Cleaner Hourly Rates - to expect an increase?

[needabreak5]

If you have a cleaner, have they increased their rate due to cost of living? I’m thinking that some cleaners may be scared about increasing due to risk of losing clients for the same reason. Not sure whether we should offer a slight increase as her rate is reasonable for the area and at the moment we could absorb it but that might not be the same in a few months. DH thinks we should give small cash gift at Xmas and not offer to commit just in case. If you have a cleaner would you be able to pay more at the moment? If you are a cleaner can you sustain your current rate or are you thinking of increasing it?

My handyman put his rate from £25 to £35 and hour, rounds up and started adding a bit to allow travel?! I couldn't understand the latest invoice and needed him to clarify. Won't be using him again as it wasn't transparent.

Assuming you are over 22 the national minimum wage is £9.50, and will go up to £10.42 in April. Does your friend pay in cash?

Ours hasn’t but given that fuel has sky rocketed as has everything else we gave our cleaner a 25% increase. She was so grateful she cried her eyes out.

Ours charged £20 for two hours in a shitty bit of London where there’s probably no struggle to find people. We pushed it up to £25 without her asking but should probably go a bit higher. We also encouraged some friends who also use her to match it. We also paid her through COVID and if she or anyone in our family has been isolating since.

Should also say my explorer was generous so all the more reason for us to be.

She pays me directly into my bank account. I’ve got no idea if it’s the going rate or not. I don’t really mind, it’s easy work but your prices sound much better. 😄

My cleaner has just increased to £17 ph. It's too much unfortunately so after 4 years tomorrow is their last day 😞

Ours hasn’t put his prices up, but he has changed some days and times around to make his travel more streamlined so it costs less and also have him a couple of free slots.

I was quoted 15-20 by cleaners and one was going to start at 15 but messaged to say 17.50 now
I did find one at 15 (seems to be average around here) but if they were to increase the price I’d probably have to look elsewhere and cancel, as it is a luxury anyway and I’d struggle to justify any more cost towards it.

We are in Yorkshire and mine was only charging £13ph. I kept saying are you sure you don’t need to start charging more with the increase in costs and she insisted she didn’t. I just increased the DD to £15ph a few weeks ago because it just didn’t feel right that everything else had gone up but she was charging the same.

I think cleaners and other service providers are in a catch 22 situation. They need to put their prices up due to cost of living but as they cost of living is affecting the majority of people, the people using their services can't necessarily afford the increase.
My cleaner (who we've had 5yrs+) put her prices up recently and lost about 40% of her clients. She's managed to replace them but I know is nervous about putting them up again.

I used to pay £40 for 3 hours and I put it up to £45 two weeks ago due to the cost of living. My cleaner was so pleased and I felt I had done the right thing. Nice to give someone something they deserve without them having to ask.

Ours went from £15 to £16 at the start of the year. Cost of living is biting and it probably won't be worth it to me if it goes to £18 an hour. I'd rather spend the time doing it myself and have the money. We pay for two hours per week.

Cleaner here. I've been cleaning for 3 years and charge £15!per hour. I've pretty much had the same customers for the three years. I could do with putting up my prices by £1.50 an hour but am worried I'd loose customers, it's a difficult decision. A cash bonus at Christmas would be lovely.

I was paying £50 for 4 hours once a week and then told them due to cost of living I was now going to pay £55, now I'm worried it's not enough. I also had to beg them to take the increase- they're amazing and I adore them. I joked that I wouldn't be able to cope if they went on strike. All their costs have gone up, including petrol to get to me so it's more than fair. Big Xmas bonus as they insist on get DS a bday and Xmas gift, which is a losing battle. Not sure what I would do if they left.

These prices are crazy!! £15-20 an hour for cleaning! No wonder no-one wants to do care work.

My cleaner has put her rates up by 20%. I would have accepted the increase but I wasn't really happy with her service so I let her go.

@crossstitchingnana its not that these prices are crazy,cleaning is physically demanding if you are doing it right,its that care workers pay is appalling.

Absolutely care work should pay more.. but you're not comparing apples with apples. Carers in Care Homes do one shift each day and get paid for their 8-10 hours straight, cleaners have to travel from house to house and rarely get to bill even 8 hours a day because of travel time

I've been having this dilemma. I pay my cleaner £15 ph. I did pay her through COVID. I will give her £50 at Xmas. I will probably offer to pay £35 pw in the new year.

I gave my cleaner an increase voluntarily earlier this year.

I am not a cleaner but I charge an hourly rate for my work. I'm scared to put up my prices in case I lose customers. And some of my customers are elderly and can't afford more. But we are stretched financially too. It's a tough one, I'm still mulling over what to do.

We were going to start using a cleaner as we finally felt financially comfortable enough to afford it and still keep up our monthly savings. We’re now not going to do it as everything keeps going up in cost and we will prioritise saving instead.

I offered to put my cleaner’s rate up to £14:hour because she was comparing the price of 6 eggs in each supermarket. It seems fair and I can afford it.

I've been looking for a cleaner for the first time; the one I've spoken to said that new clients are being charged £16ph and implied it was higher than before.