The cleaner never invoices on time

[heyhoonthehighway]

Major first world problems but, we've recently started to use a cleaning agency once a week to sort out our house. I'm self-employed with two small kids and my dh works bizarre hours.

The agreement between my husband and I was that if we were going to get a cleaner was I was going to pay for it. He doesn't really agree with it, thinks we should be able to do it ourselves but it's just not possible.

The nature of my work is sporadic and even though I try and save as much of a buffer as possible often invoices will get unpaid for ages and I'll have to chase for a good length of time before eventually getting paid.

The cleaning agency told me that they would invoice on the 23rd and I would have 7 days to pay. Not a problem. I can deal with this.

However in the three months that we've had them I've been invoiced on the 1st of the month, the 28th of the month and, as of yet, not at all. Then these invoices state I need to pay pretty much that day. The cost of the clean can vary based on month to month and I'll always try and have this money ring fenced but this month in particular I've had to spend out on kit for my work and things are tight. When I have the original schedule it gives me a chance to put things in place and get everything sorted but the way this has been done it's incredibly stressful and my husband panics is we're one day late they'll send bailiffs (I know they won't but it's more the aggro his belief causes).

As a cleaning company they are fantastic, the girls are great and they do a brilliant job. However whenever I've broached the subject with the owner she just apologises and says that she'll sort it etc etc.

If they invoice me late am I within my rights to keep the 7 day payment window rather than the expectation I pay it immediately. It's just making it so hard to plan around.

@Pengggwn I wouldn't say I'm struggling. It's just more that if I have the invoice on the 23rd with 7 days to pay, if the coffers are a bit short (which has only happened this month but there is still enough to pay them) I have enough time to chase up my invoices. Normally not an issue I've just had an expensive month and when the invoice of a varying amount hasn't arrived I just got a bit anxious. Now...they will be paid, I will not be destitute and money stuff just makes me a bit anxious about stuff.

As a PP has said I've now worked out what cleans we've had and I have a rough idea of what it's going to be so that's been set aside. It's more that because I'm self employed and work can vary and people can be slow to pay on time (plus there are a few quirks to payment in the industry I'm in - even when the work has been completed in a timely manner), it can be tough to forecast outgoings sometimes.

@Pengggwn that wasn't meant in a snarky way. The job I'm doing this weekend is very big and out of my comfort zone (though I'm more than capable of it) and I think I'm just projecting onto other things and making them out to be bigger problems than they are.

in dh's defence he pays the mortgage, all bills, childcare costs, car insurance, tax etc. I pay for groceries, holidays and "extras".

did he ever do the cleaning though?

@IncrediblySturdyPyjamas yep, most of it. And the washing.

I'm not very domesticated to be honest.

I have a cleaner for our business premises. She has a schedule that she follows so the jobs change every week and it takes her different times. She didn’t what the hassle of invoicing me so we agreed a monthly fee and she does everything on a rota but it costs the same every month. I have a standing order set up for her. It’s a simple system but it works for her and, although invoices would be good for the accountant, it works for us too.

This.
Tell them you want these jobs done on a monthly basis and set up a standing order.

I also “need” a clean and tidy house, the impact on my mood when it’s a mess is disproportionate so a cleaner is worth it for me

You need to take control of this situation. Why are they doing a “deep clean” once a month? You are the employer so you tell them what you need. If you want it to be it should always be the same amount.
Have a list of things that you want done every week and then if you want extra done agree on advance or swap
Eg the bathrooms for a fridge clean. Tell them that payment will be made within 7 days of invoice received. If they don’t like it get a new cleaner.

Two issues here - the reliability of the agency and the 'family' moneyt.

Firstly the costs from the agency shouldn't vary. I understand that they are charging by job rather than an hourly rate, but if the jobs are the same - albeit rotated on a monthly basis due to deep cleaning requirements being alternated - then invoices should not vary and be vastly different every time. The inability to invoice on the same day of every month as per your agreement suggests that the agency is being run by inexperienced people who are trying to do things on a shoe-string (I used to be a self-employed contract cleaner who sometimes subbed for other firms, so I speak from experience!).

The second issue is the money arrangement. Why not have a joint account where you and your H each pay in an agreed amount each month and shared expenses are paid from it? The cleaner is a shared expense as they are cleaning up after everyone, not just you. It's all well and good your H saying that you should be doing it yourselves. But presumably it wasn't being done, hence why you've hired a cleaner.

I'd do two things. Find a new cleaning agency - this lot are unreliable and you need consistency. Agree a schedule of works and fees for that, so you'll know exactly what the bill will be even if the jobs rotate. And talk to your H about how shared expenses are managed. You both work and your monies are being used to fund joint expenses - so why not have a clear agreement and a joint account for the bills? It would make life a lot easier.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm calling the cleaners when they open for a chat and to work out if we can set up something more organised - otherwise I'll take the business elsewhere.

We do have that set up joint account etc but this is one thing he doesn't really want but I really do. I won't be able to get him to agree to pay half because he was so dead against it in the first instance. He works long, physical days 13 days on the trot and then has a couple of days off so in his mind he doesn't want to spend his rare days off cleaning and I don't have the time on my own schedule to do as thorough a job as they can. Plus I'm pretty shit at it and the kids are so small they're in that can't leave them unattended and if I take them they climb and destroy everything phase.

This is not the cleaner's fault, he she won;t even know about it. It seems it's just the way the company admins operate their invoicing

I would call the company again and say you'd like to change your work order to a regular cleaning schedule without all the random extras that alter the price so you can set up a regular payment to them and not worry about how much it's going to be.

I own a cleaning company, and we price per job too (since it helps standardise the quality of each clean when time is not an issue) but we have a job list, some items to be completed each time and some items are done on rotation. This means the price of the clean is the same every visit and only if additional services are ordered on occasion (such as a fridge clean) or the deep cleaning of a room or the whole house does the price become variable. Their system sounds just SO complicated

We currently have around 120 regular domestic clients so need things to be simple as possible in terms of admin. Our clients just set up a standing order to go out on the day of each visit, and on the rare occasions they order something additional they just add a BACS payment for this extra work to balance their account. If they need an invoice we send one for their records but most domestic clients don't need one and are paying via the standing order anyway, if they don't need it we just raise one for each payment anyway for our own records and to calculate VAT etc.

Their system sounds very labour intensive, calculating extras for all clients all of the time and sending each and every client an invoice each of which requires a lot of working out, it sounds like a huge amount of unnecessary admin for them to keep up with if their company is sizeable, this is probably why they get behind with their invoicing like that.

You can't really afford them can you? That's the problem, not the invoicing.

We do have that set up joint account etc but this is one thing he doesn't really want but I really do. I won't be able to get him to agree to pay half because he was so dead against it in the first instance. He works long, physical days 13 days on the trot and then has a couple of days off so in his mind he doesn't want to spend his rare days off cleaning and I don't have the time on my own schedule to do as thorough a job as they can.

I think what I'd be tempted to do in your place, OP, is cut the cleaners' job in half, and you pay for that half. If your DH wants a clean house he's then got the option of spending his "rare days off cleaning" (or just do as the rest of us do, and fit it into a normal working day) or pay for the other half of the cleaning.

Whatever happens, the uncleaned bit won't be your responsibility, because you've arranged and paid to have your half cleaned.

The agreement between my husband and I was that if we were going to get a cleaner was I was going to pay for it. He doesn't really agree with it, thinks we should be able to do it ourselves but it's just not possible.

Roughly translated, he thinks YOU can, and SHOULD do the cleaning!

Re; your issue. Just have a word with them and tell them you're unhappy.

Reading through the thread, I can see I am not the only one who finds all this 'my money/your money' stuff a bit

Me and DH have always had shared finances.. Sometimes he has earned more, sometimes I have, but one of us has never had to pay for household stuff out of our own money, whilst the other spends on luxuries or squirrels their money away!

Weird. I couldn't be in a relationship like that.

He works long, physical days 13 days on the trot and then has a couple of days off so in his mind he doesn't want to spend his rare days off cleaning and I don't have the time on my own schedule to do as thorough a job as they can

When exactly is the cleaning being done then? If he doesn't want to spend his days off cleaning and you are too busy to complete it to the standard that you both want, then clearly you need a cleaner!

I don’t understand what a ‘deep clean’ is.
Tell them exactly what you want done and agree a price for it, then set up a direct debit to them if possible. If their —rubbish— business model can’t cope with this, then a standing order to a separate account from which you can pay their invoices.

Strike out fail.

It shouldn't always be a different amount. You outline the job spec of what needs doing & agree £. Any other arrangement is inefficient/ a bloody hassle. Then you can budget. If they can't do this, find a cleaner on Gumtree: itscheaper than an agency.