sounds a similar size if not a bit smaller, 3hrs. Can't say I'm delighted as I think I can do the whole house in that time with kids in tow, we're not rolling in it but I'm paying for this to buy time with the kids at the weekends and during the week. I know I'll need to run the hoover round on a Saturday and wipe round toilets etc too but I was hoping to just have to spend an hour max at the weekend doing that as we both work full time. Thinking that might not be doable now!
But I will be giving them another few weeks, I've got a busy few weeks at work and it's term time only as I'm a teacher and I can manage fine when I'm off. If it's still not great then I think I'll save my money and either do it myself or keep looking for someone else! 4 hours for a deep clean does sound over ambitious.

I did have one company telling me that they could clean my house in less time due the girls having a system and the products they use being superior. However they were more expensive per hour so I felt the cleaners were just working harder and faster to make the owner more profit and did not choose them.

My cleaners can always do more than me in the same time period, and do a better job. I look forward to hearing the results.

I have a house a bit similar in size than yours, and the last deep clean I had was 2 people x 3 hours. It was not enough at all and I never called them again, gave up on deep clean and have a regular cleaner instead.

It doesn't even matter if the house looks rather clean, you still expect them to do all the nooks and crannies, doors (including the tops), squirting boards, behind appliances, walls in at least bathrooms and toilets... It takes time to do it properly, even in a very tidy house where everything is accessible.

Give it a go, and see what they meant by deep clean. Hopefully they are amazing! (if they are, can I have their number please, I am South East )

Youcantscaremeihavechildren I had the same thing with mine. Our house is smaller than your, and it was two people for an hour, but like you I felt everything was just superficially done. I picked up before they came and I didn't expect them to do the kids' hovels bedrooms either.

It was the first time we had had a cleaner, so I gave it two months and then gave up. I haven't bothered again as it put me off.