To think £85 a week is extortionate

[Pollypanda]

For a cleaner.

My house is not large, it’s a new build 4 bed with 2 bathrooms and a downstairs loo. We would only need 2 of the bedrooms cleaned as the others are largely unused.

I have been quoted £85 a week for a basic house clean (2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, kitchen, living room and stairs)

AIBU to think this is obscenely high? I was expecting about 40-50.

For context I live in the south, but not London or the south east.

[loveka]

That is what I pay for a 4 bed house! And it is very thorough- fridge cleaned, inside of cooker.

[Sowhatifidosnore]

We’re S.E. And pay our cleaner £10 per hr 3 hrs a week for a 4 bed, 2 bathroom. But we keep it really tidy and hoover/ dust a bit ourselves so cleaner really does just clean.
That sounds like a rip off to me... agencies round here want to take £20-£30 a month on top of £8-10 per hour to cleaner which is why we don’t use one. I’d rather the cleaner got all the money.

[tiggerkid]

Seems too high. My neighbour lives has a massive house with loads of extensions and pays the same to clean the entire house. For context, I am in the South East.

[Caprisunorange]

I get annoyed with this- I pay a cleaner x2 hours a week. It’s not enough to make the whole house perfect but I don’t want that- I want the floors done and the bathrooms done and anything else is a bonus. The number of cleaners who can’t get past the kitchen in 2 hours is crazy

[FullMetalRabbit]

I'm in London and pay £12 p.h. for 3 hours every fortnight - yes that seems a lot OP

[Megan2018]

Ridiculous price

When I was in the South £15ph was about average for self employed, £20 with an agency. This is within the last 4 years.

We are now in East Mids and pay £10-£13ph self employed (current is £10, previous was £13). Agency wanted £15ph.

I'd expect your house to be done in 3hrs ish depending on exactly what you want done and how bad it is. So £45 would seem fair. Possibly £50 but definitely no more.

[CuriousaboutSamphire]

Lots of MMs don't even do a good job! Or rather, they don't do good end of tenancy cleans!

I hate going in after a MM has been in, I always have to make a specific not about the poor standard of cleaning. And it is n't the same person as I cover a large area that a single MM wouldn't be able to!

But I didn't know they were also expensive!

[DOTLEYtheONEeyedDINO]

Pollypanda Molly Paid used to charge me £41/week (almost 20 years ago) for: 1 bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, lounge, dining room, hall and cloakroom. It wasn't until I realised they (2 ladies) were only ever here cleaning for 20-22 minutes a week that I cancelled the contract. I used them for convenience as was at work, but felt like I'd been taken for a ride once I realised how little cleaning they were actually doing each week. I wouldn't go near them!

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

I pay €100 a week for an independent cleaner, but that's twice a week and it includes ironing. She does pretty much set her own hours and will do a short or a long morning depending how messy the house is or whether she has other things going on for herself, but it generally evens out at about 8 hours a week.

[maddening]

I pay £10 an hour 2-3 hours a week, does 4 bathrooms, hoovers upstairs and down, skirting boards and bannister, mops floors and polish gloss kitchen cupboards and the kitchen diner table and downstairs loo. I do cleaning alongside so I do the dusting, beds and putting away eg clothes and life's debris

[DOTLEYtheONEeyedDINO]

Maid not Paid!

[user1487194234]

I pay £15 per hour for 3 hours twice weekly ,so £90.I rarely lift a finger at home

[maddening]

Ps on the days she does 3 hours also does windows

[user1981287]

You need an hourly rate to control it since what they consider as "done" for £85 may well be very different to what you consider as "done"

[SooticaTheWitchesCat]

I pay £10 and hour for 3 hours every 2 weeks. She does all the house in that time, apart from the playroom, which is always a mess so I tell her not to bother.

[Thehop]

Molly maid here is a good 40% more than an independent cleaner. I’m in Leeds

[skyesayshi]

Find yourself a self employed cleaner with an hourly rate then you know what you are paying for. Most cleaners are £10-£12 an hour around here.

[redastherose]

Yes its extortionate and they will be paying the cleaners minimum wage and expecting them to be done in a couple of hours!

[motortroll]

Most cleaners do hours and they statecwhats included in a "2 hour clean" etc. It makes it easier to charge. I pay £10ph for 2 hr clean which is the basic once over of whole house.

[StarkintheSouth]

I have a cleaner two hours a week, costs £12 p/h. My house is 3 bed, 2.5 bath but she only does certain parts of the house as a really thorough clean would be 3 hours work I think and I can't afford that. She makes sure the bathroom and kitchen surfaces are clean and rooms are hoovered/mopped and I do the rest like windows, polishing etc. Depends how many cleans a week you want but £85 to me based on my experience seems steep. I'd expect to pay around £50 per visit.

[peanutbutterandbanana]

Sign up to NextDoor.com (neighbourhood community online forum) and put up a post asking for cleaning recommendations. Or type in 'cleaner' in the search box and see who has posted about it previously.

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

The company say they don’t work to hours, it takes as long as it takes and they don’t leave til it’s up to standard

Translation: write us an open cheque

Find another company ...

[Nyon]

Molly maid quoted me £85 for a fortnightly clean on a one bedroom flat. It’s an insane price - god knows who’s happy to happy that!

[Bear2014]

Crazy. We live in inner London, we pay £12 per hour. Our lovely cleaning lady comes for 2 hours per week, and leaves our 3-bed 1-bath small house spotless. So she could do yours for £36/£48 easy.

[dubmumof2]

It does seem like a lot - I'm not in UK but in Dublin which has similar salary levels, property prices etc to SE England. The going rate here for privately sourced cleaners (i.e. not agency) is €14 p/h which is just over £12p/h. Our 4-bed, 3 bath 2,000sq.ft house takes 5 hours to clean (no bed changes or ironing in that 5 hours) and trust me, the cleaner is working quickly, efficiently and thoroughly for all of that 5 hours - she's actually in the house for 6 hours but doesn't seek payment for a break and lunch-time.

I am amazed at those with 4-bed houses who think that it could be properly cleaned in 3 hours??