Housekeeper

[talkingteapots]

Hi, how much is reasonable for a housekeeper / cleaner. Or what do you pay?

Currently paying £100 for 4 hours and not satisfied - realised they leave early and still charge me.

The last lady I had come over asked me what I was currently paying and went with the same quote! Would she have been less if she didn't put me on the spot and ask?

I will also be doubling the hours so potentially I could be paying £200 a week for 8 hours of housekeeping.

8 bedrooms 6 bathroom house.

I think it’s so dependent on area so hard to say what the right price is. I don’t live in UK but general price we pay for a cleaner is 18-22€ an hour. But obviously if you’re not satisfied with the work even 10 an hour would be too much.

I’d start with finding someone you’re satisfied with and then look at budget.

It depends what you want her to do.

Mine is £15 an hour cleaning but £20 an hours for other tasks such as laundry, ironing, making beds etc. Other jobs are priced individually eg £75 for an oven clean quarterly.

I'm very clear as to what I need doing each week.

Smaller house than yours - 6 bed, 4 bath. I have her 2 x 4 hours a week.

Housekeepers are in the region of £40k+ here but it depends it you want live in or not.

Cleaners tend to be adhoc and £20ish per hour with a minimum time requirement.

I think that's too expensive, try somewhere else. But you probably need at least two cleaners working together given the size of your house. They would get more done IMHO

The size of the house only really matters if you are paying per clean, rather than per hour. An hour's work is the same whether it's in a mansion or a 2 up 2 down - it's just that not as much of the mansion will get done. Similarly, leaving early is wrong, regardless of the amount paid, if you are paying by the hour. If you ask for x y and z to be done and she finishes early, that's different.

I think you need to renegotiate both your expectations and the rate of pay.

Depends on what you need doing. Does all 8rooms need a deep cleaning and cleaned each time? Same with bathrooms. That sounds like a large house so may justify the price.

Do you expect the whole cleaned in that time? I think that's unrealistic for a house that size. I was told a rule of thumb is the same number of of hours as number of bedrooms, plus extra for each additional bathroom. I'd expect at least 8 hours to get all of yours cleaned, probably more.