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?

We have a two bed two bath and three hours fortnightly too.

An extra 30 minutes would be good actually. While it looks ok on the surface skirting boards etc don't get done. If they're asking id say yes to it

I think the cleaner does not sound great. Should be more than enough time for a professional cleaner.

We’re 3 full bathrooms and 4 bedrooms and our cleaner does 3 hours once a week and leave the place immaculate.

I used to do house cleaning and that is plenty of time. I used to clean a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house in 2 hours. It was hard work but doable.

I didn't do tidying up as in putting things in cupboards, but if clothes were left on the bedroom floor I would fold them up and leave them on the bed.

They should be able to do that easily if you don't have children or pets.

i think it depends. Our cleaner does our five bed / three storey / three bathroom house in 3 1/2-4 most weeks. sometimes she stays a little longer. She cleans everything! plants, lego creations my kids have left out, the lot. She also organises / folds stuff as she goes and sometimes does inside the oven / fridge too. We pay her a flat rate for the house however long she stays and I don't micromanage, i just leave her to it. We pay above market rate for better service though.

Have you been there at the same time as the cleaner?

I WFH so am normally in when ours comes and she's got herself in to a routine and whizzes round the house so quickly she's in a sweat by the time she's finished. She does a 4 bed, 3 bath house every 2 weeks in 3 hours. No, it's not absolutely everything (I tend to do the cobwebs!) but she does all flooring, including a hoover and a mop of the ground floor (kitchen, utility, loo, 3 x reception rooms and hallway), deep clean of the kitchen and bathrooms and then general dusting and sorting out of sofas (honestly, no-one can fluff a cushion like our cleaner!).

There are things she misses or doesn't do, but I realise we get a lot out of her for 3 hours every two weeks, so I don't mind doing the extras. It's certainly better than us doing all of it!

For a 2 bed, 2 bath apartment, I'd have thought 3 hours was plenty, especially in the condition you describe. Perhaps stay home one day she's there and see how she works.

We had a previous cleaner who really didn't like us being there while she worked, which we took to mean that she couldn't slack off as much as when we weren't there (the house was always noticeably cleaner if we were home when she worked).

Looking at your updates I'd say your cleaner is taking the piss. 2 adults who keep the place tidy, no children... She didn't complete the clean because she wants to screw another half hour's work out of you. You mentioned a "deep clean" but she's not doing a deep clean - she's just being expected to clean your flat properly. When I did a deep clean it involved taking a steamer with me for the bathrooms and kitchen. Cleaning all skirting boards, tops of doors, door frames with a cloth and soapy water. Moving all furniture... You aren't having a deep clean, just a regular clean.

@DespairingHomeowner

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

This. Plenty of time when you keep it ticking over in between.

I think that would be more than enough time. As long as it's tidy and no time is wasted having to pick up items etc.

It’s definitely enough. My cleaner takes 4 hours to do a 4 bed, 3 bath house with two reception rooms. Kids, pets, probably way more cluttered than yours sounds!

I used to do a 7 bed 3 bath 3 reception in 3 hours. I did it well too..Only 4 beds were in use so 3 only needed a tickle.

Ok I’m going to say that I’m surprised 3.5 hours is needed for our apartment. It genuinely is always clean and tidy (I work from home so want it to be all the time!).

I don’t expect a DEEP clean like the oven, fridge etc, but a good clean of everything you’d expect.

Things like the TV stand weren’t dusted, shower screen wasn’t cleaned, floor was hoovered but not in corners/by table and chairs.

My sister has just had a lovely cleaner for a very similar sized and furnished apartment and she said she didn’t need the whole 3 hours! Might ask for her number

I have 2 beds and 2 baths, if I was cleaning weekly I can hoover, dust, mop the kitchen floor, do the kitchen surfaces and clean both bathrooms in not much over an hour if I put my mind to it and don’t procrastinate too much!

3 hours is definitely enough. Shocked at PP saying it takes that long to do 2 bathrooms. Jeez, get a life people, we're only here once.

Unless you and your dp are pigs then it should be very doable. Unless you are going to drip feed that you want fridge cleared, oven cleaned and all furniture moved every single time.

I blitz my 4 bed 2 floor house faster than that.

Assuming it's not a deep clean including things like inside the oven etc 3 hours should be plenty for a flat.

Our cleaner does our 2 bed 1 bath house in 2 hours a fortnight. She is insanely efficient though.

Sounds reasonable to me. My old cleaner was fantastic. She got everything done in time and then did a few extras like hang out washing, iron a few shirts for DH when he was in office everyday or peel veg. New cleaner very slow and not as thorough. She leaves early too.

Ask for your sister’s cleaners no @MondayMood! She sounds better

Btw, ‘sharing’ a cleaner with friends & family (ie they know you know each other) works really well I think, I got my last cleaner work with a couple of friends & it meant she could move out days round if needed etc

Get a new cleaner - that one sound rubbish. Personally, I find the ones that work in teams of 2/3/4 much better, as it is easier for 3 people to come in and blitz physical work for an hour, for example, than for one person to do 3 hours, when they will naturally take a break or need to ease off.

For comparison, we have a 4 bed 4 bath house, the cleaners do 4 hours a fortnight and the place is immaculate. We have (messy) kids and only do basic wipe overs and tidying in between. Sometimes I get them to do an extra hour which would involve walls, patio, windows or whatever.

I think that's enough time to have all the basics covered. Speak to your DSis and see if you can poach her cleaner.
I'd also recommend getting a robohoover (Eufy is not too expensive), with wooden floors that would cut out most of the need to vacuum.

Op, I suspect I'd have cleaned your apartment in 2 hours. 2.5 hours would have given me time to do an extra thing at the end of most visits. Like maybe clean some windows (easy and quick when you have the right gear). Then another week wipe skirting boards rather than just vacuuming them. That sort of thing. Shower screens should be cleaned in a regular clean, the TV stand should be dusted...