Cleaner Price! AIBU?

[Wyntersdiary]

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.

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

It could, but if all cleaners start charging £25/hour a lot of people will stop having cleaners/have them less often. There isn't an infinite market for cleaners at any rate they want to charge.

And, of course, money isn't the only factor in career choice. Plenty of people, me included, would choose any other job over cleaning.

Hand on heart, I think this particular cleaner may well find that she/he has to reduce their hourly rate.

And if she does, then she does. Much easier to reduce a rate than raise it. Nobody ever lost clients by making themselves cheaper!

@ScarletChina @Splendidsunrise - the OP is specifically talking about an end of tenancy clean. You may opt to do that to avoid the landlord or management company take out ridiculous money from your deposit because something wasn't cleaned to the standard they expected. If you get a receipt from a cleaner doing it there's not much they can try to argue about when it comes to a dispute.

No need to be that rude.

For a proper end of tenancy clean that is an ok price. I did my own end of tenancy clean the last time my tenant moved out and never again, it was backbreaking and the house didn’t really look all that dirty to start with. I’d pay it.

@catflapuk

If my cleaner started asking for £25 I would say goodbye to her because she is average at best, not excellent. Even £15 would be a big push as my apartment is easy (her words), she frequently leaves 20-30 mins early, asks if there is anything else to do, but then misses lots of things. Hoovering in particular is not very thorough. For me it would not be worth it, but for other people it is and then why not? It's a shit job with shit money and for some having a cleaner is more important than to others. I could easily do it myself but cba.

You need a better cleaner that's unacceptable

I'm just back from work. I've completed two EOT cleans for which I will bill 400 pounds. Staff costs will come out of that around 150 so I'm down to 250 already. Wouldn't that be lovely x 5 x 52? As it turns out though that won't be happening. Even prior to Covid-19 its an unpredictable market. People don't move to a particular timescale. I also only have 2 regular clients having visits at the moment. Its a bit crap at the moment for many of us.
Physically I'm done in. My arms hurt, my legs hurt and I am ready for my bed.
As I have said upthread I have enjoyed my time cleaning but I never went into it for the money. I'm retraining before my skeleton gives up completely.

Well done NorthernSoul sounds like you earned every penny today.

Like nearly everyone, my work's been badly affected by the pandemic and it's economic fallout too. I was surprised at the first reply to this thread : Cleaners are in high demand at the moment, they're finally being recognised

I suppose that's in reference to hospital or corporate cleaning.

As a domestic cleaner, I've lost quite a few regulars- some elderly (shielding) , one family working from home, with home schooling so too disruptive for me to be clattering around with hoovers and mops and some people facing redundancy or tightening their belts and cutting luxuries like cleaners.

There are also the thousands out of work from aviation, the leisure entertainment industries etc who may see cleaning as a viable option now.

My little one woman cleaning company has definitely taken a hit. That makes it all the more annoying when someone says How much an hour? Ooh I wish I earned that..

Just read my post back and it sounds like I'm having a pity party

I do actually love what I do, I've worked in some beautiful houses that are a pleasure to clean. There is great job satisfaction to shutting the door on a house you have left spotless and sparkling, knowing your customer will come back and think wow (hopefully)

yANBU. You don't need ANY qualifications to be a cleaner. No professional exams to pass, no skills. Just a bit of elbow grease. There are no levels of cleaner, you clean or you don't. A cleaner getting as much as a freelance copywriter or graphic designer is ridiculous.

£25 is what I pay per hour for my holiday cottage cleaner

As a domestic cleaner, I've lost quite a few regulars- some elderly (shielding)

My cleaner at home ( not in the holiday let) is currently turning away work here in the SW of England. She was short of clients before the pandemic but is now in high demand and can pick and choose

It's all about supply and demand stressing The value of something is what people are prepared to pay for it.
Some cleaners are very skilled and efficient so are in higher demand and can charge more.

That's not ridiculous, it's how any service works.

Well I'm in SW England too Elphame so hopefully my client base will build back up

I stopped cleaning entirely during lockdown because we couldn't mix households. Some of my elderly clients are understandably nervous about having people in their homes now.

Her choice to charge that, your choice to use her, I am not a cleaner but charge top rates for my business, full and have a waiting list, my choice, I do not want people looking for a cheap service, they are free to go elsewhere.

@Stressing

You're completely off about this imho.

There doesn't need to be formal "levels" like a graphic designer in order for people to differentiate themselves. Some cleaners will specialise in industrial and will need to use certain products and have certain certifications. Some will specialise in domestic, gain a reputation for efficiency and discretion at the high end of the market, and therefore command a higher price through trust.

Why can't folk accept that it isn't all a world of professional certifications, we're not all sitting down passing accountancy exams or PRINCE-2 or whatever that thing is called, in order to get an extra 7k and a tap on the shoulder from the boss, and a nice feeling of smugness that we're "qualified".

I haven't done a single professional qualification since graduating with my BA twenty years ago yet I am fortunate enough to regularly annual bill six figures etc. I can't subscribe to any narrow views of the world. Everyone has the right to carve out their own place. More power to the cleaners etc.

I think you seriously undervalue cleaners. £10-£15 an hour is a rate from at least 10 years ago isn’t it?
If you don’t like the price don’t employ them.
It is likely this cleaner is very good at the job and will be in high demand.

Thanks for that Smiley, yes am aware of the basic rules of capitalism and supply and demand. I'm not questioning cleaners for charging, but rather the people willing to pay.

@Splendidsunrise

Clean the place yourself you lazy cow

I'd ask for a refund from the Charm School you went to.

@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.

Fairer for who? Why shouldn't (s)he charge £25/hour if some people are willing to pay it. Don't you think they deserve it?

[quote GinDaddyRedux]@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.[/quote]
Could not agree more with ^^

An end of tenancy clean should include dusting at high levels (lighting, door frames etc), degreasing the oven and extractor unit, special chemical down toilet and on taps to remove all limescale, anti mould on sealant in bathroom, vacuum both sides of mattress if furnished, light steam to curtains, steam clean or shampoo carpet, interior of windows (exterior too if they were done at check-in). Clean out all kitchen cupboards and doors, skirtings and dust from within radiators. Floors and rest of property as usual. £50 would be a bargain for a 1-bed end of tenancy clean.

YABU. She probably doesn't have full time work amount of cleaning so she has to charge this to make an income she can live on. I think that's totally reasonable.

@gingerbeerandlemonade

She doesn’t have full time work because she is just starting out in the industry.

Same as everyone else who starts out on their chosen profession.

So a new starter can come along and charge over 100% more than the market rate?

Is that how it works?

Or to put it another way, an inexperienced person comes along and makes a mockery of what other more experienced people doing the same job have been charging?

Why can’t people see that this person is being detrimental to other people in her industry?

People here have defended the right for cleaners to earn a higher wage, and I totally agree with that. But this person, with no experience, comes along and asks for a much higher price for her services than people who know the industry and have spent time building up their own client base have been charging?

Or to put it another way. This person, with no experience, is making a mug of people who have been cleaning for years.

Is that how it works?

I’m going to quit my own job and set up a cleaning business and offer my services for £50 an hour.

And people here will slap me on the back and say, good for you. Well done. At that rate you only need a quarter of clients that everyone else has.

And these people think they are being positive towards the people who are actually cleaners?

Astonishing.

Well it wouldn't work quite like that ripples You have a point but let's be realistic.

It's far more likely that a new cleaner asking for high rates would price themselves out of the market. Depends if there is a shortage of cleaners available in the area I suppose and what the cleaner offers for that money. Deep cleaning ovens, carpets or upholstery is charged at a higher rate for example.

There isn't a set price for cleaning, just as what you pay for window cleaning, garden landscaping, decorating or whatever varies greatly. The price is also influenced by the area of the country you live in. London prices for example are generally higher.

@SmileyClare

The op made it clear.

The £25 rate wasn’t for an end of tenancy or a specialist clean. It was an hourly rate for her services, and the op also stated that it exceeded many (all) others who were providing this service at a much lower rate.

The op also stated that this was an inexperienced cleaner, starting out, and one who is trying to build up a client base, and was asking for people to recommend them.

Your caveats are all valid, just not in this particular instance.

So let’s say it for what it actually is. A new inexperienced cleaner, starting up, in a particular area, and asking for anything between 60 and 150% more for the same service in the same area than pretty much every other, more experienced cleaner.