Page 3 | AIBU to wonder why housekeepers get paid more then cleaners?

Starryskiesinthesky · 2021-10-17T11:45:53+00:00

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.

BigPyjamas · 17/10/2021 20:31

We pay our housekeeper £14/hr and our cleaner 12.50/hr.

Housekeeper does more complex household tasks such as cooking, meal prep, ironing, laundry, trades, shopping. She doesn't clean but I might ask her to Hoover or clean the kitchen floor.

TheFlyHalfsMum · 17/10/2021 20:34

@SelfEmployedCleaner

I need you in my life! And you say you have free slots and are based in the NW?!

TractorAndHeadphones · 17/10/2021 20:35

[quote TheFlyHalfsMum]**@SelfEmployedCleaner

I need you in my life! And you say you have free slots and are based in the NW?![/quote]
Also @SelfEmployedCleaner are you based in Manchester?

ssd · 17/10/2021 20:51

@BigPyjamas

We pay our housekeeper £14/hr and our cleaner 12.50/hr.

Housekeeper does more complex household tasks such as cooking, meal prep, ironing, laundry, trades, shopping. She doesn't clean but I might ask her to Hoover or clean the kitchen floor.

I'm fascinated. And nosey!! What kind of life do you have that you need both of these?

Please ignore me if you'd rather not say.

BigPyjamas · 17/10/2021 21:11

@ssd

It sounds fancier than it is. We both work full time in pretty full-on jobs and our housekeeper also does childcare (she's a nanny housekeeper but this bit didn't seem relevant in the chat)

Cleaner comes as the house would be feral without her. She does 4hr a week. House is old and rambling, she doesn't clean all of it but does the main bits.

Appreciate we are incredibly lucky and try to be really good employers.

Guetzlibache · 18/10/2021 08:20

@SmileyClare.I was a cleaner too(luckily retired now)and completely agree with you.It's a hard slog though isnt it

Watchingyou2sleezes · 18/10/2021 09:21

Mine is like my house p.a.
Dealing with a lot of day to day stuff, overseeing other regular workers.Does a fair bit of laundry/ironing, kids bedrooms- been great for keeping them how I want them because they daren't mess her around. Some cooking. General errand running.Knows exactly how I like things to be and I can't remember ever having to 'remind' her how I want things done. I like to do the food shop myself and change the bedding in my own room.
Frees me up to do more worth while things and removes a massive amount of stress from the household. I pay her to reflect that

Triffid1 · 18/10/2021 10:57

@SelfEmployedCleaner you sound a LOT like our old cleaner who I always felt was somewhere between a housekeeper and a cleaner. She was very proactive on the cleaning, doing extra bits of deep cleaning weekly and a few extras (eg she'd spot that the door stop was torn and fix it or she'd turn up with a new product she'd found to solve a specific problem in our house - we'd pay for it, obviously) but we didn't use her as a housekeeper. Partly because we didn't really have the money to pay for any additional hours and partly because her English wasn't great so she'd have struggled with interacting with other service providers etc. Having said that, if she hadn't left the country pre-Brexit, I think now I'd be negotiating with her for a more housekeeper type role to include some light childcare (the kids ADORED her and currently both DH and I are often working early evenings which is a nightmare for the evening routine with the children), dog walking (our dog and her were best friends) and a few things like putting away shopping etc because frankly DH and I are struggling and she knew us extremely well.

But even just as a cleaner we did pay her quite well - £14 per hour, 4 weeks paid leave a year, a christmas bonus and sick pay. As well as an extra fiver per week as we lived further out than her other clients so she needed an extension for her travel card to come to us. It does sound like you're in her sweet spot so could definitely advertise as more than a cleaner and charge top rates.

purplesequins · 18/10/2021 11:07

when I worked for a family as a nanny the housekeeper would run the household.
she basically did the 'wifework' for the whole family.
like keeping the calendars up to date, birthdays, school parents evenings, children's activities etc.
organising house repairs. daily cooking, cleaning tidying up. laundry. supervising the cleaners, nanny, organising dinner parties...

SelfEmployedCleaner · 18/10/2021 16:42

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.

You sound like a great client! And she sounds like she's really great at knowing what to do and when without being 'managed', so a very mutually beneficial relationship.

SelfEmployedCleaner · 18/10/2021 16:45

@traumatisednoodle

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

You're the client equivalent of an Air BNB Superhost!

traumatisednoodle · 18/10/2021 16:50

TBH she is worth her weight in gold. On her day a come back to a clean house, fed kids and dinner in the oven.

SelfEmployedCleaner · 18/10/2021 16:50

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.

I feel sad for the people who might go for those not realising their work is worth more then NLW.

SelfEmployedCleaner · 18/10/2021 16:51

[quote TheFlyHalfsMum]@SelfEmployedCleaner

I need you in my life! And you say you have free slots and are based in the NW?![/quote]

SelfEmployedCleaner · 18/10/2021 16:52

I'm nowhere near Manchester, @TractorAndHeadphones

traumatisednoodle · 18/10/2021 16:55

DH has got a limited company so employing her like that is tax efficient for us

SelfEmployedCleaner · 18/10/2021 16:56

But even just as a cleaner we did pay her quite well - £14 per hour, 4 weeks paid leave a year, a christmas bonus and sick pay. As well as an extra fiver per week as we lived further out than her other clients so she needed an extension for her travel card to come to us

Wow, that sounds great!

I'd love to take doggos for walks.

With my Monday AM people I'm currently trying to polish a couple of brass bells they have in their porch that were covered in verdigris, dust and cobwebs when I first started. I do 5 or 10 minutes a week on them and they're slowly starting to show a bit of lovely colour shining through the tarnish.

SelfEmployedCleaner · 18/10/2021 17:01

@purplesequins

when I worked for a family as a nanny the housekeeper would run the household. she basically did the 'wifework' for the whole family. like keeping the calendars up to date, birthdays, school parents evenings, children's activities etc. organising house repairs. daily cooking, cleaning tidying up. laundry. supervising the cleaners, nanny, organising dinner parties...

My cousin's wife used to be this type of housekeeper.

She lived on ProPlus she was so knackered, but the salary was excellent!

SelfEmployedCleaner · 18/10/2021 17:04

@traumatisednoodle

TBH she is worth her weight in gold. On her day a come back to a clean house, fed kids and dinner in the oven.

Sounds lovely. This is what I'd like to provide I think, more of an all round service.

What kind of meals does she prepare for you?

Plantstrees · 18/10/2021 18:06

@traumatisednoodle

DH has got a limited company so employing her like that is tax efficient for us

Unless your home welcomes paying guests, this sounds like tax fraud? Hiring a cleaner for your own home is not tax efficient regardless of whether you have a limited company!

traumatisednoodle · 18/10/2021 18:16

He works from home so it is his place of work! He also has clients who come to the house.

traumatisednoodle · 18/10/2021 18:19

Although to be fair, they don't eat the food she cooks.
Something like a bolongiase, chicken casserole, lasagne, curry, cottage pie, macaroni cheese- the sort of things COOK do.

StarlingDodd · 18/10/2021 18:26

@traumatisednoodle

Although to be fair, they don't eat the food she cooks. Something like a bolongiase, chicken casserole, lasagne, curry, cottage pie, macaroni cheese- the sort of things COOK do.

That sounds like the sort of thing that in the past would be the meals a Plain Cook would prepare. Right up my street!

dreamsarefree · 18/10/2021 18:32

We have a virtual PA who does a lot of the admin side of a housekeeper remotely, she does a meal plan and gets the groceries delivered, orders all the pet food and supplies, books any appointments, manages the family diary, buys cards and presents, organises the kids' birthday parties. We pay a flat rate of £100/month for about 6-8hrs work. In an ideal world she would live closer and also walk the dogs but you can't win them all 😉

Xenia · 18/10/2021 18:38

We had someone 3 mornings a week who did do the cleaning but she also did the washing and ironing and put it all away. She also handled the food delivery and putting that all away and was just a bit more responsible. In our case she did not do much more than that but I suppose the fixed hours Monday to Friday and those extra duties probably made her a bit more like a housekeeper than a cleaner.