AIBU to think that £25-30 for a housekeeper/cook is just taking the mickey?

[YankeeDad]

This is to solicit mumsnet wisdom regarding what is the realistic cost of domestic help in London, and how to find someone good at a reasonable rate.

I'm looking for a part-time cook / housekeeper to come in 1x / week in order to reduce the workload for DP and myself by cooking a meal or two and washing up in the kitchen.

Word-of-mouth has not yielded anyone promising, so I've tried the route of contacting some agencies advertising for cooks / housekeeping help.

They are coming back with rates of £25-30 / hour (mostly £30) (!) Granted, this is London and it's expensive, and the "going rate" of £10-12 for informal help that I've sometimes heard about may be a bit on the low side, but £30 seems like a LOT, especially as it does NOT include the agency fees: for that they add another ~15-20% on top.

Can anyone in London provide advice on whether this is really the going rate for someone who can cook in London (in which case we'll need to reconsider this plan), or if not, how to find someone at a more reasonable rate: go to other agencies? (if so, which ones? ) Negotiate down? (ie do agencies always start with an unrealistically high asking rate)?

Oh I have been misinformed Luisa
I was told it about a year ago

Maybe look for a Mothers help?

To be a cook/housekeeper? That's a stupid suggestion.

Surely there's an organic restaurant nearby.
Or do you need a maid OP?

We have a freezer full of cookfood.net meals for if we don't want to cook. Much better than normal ready meals.

I think OP is channeling freshly cooked food...

Maybe advertise on student noticeboards as a student could be interested in this work

That sounds about right. I would expect to pay at least £60 for someone to be in my home fir a couple of hours providing effectively a personal 1-table restaurant service. That would be without any housekeeping and cleaning only limited to clearing up after the cooking.

"Cook" ready meals use high quality ingredients and don't industrialise their processes so you get a proper home-cooked meal.

Have you tried meals from Cook? They are far superior to supermarket ready meals. We got them after our youngest was born to have easy healthy family meals. I boosted them with lots of fresh veg on the side and they were great. Much easier than the hassle of employing someone. Or what about a meal delivery service or batch cooking? I know that’s not quite what you’re looking for, but if it’s only one meal a week, that’s something you can easily throw in a slow cooker or heat from frozen when you’ve made extra earlier in the week.

I found that the moment I mentioned cooking, the price of a cleaner/household help went up significantly - even in the body of one person (another country - wanted 9 to just clean, 15 if cooking as well)

I'd do as everyone says - just get a cleaner and takeout/ready meals.

You're looking for someone to do an hour here or there, so someone who travels between jobs, has a lot of unpaid downtime, is flexible etc. Of course you're going to have to pay more for that.

Presumably they’re sourcing ingredients and meal planning as well as just turning up to cook and clear up afterwards? On MN we all know that that’s additional time/mental load!

Sounds like a perfectly reasonable price for what you’re asking. And I live in the cheap Midlands.

I am very grateful to all of you who have provided ideas.

We will look into Hello Fresh, Gousto, Cook, and Wiltshire Farm Foods. Will have a go with trying to find someone direct to cut out agencies.
We'll have to have a think about how to manage ingredient sourcing / meal planning. My first idea would have been either to receive a recipe and use it to create an Ocado order, or to add on an extra hour for the shopping and reimburse for the ingredients + that increment of extra time (so if they did it more efficiently, say at the same time as their own shop, they would get paid 1 hour for saving me 1 hour even if it only took them 15 minutes extra).

Am planning to try different things, fail, fail again but better, & thereby learn what works.

wouldn't it just be easier to go to a restaurant

I know someone who is a chef but also has a business where she and het husband make meals meals in their own kitchen and deliver them locally so a sort of dinner party caterer.

Would that work for you? Do you need someone to come to you?

Get yourself a slow cooker and use frozen veg!

...And a dishwasher.

Do you want them to batch cook for you so you have meals ready for the whole week? Can ywe u be flexible about the day and time they come in?

On the meal kits, id like to recommend Mindful Chef. Quality of ingredients higher than Hello Fresh.

Ocado recipes are good to look through, you can then add the ingredients to your baskets. I assumed would be the most expensive BT they usually aren’t.

I know someone who does mother’s help type stuff. The kids are older primary school/early senior school. She does pick ups from school, to clubs, stays at home with them till parents get back etc. She also cooks for them. She batch cooks in her own home. Healthy meals they can reheat. She does 10-15 hours a week. She gets paid £10 an hour including hours when she is in the car. She’s in the south east. I think she saw a post on a local facebook group.

I'm all for going to a restaurant too OP.
By the time you get shopping and ingredients sorted you might just as well, even cook for yourself?