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?

She’s messaged me apologising and saying that in future she’ll charge me the normal rate if we have her back. I can’t imagine feeling comfortable and trusting her again.
She keeps quite vulnerable and mentioned that another cleaner she knows told her to charge more. All very odd. Had it been to an exceptional standard I’d have been more willing.
I don’t have money to give away so won’t be risking it again with her.

The issue is not minimum wage, profits …

The issue is cleaner quoted one price then changed it.

If she tried to do the job in the allotted hours and couldn’t finish … that’s more reasonable and I would trust that person.

The big house tax is a thing, trades all charge you more once they arrive & see your pile.

Sounds like she saw your big house and decided her price per hour was too low! 🤣

If your house is larger than she expected, it will take her longer to clean it; it doesn't get more expensive per hour, she's having you on.

I hate being taken advantage of, and in this situation (and similar to this that I've had), I'd be getting someone else in.

What do you mean by she keeps quite vulnerable?

Probably means "seems" not "keeps".

It can be classified as unskilled? Stop being such a snob!

I think this depends. If your house is 'bigger' meaning more high intensity rooms like bathrooms or separate WCs, I 'might' understand. Wiping under the toilet, or scrubbing away of limescale on showers etc is not the same kind of work as pushing a vacuum cleaner around.

I actually agree with most posters who, form what i've read, seem to be saying it's just more hours, but I 'might' be persuaded of this argument!

that’s not quite how it works. her hourly work is not devalued just because she will be there longer. would you pay a builder less hourly because it’s a bigger job??

Might do, a builder might well charge more per hour for a small job. Also, plumbers etc tend to charge per hour or part thereof, so a 1.5 hour job costs you more per hour than 2.5 or 3.5 hour jobs.

This is all true. However, based on the updates by @Saltedbutter I would wager a bet said cleaner was all prepared to charge what they'd agreed, until that was someone else egged the cleaner on to up the price.

Sounds to me like she didn't want to, but was responding to peer pressure. It happens.

Restate what you have offered and suggest a 6 month wait until you assess her cleaning for or not, a pay raise.

If you give in to her now, she'll have you over a barrel.

This. When I moved to a bigger house (which was actually to lower my mortgage after the disastrous mini budget by moving to a less popular area) my cleaner put her hourly rate up by 20 per cent from £15 an hour to £18 an hour. It feels like it was prompted by the size of the new house.
She doesn’t work for me any more.

Wow. Mouse droppings are extremely easy to clean up. It's not like dog poo! But if she felt it was above and beyond she should have left it, or cleared the extra charge with you before doing so. And no way would I have paid extra because it was a "deep clean". WTF does that even mean? An hour of cleaning is an hour of cleaning. Deep cleaning can take longer, in which case you get paid more, but you don't need an higher hourly rate. And she should not have been doing extra cleaning if that had not been agreed with you first. I would not have paid a penny above what was originally agreed. And there is no way would I have anyone back on my home that was blatantly trying to rip me off.

This! I have seen multiple cleaners commenting on face book sites that they are available, but when messaged are either too busy to take on extra clients or are about to have an op etc etc! Thats without actually meeting me or seeing my house! ( so I know its not me 😁) my last cleaner quit after 2 years because we moved and the new house was too big for the hours she wanted to work and I generally find that they usually stay for 1-4 years.

Given the update on your post OP, if she seems vulnerable and unsure of how to charge for the job, I’d sit down with her and be explicit about what you both expect from each other, that is if you’re going to move forward with hiring her. Surcharges for cleaning up poo was something she probably thought she should be paid extra for given that it is a health risk, but if she’s new to the industry there should be insurance that covers cleaning waste material, and if she is not insured then she needs to (at least) be wearing PPE, and that should also be agreed as to whether you provide that for her or if she agrees to bring it and be responsible for her own safety during cleaning. Sometimes it is a case of hiring someone who just needs a job, and sometimes it might take time to give them a chance, but there’s only so many chances before they should be able to prove themselves worthy of having the job. You could outline a probationary period if you’d be concerned about her commitment.

Deep cleans should be charged more for, either per hour or in the form of more hours worked.

I pay my cleaner a set amount (£25) for 2 hours.
Sometimes she misses a room as the downstairs are dirtier than usual/she wipes the doors down etc. No big deal.

An hourly rate is exactly that.
I charge £15 ph for cleaning and while I can do one house in one hour the larger ones take 2… same rate though

Wow!! A little bit of mouse droppings wouldn’t bother me!
I must be a push over as I’ve cleaned some pretty disgusting places, I’ve given a deep clean of houses that literally haven’t had a mop put round in years and charged the same as I normally would….
Quite often the first week I clean is a deep clean and then he weekly cleans are just maintaining… no idea how people get away with the things they do on mumsnet!

You try carrying a heavy hoover up the stairs in this summer weather I think she deserves more tbh

Ok, do you know what the original rate was? Or are you just projecting?

This ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️

What summer weather? 😂

More hours work yes. More per hour, why? What’s the justification? Deep clean could I suppose mean something very dirty and unpleasant. It can’t also just mean cleaning out cupboards and under beds. The first you might be able to justify a higher hourly rate for depending on what it was, the second, not so much.

More per hour if there was a set amount of hours agreed perhaps, or if the job was particularly intense, like a deep clean.