To expect a 5 bed to be cleaned in 3 hours?

[hibbledibble]

Genuinely not sure if this is reasonable or not.

The last cleaner managed this as a fortnightly clean, but I let her go as she was damaging a lot of things.

It's a small 5 bed (130-140m2), with 2 bathrooms. One bedroom is a guest room and tiny (and doesn't need cleaning regularly)

A new cleaner came and only managed the lounge, kitchen, one bathroom and 2 bedrooms in 4 hours. I understand the first clean can take longer, but she said she would want 5 hours a week for our house.

That's out of our budget price wise so wondering on opinions. I'm not expecting a deep clean, mainly just floors and kitchen/bathrooms.

@Tinkobell my spd meant I could barely walk. You do realise it means the pelvic bone has slipped and isn't supported by the ligaments as they've over loosened to prepare for Labour. It's not just mild back ache!

Without knowing the size and tidiness of each room, I would say YABU. I used to clean a large house in a very posh part of town, it was 5 bedrooms, 2 sitting rooms, huge kitchen, and 2 bathrooms.

It was 6 hours a week (so took me a whole day including my lunch break).

Mine - 5 bed, 3bath, 1 loo.
4 hours weekly clean. She prioritises well, and I completely tidy beforehand.
Still not perfect, but she is very good.

tinkobell The SPD means I cannot clean the house without experiencing pain currently, which would also exacerbate the condition, causing further pain.

A fibroid resection is completely different to SPD. I wouldn't tell you what you are able to do, and neither should you be telling me.

Regardless, I shouldn't have to justify why I employing a cleaner.

I wonder if the issue is it being fortnightly instead of weekly? She will have a lot more to do than if she is on top of it weekly.

I think you decide what jobs need doing every time and which can be alternated, rather than going over budget.

I think you have had unpleasant replies because your five bedroom house signals that you are a wealthy person, and yet you seem to be trying to pinch pennies and work a cleaner to the bone to clean the place. I have a cleaner so I'm not anti-cleaner, but they are humans just like you - and I hope you realise that she's probably going to sit down with a cuppa at some stage if you hire her for four hours! Treat her like rubbish and you'll have a very high turnover of cleaners.

No not possible

I clean a 3 bed holiday home and change bedding, can just do it in 4 hours going like the clappers.
To do yours I would want another hour at least.

YABU

Haha Tink, you’ve clearly never had SPD and for that you should be truly grateful! I had to wear a girdle/brace thing around my waist and between my legs and had to use crutches!
In labour, my midwives measured out how far I was allowed to open my legs to give birth and forced them within the boundaries to avoid further damage.

Not your fault for not knowing about the condition, until I had it I didn’t even know what it was. But no, I doubt op could just try and do a timed test of cleaning her house as a one off - it’s not a selective crippling pain!! 6 years after my youngest was born, I still get painful twinges although thankfully did return to normal after about 3 years of giving birth to him. Generally it goes upon giving birth

Op, of course you don’t need to justify it. I could do my own cleaning but I value my weekend time and don’t want to spend it cleaning my house and can afford not to.
I have absolutely no shame in it. Why should I?

Sit down with a stop watch on a Saturday morning and time your DP doing it. Some houses do take longer than others thanks to clutter, layout etc.

You don't need to justify having a cleaner and spd is horrible. I had it when pregnant too.

Just have her for what you can afford and prioritise what you want her to do. I'd go for kitchen and bathrooms and.living room and then rotate the bedrooms

I presume at some point you cleaned your house, so think how long it took you to do each room (to the standard you expect the cleaner to keep up) add up the hours, take off maybe half an hour as they are professional (unless you were super quick) and that’s how long you should give the cleaner.

cake sympathy. SPD is horrible. I also had it for a long time after my second pregnancy, while other women said their pain disappeared within days of delivery. I would be in tears doing the school runs (no public transport available).

Reservoir that is excellent advice

Harsh It's hard to effectively summarise what is wrong with all the assumptions that are made in your post. A five bedroom house does not mean I am rich, nor does it have any bearing on my disposable income. I cannot afford to pay 5 hours as a weekly clean, as I am paying the cleaner a good hourly rate. Nowhere have I said that I am treating her badly or less than human. I am only asking for a light clean (no bed changing, moving furniture etc, house fully tidied first)

Based on my experience YABU and taking the piss.

I might have missed it somewhere but I really don’t think people have been that “harsh” or rude 🤷‍♀️

The reality is a 5 bed house with two bathrooms can’t be done in 3 hours fortnightly.
Especially if you want all rooms thoroughly cleaned.

Pick what is most important and maybe
allocate some of the easy jobs to the kids/partner if you have one and also do any of the things you can do yourself (kitchen counters, table tops etc) before they come so the cleaner just does the floor and windows in the kitchen for example.

Ah thanks hibble, sorry you’re going through it now, it was crippling, debilitating and so frustrating to know that it disappeared for so many within hours kid giving birth as it’s generally said to be linked to the hormonal production of relaxin which in theory drops off once you are no longer pregnant! Although I have PCOS so you just try telling my hormones what they should and shouldn’t do!!
Hope it shifts for you quickly
I remember ‘the shuffle’ as though it were yesterday

Of not kid 🤦🏼‍♀️

2 hours just about gets my lounge and kitchen done properly. Yabu

An update. I didn't ask slow cleaner to come back again, her complaining was also grating, and invited another cleaner over.

She did the whole house in 3 hours, and asking colleagues, this is pretty standard. It seems like Mumsnet is very much it's own world often.

We had a cleaner quote for our four bed and said they would need 4 hours a week. Before they would put us on the books they wanted to do a one off 8 hour deep clean. They were sent on their way, my house isn’t that dirty!

I think five hours a week is about right. Maybe three hours one day and two the next but that's up to you to arrange.

We have 5 beds, 2 bathrooms and a downstairs loo. Our cleaner does 3 hours a week but she doesn't do 2 of the bedrooms. Im not sure she'd need an extra 2 hours to do those though, so maybe 4 hours to get round it all is more realistic?

I have a five-bedroomed house. I know it well and there's no way I could clean it all in three hours once a fortnight.

Once again, it's 3 hours once a week.

It's only 4 bedrooms effectively anyway.

Amateur that does indeed sound cheeky!