AIBU to wonder why housekeepers get paid more then cleaners?

[Starryskiesinthesky]

Reading about how cleaners shouldnt expect to tidy up before cleaning it said that housekeepers get paid more. I was just wondering why you would be paid for more tidying than cleaning? To me it seems easier so wondered if there is more to it? Thanks.

A Housekeep runs the house. They cook , do the house admin, sort repairs, fetch dry cleaning, run errands, often do a bit of child minding or school run on the Nanny's day off etc etc. Supervise any pets at home until the dogwalker arrives etc etc It's way more than a few hours cleaning!

A friend of mine is a professional house sitter and describes herself as a "housekeeper" to people she interacts with in the course of her duties.

Her job is to take complete charge of the house while the owners are away. That means doing some cleaning, looking after and exercising pets and supervising/arranging any deliveries. Often she has to lay in supplies for when the woners return. She may also have to take dogs to vets/groomers. Although she does not do tasks like gardening and DIY she may have to supervise visits by gardener/handyman or other trades if work has to be done/things repaired in owners absence.

All in all being a housekeeper entails far more responsibility than merely cleaning.

Our next door neighbour has a housekeeper for 3 hours daily and as well as cleaning she tidies (has to know where everything is kept including toddler toys and clothes), checks the fridge for out of date stuff and clears it out, does the bins and, recycling, liaises with other third party outsourcing (ironing and dry cleaning gets collected and delivered back, knives are sent out to be sharpened etc). She also works her way around deep cleaning areas and specific tasks like waxing wood furniture

This is what I do. Maybe I should rebrand myself as a housekeeper and up my rates!

I don't go into bedroom drawers or cupboards, or things like bureaux or filing cabinets that might contain paperwork.

Our old cleaner would do pretty much most things but as instructed, so I would let her know which beds needed changing, or if I wanted a specific room to get extra attention

Our housekeeper manages her own workload

This is also me, none of my clients have ever asked me to do anything specific, as I anticipate and do things before they would need to ask.

@SmileyClare

Sorry, CMOTdibbler my recommendation was for honeylulu who was complaining about her agency cleaners, my mistake!

Yes I agree, a housekeeper sounds more suitable for your needs.
It's a shame your long standing cleaner has retired and you have to build up that working "relationship" again. It takes me a few weeks to get into rhythm and routine with a new client, get familiar with their house and their preferences.

When I take on a new client, I tell them that I will be taking a few weeks to get the house up to scratch, and will do that by deep cleaning one room at a time and giving other rooms a dust/hoover whilst that's happening. After that it's maintenance throughout the house, whilst taking time each week to do a bit of deep cleaning, such as a couple of kitchen cupboards or whatever so that standards remain high.

@CMOTDibbler

We have a cleaner/housekeeper. The difference (for us at least) is that with a cleaner I'd pretty much expect them to do the same thing on each visit unless specifically asked to do differently. We needed someone self organising who looks for what needs doing and sorts it - tidying the fridge or kitchen cupboards out, deep cleaning on their own schedule, looking at the blinds and cleaning them, sticking the sheets on to wash and then putting them in the tumble dryer when washed, folding and putting away the clean sheets etc etc. Really, I want them to say 'today I'll be pulling the sofas out and giving the floor a good scrub then leather polishing the sofas' rather than me having to have thought about it

I'm definitely rebranding!

Fair enough, it's annoying if agency cleaners are ignoring specific requests but wanting a cleaner to randomly deep clean areas of the house without being asked is problematic.

I do this.

I wouldn't start clearing out and reorganising kitchen cupboards for example, without being asked.

I do this too.

I wouldn't take it upon myself to strip and wash bedsheets without being asked to incorporate that into a routine. It feels like overstepping, I'm conscious it's not my house.

Here I agree, and I wouldn't do this unless it's agreed as part of what I do.

Same as any job, more responsibility = higher wages.

This and the other thread have given me a lot of things to think about.

Particularly what people expect a cleaner to do compared to a housekeeper. I'm definitely going to change my offer.

Just had a look at this website about the differences.

www.greycoatlumleys.co.uk/looking-for-a-job/career-advice/housekeeper-job-description/

Housekeepers do far more than cleaning. They might also shop, do laundry, iron, cook. change beds etc.

[quote SelfEmployedCleaner]This and the other thread have given me a lot of things to think about.

Particularly what people expect a cleaner to do compared to a housekeeper. I'm definitely going to change my offer.

Just had a look at this website about the differences.

www.greycoatlumleys.co.uk/looking-for-a-job/career-advice/housekeeper-job-description/[/quote]
Where abouts are you based?

I think there is definitely more demand in some areas than others, but the main advantage is probably not having to travel between jobs

Our old housekeeper rebranded herself gradually by only taking on new clients who would commit to a minimum of 4 hours twice a week, and sacking cleaning clients to be able to accommodate the new ones
She now only works for 2 clients and while her hourly rate isn’t much more, she doesn’t lose any time to travelling or cancellations, and is much much happier

She said the only downside is that the housekeeping clients have much bigger houses so she spends a lot of time walking up stairs so is quite tired..!

But there is no reason that you can’t advertise housekeeping services with a minimum number of hours, and see what the demand is, and cull your least favourite clients when someone hires you

If you can put up your rates then do so, SelfEmployedCleaner

However I also do more than cleaning on most jobs. I tidy, empty bins, dishwashers, do laundry, change beds, feed the dogs, take in parcels, most self employed cleaners do don't they?

The only difference being I only stay late to do extra tasks or deep cleaning if asked? The actual cleaning rota takes up my whole time slot, I don't think I've ever had a free hour at the end when I've thought "I know I'll clear out the kitchen cupboards" unless I sacrifice cleaning a bathroom or hoovering the house for example?

I think most self employed cleaners are willing to do extra tasks beyond their cleaning remit if asked?

I won't clean ovens though; I recommend a professional oven cleaning company, Who charge way more than I do!

@SW1amp

I'm in NW England. The funny thing is that when I started cleaning I very quickly cottoned on to the fact that in my own town and to the west and south people expected to pay less and have cleaners for maybe 2 hours a week. So I only clean near two towns about 30 minutes drive in the other direction. I also restrict my slots to a minimum of three hours. I've currently got some of those and a couple of four hour ones. I sell myself as someone who cleans old properties using natural products. I don't clean suburban modern homes - that is soul destroying for me. One of my clients lives almost 20 miles away and offered to pay mileage as well as my fee so I'm obviously tapping into a need.

I definitely think I could pick up clients who would like me to organise window cleaning and grass cutting etc, and go shopping for them.

@SmileyClare

None of my cleaning rotas take up the entire slot. At least not every week. I think on pretty much every 3 hour slot I can do something extra for 30 mins, and on the four hour ones I've done the main tasks in three hours. It does depend. My clients all live in period properties and this time of year they are full of cobwebs so that takes up time!

I also do not clean ovens! That would be £20+ an hour and it's a horrible job so I don't want it anyway.

I also do one off spring cleans and for those I currently charge a set fee but it works out at about £15.50 an hour more or less.

£14ph...😂
No, cleaners and housekeepers are different.
Cleaners clean, housekeepers do that plus tons of admin.
All are worthy, in my opinion.

It's tricky sometimes isn't it SelfEmployedCleaner to define your role as cleaner or housekeeper. It certainly sounds as though you could call yourself a housekeeper and perhaps charge more?

I've learnt over time to keep firm boundaries. On my first job years ago, I started as a cleaner but found I was gradually asked to do more and more: laundry, baby sitting while cleaning, running errands, clearing out a filthy loft with just a rickety step ladder to get up there, I was even asked to stay late to re paint their summerhouse

Looking back, I was rather naively agreeing to all these extra jobs on a cleaning rate of £12 an hour and I should have said No or charged more.

About once a month, she will get all the clothes out of my drawers and put them back folded Marie Kondo style

Everyone has different preferences I suppose but I'd hate that.

I'd feel quite violated to have my knicker drawer Marie Kondo'ed and then feel under pressure to keep that standard up so she didn't judge.

Have a look at this set of adverts for Housekeepers.

A good selection of people who know a HK's worth and those who want to pay minimum wage for someone to manage their home!

uk.indeed.com/Private-Housekeeper-jobs?advn=3151555674175321&vjk=c9ad651a4cc90ab9

@SmileyClare

I don't go into client's clothing drawers or wardrobes as it feels a bit invasive. I would if they asked, of course, and if they wanted me to Maria Kondo their homes, I'd be on YouTube straightaway and also suggesting a higher rate because whilst there are cleaners and housekeepers there are also declutterers and organisers and they command much higher rates altogether! This is giving me more ideas...

I'm such a "gold digger cleaner"!

Not at all, SelfEmployedCleaner you sound great- really productive with high standards!

I must admit, some of those housekeeping roles advertised on your link sound awful.
The live in ones mean you couldn't have any life of your own?

As for the "Urgent full time housekeeper required offering £10 an hour, ours has retired!" I don't blame her for retiring, the poor woman's been rinsed by that family.

I think a housekeeper does more than clean - you would usually have one if you had a massive house and they might even be in charge of other cleaners. If you had someone like a plumber or decorator come round in the day you could leave your housekeeper in charge of guiding them, they might even be the one to call a plumber or electrician if needed. They would also do admin, ordering cleaning equipment and things like that. A cleaner wouldn’t have the same level of responsibility.

Yes, that one sounds particularly bad!

I always imagine myself as Mrs Hughes swanning about but also doing the work of the maids!!! That's the advantage of working in period properties, you get to pretend a bit for a few hours.

I did look into going into decluttering a while ago, it's around £20-£25 an hour. There's a professional body you can join for something like £100 a year. At the time I was debating whether or not to have a complete change and give up cleaning, but I really love organising so I might look again. It would fit well with housekeeping.

As for the "Urgent full time housekeeper required offering £10 an hour, ours has retired!" I don't blame her for retiring, the poor woman's been rinsed by that family.

I know. And she probably thought minimum wage was all a 'cleaning' job was worth because that's the going rate (just above minimum wage!) if you're employed by most hotels or local authorities etc.

Hopefully those people will become very aware that they aren't offering a good rate.

we have our cleaner 3 days a week 8-1 she has her own routine of bed changing and deep cleans, fridge, oven etc. She would also mind the kids while I went too the gym or did a quick shop when they were younger. She also puts food deliveries away.

She knows where everything goes, put all washed and ironed clothes away and will tidy clothes drawers.
we pay her £16/ hour
in normal times we're away every school holiday, nearly 3 months in total and we pay her while we're away.
she keeps saying she's getting too old to cope with the house now, god knows what we'll do when she leaves.

[quote SelfEmployedCleaner]Have a look at this set of adverts for Housekeepers.

A good selection of people who know a HK's worth and those who want to pay minimum wage for someone to manage their home!

uk.indeed.com/Private-Housekeeper-jobs?advn=3151555674175321&vjk=c9ad651a4cc90ab9[/quote]
God the £9 an hour ones are terrible - why would anybody choose that when they could work for an agency who pays at least that.
But then again in some places the only other work available is on farms... being a housekeeper looks better by comparison.

We pay our housekeeper £14/hour with 6 weeks paid holiday, she also got Furlough in the lock downs.