Cleaners increase in hourly rate

[user1478790138]

Hello

First thread here so pls be gentle.

We have a largeish house in the Nottinghamshire, 6 BR, 4 BA and a fairly large ground floor, 2 children and dogs. Have had a pair of cleaners who come twice a week (initially three times but then it was to hectic for us) for several months now and paid £12ph, they want to increase it to 13.5 now. They do the cleaning and tidying, of which there is a fair amount but I don’t limit them time wise. Not sure now how to react, we’ve had them since March, somehow an increase of 100+ quid a month seems a bit steep in such a short period of time? What would you do??
Thank you

I think cleaners wages are on the up. Side effect of Brexit. If they are quick and effective I'd pay it. Or you can reduce the hours so it costs the same. You might find the alterrnatives are equally/ more expensive.

£13.50 is a good rate. Good luck finding decent cleaners for less.

May I ask, why don't you limit them time-wise? In my pretty limited experience, most cleaners agree up front with you what you want cleaned and to what standard each week, then quote you a set number of hours. Then for example some weeks if the kitchen is a proper mess or alternatively it is hardly dirty at all, the cleaner will save time on the less important tasks (skirting boards etc) or use the extra time to do extras like polishing the front door.

If the cleaners do a good job and are saying this is a one-off rate increase - a lot of people froze prices during covid - I'd probably accept. Around my way (south east) rates are about £15 an hour.

But I'd still try and formalise the amount of time they are at the house each week.

I don't think it's excessive - do they do a good job?

pay initially - shop around to find average rates locally, then decide if you want to continue
sounds as if it's the 12.5% increase irking you rather than the actual cost, but consider having one visit a shorter top up, and one longer thorough clean.
Or tidy yourself and they just do the real cleaning?

They’re welcome to raise your rates and you’re welcome to look elsewhere. If it’s too much then you can shop around and look at alternatives. But equally it’s hard fo find decent cleaners nowadays so if you’re happy with their work I’d either accept the rise or ask them to come once a week instead.

At the end of the day, they’re a business and set their prices so your options are to pay £13.50/hr or to make alternative arrangements.

I live in west bridgford and pay £16 ph. We have 4 bathrooms and 5beds, 2 lounges - it's a massive area to keep clean

£15ph is standard where I am. Your houses sounds big and if they’re tidying as well as cleaning , it sounds like a fair amount of work. Our cleaners don’t tidy.

My cleaner is £15 per hour and that seems pretty standard. They do offer a deep clean list of jobs for a set price which doesn't take a set amount of hours.
I can't imagine you'd get much cheaper to be honest.
I'm in Scotland and not an expensive part of the country either.

@PennyWus they do the whole house every time, if something needs a deep clean they do it separately, I book another day

@ThinWomansBrain you are absolutely right, it’s the principle. I know we are expecting overall price hike a on everything, plus shrinking of the market but…

@Angrynellie tidying is a big thing around here, we are clean but it’s hard for us to keep it tidy with two preschools who are at hone :( I really had assumed cleaners do anything you ask them to and our housekeeper used to put things/toys/cloths away.

YABU. Cost of living rises, cost of cleaning rises...

@doggydaft

My cleaner is £15 per hour and that seems pretty standard. They do offer a deep clean list of jobs for a set price which doesn't take a set amount of hours. I can't imagine you'd get much cheaper to be honest. I'm in Scotland and not an expensive part of the country either.

That’s a good bench mark, thank you. I’m new to the market tbh

@BoastMostFulsomely

YABU. Cost of living rises, cost of cleaning rises...

Cost of living hasn’t risen by 12.5% since March… that’s what’s worrying. We generally review pay at the end of the year and rake into account inflation etc etc

My closest friend runs a cleaning company - she's had to increase her prices a couple of times over the last 12 months due to:

• Increased petrol / diesel prices and so cost of travelling to and from jobs

• Less good cleaners around (she really struggles to find decent people) meaning to recruit anyone half decent she needs to pay at least £10-11 p/hr

• Increased cost of energy bills (washing of all cloths which takes a couple of loads a day)

• Increased cost of cleaning sprays, etc

@wheresmymojo

My closest friend runs a cleaning company - she's had to increase her prices a couple of times over the last 12 months due to:

• Increased petrol / diesel prices and so cost of travelling to and from jobs

• Less good cleaners around (she really struggles to find decent people) meaning to recruit anyone half decent she needs to pay at least £10-11 p/hr

• Increased cost of energy bills (washing of all cloths which takes a couple of loads a day)

• Increased cost of cleaning sprays, etc

Do cleaners use their own supplies??

The profit margin for a small local cleaning company is very small TBH

They're usually paying £10-11 per hour to the cleaners and then out of the extra few £ have to pay:

• Travel costs (petrol, depreciation on vehicle, services, tyres, etc)

• Cleaning equipment, sprays, etc

• Insurance for any damage caused

• Make a living wage themselves across all the admin and marketing they have to do

Not all cleaners use their own supplies - mine do (I don't use my friends company as I'm out of her area) and my friend supplies all cleaning supplies including their own hoovers (mine bring their own hoovers too).

I get what you're saying but businesses with small margins are going to feel the crunch much harder and faster. Cleaning businesses are much less scalable, too, because you can't clean any quicker if you want to maintain the same quality levels.
At the end of the day, having a cleaner is a luxury and that might increasingly mean luxury prices - indeed for many people that will mean that, thanks to Brexit/Covid, having a cleaner or a nanny is no longer affordable....

You can't run a proper business on that sort of wage level, it's more like at least £35/hour self employed to make it worthwhile. Granted most cleaners are doing it for a bit of extra £ but to do it both well and swiftly is hard graft. I have a house keeper weekday mornings and she supervises the cleaners who are in 3 times a week. I pay my cleaners a fair bit more than that rate because I want them to stay. With them being in so often and me being a stickler for the household to keep on top of things they usually have it pretty easy. My house keeper is like gold dust to me and I pay her accordingly.

If your happy with them, pay the extra.

You were paying a fairly lower rate. I suspect the cleaners were building up the business and can now afford to charge a better rate. So either accept it or try and find someone else.

YABU. You were getting it on the cheap and they’ve rectified that.

They also shouldn’t be having to tidy before they can even start to clean. At a bare minimum the house should be tidy before they come; having two preschoolers is no excuse.

@seaandsandcastles

YABU. You were getting it on the cheap and they’ve rectified that.

They also shouldn’t be having to tidy before they can even start to clean. At a bare minimum the house should be tidy before they come; having two preschoolers is no excuse.

I like an honest opinion. Thank you

They seem to do alot
There wages were low in the beginning

How many hours a week do they do?

£15 is very average here!

Im paying 16 an hour and its my cleaning materials she uses. I think they have realised they werent charging enough