That I shouldn’t have paid cleaner for four full hours

[Bizawit]

I have recently had a baby. I’m a single mum and in need of help, so I hired a cleaner through a friend’s recommendation.

I originally asked for 3 hours every 2 weeks. After coming once, she insisted it was not possible to fully clean my flat in 3 hours and she needed 4. I said ok.

The next time she came, after about 3 hours and 40/45 minutes, she announced she was done, and was leaving. I was surprised that she still charged me for the full four hours.

My bf says that’s fair because it’s a charge for every hour started. I think she was being a CF and she should have either stayed the full 4 hours as agreed, or expect to be paid less. AIBU?

15 minutes on a 4 hour job is taking the piss! So all your employers are happy for all of you to leave 30 mn before the end of your 8 hour day, really?

She is paid per hour, she should do the hours. Make a list of what she could do if she finishes the basics, there's a lot that can be done in 15mn.

I'm a little surprised she needs 4 hours for your flat.

My cleaners do my 4 bedroom house fortnightly and they do four hours labour total (usually 2 for 2hrs)

I think it depends on the state of the place when she gets there - surely that has to factor in? As well as what is actually covered in the fortnightly clean.

If I've been too busy at work and not cleaned and tidied properly, then my 2 bed place can take 3-4 hours (that's significantly untidy). If i keep on top of it, it takes an hour for a quick clean of everything - kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms (while a load of laundry is on). Add in dusting, slightly longer, but there isn't too much of that if done regularly. I do have a robo vac that does a great job and also mops. You know you're lazy when it's too hard to turn on the robo vac LOL

Cleaning skirting boards etc isn't done regularly. I'll dust them but not wash on a regular basis.

Christ all these posters not giving a shit about cleaners knocking off 15 mins early yet expecting full pay

I tell you what - try it next week in the office or your place of work. Just wander out 15 mins before your clocking out time and see if you boss has any issue with it

How tight if he does eh?

I've had several cleaners and this sort of thing is rife. I'd never have one again. They all try and slope off early on my experience

I would do a list for her

Write a list of essential jobs for her to do.

Then a list of extras she can do if there is time etc sort out the linen cupboard, empty and wipe down shelves fridge, empty and wipe down pantry shelves.

Bloody hell OP. 4 hours for a two bed is crazy. My cleaner comes in once a fortnight and takes 2 hours to do the same size property. Hold on to her for the moment but keep looking.

I know I'm late to the party, but I'd allow her 15 minutes for a tea break, to leave early or anything really. She would've worked pretty hard if cleaning for 3 hours and 45 minutes.

But, I cant see how shes spending 4 hours on a flat. Do you tidy before she comes?
My cleaner spends 4 hours on a spacious e storey townhouse with 3 bathrooms. Everything is spotless

We have a bigger older house. Three hours a fortnight is plenty most if the time. We will occasionally have a deeper four hour clean. Your cleaner does not need nearly four hours for a tiny flat.

OP what could you do in 15 minutes regarding cleaning? Why would it take 3 hours and 45 minutes to clean it?
What's your spec?

4 hours for a flat? It takes two people two hours (so 4 hours for one) to cleanse my 4 bedroomed medium sized house. It must be sparkling!

You should have paid her for the four hours. It's possible there will be times when she'll do 4 hours 15 minutes and will still be paid for four.

I wouldn't like to be in when the cleaner comes, I'd find myself somewhere else to go at least for some of the time.

Are there really no other cleaners working in your area? Can you not trial someone else?

@Ohthatsfabulousdarling I'd allow her 15 minutes for a tea break, to leave early or anything really. She would've worked pretty hard if cleaning for 3 hours and 45 minutes

I don't get 15 minutes break after working four hours in my job and I work hard too. Most people work hard and manage to keep going without a 15 minute break, why should she be any different? Across the year that's nearly 7 hours work she's being paid for and not doing.

I know what would happen if I went home 15 minutes early every shift!

I feel this thread may be either a reverse or drip feed

OP, the issues here are that she didn't leave the flat immaculate in the 3.45 she was there, as well as the fact she has said she won't clean it in 3. How untidy was your flat to begin with? I don't understand why it's taking her so long. For context, I'm lucky to have a wonderful cleaner. I live in a big 6 bed victorian terraced, and we agreed it'd take 3 hours a week. On her first visit, she determined what she'd be able to get done. She hoovers all carpets including the stairs, mops any hard floor, deep cleans the bathrooms (2 bathrooms and a loo) and then she'll deep clean the top two floors one week , then the groud floor the next which includes polishing, lower internal windows and the skirting boards etc. The standard of her work is excellent, she works non stop from from the moment she arrives and she charges £13 an hour. I'm based in the North East.

I think YABU. It’s 15 mins. In an office job it’s quite conceivable that someone would have a cup of coffee during the course of a morning equating to those 15 mins. If she was finished, she was finished.

With regard to everyone saying she’s being a CF.... no one can possibly know that!!. With respect to the OP, not a single person here (presumably) has been in the OPs flat and can possibly comment on how much cleaning it needed. Yes 4 hours sounds a lot for the space involved but maybe it’s desperately needed?? I would think though, that for the space you’re describing, after a period of time, she should be able to reduce it to 2 or 3 hours.

(For what it’s worth, my cleaner takes 3 hours, for a larger space than you’re describing but the house is tidy and completely clutter free before she arrives which helps that).

So yes I think YABU but if you don’t like or trust your cleaner, you should find a new one.

OP the issue here is trust. It doesn't sound like your cleaner is committed, if this early on in the working relationship she's sloping off early. The least she could have done was find something extra to do for the last 15 mins, or what's wrong with her saying to you "I've finished what I think you need, is there anything else I can do as I'm a little bit early?"

That's what my cleaner would do, but she doesn't need to because she is in 3 hours a week, and she always manages to find things to do up to the end of her time.

Personally if she's like this now, in 6 months time you'll be pulling her up on poor quality, it sounds like she cba!

I couldn't work out how my fairly new cleaner could be taking so long to do things, she told me one day that she had spent an hour and a half cleaning the (small, already fairly clean) bathroom. When I went to have a look I could smell dope, I had visions of her standing there with a silly smile on her face polishing the same tile over and over 😂 And yes, I "let her go".

She insisted it would take another hour and it didn't. So yes, it was cheeky.

Maybe some people have different standards of cleanliness.
It's hard to clean around untidiness and dirt.
I know that from my own home
I like clean and tidy. You can't clean if it's untidy. I like both.

The issue is she left early and the flat wasn’t perfectly clean, so she could have used the time better.

Also, she is new. Generally, people work harder at the beginning, so if she isn’t pulling her weight now. How will she be months from now?

It I were you I would Google cleaners near me, it will bring up a list of cleaning companies that are based in your area. The cleaner you currently have is raising a lot of red flags depending on what you've asked her to do. It used to take 4 hours to clean one of the homes that I cleaned every week this had 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, hall stairs and landing, 2 lounges, a porch, 2 downstairs toilets and the kitchen I have worked as a cleaner and they are supposed to do cleaning type tasks ie hovering window cleaning, so this sort of thing should take no more than 1 or 2 hours max in a 2 bed property. I used to pay a cleaner for 2 hours in a 1 bed flat and in that time she would clean AND tidy I would come home to a spotless home (for 2 weeks my nephew stayed and it was a real tip and she still got it all done without charging me extra).

Also I am a collection horder so my cleaner had to dust alot of display cases

I have just started having a cleaner 2 hours weekly. She asked me to leave a list of extra bits she could do if she had spare time - downstairs windows, clean inside fridge etc. It seems to have worked well so far so maybe you could do this too?