House cleaner - Do I mention this

[Pecanpie12]

Hello.

I recently decided to get a cleaner as I struggle to find the time and I'm incredibly OCD. I mean, when I clean I clean every single inch of the home, leave all the chrome taps, sink, everything chrome spotless. Anyway, decided to have a cleaner and she's left water stains all over the chrome taps and in the sink and hasn't cleaned the plug hole. Do I mention this or not get her back again?

I'm not sure having a cleaner is going to work for you OP. She will likely quit anyway.

My lord you would have a field day in my house

Cleaning windows, especially as many as are normally in a conservatory, isn't normally in the usual remit of weekly cleaning jobs. Did you perhaps expect too much in the time available?

Plug holes unscrew? What’s the hole called that’s left when you’ve unscrewed a plug hole from its hole?

Only click-clack wastes unscrew.

I think your expectation is pretty high for an initial clean, with what you yourself call a filthy conservatory, kitchen and multiple bathrooms in 3 hours.

perhaps you need to ask for a ‘starter clean’ which is usually two cleaners doing 3/4+ hours each, to get the home to a standard that can be maintained on a weekly basis.

@Pecanpie12 let the poor cleaner go. An entire house in 3 hours to your expectations isn't possible.

YABU.

Oh no maybe I am a clean freak too! When I had a cleaner for a while I use to get her to unscrew the sink and clean underneath too. I honestly thought this was normal.

I would be annoyed if the bathroom wasn’t spotless if I was paying someone to clean it. OP I am with you on your post but I think we might be in the minority

It must be really difficult for you if you struggle with that level of cleanliness.

Why don't you see her as doing 90% of the cleaning and you just do the final touches?

You can have any standards you like provided you communicate them and pay for the work (which might take longer than a less thorough job). IME good cleaners need to come a few times to get things up to their standard and understand how you like it, and should let you know if the work you want isn’t doable in the time.

Water marks etc wouldn’t especially bother me but they bother you so mention it. It needn’t be (shouldn’t be) telling her off or complaining- you’re just communicating how you’d like things done and, if she’s the cleaner for you, she’ll take it on board.

I think 3hrs is a bit unreasonable to expect all that to be done (unless your house is tiny). If the conservatory windows were that dirty, that could be 30mins at least! Ours does 2hrs and is great, but I wouldn’t expect a meticulous clean in that time, certainly not windows. If finances are tight, why don’t you get them to do a couple of rooms a week deep clean until all the rooms are done properly, then general clean for a few months, then do the deep cleaning again when it’s required.

Hi Amewhoo, thank you for this. I didn't even think of asking her to do deep clean in several rooms instead of a full house clean. I'll speak with her and suggest this instead.

Your OCD is only partly relevant here because it’s obvious from the pictures that she hasn’t cleaned well.

If you’ve told her to concentrate on the kitchen and bathroom, it’s really not too much to expect that she would clean the plugs. They’re as big a part of the sink as the taps, and no one would consider a sink had been cleaned if there was still dirt on the taps. I don’t have particularly high standards but cleaning the shiny bits of a sink is basic.

This is just MN doing it’s usual crazy when it comes to cleaners who can do no wrong.

As you’ve told her now, I’d give her one more chance, making sure you’re specific about what needs to be cleaned. Hopefully she’ll be able to do a good job when she knows what’s expected of her but if not there’s no point in paying her.

You are a clean freak but your windows are mank! Give them a scrub instead of worrying about water stains!

I think you might be a somewhat difficult client.

Cleaner here. I never unscrewed the plug holes. I make sure taps are sparkling with no water marks but I'd say unscrewing the plug is owner's responsibility.

OP I agree with you but I've come to realise people generally have low standards of cleanliness. I find most people's houses to be grubby but they think they are clean. I don't have OCD.
I have cleaners and have had to accept they don't do it as well as I would, but they keep it from being filthy, but I then still have to clean myself to get it up to standard, it just doesn't take me as long.

How big is your house? How many bathrooms?

I’m a cleaner.

I unscrew the plugs and clean the underside and the plug hole, remove watermarks with descaler, dry and buff.

It’s the standard I clean to. A high quality clean. I want clients to come home and think ‘wow’. I don’t want them to think they could have done a better job themselves.

But, because I include these details, I don’t scrimp on time and I charge accordingly.

Did she set the 3hr timeframe or you?

@Pecanpie12 and @Anewhoo I think the "spot" deep cleaning in a couple of rooms is a good idea.

I don't think 3 hours gets you top to bottom deep cleaning - that is more of an end of tenency everything spotless type thing and that will cost more than one cleaner for 3 hours.
My cleaners do a general clean & then I give them a job per time , which might be woodwork , or limescale , or inside windows , or , whatever . My house is small but in two hours ( there are 2 of them ) they can't give the whole house a deep clean. ( They do in fairness polish the taps etc. as part of normal clean )

If your standards are super high you will never find a cleaner to meet those standards

Just show her/him next week, cleaners wouldn't usually remove the top of a plug.

I've had to show mine how to remove limescale and clean grout on a few occasions.

Good luck with trying to get someone to be as detailed as you want? I think you are being unreasonable best get cleaning yourself. 3 hours is nothing for what you are expecting.

If I was your cleaner and you complained about that I’d quit…and leave you with no cleaner

I don’t think anyone will live up to your expectations

@Fynoderee I set it for her. My house is actually very clean generally day to day. She even said when she came in it didn't look like it needed cleaning, but I knew it did to a certain extent because of dust etc. So it's not like she had to spend hours and hours cleaning other bits as it wasn't that dirty to begin with. I think my standards are just high.