To expect my cleaner to actually clean

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Yet again today have had another text

‘I did the 4 hours but didnt get time to clean the bathroom sorry’

Really ? Not even time for a 5 min wipe round with some bathroom wipes ??
For reference it’s a 4 bed. 1 reception room (which hadn’t been dusted either or anything just quickly hoovered it looks like)
In 4 hrs I’d expect something at least to have been done in the bathroom ?
This has happened a few times now ..... I’ve done this many hours but haven’t done one of the jobs that’s meant to be fine in that time frame
I don’t understand

What is a bit of tidying? I actually tidy for close to an hour before my cleaner arrives so it is clear for her to clean. I have 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 receptions, a kitchen and a playroom. It takes her 3.5 hours to clean but as I said above if I had to tidy it would take 4.5 so it depends what a bit of tidying means.

If you have wifi in the house , try changing the code , ( blame it on someone telling the neighbours if you have to ) .
If she can not get on the internet easily she may 'magically' have enough time for the cleaning
They a similar thing were I use to work ( we were all told that every time we logged on and it was not work related the IT bosses could tell )
Its amazing how much more work got done !

If she had to clear lots of stuff off floors and surfaces to be able to actually do the cleaning, then I can understand it will take her longer.
However, a four bedroom house should be reasonably clean in half that time, so I think she's taking the piss.
I'd be looking for another cleaner who is prepared to actually get their finger out and, you know, clean.

3 bed house, 2 good sized reception rooms...

My cleaner hoovers, dusts, mops, all rooms plus cleans the bathroom/downstairs loo and cleans all surfaces, sink, cooker etc in the kitchen - in two hours.

If there's laundry in the machine she takes it out and puts it in the dryer too.

Pengggwn - 40 m8nutes to change three beds?!

Bloody hell! I do three beds every week. 20 mins MAX including putting the washer on.

6 bed 4 receptions. 4 man hours weekly. House is immaculate. Hasn’t always been but over time the cleaners have dropped the number of they need to do.
Is the cleaner a OMB or from a company? I find it far easier to complain to a company than an individual. Yours is taking the piss. What is the point of a cleaner who doesn’t do the bathroom.

Four hours is plenty of time from what you’ve said.

If she’s agreed to four hours then you need to speak to her and find out why she isn’t fulfilling her part of the agreement.

If she feels it isn’t long enough then she should tell you and say why she needs more time. It’s not ok to simply leave sections for no apparent reason!

Contact her and ask what’s going on.

Coolaschmoola

Takes me about ten minutes to do my king sized bed, including getting the new stuff out, taking off, putting on new stuff, putting the wash on. I don't think it's ridiculous if they're big beds. Kids' beds, fair enough. I'm not super fast, no, but I'm not swinging the lead. Just going at a steady pace.

You say she spends one hour in the kitchen? Pardon my frankness but your kitchen is either exceptionally large or average sized and very unclean.

Do you have a quick tidy up first before she comes or do you expect her to pick up all of your family's mess from the week before, as well as hoovering and dusting etc?

Go easy on her. I would suggest that everything you ask her to do, you try yourself first. You may not be so critical after you've had a go.

I worked as a clearner while I was at uni. One of the houses was a 5 bed (not all set up as bedrooms) spread accross 3 floors I did 3 hours a week. An hour (rough average) of that was spent on ironing.

Weekly:
Cleaned, swept and mopped:
Kitchen and utility room,
Main bathroom,
En-suite bathroom,
Top floor shower room,

Master bedroom,top floor sitting room, dressing room and study got dusted, mirrors polished and hoovered.

All bins emptied and liners replaced when needed.

The main front room and dining room were done when needed as they seldom used them. The guest bedroom and en-suite were done on request before and after they had guests coming.

All halways, landings and staircases were hoovered weekly, and dusted fortnightly.

With whatever time was left I would work through the doors and skirting boards (usually one floor per week), then do likewise with the windows, then do the oven and fridge. The routine would then start again from the paintwork.

Granted there was only the two of them living there, so it would have been much quicker than cleaning a home with a family, but I still don't see how it's taking more that 4 hours to do the basics in a property that size when it's getting done weekly.

I have a compact 4 bed and my cleaner does 2 hours a week. 4 hours

I work as a cleaner. I work a 4 hour shift in a sports club.

This is what I do every shift.

Wipe 20 tables, tops and bases
Hoover function room
Mop dance floor
Clean bar area
Clean kitchen
Hoover reception
Mop tiled floors
Dust skirtings, picture frames
Clean vending machines
Clean office
Clean 7 toilet cubicles (filthy toilets, not a quick wipe)
Clean 2 changing rooms and 8 showers
Clean windows
Clean physio rooms.
Launder bibs

If I have time I litter pick the carpark.

It sounds like your cleaner has problems with time management. 4 hours is a long time. What is the point of a cleaner who doesn't get around to the bathroom! If you could do it in 5 hours then a professional cleaner should be able to manage it in 4 in my opinion.

Your problem is this though, Yet again today have had another text. A one off is understandable but if this is happening a lot then she is taking the piss. She's not doing you a favour. It is her job, that you pay her to do!

Do people actually have cleaners to change their beds?? Jeezo, DH and I do this ourselves. If I had a cleaner it wouldn't have occurred to me to ask them to change beds.

But yes, she's taking the piss.

Ginger1982 - yes, lots of people have their beds changed by their cleaner in my experience.

Large 5 bed house here although she focuses on 3 of the rooms as we use the others infrequently. We tidy up so she can clean but she comes once a fortnight and does 3 bedrooms, will put new bedding on if I've stripped it, 3 reception rooms (mainly hoovering and deep cleaning the lounge) and the playroom which is a bloody state plus the kitchen and entrance room.

My gripe is that she moves things to where she would have them in her house. I don't want to be running around looking for Calpol at 3am with a teething toddler. I want to bloody find it where I left it.

I have a 3 bed house and two bathrooms and the whole place is cleaned in two hours so even with an extra bedroom 4 hours should be plenty. My cleaner doesn't tidy but she does rearrange stuff and makes swans out of blankets lol! Again in two hours.

You need to get one of those cheap battery operated cameras. Leave it in the lounge and record her drinking tea in front of the TV.

Hive door sensors showed me that my (ex) cleaner was leaving earlier than had been agreed and paid for, which I ordered after having doubts over her work ethic.

this really does sound weird unless she is deep cleaning the kitchen and lounge. Give her an order eg. bathroom, kitchen, change beds, dust and hoover.

In 2.5 hours ours:
Mops kitchen and hall floor
Vacuums lounge, hallways and dining room
Cleans kitchen
Wipes/dusts lounge and dining room
Cleans bathroom and ensuite

He usually does one of 3 bedrooms -vacuuming and dusting. He’s pretty slow and enjoys walking past the mirrors but is faster if we’re here.

sit together with her.
tell her that you expect more and that if it isn't feasible (because of too much clutter to tidy) what can be dropped (change of bedding).

I would expect

• kitchen top to bottom
• bathroom top to bottom
• hoover all floors
• damp dust living room

if there is still time maybe changing bedding, damp dust another room, clean that silver trophy...

You need a new cleaner.

Mine takes 4 hours but it’s a 6 bedroom house with 2 staircases and being 250 years old is more time consuming to clean than a modern one

In four hours, I could clean a 4 bed 2 bath house and would also do windows, deep clean in bathrooms and the kitchen would need 20 minutes if it’s done every week. She’s taking the piss.

She's taking the mick. I clean a 6 bed 3 bath house in 4 hours - hoover, mop, dust, windows etc etc

You need a new cleaner!

Back when I could actually afford a cleaner I had a price for the job and there used to be 2-3 of them and they'd be in and out really quick. But I'd all get done and I'd pay the set price regardless of how long it took.