New cleaner wants to be paid more as house is bigger?

[Saltedbutter]

I agreed an hourly rate with a new cleaner prior to her coming and also an approximate amount of hours but left that quite open as I obviously don’t know her pace yet.
She is currently at my house and just messaged to say actually she’d like more money per hour as the house is bigger than she expected.
Surely she’ll still clean the same amount per hour as in a smaller house but just might be paid for a few more hours?
I’ve provided all products and the rate she now wants is more than my previous cleaner (who included her products).
AIBU?

Yeah she doesn't sound very bright! Rate is the same, just more hours.

Agree.

Surely if anything it should be cheaper by the hour, as she’ll have to spend more hours there = more money in general and less travel time between jobs?

What's the current rate and what's the rate she wants?

I should think she wants more money per hour as she thinks you’re rich.

If the house is big, she needs to work more hours, not get paid more per hour. Obviously.

YANBU, fair enough for her to say it will take longer than she thought but the hourly rate shouldn't change.

Her hourly rate shouldn't change based on the size of the house.

But if it takes her longer then obviously she'll be getting paid more but that's just common sense I'd have thought? 😂

YANBU

I wonder if she's just a bit confused though and actually means it'll take longer/she needs more hours, but hasn't expressed it well.

I'd say no to changing the hourly rate, but either increase her hours or reduce her list of jobs so she can do it within her current hours.

She’ll be cleaning more for a bigger house though surely? Eg you say get the bathroom done and there’s a lot more cleaning in a big bathroom than a tiny one!

Yeah, so she needs more hours, not more money per hour.

Maybe she can only work a set amount of hours at your house, which might be 2 hours. At min wage for 2 hours that’s only £20. If she has to go clean another persons house afterwards and it’s a bigger house, she’s then got to rush around in an attempt to get more done in the amount of time. So it would be reasonable to expect to be paid more in that case. However if she would just spend longer cleaning the house and extend her time to three hours instead, then the hourly rate wouldn’t need to change. You should be providing all the cleaning products. Do you provide all your own things for your own workplace? If you’re going through two bottles of bleach per week cleaning multiple houses then that all adds up especially if you’re already on a low wage.

Sounds like she was slacking before and is now thinking if she pulls her finger out she can clean in the same time but wants more money as will actually need to work now 🤷‍♀️😁

Or is this thread just a chance to look down on min wage workers? Don’t answer, it’s a rhetorical question.

My previous cleaner charged an extra £5.00 per hour to include products. That was her choice as they were products she preferred. She was certainly making money on that also. Not sure what I did wrong there?

Minimum wage? Try doubling it...

Thanks all - I’ve agreed on this occasion but will have to revisit for next time as unless the house is incredibly clean it makes her really quite expensive when I’m providing the products.

Honestly if all it takes is money to keep her I'd pay it, cleaners are an absolute nightmare to find and they all decide to give up cleaning in a year anyway so it makes it even harder because they forever need replacing.

We paid one £30 an hour recently, she was the only one we could get, and then she decided to quit on us in favour of a client who lived nearer (small city so not like we were more than 4 miles away from her at most anyway).

You were mugged at being charged an extra £5 per hour ‘for cleaning products’. Buy commercial bulk cleaning products, such as dymasan, bleach, microfibre cloths, sponges, boxes of gloves, mop with washable mop heads, and keep everything at your house. If your house is being cleaned say once a week you wouldn’t need to order new cleaning products for a long time.

It seems I can’t get much right in your eyes! 😅

point taken - I’d have saved a fortune but was very fond of my cleaner and I think the extra income was beneficial to her.

Is thereA miscommunication? Does she actually mean more per hour, or more for the job? Being a good cleaner doesn’t necessarily mean good at maths discussions (even basic ones). Have a discussion and clarify.

It makes no sense! My sister is a cleaner and if it's a big house she says how many hours it will take her. If she does underestimate how long it will take eg 4 instead of 3 hours she'll let her client know. She can't clean any better or faster by putting her fee up - it would just mean doing a sub-standard, rushed job which neither she or her client would be happy with.
If a client isn't willing to pay for more hours then she asks for their priorities and does what she can in the time allocated but makes it clear that doing everything to a high standard in less time isn't possible.

Did the cleaner not come round to meet with you and view your house prior to starting cleaning for you? That's usually the best way to gauge how long it will take and what your specific requirements are.

I mean fair enough if you felt that you were being somewhat charitable to the cleaner you liked, but that’s not what people get hired to do jobs for. Someone else said £30 an hour. That’s nuts. It’s unskilled work at the end of the day. Therapists don’t even get that pay per hour.

Aparently every mumsnetters knows millionairesses who do cleaning because they just love cleaning 😂 perhaps this one is a millionairess.