To think 3 hours isn’t a long time to clean 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.

[user1488481370]

I am a self employed cleaner with my own business and a couple of employees. We recently took on a B&B, it was agreed that we would charge the owner an hourly rate. There are usually one night stays through the week and 2 night stays during the weekend so we’re there quite a lot throughout the week.

This morning the owner has contacted me to say she isn’t happy about the time it’s taking for us to do the rooms. I’ve done most of the cleans myself and one of my employees did the others.

The B&B has 5 rooms, total capacity of 10 guests max. The beds are king sized beds but can be split into twins if needed. Each has its own en suite/private bathroom. So we strip beds, make beds, dust and polish, clean all glass and buff chrome, clean toilets, baths/showers/sinks, hoover and mop bathroom floors and hoover bedroom floors, wash used cups, refill tea and coffee tray and deal with all laundry for the laundry company. Every so often we’ll do the windows and skirting boards and under furniture.

I don’t think 3 hours is at all excessive but she says that her old cleaner did it in 2.

"I don’t think 3 hours is at all excessive but she says that her old cleaner did it in 2."

I don't think three hours is excessive either, considering what you're actually doing. As for "she says" - so many possibilities there!

• They actually took three hours too.


• They took two hours by cutting corners.


• They left this B&B's employment because of the owners's unreasonable expectations.

Do two hours, add 50% to your hourly rate. Win - Win.

Our cleaner takes 4h for 4 bed/3 bathrooms which includes dusting, vacuuming, bathrooms, changing 2 beds (one king, one single), kitchen and floors - and we're very happy with her.

My flat is 1300 sq ft, 4 bed 2 bath. I have 3 hrs a week cleaning and 1 hr ironing.

The 3 hours cleaning isn’t quite enough tbh, but I’m on a budget.

Standards of cleanliness vary so she may be happier with a less thorough clean than you offer, but would you be?

That’s only 20 mins per room, isn’t it? ( 5 -4=9 divided into 3 hours) Not long enough to change beds, dust, wipe every surface, Hoover, and in a bathroom thoroughly clean suite, all surfaces and floor. I’d say 30 mins per room.

Changing king size beds is so physical - I find it v tiring.
Tell her to accompany you one day if she is interested.

Well it would take me about 5 hours to do all that, she's being a CF, just tell her it takes you 3 hours if she's able to find someone to do the same amount of work in less time then she's welcome to use them isn't she?

We had a hotel until recently. We budgeted for 20 minutes per roomfor a tidy (ie when guests weren't leaving) and 40 minutes for a depart. Each room was a king size/twin with en suite. This was the minimum for a great job, then periodically the rooms were given a longer deep clean on a rota. three hours is therefore the minimum for 5 rooms really in my experience.

That’s not long if you’re doing it to a half decent standard.
The old cleaner is an old cleaner for a reason - either the standard wasn’t “good” enough for having only 2 hours to do it in and she was let go, or the pressure of being expected to do so much in 2 hours was too great and she quit.
Either way, I feel they were better off out of it!

It couldn't have been cleaned properly in 2 hours.

For contrast, I used to run a caravan cleaning team on a well known national caravan park. Our teams of two people were given 20 minutes per caravan ( 2-3 bedrooms) with an extra ten minutes to make 2-4 single and 1 double bed. We were paid per caravan with bed makes being extra. Some caravans were great, took ten/fifteen minutes. Some were awful and took 4 cleavers an hour. There really is no set standard.

What you need to do is set out your basic clean and your "deep" clean standards. So don't do the skirting boards every clean unless they are visibly marked. Change bedding, wipe down surfaces and check coats etc. hoover. Empty bin. Clean bathroom. I would suggest that 20 minutes per room should be fine unless actually dirty. Anything that's worse than normal, you need to photograph before starting so that you can justify your extra time. I'd even skip that room after photographing and leave it until the end and get both cleaners in it (hopefully before the two hours is up). Then offer a deep clean every 3-4 months with cleaning of light fittings, architrave, windows, curtain steaming and carrier cleaning.

In this case, you tell her that you will do just the cleaning for 2 hours, but can no longer guarantee the standard any longer and will not be responsible if she gets complaints because things can not be done in time.

I would change the bed, empty the bins and with whatever time you have left give the place a quick clean. A dirty hotel will see her profits and bookings plummet, so it is short sighted, but if she is looking to cost cut you can't really argue with her as long as you are both clear about what the reduction in time will mean.

Owner is unreasonable!

My cleaner cleans for 3 hours.
4 bedrooms, over 3 floors, bed changes, mopping and vacuuming included. As well as 2 bathrooms and 1 downstairs toilet. She's amazing and worth every penny.

If you can do all of that in 3 hours, I would gladly hire you as a cleaner for my home!

Bloody hell, I'd struggle to do my own bedroom and bathroom in 3 hours! Mind you, 20 mins of that would be for the lie down I always need after stripping and making the bed.😆

I'd be minded to tell her she can have it done quickly or properly, not both. How badly do you need the work?

My cleaner couldn’t sort my house out in three hours… it’s a two bed terrace! And I keep it tidy!

@LibertineCapsAndCowboyChaps - but that isn't a contrast as the OP is doing the room solo and your team was doing a caravan with 2 people so it was actually 40 minutes of cleaning time not 20. Which rather confirms the OP's point that it takes more than 20 minutes to turn an ensuite room around.

I was a hotel chambermaid for a while. I used to get 10-12 en suite rooms per shift which was 8am - 2.15pm including half an hour for lunch. Some of those would be a 'refresh' as guests staying another night. It was very strenuous! But it helped having a big trolley to take along with everything laid out in it so easy to grab what you needed for each room. No duvets as it was all sheets and blankets.

That didn't include laundry sorting as we just put it down a chute and sorted it at the end of a shift. But all the rooms were on one or two corridors so you didn't need to move far to be on to the next one.

I used to hate twin bedded rooms though as those always made me behind with two beds to make up!

Two hours seems a small amount of time. I think it would take longer than larger hotels with all the equipment on a trolley and guests, who are often business travellers or hanging at the pool etc.

@londonmummy1966

i Know that but a caravan also has a kitchen with a fridge freezer and a full size cooker as well as 2-3 bedrooms, living room and at least one bathroom. Between 26x10ft and 40ftx12ft of space with up to eight people using it at the same time.

Lots of hotels allow 20 or 25 minutes a bedroom plus bathroom to clean. But that isn't long enough really. It also depends how many changeovers you are getting. It does take less time if most people are staying a week, than if most people are staying one or two nights. It also depends if this includes replenishing and cleaning tea and coffee trays.
Can you afford to say this is how much it costs, if you are not happy you can go elsewhere?

I think you’re doing a great job. Let them find someone else.

So they think you should be able to do it in 24minutes for each? This is possible if you have lots of layovers as you are not changing beds and apart from the bathroom don't have to do as thorough a clean. But since most only stay one or two nights this is unrealistic.
You can say either you do a thorough job at three hours or bare minimum at two hours I.e. change bedding, tea trays and bathrooms and empty bins.

Am I alone in finding it very meh that you are expected to “wash the used cups” presumably in the bathroom sink, with no washing up liquid and no tea towel. Replace used cups by all means, but not by washing them in bathroom!

The answer is "no wonder your old cleaner left".