To ask about your cleaner situation

[Vistada]

I'm thinking of getting a cleaner, ideally one that would be able to work Saturday morning as I wfh mon-fri so I'd like to just leave the house for a walk and let them crack on

But I've no idea what the craic is, so if you've got a cleaner I'd like to ask you to share

How much per hour they charge
Hours per week / frequency
What you expect done in that time
Where you are in the UK (if you don't mind)

Wil help me form a view of what to ask for!

Thanks!

My cleaner comes once a week for 3 hours. Cleans a relatively large two bed, two bathroom flat. £14 / hour.

North West. Once a fortnight. She just does sitting room, kitchen and bathroom. £20, probably 90 mins but I don't clock-watch; so long as it's done to a reasonable standard I don't care how long she takes.

Mine has just moved her day from a Friday to a Tuesday. Seems like a pointless day to me so I'm going to look for another. She cancels on me alot so I'd like someone more reliable to.

I pay her 15PH. She used to do 3 hours but now she brings someone with her so does 1.5.

I'm in Bristol

It does always look lovely but I'm noticing a lot of areas that haven't been dusted for a while

She does 3 hours a week. Kitchen, bathrooms, hoovering . I tend not to be prescriptive . She could not do the whole house in that time. £14 per hour , i buy the cleaning materials .

4 hrs a fortnight
£18.50 ph
decent all over clean of 4 bed/2bath house
north

I think you’ll be lucky to get sat, most cleaners I know want school hours type work. I can’t even secure a Thursday or Friday slot here.

Mine comes Saturday morning, she charges 12ph but I pay 15ph. I have 2 hours a week, she cleans 3 ensuite bathrooms and main bathroom, she hoovers and dusts upstairs (5 bedrooms but 2 are offices and 1 a playroom) and landing) (I Tidy ahead) I hoover downstairs and steam mop then she hoovers down the stairs and cleans kitchen and downstairs loo. We have it to a fine art now and she is thorough.

I am northwest

We have 4 hours/week on a Monday. I like starting the week with a clean house. I WFH so we do a little dance around each other but it's fine. We pay her £14 per hour directly and then there's a monthly agency fee on top which provides cover for sickness/holidays.

£15 an hour - 2 hours a week in a one bed flat (because she also irons, otherwise once a fortnight would be fine). I supply the products.

She makes it look good, but it helps to have some kind of rota to get to the less obvious bits and the fridge and stuff or you will end up with dusty corners (I have had cleaners for years and would say this is always true).

Many will iron and most will change beds if you ask. Many will tidy up as well as clean if you want that, but they will either get less cleaning done or you will pay more.

3 hours / £50 every week.
5 bed, 3 en-suite, one downstairs WC and one family bathroom.

She does the downstairs, hoover and mop (downstairs is all hard flooring).
She alternates the en-suites.
Family bathroom she does
Alternates bed changes (4 beds need changing) so 2 one week the other two the next.
A basket of ironing.

I chose my cleaners very carefully! Many are, frankly lazy. She often finishes with 20 mins to spare but we price it per job so I’m totally comfortable with that if everything is done.

Manchester suburbs. A good cleaner is worth their weight in gold. People have actually tried to poach ours. We have four hours every Monday. Pay 60 quid. She has keys alarm codes etc. She cleans (fairly big four bedder) all the house. Takes ironing away. We leave the house always tidy though and I clean the kitchen and loos during the week. I'd not leave dirty pots etc. She has her own plan for fridges, bed changes, windows, kitchen cupboards. She also brings her own cleaning stuff. We pay her when she takes a holiday and give her a week extra plus personal gifts at Christmas

Our house wouldn't function without her

I've had many cleaners before DC and when DC were little. Stopped when DH retired.
Large 4 bed two bath house.
All of them could get the house done in 4 hours. Varying degrees of efficiency.
Very unlikely to get someone on a Saturday as all the ones I've had have fitted it into school hours.
Just taken someone on to come once a month for three hours and deep clean a room or two each time. She charges £15 per hour which is the going rate here. Lincolnshire.

I have a housekeeper so it's a bit different to what you are looking for. but having had cleaners for many years prior to the housekeeper and moved around the UK here are a few issues to be aware of:

1. rates will of course vary according to areas - I would call around local agencies and get quotes to get an idea of fair price point for your area

1. many cleaning ladies (they are usually ladies) are not able to do Saturdays as often have young children - although I found in London it was easier to get someone in on weekends

1. I have had much better experiences with non agency cleaners who I have hired through gumtree/care.com - the only downside is lack of holiday cover and insurance (although no doubt you can get insurance seperately).

1. spend time training the cleaner - showing them exactly how you want things done etc. and have a trial period. don't just put up with poor service (like many on mumsnet seem to do), keep looking until you find someone who is just right...

Good luck!

£36 once a fortnight for about 2.5 hrs - she does upstairs first and then I move up stairs to allow her to do downstairs - she hoovers through , dusts ,mops floors cleans three bathrooms one main one en-suite and downstairs loo , cleans sinks in kitchen and utility and also the hob - she provides her own cleaning materials. I ❤️ her

£15ph comes for 2 hours.
Does 2 bathrooms, downstairs loo, 2 bedrooms, lounge, dining room and kitchen. Every so often, I ask her to do the spare room. Study is DH bombsite problem

We pay for 3 hours cleaning per week. We use an agency. Sometimes they send 3 cleaners for an hour, or 2 cleaners for 1.5 hours. It's £15 per hour.
Sometimes I'm home, sometimes I'm not. They have a key.
Our house has a lot of rooms so in 3 hours it's a superficial clean.
They clean the bathrooms, the kitchen, the dust surfaces like the mantlepiece, TV cabinets etc. They polish our wooden kitchen table and wooden bookcases.
They hoover and mop the floors. This is all done quickly and is very much a quick once over (eg they don't hoover under the beds or sofas or clean the skirting boards or anything), however the place looks lovely once they've been.
I have certain gripes - like sometimes they'll leave 15 minutes early. 15 minutes doesn't sounds like much but if it's three cleaners then 15 minutes = 45 minutes that I'm paying for. That's annoying because I feel instead of leaving early they should do a more thorough clean!
However, in general I'm very happy. Getting a cleaner is a bit of an extravagance but money well spent (if you can afford it). It just frees up so much time for me. I always really look forward to the day they come!

i have two different cleaners. one comes fortnightly and does 2 hours. upstairs one time, downstairs the next.

the alternate week a company sends two cleaners for 3 hours and they do upstairs and downstairs but not the deep clean they get from the independent cleaner.

4 bed detached with en-suite and cloaks. north. single parent, 3 kids, one with SEN, one with medical needs. Useless ex who is no use nor ornament to anyone. work full time in high stress role.

this set up works really well so if independent is on holiday i've got the company coming soon so i can just do the basics in between. company sends temp cover if either of my two ladies are on holiday.

independent £30 for two hours
company £52.50 for three hours

it's great for my mental health knowing i don't have any big cleans to do and i can potter and spot clean daily as needed.

both sets of cleaners love cleaning my house because it's so clean and tidy.

they each don't know about the other!

South East

4 bed detached. She does every room bar one (too messy!)
3 hours once a fortnight @£15 ph
1 bath, 1 shower room. Kitchen, two reception. Hall/stairs/landing, 3 beds.
No children or pets live here
Very happy!