AIBU to think that 3 hours is enough time to clean a 2 bed, 2 bath apartment?

[MondayMood]

With wooden floors throughout, average sized, kept clean through the week - have a cleaner every other week to keep on top of everything and take the pressure off?

I would take longer than three to do it properly tbh.

Depends on the state of the house. I would not be able to do that, but a professional is probably much quicker.

Wouldn't be enough time for me, no, not if I was doing it properly. Both bathrooms would take a good chunk of the three hours.

No, not if you want it done throughly. Two weeks is a long time for dust, dirt and grime to build up.

I do 4 hours minimum on a 3 bed house, where only 1 room and the kitchen is regularly used and that's every week.

A professional cleaner should manage in 3 hours as long as she isn’t having to tidy as wellx

3 hours once a week yes if not tidying, fortnightly not thoroughly.

It should be but what is it that your cleaner is doing and what are they not doing that you would want done?

I think time spent cleaning is really variable - it really depends on things like (a) how tidy is it? completely clutter free with everything in it's place or messy (b) are all the "day jobs" done regularly (so no washing up left, doesn't include laundry) (c) are there any pets/children or something that makes extra mess?

Yes, provided you want it done to just good enough, and it’s not too messy or dirty to start with. We have two hours once a fortnight and it’s enough to make a dent in the cleaning.

For a professional cleaner no problem. It's what I used to do for a living.

Our cleaner was able to blitz our 4-bed 3-bath house weekly, in only 3 hours. Sounds do-able, as long as it's tidy.

I think it’s totally reasonable, I clean my own 2 bed 2 bath small house to a good standard every week in that time (by which I mean scrub bath, mop everywhere, dust everywhere, clean cupboard doors, skirting etc)

If a cleaner is doing it every 2 weeks I expect you’d need to do a few bits in between though (kitchen/sink, bathrooms & hoover) so it doesn’t build up a lot

Sorry should have clarified - we do general cleaning through the week, I keep on top of it day to day it’s never ‘dirty’ or even messy, just need someone to do more of a deeper clean every other week

Also, no kids / pets! Just 2 adults living here.

Then a most definite YES! You might end up having to dust a light bulb a couple of times a year but otherwise it’s lots of time

No, not every other week, your expectations are unrealistic.

Ok mixed answers! When I do a ‘deep’ clean myself it takes a couple of hours, so I thought 3 was enough.

Our new cleaner has asked for an extra 30 minutes as I noticed a lot of areas hadn’t been cleaned and the floor was half-hoovered, so I had to re-do it over the weekend.

I was wondering if this was reasonable for them to ask before replying.

I guess it depends how thorough your cleaner is. Ours does our 4 bed, 3 bath house in 4 hours so I would've thought that 3 hours would be more than enough for 2 bed, 2 bath. But she doesn't do things like the skirting boards, interior windows etc.

@MondayMood

Ok mixed answers! When I do a ‘deep’ clean myself it takes a couple of hours, so I thought 3 was enough.

Our new cleaner has asked for an extra 30 minutes as I noticed a lot of areas hadn’t been cleaned and the floor was half-hoovered, so I had to re-do it over the weekend.

I was wondering if this was reasonable for them to ask before replying.

Are you generally happy with the work, did she come recommended?

Some cleaners are slow as painstakingly thorough (which is not always a bad thing). And some are just slow!

Cleaners speed up in time so one compromise is to have her skip a few tasks for 1-2 cleans until she’s up to speed

3 1/2 hours for a clean & tidy flat with one type of flooring (so no messing about with loads of floor cleaners, different mops etc) seems excessive to me

You’ve added a bit more on to your own time so surely it’s enough?

God my cleaners take 2 hours to do my whole house weekly (four beds, two baths, tidied so they can get round). I ask them to do 3 hours if I want the windows doing, lights dusting and extra stuff that's not needed weekly.

3 hours is more than enough for a two bed two bath flat, unless it's all glass or stainless steel that does require time to get clean.

A proper deep clean can't be done in 3 hours, that's just a fairly thorough clean. But if fortnightly you'd need to do sinks and toilets etc in between.

Our experience of cleaners would be that that’s loads of time for what you’re asking so long as you are semi tidy.

We have two hours a week for a 2 bed, 2 bath flat with hard floors throughout. No mess for them to tidy and we empty the recycling bins. So basically we’re asking them to do bathrooms, kitchen and floor. It isn’t always done to a great standard and we have to specifically ask for anything extra. But the sofa cushions are always plumped and arranged in a nice pattern, and the toilet roll folded into a point

It depends: do you have pets, kids, how tidy is it - can you crack on with dusting/hoovering or do you have to clear space / shuffle things about first? Do you have soft water, or is there limescale to tackle. How long is a piece of string?!

Yes, that seems reasonable. I would expect more of a regular clean, than a deep clean, with doing occasional extra jobs.