To want these tasks completed by the cleaners?

[streamee]

Genuine question. Please let me know if I'm reasonable to expect these tasks to be completed?

I have cleaners for 3 hours every fortnight. (Team of 3 Molly maid cleaners for 1 hour. £84 a clean)

All hard floors vacuumed and mopped (kitchen, dining room, loo, bathroom and hallway)

All carpets vacuumed (this does generally get completed) Should they be doing under the sofa?

Dusting/polishing - the hallway mirror never gets cleaned, nor the TV. They should surely be doing this?

Kitchen - should they be doing behind stuff? Like behind the toaster and microwave? At the moment the kitchen gets a cursory wipe over.

I overheard one of the team saying she didn't know what to be getting on with to another member of the team while sat on my stairs on her phone... surely she should be busy during the hour I'm paying for?

Thanks

@SecretSquirrel111

3 hours for 2100 sq foot is not a lot.

However if they’re sitting around doing nothing then there’s definitely an issue and I would complain.

I didn't prescribe 3 hours, the office did.. perhaps they've quoted incorrectly?

Molly Maid are shit. I had them once, they came back three times to complete the work as basic things hadn't been done. I don't mind paying a higher price for good work but it was terrible.

I think you may be better off paying 1/2 independent cleaners for more time, rather than 3 at once.

Molly Maid is a franchise which seems to make them really inconsistent with quality.

@User76745333

OP for guidance I pay my cleaner £13 an hour. She does 8 hours a week but in that time she cleans a large (more than 4500 square foot house) with two kitchens, five bathrooms, a large mucky boot room (dogs and horses). She also tidies and she changes all bedding and puts on two loads of washing. Once a fortnight she also does the pool house which has a living room, bedroom, small kitchenette and shower room.

You’re being truly ripped off.

That truly is the best not so stealth boast I've seen for a while

@BitOutOfPractice didn't feel like that to me.

People are allowed big houses

While I understand that some people will need to work from quite a detailed list in order to cost for the job, I agree with PP that finding someone for a private arrangement, where the person setting the prices is also doing the work, will almost certainly get much better results than a team employed by someone else

I asked for our house to be 'ready for my mother to visit' rather than trying to detail out everything required and left it to 'Treasure' to work out how often things need to be done. For example, your question re 'underneath the sofa's' I'd say not every time but at least couple of weeks or month.

By comparison, we have 4bed/2bath plus loo with only two of us here, no children , no pets and we have three hours two times a week We make sure we always pay just slightly above the going rate.

This gives us flexibility and really works for us

That is insanely expensive, even if they are Central London prices (you don't say where you are). I've always found agencies to be expensive and not very good, nor do they have the best employment conditions for their staff/contractors. I would look for a self employed cleaner - ask around your neighbours for a recommendation.

I would also second reading Nickel and Dimed.

Cleaner here
First of all you're paying way too much! In my clients homes I pull out the sofas once a month.
All mirrors should be cleaned, the toaster should be cleaned behind along with other kitchen appliances and the floors should be hoovered and mopped on every visit

Do you have a local Nextdoor appt? I find they are really good if looking for cleaners or handymen and you get personal recommendations which is always good.
For the money you are paying you could have a private cleaner come in each week for 2 and half hours each time and that way they will be able to rotate the larger jobs like pulling out the sofas and wiping down woodwork etc.

Blimey for that money I would expect the house demolished and fully rebuilt 😉😉

I had Molly maid put to give me a quote to clean 4 rooms once a week. £64 a week! I didn't bother getting back to them.

In my experience they start well then slowly get worse and worse ignoring anything vertical after a while!

That doesn’t sound unreasonable at all except maybe the tv? I used to clean years ago and was told to carefully dust top of tv with dry duster only but that’s all, never to touch the monitor of tv’s or computers. Everything else you’ve mentioned I would expect to be completed.

Molly Maids cover my local area and they charge more than double what our self employed cleaner does, and she is magic. She wouldn’t leave the things undone that you’ve listed and she really goes the extra mile. Best cleaner who has ever come, by far (and we used molly maids for a while before I found someone independent).

I think you should request a change in the team.

How do I find one? I would prefer the money went straight into the cleaners' pockets

We used MM once because they have insurance and tween we weren’t home that meant security info to a total stranger. MM will not clean televisions or any electronics - neither will our independently employed cleaner. They should have told you that at the start.

We central London and pay £18 p/hr but that includes some non-cleaning tasks as well. Also, 2100 square feet, people, emptyish home, is doable and they should not be sitting on the staircase - pulling out sofas, cleaning behind microwave when needed, yes.

Oh, didn’t answer the quoted question

Find one by word of mouth - neighbour is best as they will already be in the area. Or local online forums asking for recommendations can be okayish

Oh my lord, that is insanely expensive, they would be totally ripping you off even if they were doing a good job, £28 an hour for cleaning?!

We pay £17/hr, that's top rate round about here.
She cleans every floor every week. She lifts and cleans underneath the toaster and kettle. She moves and vacuums under the bigger furniture on a rota sort of badis, so today she did the sofas in the front room, lifted all the cushions off and did under them, but in the back room she didn't move the sofa. She'll do that next time. So all the furniture is moved at least once a month.

Your cleaners are not doing a good enough job op.

You'd be better off with 1 person coming for 3 hours.

Agree make a list. Must do, should do, could do. They need to work their way down it.

You'd be better off with 1 person coming for 3 hours

We have 2 people for 1.5 hours each. 3 hours seems like quite a long time for one person to be constantly cleaning without a break

I find nearly all cleaners do a pretty superficial job and the best thing to do is to get a cleaner to do that superficial job as regularly as you can afford. So instead of 33 hrs on one day a fortnight, I'd get 14 hrs every week using an independent. I'd then task manage that person and make a short and very specific list of what you want in your hour four. There's a reason people used to have cleaners and also a housekeeper. Most people need a boss. If there isn't one, then you're it.

I agree with one person doing 3 hours. They have a routine & system. You shouldn't have to leave instructions for a professional cleaner

My friend used this company whilst she was at work. They charged her for the agreed number of hours but the cleaners worked less than half the time - friend saw them coming and going on her alarm system.

You are paying a gigantic amount of money for the company to take the piss. I would try to find another cleaner who is just a person not a company.

Ex cleaner here. I ran my own successful business for years.

When you engage a cleaner, no matter how, you always always tell them what you want them to do, and talk through the work so we are all reading from the same page. The cleaner then has the chance to say yes I can do this or 'no I don't climb ladders in your galleried dining room to clean cobwebs from the ceiling because I have a fear of heights/it is dangerous" as an example...

Or.. "no I will not clean your windows inside using white spirit as I almost passed out last week" as another

If the cleaner does not clean, then you pull them from the start and make it clear that this is the standard you expect.

If they continue to fail then you find another cleaner. Simples

3 hours isn't a lot for the size of your house, but the hourly rate is also very high!

My better to get a recommendation for an independent cleaner, and that way all of what you pay will go to them, rather than agency fees.

To get your list done, you would likely need 4+ hours, but this would still be cheaper with an independent cleaner.

I had a similar experience with molly maid, and they are insanely expensive!