Those of you who have a cleaner - How long does yours take?!

[WinterAx]

I’ve recently moved house and have been searching for a new cleaner in the area. I have a 4 bed three storey house (3 double bedrooms, 1 single) including a small office, large kitchen, main bathroom, en suite and a small downstairs toilet. The house is totally clutter free and very minimalistic. Three of the bedrooms upstairs are practically empty as one is just built in wardrobes, the other an ironing room and the other I use for yoga. Cleaner says it’ll take 4 hours per week for a basic clean.

Am I being unreasonable in thinking this is too long?! Nosily hoping to find out how long yours takes and what sized property you have!

I think 4 hours is good going!
Ours comes for 3 hours and we have a three bed (uncluttered) house with one biggish reception room, a biggish kitchen, one bathroom - no downstairs loo. They only just manage to do it all and often miss something out.
They do ironing too but not within the 3 hours. They take that away and we collect it a few days later.

Right perhaps I set my expectations I bit high!

House same as yours, my cleaner does it (plus a tiny bit of ironing) in three hours.

Our cleaner takes 4 hours for a slightly smaller house.

We have a big 5 bed Victorian villa so big rooms.
Cleaner started off doing 4hours but now she's got used to it she's got it down to 3.
She does kitchen, breakfast room, dining room, living room, hall & stairs, utility, conservatory & 3 bathrooms, every week.
She will do family room and kids bedrooms / spare room if I ask, which is usually every month. She does windows fortnightly.
She does a good job.

Is she really going to clean the whole house each and every week?

Will there be a scheduled list of things she’s doing each week

Windows surfaces pictures skirting boards feather duster corners etc

Or is this just cleaning the main areas?

Mine takes 2.5 - 3 hours and she really does a very good job - 5 beds, 3 large receptions, large kitchen, utility and 4 bathrooms.

That said, I pay her a flat rate, rather than an hourly rate so she isn't motivated to drag her heels!

Ours does 2 hours a week.
Upstairs ( 4 beds two bathrooms) one week.
Downstairs the next week.
Works for us as I only have to get one floor tidy the night before.

Similar size house to yours, a basic all over clean takes 3 hours. No ironing.

5 bed house, takes 3 hours. I luffs my cleaner and she's been with us 7 years

2 hours a week my cleaner does 2 of our bedrooms (usually pretty messy so she tidies first) and one we use as a study so just empties bin and vacuums; a largish kitchen/diner; a lounge; a dining room; 2 bathrooms; downstairs toilet; 2x stairs, 2 x landings and 1 hallway; this takes her about 1hr and 1/4. After that she does another job, which is different each week.

This is interesting as I always had 2.5 - 3hrs in mind initially. When I asked if 3 hours was feasible she wasn’t keen... as there is only one ‘lived in’ bedrooms I really don’t see how they’d take that long.

Ours is 4 bed, three bathroom. 2 hours a week and she does the whole house every time.

My house is same size as yours, we started with 4 hours but then it got to her using initiative with silly things to fill the time like taking the wine glasses off the shelf and polishing them all (not necessary they are used very regularly :))
So we moved to 3 hours and I put the bedrooms on a rota basis. This seems to work well.

The thing is, assuming your Hoover works well, it actually takes much the same amount of time to hoover a used room and an unused room. So if you don't want to pay her for the 4 hours it would take her to hoover the rooms whether they're used or not, why not make it such that weekly she only does the rooms you use frequently, and then say once a month you pay for the extra hour and she does the whole house?

When we had a house that size we paid for 4 hours but it included ironing and changing one bed.

We have two cleaners for four hours twice a week now. They do the basics of keeping the house reasonably clean but we do day to day stuff. They do lavatories and bathrooms, kitchen and dust, hoover mop both visits. On top of that they give bedrooms that have been used a going over, do the dining room once a month or so, windows as necessary and other jobs by rotation.

This is interesting as we've just moved and I'm looking into a cleaner but I don't know where to start. Do you all use big companies or word of mouth or a cleaner you met down the pub? How does it work?!

Large four bed with three bathrooms. Cleaner does 2.5 hours top to bottom and a little ironing too. She's great.

do a time in motion study so you can show her how long it take you to do your house. perhaps you miss bits

Large 4 bed, 2 ensuites, bathroom, wc, playroom, living room, utility and large kitchen diner. 2.5 hours and half an hour for my ironing.

5 hours for a large 6 bed house with 4 bathrooms. Only 2 of us here though so we don't make much mess.

3 bed semi - 2 hours a week. Everything’s cleaned including skirting boards, light fittings, behind doors etc - I love her!!