What do cleaners usually do?

[Mellins]

We hired a cleaner for the first time ever in February. She comes every other week. In between I hoover, clean the basin and toilet and keep the kitchen surfaces and hob clean but that’s about it. This week she is away so I have done the cleaning and have discovered that she doesn’t:

• hoover under sofas or move any furniture
• move objects to dust properly
• clean the microwave (inside or out)
• clean the bathroom floor

I would have thought all these are basics? She doesn’t dust windowsills or the bannister either but I don’t mind that too much and was just going to ask her to do it periodically. BTW she is paid for 2.5 hours and often leaves 15 mims early.

I am going to ask her to make sure she does the above list every week but just wanted to check if I was being unreasonable - the other thing is that she is quite old to be moving furniture.

No. Only the bathroom floor from your list.would be a definite from all cleaners. IMHO

Mine does 2-4 but not one. Nor would I expect her to as they're heavy to move. But worth a conversation to set out your main priorities.

Surely a cleaner cleans what you tell them to clean?

Moving sofas etc isn’t usual in a weekly clean. Dusting surfaces including banisters, blinds etc certainly is. Cleaning inside kitchen appliances might be something you’d have to ask for- mine does, also inside of my fridge.

Cleaning all floors is usual plus all bins emptied and the house generally left looking clean and fresh. Mine also changes beds, washed and irons the bedding and is generally a saint. She does 4 hours a week.

Just talk to them and lay out your hopes and expectations. Leaving early is contentious. Some will say they’ve completed their tasks so are off. I would say there is always something that can be done so please use all the time.

It can take ages to find someone good.

I wouldn’t expect them to move sofas. So if you have a higher sofa they can get a hover under then yes-but they shouldn’t have to move a 3 piece suite.

I would expect them to dust properly though.

If you look online some companies have a what you can expect the cleaner to do based on size of place eg number of bedrooms/toilets. That gives you an idea of realistic expectations
batmaid.ch has this.

Mine comes 2 mornings a week. She does floors, bathrooms, kitchen, changes beds, sorts washing off the airer, dusts and has a rotating deeper clean of shelves, behind & under furniture, washing windows etc. If I've got parcels coming she will tweak times so she is here to receive. She is a complete treasure and has made herself indispensable.

While I didn’t expect my last cleaner to pull heavy furniture out, I did expect her to move light, easy things around to hoover more thoroughly. She didn’t.

She did do the bathroom floor but after a few weeks she mentioned that she didn’t clean the en suite as ‘it isn’t used’. I had to tell her that it’s used every day - but that should have been obvious!

What she did do every week - which I felt was unnecessary - was things like dust the tops of door frames and clean windows…

I couldn’t seem to tell her what I wanted done or how much time to spend or what to use - she very much dictated it all. Needless to say, it didn’t work out as it wasn’t helping with the things I needed it to.

This is totally at odds with experiences I’ve had in the past though.

What does your cleaner currently do in the time she's there?

She hoovers, just not thoroughly. She dusts surfaces but I discovered rings of dust around e.g. lamps & vases. She does the kitchen surfaces but they are never too bad as I am on top of them and I’d prefer her to do things I don’t do like clean the bread bin. She mops hard floors downstairs and emptied bins even if they are recently emptied. She cleans mirrors.
I’m about 70% happy and she is lovely too - I agree I need to just talk to her about my expectations. I also agree on moving sofas not being reasonable but I do think she can get the wand out the hoover and do a little bit better job. She seems to like tidying though and takes care over plumping cushions, making beds look neater, arranging toys etc. I always thought it was best to tidy before the cleaner comes so they can clean better and spend their time, well, cleaning rather than tidying but I am a great believer in playing to peoples strengths so maybe I’ll not bother so much in future.

So do people with cleaners do a deeper clean every month or so? It was pretty filthy under our sofas I have to say.

How long is your cleaner in for and how big is your house? It's all relative.....

For reference, my cleaner comes in for 2 hours a week (standard 3 bed family house.) she does:

Kitchen all over, including floor.
Hoovers and Mops downstairs hall
Cleans downstairs cloakroom
Hoovers lounge (under sofa as much as possible but doesn't move them.)
Dusts - around objects
Sometimes uses a bit of windolene on lounge windows
Hoovers stairs and landing
Cleans family bathroom top to bottom.

She doesn't do any bedrooms, dust under objects, move furniture to hoover, dusts bannisters and skirting etc.

I'm usually in the house when she's hear as WFH. She works solidly for the time she's here so I have no objections. Cleaning a house is a big job and there's a limit to what you can do in the time. If I want more I have to be expected to pay for more.

Is there physically enough time for your cleaner to do these extra jobs you want doing?

2.5 hours (standard 3 bed family home)

Mine won't move anything heavy or awkward. They'd bring somebody with them which would be an additional cost. Bathrooms, laundry and toilets are cleaned twice a week ( The toilet doors have an enamel sign, "rest room" ). The outside khazi gets done as and when, spiders allowing.

Kitchen floors, hallway and pantry are mopped twice a week. Wooden floors and panelling are polished once a month. Dusting and vacuuming is constant but my husband does all the brass work, oil lamps and fireplaces - usually on a Saturday morning. He's a treasure.

The house looks amazing ( Upstairs Downstairs ) when it's all sparkly clean but it's a task to keep it that way and expensive. The original owner had a domestic staff of seven and a boy. And I bet they were busy with it.

Mine does all those except moving furniture.

I don’t think that’s very long for that size house. Maybe think about getting a roomba or similar as that solves all ‘under bed/sofa’ hoovering issues. Except when they love it so much under there that they refuse to come out of course.

Mine would literally do anything I asked, I just leave her to get on with it. She does vacuum under sofas and behind furniture but my vacuum cleaner is designed to do that so no moving furniture.

She wouldn't clean inside the microwave because she doesn't clean the kitchen but does everything else.

Mine sends me a different reason she is unable to come each week. She has never actually cleaned our home. It’s a bit annoying really.

Mine doesn’t do any of that either apart from bathroom floors. I don’t have many ornaments though so not sure if she moves them

Mine does all of that. She asks my husband to help her move our heavy sofa

Interesting, I don't have a cleaner but this is pretty much how I approach my own housework, I should sack me

My cleaner has a basic routine which covers kitchen, hall, bathroom, lounge, dining room/ garden room and my bedroom - 2 hours every two weeks. I then discuss with her ( or send a text if I know I won’t be in) which other areas need attention. I have two spare bedrooms which are rarely used and a craft room which I don’t want her cleaning if I’m in the middles of a project. She will put clean bedding on the spare beds if I’ve washed them after visitors.

I tend to tidy my stuff away and empty the bins before she comes. I sometimes tell her to only hoover the laminate floor in lounge rather than mop it if I’ve not used the room much but she will clean under the sofa if I ask. It’s a huge leather sofa but easy to move on the laminate floor so she can push it out of the way although sometimes she uses a long handled duster to brush the bits out.

She knows I am not fond of spiders so makes a point of removing any she sees and moving my bed every time she hoovers - it’s a wooden frame but the legs stand on little pads which glide very easily over the floor.

I’m happy with the quality of her work, I have severe arthritic knees so cannot do the housework myself and am not fussy or demanding about her work, sometimes I see a little dust behind something or a tiny speck on a carpet but that’s fine.

I only pay her £15 an hour which I think is cheap considering she brings all her own equipment.

She shouldn’t be leaving early but I don’t think 2.5 hours is long enough for a 3 bed. I’m also surprised you’ve only just realised about the bathroom floor

I had a cleaning business. Believe me when I tell you that I grafted in the houses I cleaned.
I applied the same logic that I used in my own home and that is I was there to clean so when I cleaned a room and saw dirt/dust/whatever I did everything that I would do at home unless the client told me not to.
If your cleaner is not making you happy then tell her why. She does not have a crystal ball.
Leave notes telling her specifics if you are noticing things not being done. if she complies then that's good and if she ignores and does a half arsed job then get someone else to do it.
Washing the floor should be the last job a cleaner does in a bathroom IMHO. It finishes the room off. Bathrooms are very dusty places for obvious reasons

I'm a cleaner. One of my clients has a 3 bed house and I do 2.5 hours once a week. In that time, I do the lounge and dining room, porch and hallway, kitchen, downstairs loo, the dogs room, stairs and landing and bathroom. No bedrooms. I never ever dust or clean round anything. It's lazy and not on for a cleaner. Sofas get pulled out maybe once every 3rd visit. I never do inside any appliances in my standard cleaning jobs (I do in my housekeeper job). I definitely couldn't do a full 3 bed house to any kind of decent standard in 2.5 hours. I go like the clippers AND am thorough and I'd find it physically impossible.

Sorry this is nothing to do with the thread but what is the obvious reason bathrooms are so dusty? The dust drives me mad in the bathroom and I have never worked out why it's so dusty in there.