Expectations Of A Cleaner

[kurotora]

I have had three cleaners now, and none of the three has worked out for us. I’m starting to wonder whether it’s my expectations that are unreasonable.

Just to quell the inevitable “do it yourself”: I have health problems, having a cleaner would help me massively and save a lot of physical pain.

Anyway, we have:

Cleaner 1: Overcharged us (£90 for 2 people for 2 hours), only cleaned the bathroom and hoovered the upstairs in that time. Nicked some cash that was in a drawer. Went through all the drawers and cupboards.

Cleaner 2: Cleaned once and didn’t want to come back as we have pets (this was made clear - we have 3 cats 1 dog).

Cleaner 3: Had her for 6 months, but I finally parted ways with her as she gradually did a worse job, spent an hour in our 2x2m bathroom each week in silence (on her phone I assume)…and would rearrange our belongings every time. I don’t mean move things and put them back not exactly the same, I mean actively choose to rearrange layouts. Take toys from my daughter’s shelves and lay them all out on the bed (meaning more tidying!), move all my stuff around. We had an informal list of tasks and most weren’t done, while “easier” ones were. Eg floor downstairs not hoovered, but already made beds were re-made and pillows/cuddly toys arranged fetchingly. Pretty but not a great use of time or money! Had asked not to rearrange etc a couple of times but she’d go back to it after a couple of weeks.

Are my expectations unreasonable of a cleaner? We have a small 2 bedroom end terrace. I just need bathroom and kitchen cleaned, floors hoovered, light dusting (excluding busy shelves) and windows every so often. And I don’t enjoy things being rearranged for no apparent reason.

Not unreasonable at all! Sounds like you've been pretty unlucky.

Definitely unlucky. I'd draw up a list of jobs and be clear at interview what you expect. Confirm expectations around payment. Show them around the house . Basically try to ensure they have all the information before they start.

I’ve had about 10 cleaners over a long period and they have all started good and got progressively worse. They all missed out loads, cut corners, did less than the agreed time. One stole money from my children’s bedrooms, one rearranged my entire house but didn’t actually clean properly.

I think it’s very difficult to find a good cleaner and most of them are ‘help’ but don’t actually replicate you doing a good job. Just depends it you are happy spending the money on that or not.

Not unreasonable. Provide checklists for each area and go through these at initial meeting to check cleaner understands what's expected and agrees that it's achievable in time alotted.

Do you have a clear job spec?
I had two English cleaners from 1983 until 1998 and since then have been plugged into Eastern European networks - one or two not so good but apart from that fantastic.

Day 1, 3 hours:
Sweep and steam hard floors
Clean bathrooms - 3 and a downstairs lavatory
Vacuum all carpeted areas
Wipe over light switches and door handles and sides (finger marks).

Day 2, 3 hours:
Dust and wipe window sills
Two hours ironing

House is 3,500 Square feet so large.

It is always tidy, the kitchen is always clean - they don't have to do that.

Twice a year: inside windows, pull out furniture, paintwork and deep clean kitchen. About six hours a go.

I pay £17ph