To expect them to put the heating on for me?

[Loobyloo16]

I'm a self employed cleaner. Now its coming colder a few of my clients still don't put their heating on. One works from home but just sits in a room with the fire on, another says she doesn't feel the cold. I went to a client yesterday and it was freezing, my toes were going numb, I did tell her but she still didn't put it on.
Another has told me to put it on myself if I'm cold, which I do.

I know it's no big deal in the grand scheme of things but I hate been cold and it's miserable cleaning with numb toes. People always say 'i thought you'd get warm with cleaning" I do but not that warm!

I'd send a general message to all the clients saying 'can you turn the heating on please' and telling them you are wearing more layers and are still cold. You should probably expect to lose a few if they are as tight-fisted as many on this thread are though...

Does the client with the fire actually have central heating OP?

I know we don’t and around here it’s not unusual. Our fire is our heat source, not us being weird or stingy by not installing it either, we rent, it’s just the done thing here. If you are cleaning rurally or even in a village it’s normally a choice between fire or oil and oil costs hundreds to fill a tank so a lot don’t bother even if they do have the means installed. We don’t have plug in electric heaters either.

I don’t have a cleaner but if I did you would be welcome to light the fire before you start if it’s cold and we were out, and if it was going I would be happy with you taking short breaks to warm in front of it. Just ask the lady if she can give you 5 minutes to warm up when you get in and maybe start in that room first, return halfway through and towards the end to finish.

We wouldn’t be able to heat the other rooms though - not quickly anyway, we open doors once the living room is warm and then let the heat spread. Wrap up extra warm in the bedrooms for sleeping, it’s just life. Not everyone can heat an entire house quickly, being able to do so is a modern thing, I’m young and didn’t grow up with central heating.

If it’s hapoening in multiple houses it sounds like it’s more the op. I’ve had someone complain my heated to 22 house was cold while having others who complain it’s too hot. One room of my house however is 14 but it can’t really be heated, no radiator and no plugs.

As others have suggested, you should dress to suit the situation. I really don’t see why those who employ you should use heating - which is costly and bad for the environment - just because you are in the house. If they work from home, they heat the room they are in which also makes sense.

I think YABU to be honest, unless they take the money for heating out of the money they pay you.

I don't know how you clean but when I clean my house I'll open the windows because its part of the cleaning routine to clean the air in the house. I'm not putting the heating on just for it to go straight out the window. I'd rather have the heating on when I'm sat still relaxing in my home.

I cleaned offices at a factory after hours. All the heating was off then and was freezing if I stood still too long. When I was working it was just right. Just make yourself a nice hot drink before your shift, I find that helps.

We have our heating set to be on from roughly 6-8am and 5-10pm. There should be enough residual warmth for it to be an acceptable temperature for anyone who's in during the day and our cleaner has never complained.

Just to clarify, we can afford to heat our house all day and all night. We choose, however, to think about the planet. It is not necessarily about people being mean.

There is no legal minimum temperature for a workplace Jess. (Think people who work in refrigerated storage, warehouses, outside in garden centres). I'm at home most of the time during the day and I certainly don't keep the heating on, partly due to sky high heating bills, and partly because it's not environmentally friendly to use so much energy when there's only one person at home.

I haven't read all the comments as I'm between jobs.
If I wear more layears it'll restrict movement. The house yesterday was very, very, very cold! Nothe sure of temperature but definately bloody cold! I eveneed thought, I can't cope with this every week, I'll have to give up.
Of course cleaning is physical and you get warm but to go into a already freezing house makes it very uncomfortable and difficult to warm up.
I must admit I am one of those very cold people my feet go numb and blue quite often I'm too cold.
The man who told me to turn it on if I was as cold, I love him!

If it was any other sort of workplace, you'd have heating, employers are supposed to supply it and there is a minimum temperature in which one is expected to work

Hahaha
I'd like to tell my employer to turn the heating up, but so far no one has found an on off switch for the weather

OP I'm a very cold person too, my feet and hands ache and go numb in the cold even when the rest of me is warm. It doesn't stop me doing an outside job though. I have found a way to relieve the pain and numbness in my feet. I use these
www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Hotties-Adhesive-Warmers-Pairs/dp/B00GKO1H20/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?ref=plSrch&keywords=toe+warmers&dpPl=1&dpID=51JJFvSZhAL&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1544704230&sr=8-8

to get the most out of them take them out the packet and let them air for 15mins then stick them on your socks then put your shoes on.

for hands I have fingerless gloves with mitten hoods. But you could get a pair of thin gloves to wear under your marigolds.

Also you can get thin but efficient thermal tops and leggings, to wear under normal clothes, that wouldn't make you to bulky and uncomfortable. I wore my new thermal wear yesterday but had to take it off after an hours work as I was sweating!

I’m a cleaner. I would never ask a client to put the heating on for me! You learn very quickly which are cold houses and which are boiling houses and you dress accordingly.

Btw for those who seem confused self employed cleaners are, er, self employed. They don’t have employers. They aren’t employees. They have clients. They are their own boss.

I don’t have the heating on if I m cleaning at home because I’m moving around. You must really feel the cold.
All I can suggest is thermals. Actually my dd has heated inner soles for when she does hikes on Dartmoor, we probably got them on amazon,

Tbh my heating is on a timer for an hour between 7:30-8:30 in the morning and between 7-9 in the evening purely for my DD and to prevent damp.

I have always run hot and being overweight atm I carry extra insulation too so I like the house to be cold. Also I'm often in and out all day so don't like to heat the house unnecessarily as it's expensive. Every morning at 7 when we get up I open mine and DDs bedroom windows for 10/15 minutes to air out the rooms before the heating comes on. I usually try to get any morning housework jobs done in that 30 mins before the heating comes on because otherwise I get far too hot.

I work from home. I haven't got the heating on, I wrap up. Plus I'm sat still at a desk, you're surely moving about. Do you complain if your employers have left things dirty aswell?

Even when you're self employed, you have a legal right to work in a 'safe and healthy working environment' (www.crunch.co.uk/knowledge/employment/what-are-my-main-employment-rights-as-an-employee-worker-or-freelancer/)

From HSE website:
"The Approved Code of Practice suggests the minimum temperature in a workplace should normally be at least 16 degrees Celsius. If the work involves rigorous physical effort, the temperature should be at least 13 degrees Celsius. These temperatures are not absolute legal requirements; the employer has a duty to determine what reasonable comfort will be in the particular circumstances."

Based on that I'd say you certainly have every right to ask if you're uncomfortable. I think the generic note to all customers suggested by a PP would be the way to go.

Anyone listen to Greg James when he puts on his nerdy voice?

There is no way these homes are less than 13 degrees Celsius.

I'd ask them if the heating could be on for some of the time.
I always turn the heating on when I mop the floors in winter otherwise it takes ages to dry and there's a slight old water smell.
They might not have picked up on your hints so ask outright.

• got to admit though that I've never been cold while cleaning. I'm whizzing around.

However hard I'd cleaned today I'd have still been finishing with ironing in an unheated utility with the windows open to let steam out so I could see.
I wear a vest, t shirt and flannel shirt that comes off as I warm up. Houses range from perishing to sauna.

YABU. You need to dress for the job. Light layers of thermals. I work from home (desk job mostly) and haven't turned on the heating this winter yet. If someone working in my home wanted the heating on I'd be a bit baffled.

If your an overly cold person you are likely taking the piss in their eyes then. The house is likely an acceptable temp to anyone who isn’t a constantly cold type and moving around so they would be heating purely for the joy of paying a cleaner.

Take a thermometer tomorrow and see how cold those freezing houses are I bet they are all actually classed as warm.

Not sure how you are cold when you’re cleaning. Cleaning is physical work. I turned off the heating last night and opened a window whilst I was doing doing some house work.

For you who've said you don't know how I can be cold when I'm cleaning and I need to work harder, honestly I'm an excellent cleaner and very often turn work down as I'm so busy.

I think what it is with the house yesterday that is freezing is that they never put the heating on, so the house ever gets warm. I clean houses where the heating is just cooling and that's fine as the house is still warmish.

I already own some thermals but thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I dont think i should have to wear them. All I ask is for a warmish house, not hot, just warm enough that my hands and feet aren't turning blue.