To expect a cleaner to...

[babylove8]

Hello, I have a newborn baby so have treated myself to a cleaner once every 2 weeks. I am asking for advice and have not asked the cleaner to do these things.. I've just noticed she doesn't, and want to check if this it normal. If the general consensus is that she shouldn't, I absolutely won't ask!

• wipe blinds
• clean windows (inside)
• clean glass indoors eg kitchen door

Not had a cleaner before so any advice would be great! I would also like to say she is generally fantastic!

Thanks!

Some will. I find I usually need to ask if I want a specific thing done. Unless it is a deep clean.

Congratulations!

I would ask for these things to be done every few weeks / months. I wouldn't expect them to be done as standard.

They're not standard/weekly things. They'll only need doing occasionally. Why not give her a list of "bigger" jobs like that and get her to do one thing every time she's there, so over several weeks, everything gets done.

Ask her to do deep cleaning tasks pm a rotation with different rooms getting extra attention each week, start wherever you like but mention those specific things. My cleaner asks me each week if anything needs particular attention at the same time checks which sheets and towels need changing, if you get in the habit of that initial chat then it makes bringing anything up really easy because you aren't criticising a job that's already done, just asking for something to get attention. You might have to pay extra if your expectations are more than her planned hours.

Congratulations on your newborn!

Cleaner here. All the jobs you've listed are 'extra'. So many clients seem to think that they can pay as little as possible, but want everything done perfectly in a couple of hours in a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house.

You need to ask for it to be done and to pay for the extra time.
Blinds are a nightmare, should be banned, lol!

No my fabulous cleaner doesn't do those jobs.

Cleaners are not mind readers. You need to tell them what you want them to do

Those are definitely not normal cleaning activities. As a cleaner I'd expect to clean your kitchen, bathrooms, and vacuum / mop all floors. You're always best to do a walk-round with her/him and check off everything they are expected to do . Anything else is considered "extra" and you'll pay for it.

I agree with the other posters. Those are occasional jobs.

It's fine to have a list of jobs to be done every clean and extra things to be done if there is any time left over. I've had one cleaner who has done this off her own bat but others needed guidance.

I have never expected a cleaner to do these tasks. I expect more general dusting/vacuuming/mopping plus general cleaning of bathrooms and the kitchen. One cleaner I had would do extra things like this by request if she had time but not all at once.

I would expect a cleaner to get as much cleaning as possible done in the time I'm paying her to do it.
So, if you live in a mansion and she's doing an hour, no, she won't get those things done. If you live in a studio and she's cleaning for ten hours, then, yes, she would.

I think cleaning windows etc are outside of a general clean. Maybe ask her to do an extra couple of hours once a month to fulfil those tasks?

How often would you have cleaned the insides of your own windows?

It depends on how long you booked for and how much cleaning is needed in other areas.
I'd expect glass on internal doors to be done but blinds and window frames are a deeper clean.
Offer an extra shift to do the deeper stuff every 6 weeks.

Ours does the glass on internal doors. She doesn't do windows or blinds.

I have my cleaner twice a week for 1 1/2 hours each time. She does a 1 1/4 hour routine of wiping over surfaces is child's room and vacuuming his carpet and steam mopping his bathroom floor and cleaning his toilet, wash basin and mirror. Vacuuming carpet on the landing and down the stairs, and wooden floors in hall, dining room and lounge. She wipes down banister and over paintwork on doors and light switches. She lightly steam mops wooden floors. She cleans downstairs cloakroom. In kitchen she squirts the top of our range cooker and leaves it to soak in whilst she cleans work tops and inside of back door including glass. She cleans top of cooker. She damp dusts in lounge, polishes dining room table, coffee table and 3 wall unit as all wood. Once a week she cleans window ledges in kitchen and dining room and other day the ones in lounge, child's bedroom and hall. This takes her about an hour and a quarter as we make sure it is tidy so she can just get on to clean. Each time she comes she does one job on extra list which include polishing silver, cleaning inside of lounge window, cleaning inside of dining room window, cleaning inside of child's room window, clean glass panels in child's wardrobe, wipe over outside of kitchen cupboards, clean inside and outside of microwave, wiping over outside of front door, changing sheets and duvet cover on child's bed. You need to ask for what you want but make sure you allow enough time. Even though we have 6 bedrooms cleaner only cleans one child's room and common areas.

My mums a cleaner. She said she does general cleaning for booked hours. So for instance 2 hours on a monday she would clean kitchen bathroom and hoover mop and dust. So just a general. If you ask for other things on top so for example you wanted the windows cleaned she would add half hour or however long it would take onto the allotted time.

There's nothing wrong with having a discussion about how you'd like things to work in the time she has been booked for. If you dont tell her then she'll go for the "obvious" tasks people tend to want doing every week as a rule.

We used to have cleaners once a fortnight (none at the moment as renovating house) and I had to review expectations with them regularly (agency so the individuals changed a lot). We are quite clean day to day so for example we always clean down the worktops and hob every night after cooking. We preferred the cleaners to spend time on the bits and bobs we hadn't got around to like cleaning small marks off the windows, and dusting skirting boards, lifting sofa cushions and sweeping out crumbs etc. (my children are gross!). But if I didn't tell them that they just turned up and started re-wiping the already spotless counter tops and vacuuming bedrooms that were never used. I felt like saying "just open your eyes and clean what is dirty, not what is clean!" But it's necessary to be more direct, they will be on the clock and rush into a job on autopilot.

Maybe for you make up a list of occasional jobs that need doing once a quarter or whatever and ask them to work through the list doing 15 mins on that week's job each time. Decide where they can cut back 15 minutes from the usual clean (skip worktops for example) or discuss/agree an enhanced fee.

Surely the issue is whether or not you've asked her to complete those tasks and she hasn't rather than expect her to telepathically know you want those jobs doing.

Don't people agree the specifics and expectations with the cleaner?

There aren't laid down rules, if you value the windows being done you might have to drop something else depending on the time the cleaner is there for but there's no reason not to ask imo

My cleaner does 4 hours a week, 3 for general cleaning and an extra hour for big jobs which are done in rotation or I suggest something I want done, or she might say ‘do you want me to do x?’
Have a chat with your cleaner

Thanks everyone! I agree these are not regular jobs, I just wasn't sure if they should be included or if my cleaner will think I'm taking the pi** if I ask!
It sounds like they should either be extra or instead of another cleaning task - thank you for your advice!

Cleaners should be doing the inside of the windows once a month so if yours doesn't you just ask her to start. My cleaner always wipes inside glass, even mirrors, on every visit, I find it strange that yours wouldn't do it automatically but again, just ask, most cleaners will ask you when they start exactly what you want doing then mine asked after a month to see if there was anything additional I wanted. She absolutely would not have a problem doing the things you listed and if she does, change your cleaner quick smart. These are just standard things that every house needs x

When we had a cleaner for a while he used to clean the lounge window every time. Just that one. Bit odd now I come to think of it!

Just have a chat with her, it won't be a problem.

It depends on the size of your house and how much time you are paying her for. If its a 4 bed, 2 bath house and you're paying 2 hours then no, she won't have time for cleaning external windows and blinds. But I'd probably think that glass in internal doors would be included, depending on how many you have.
If it's a 2 bed terraced and 2 hours then yes, I would expect her to fit in a useful extra job every visit, something that doesn't need to be done so frequently.
This is based on running my own cleaning business in the past.