Cleaner charge problem...what would you think?

[achoocashew]

I asked on a local facebook page for a new cleaner as my previous had to stop due to sickness. Several people volunteered and recommended others and i contacted a lady, lets call her Tina. I wanted a good going over of my kitchen, inside and outside cupboards, cleaning tiles and scrubbing floor etc plus all the regular stuff.

This was the conversation we had on messenger:

T - Hi, I can help you, I have my own cleaning company, I’m fully insured and supply all the equipment ... I charge £20 an hour and there’s always two of us x

ME - Hi, thanks for messaging me. Were you talking about the one off clean or regular cleaning?
Can you supply references and are you dbs checked?

T - We can do both? Yes dbs checked and I can ask my old company for a reference as I don’t have any regular ones

M- I meant do you have other people you clean for who I could just have a quick chat with?

T -Yes sure I can give u a number for one ?

M -Great. And when could you do the deep clean? Two people for £20 ph? I'm not sure how long it would take tbh

T - So if we do 4 hours it would be £80 ( an example) I’ve just said to my customer u want a reference and he said you can call him now if you want to his name is Andrew and his no is ‭xxxxx, can do it for you on Friday?

M - Thanks. Friday is about the only day that isn't good for me! Could you do another day?
I have space on thursday at 1.15pm ? U have probably heard this so many times but we are very reliable, will do a brilliant job for you, I invoice at the end of each month so u can either pay, cash, cheque or into my business account.

M -That would be great, thank you. Would you want to pop round so you can see how long it might take or just see on Thursday?

I can pop round tomorrow ? etc etc arranging times.

She popped round a couple of days before, looked at the kitchen to see how small etc, looked at the other rooms . Tina and another lady arrived at 1.10pm today and left just after 3pm.

How much would you expect to pay?!!! She has popped the invoice through my door and i was a bit flummoxed! I'll get to the AIBU when i tell you what she asked for!

I don't think this sounds like a good arrangement for you. I agree that what she said was misleading but £20 per hour for a cleaner is going some. I don't know where you live OP - I have a friend in Dulwich who pays that sort of rate.

Here in Yorkshire I pay £9 per hour which of course we round up to £10. We've had the same cleaner for 20 years and she's totally part of the family. She's starting to lose her memory a bit now and asked if she could cut down from 8 hours to 4 hours. Which is fine. I do frequently find she's done one room twice and forgotten about another entirely but that is also fine. It's up to her to tell us when she's had enough of us - and we'll keep going with her as long as she is happy to see us and care for us.

Sorry that was a bit tangential but what I was trying to say is that when the relationship is right - it's not transactional in a sense.

£40 and not a penny more. She clearly stated in her text it would be £80 for four hours. She’s trying it on with you.

Stop being so polite!

'I think also it might be best if we just stick to this as a one off clean and not now have a weekly clean.'

Don't say this bit ^

I would have expected to pay £80. Cleaners here charge at least £15 an hour. I think you misunderstood what she meant.

Fuck me, why am I looking at returning to nursing when I could earn more as a cleaner (even allowing for business costs, travel expenses etc.)?

She's taking the piss. I get that cleaning is a skill. I get that many people don't have the time, or inclination me to clean, but it doesn't take years of study, degree level essays student debt and a payable membership to a governing body to do.

I understand that businesses have overheads and unseen costs, but so does any other work; commuting, clothing, pens, hair ties, shoes. In her case it seems to be lurking on facebook like a web less spider waiting for her prey to wander along.

Pay £40, don't use or recommend her again obviously. If she kicks off tell her to go through the small claims court. If you have a cheque book I'd suggest writing a cheque with 'In full and final payment of all debts owed.' and if she banks it then that's the contract done.

I think she was deliberately ambiguous in her wording and was trying it on.

Cheeky F

Make sure you put on their FB ad that they tried to charge you 20 pp ph...

£80 for 4 hours of cleaning is ridiculous. We pay £55 for 5 hours (two cleaners who stay for 2.5 hours, so making it 5 hours of cleaning in total).

Are you happy with the job? If not ask her back to do what you feel needs doing! Then pay the £80!
All the people saying don't pay her-outrageous!! But oh yeah it's just a cleaner isn't it?

She said.... "I charge £20 an hour and there are always 2 of us" I would expect to pay only £40. What she should have said is.. I charge £40 per hour as there are 2 of us. She's wrong. If I give someone an hourly rate it's as clear as that regardless of how many people tag along to make the job go quicker! She's taking the Mick!

Round my way (south east) agency cleaners charge £12-14 ph with £9-10 going to the cleaner, and private cleaners charge £10ph. I wouldn't expect to pay £20ph for a cleaner unless I lived in Knightsbridge or somewhere!

I think that seems a very reasonable price for a deep clean. Assuming you are happy with the clean.

Basically , yes! She was a nice lady, but I just cannot afford that. Whether or not you can afford it, it's not right anyway.

We are in a very expensive part of the SE and labour costs here are £15 per hour, per person for cleaning and gardening. This is standard.

Obviously if you had two people cleaning the charge is pp per hour, but for half the time. One cleaner - £30 for 2 hours and 2 people on site for one hour achieve the same with the same charge.

I'm long in the tooth but learning that you actually need to spell things out to a really patronising degree in the interests of clarity.

I thought I had done that, I asked twice!

Anyway, I've paid her £40, she's said thank you and been polite, so I hope it ends there.

This way of thinking seems entrenched in cleaners. Just this evening I got the message below from a prospective cleaner:

We charge 13.00 an hour including all products and two ladies x

If this cleaner had said £20 an hour in her message I might have made the same assumption as the OP. As it is, I realised there was no way they would work at £6.50 an hour each.

But origami - it’s still not clear

That statement should have said “we charge £26 per hour, to include all equipment and two ladies

Ie - you would have been entitled to assume £13 DID cover the two ladies. You are not required to know what they get paid over the rest of their time to equate to >min wage

I think her poor literacy is the issue - it means her messages are ambiguous. You did the right thing suggesting better wording she could use in the future.

Urban - perhaps, but maybe not.

They should say "per man hour."

When I cleaned, I never gave an hourly rate. I asked what they wanted done, sized up the job and calculated in my head how long it would take, then quoted a price.

I also learned a method called "speed cleaning" that maximized efficiency so that I could clean very quickly (slower the first couple of times, then faster as I got to know the house).

I aimed for £15 an hour and often achieved more.

No complaints from clients.

I'm in London and pay £40 for 4 hours per week. £80 for 4 hours is ridiculous!

*She is taking the piss enormously.

1: good cleaners are hugely in demand. They do not have immediately availability
2: they do not give uncheckable Andrew-style references
3: they don’t immediately capitulate to 50% their charge when challenged.*

This! Note your experience on the Facebook page (nicely, not nastily - just explain it as a man hour pricing miscommunication) so others will know to seek clarity.

The cleaners name didn't happen to be Kimberley did it?

Glad you just paid £40 she was being deliberately wishy washy with terms in the quote

The problem is - it is something she will have conned others probably elderly people who would have paid up

When I’ve used a cleaner they had a set rate, so if one person came it was 2 hours for £25 and if two people came it was £25 for one hour as they did the job twice as fast. £80 is ridiculous!!