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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Cleaner Price! AIBU?

183 replies

Wyntersdiary · 02/07/2020 11:51

So i was looking for quote for a cleaner and most of them came back at what i thought it would be, between 10 - 15 PH except one... £25 PER HOUR for just 1 person! i couldnt believe it , i wish i could get paid £25 an hour to clean someones house.

End of tenancy clean ... £95 for 2 hours!!!

This is all for just cleaning a bathroom, lounge and kitchen .. in a small flat as i said bedrooms didnt need doing... im shocked.

OP posts:
UnshakenNeedsStirring · 02/07/2020 21:47

Where are you lot living? 25 pounds for a cleaner is a bit high. I live in London and wouldn't pay that much.

UnshakenNeedsStirring · 02/07/2020 21:48

@Beautiful3 Cleaning is in no way one of the hardest job

ChangeThePassword · 02/07/2020 21:50

Where I live, you can get a massage for £25 from one place, and another charges £80.

You can buy silver earrings for under a tenner, or more money than most probably earn in a year.

You can buy a house in Bulgaria for under £10k, or one in London for over £10million.

If someone is charging £25 an hour, and someone thinks they are worth it and are willing to pay it, then all the best to them both!

AbsentmindedWoman · 02/07/2020 21:51

@contrmary

YANBU - it's a crazy price when you think about it, if she works 37.5 hours per week it's the thick end of £50k per year! Reining it in a bit, £10 an hour would be fairer, just under £20k per year.
This is one of the most unwittingly cunty things I've ever read.

Why shouldn't cleaners earn a wage proportionate to the cost of living?

Northernsoullover · 02/07/2020 23:15

Absent perhaps that poster thinks we are all as thick as mince and undeserving of nice things... like good food on the table and a decent roof over our heads maybe?

Smallsteps88 · 02/07/2020 23:21

Charging £10/hour would mean earning less than minimum wage once travelling time & costs, insurance, products, tax and NI were taken into account.

Ihatecoldsgrrrr · 03/07/2020 00:03

I was thinking about starting a cleaning job - I’m a good cleaner.

Northernsoullover · 03/07/2020 00:15

@Ihatecoldsgrrrr I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I have been able to work around school hours but did need holiday care. The money isn't great by the time you break it down but it bought me freedom and flexibility. An end of tenancy is more expensive but the money earned doing those helps with my unpaid holidays, equipment etc. Unfortunately they aren't regular enough to become minted despite what people on this thread think.
Put it this way I wouldn't be chalking up 50k in student debt to retrain in an industry where I'll likely earn at most 35k if I could earn more doing what I'm already doing Confused. I'm a very good cleaner too. I'm never short of work.

SmileyClare · 03/07/2020 00:35

It'd be worth starting your own thread coldsgrr there are lots of cleaners on here that could give you good pointers and the benefit of their own experience

I'm too tired right now but I will say good luck with it Smile

Grandmi · 03/07/2020 00:49

I absolutely detest cleaning and would not do it as a job for £50 hour !! I think £25 hour cleaning someone else’s mes is very reasonable!

ladybirdsarelovely33 · 03/07/2020 00:53

No £25 ph is unheard of even in London unless its 2 cleaners.

Northernsoullover · 03/07/2020 06:19

I think people are getting confused now. 25 per hour is end of tenancy cleaning.

Doggyperson · 03/07/2020 06:26

I've just given up cleaning with covid. I was on £12.50 a hour and some of my clients weren't happy when I out it to that. Id definitely go back to it for £25 hour!

Doggyperson · 03/07/2020 06:26

And yes it may be because it's an end of tenancy clean, which can be extra hard work!

Greyhair59 · 03/07/2020 06:49

I do not begrudge cleaners earning a decent wage, but lots of people doing valuable work earn shit money. As a nursery worker and safeguarding lead I earn £9

Greyhair59 · 03/07/2020 06:50

Should have said per hour, no pay rise for years

Northernsoullover · 03/07/2020 07:25

@Greyhair59 caring, childcare, cleaning all low paid and traditionally undertaken by women🤔

Ireolu · 03/07/2020 07:38

We paid £425 on an end of tenancy for a 3 bed, 1 small ensuite and one bath in January. They did a good job. The Letting agents would only allow us to use one of a list of 4 (very wordy contract, very glad to have been able to move out). That quote was the cheapest! Cleaners are expensive. I can afford one but prefer to clean myself for now as I have the time.

ripples101 · 03/07/2020 07:50

Anyone can charge whatever they want. If people pay it, then good for them.

But cleaning isn’t a skilled job. It doesn’t require an individual to stack up a mountain of debt because they had to undertake a University degree in order to become a cleaner.

So if it becomes the norm that cleaners become so well paid, then it will become an attractive career option for many, which could then take away many potential employees from other essential areas of work, such as nurses and teachers.

And the more people who go into cleaning would then of course have the effect of driving their earning potential down, as they fight for business.

It is, in the bigger picture, ridiculous for a cleaner to earn significantly more than a nurse or a teacher for example.

The counter argument would of course be, well teachers and nurses should be paid more then. Yes, perhaps they should, but we all know that that won’t happen!

TheSultanofPingu · 03/07/2020 07:56

As others have said, the quote was for an end of tenancy clean, the price reflects that.

Northernsoullover · 03/07/2020 08:30

Ripples it isn't well paid though this is what we cleaners have been trying to explain. Yes EOT cleaning is well paid but its not consistent. Also the absolute max a good cleaning can work per day is 5 to 6 hours max. Take a week off and lose the money.
I've enjoyed it for ten years but for flexibility and love of the job. I'm retraining into a new profession now that my children are older.

GinDaddyRedux · 03/07/2020 08:40

@ripples101

*But cleaning isn’t a skilled job. It doesn’t require an individual to stack up a mountain of debt because they had to undertake a University degree in order to become a cleaner.

So if it becomes the norm that cleaners become so well paid, then it will become an attractive career option for many, which could then take away many potential employees from other essential areas of work, such as nurses and teachers.*

Cleaning isn't a skilled job?!

I'm a creative in financial services - I don't see myself as more "skilled" than a cleaner. My cleaner is a magician, her experience and judgement means she delivers a result which I'm happy to pay more than the so-called going rate for.

The whole "stacking up a load of debt" means you're somehow skilled, makes me a bit sick to be honest. It sounds as if we all have to swallow the Blair years of "university is the only pathway to earning good money" and that everyone's kid needs to be heading to uni.

While I'm a graduate myself, in fact I'd say what it's done is create a generation of entitled people who feel that because they studied at undergraduate level, the world owes them a living above that of people who are comparatively "unskilled". As if reading The Feudal Kings Of England or EH Gombrich means you automatically deserve 50% more an hour than someone who has been working for years building their cleaning brand and honing their craft.

It's why I really don't like this country, my country, at times.

There's so much envy and bitterness from people who think they're entitled to a living because of their class or education, but actually they haven't started or continued their professional development, or found a niche that can help them earn the money they expect, or they haven't looked laterally at what they could enjoy doing.

Instead, it's "how can she earn 50K a year, she should be earning more like £20k as a cleaner"... all so that a person can feel better about their graduate salary and make sure that cleaner sits below their salary band.

It's embarrassing how negative it is. So-called "working class" jobs should have every right to attract good money if the market will stand it. I'm fine with Tube drivers earning good money. I'm fine with taxi drivers earning good money. If a social media assistant or accounts administrator doesn't manage to earn the same money out the gate as a cleaner, maybe they should look at the other benefits to their choice, such as being able to sit at a desk (perhaps at home) for the next 25 years, or the huge increases in salary increments if you progress or found your own accountancy practice/social media advisory.

More power to the person charging £25 an hour. They probably know how many hours they can stand in a day, how long they have left doing the cleaning game, respect to them.

ripples101 · 03/07/2020 09:09

No, cleaning isn’t a skilled job in the sense that one has to study it for several years and earn qualifications in order to be able to do the job.

That doesn’t mean that cleaners are not skilled at what they do. That they are skilled at what they do is the reason why people will pay them to do what they do.

You’ve missed my point GinDaddy. My isn’t to put cleaners down in any way. Nor is it to devalue what they do.

I do agree with you however regarding your response to the “stacking up loads of debt” point. My point in this regard isn’t so much to attack cleaners, but to attack the very idea that you highlighted. Why should someone go to University, which now costs a fortune, when they could potentially earn a lot more money and start of their working life without a huge debt hanging around their neck?

But if it becomes the norm for cleaners to earn £25 per hour, or more, which would potentially provide an income much higher than the national average, then a lot of people may well become inclined to pursue it as a career.

Which would result in the supply outweighing the demand, which would thus drive their earning potential down.

Someone charging a lot more than the average can have just as detrimental effect on others within the industry as someone who comes along and undercuts everybody else can.

SmileyClare · 03/07/2020 09:40

Ripples You can apply those laws of economics to any industry. it's basic supply and demand.

Let's not get carried away with the idea of a cleaner charging £25 ph. That's an unusually high rate. Op stated that all her quotes were in the £10-15ph range. That is the going rate for cleaning at the moment.
Are people really begrudging cleaners earning a living wage?

It's taken me years to build up a solid client base and a good reputation as a self employed cleaner. I didn't suddenly start with a decent annual turnover. Cleaning is never going to be a lucrative career option. The truth is most cleaners are women with children who want flexible hours.

I am university educated, although my degree isn't in the cleaning field. Grin

MarshaBradyo · 03/07/2020 09:41

People can quote what they like but make sure you get more than one quote. If it’s too high they’ll price themselves out of the market.