5 hours

[beepbeep]

Not sure i’m iabu or not!

we pay nearly £400 a month for cleaners to come once a week for 5 hours. I know we are fortunate to have them but ….

we have a 4 bed, 3 shower room house. They don’t clean 3 of the bedrooms (kids are responsible), but may vac them.

we have a playroom, lounge, downstairs loo & kitchen.

(have office & utility room where dogs sleep - they don’t do these rooms)

all rooms are left v tidy / no clutter, so easy to crack on & clean.

I am still having to dust for cobwebs on ceiling (a lot!) I put a feather duster with cleaning stuff. They don’t wipe down the tiles in the showers, I’m doing that now as have got grimy. Dirt builds up at base of taps, I put a small brush with their cleaning stuff, but they don’t use it.

they do a basic clean which they do well but don’t move anything on shelves, or get into any crevices.

I just think in 5 hours I’d expect a bit more. I’m not home when they come, but when I have left message to ask them to dust the cobwebs I’m told they don’t have enough time.

I hate clutter, so each room in pretty minimalist (lounge has 2 sofas, coffee table, tv stand and piano), playroom - sofa and 2 closed sideboards

i just think every few weeks they could dust cobwebs or skirtings

AIBU?

(edited for spelling!!)

I would complain about the dirty taps and shower tiles. Probably also the unmoved stuff on shelves since yours aren't cluttered

I think cobwebs and skirting are not weekly tasks (no doubt someone will correct me...) so those sorts of things I'd have on a rota. First week of the month is x, second week is y, etc.

“rooms are left v tidy / no clutter” is subjective. My father’s idea of very tidy is completely different to mine.

I think you need to agree on a specific list of tasks and when they should be done. I'm surprised the cleaning company didn't request this from the start. 'Cleaning' means different things to different people.
Once the list is in place, see if it improves. If it doesn't, find a different cleaning company.

We have the same size house, plus a dining room too, and our cleaner comes for only 3 hours a week and gets everything done no bother. Even includes folding any laundry and putting it away. Every now and then she does an extra hour for the oven, etc.

Sounds like you need a new cleaner. A good one is like gold dust.

Thanks all. I am cleaning the main bathroom now as have touched up some paint & it’s minging! So giving it a deep clean.

will look at leaving a list, but things like cobwebs & shower tiles are basics aren’t they? (Even if things like cobwebs once a month)

I know!! I feel like we’ve been through a few!

DH thinks I’m bu & that if I want more then we need to increase hours!

Just taken towels off radiator & this is the build up of dust. It just needs a hoover out or use of radiator brush (also left for them!)

YANBU, you need new cleaners.

I have a similar sized house and arrangement (the only bedroom cleaned weekly is mine) the others are rotated and done once a month.

My cleaner does a weekly clean (three hours @ £20) for three weeks and the fourth week a deep clean (four hours @ £25) so monthly I’m paying ~ £300 in the South east.

And she does an incredible job!

You need new cleaners, 5 hours and they don't leave the bathrooms sparkling or touch the bedrooms?

Think of it as a job description. Hard to say they're not doing it right if you haven't established what 'right' looks like.

Can I ask how people find a good cleaner? Do you contact an agency / use someone recommended by a friend / advertise locally?
Hope you don’t mind me asking on your thread OP!

Sadly they are taking the milky. That is simply not good enough. Your house should be spotless.

I am a cleaner & I do all of that on my jobs, it's basic cleaning cobwebs probably don't need doing every week I tend to do the jobs that don't need doing every week now and again so each week I will do a bit of the now & again jobs. But the shower tiles & round taps is just basic cleaning. X

I use Nextdoor and give them a list of very specific tasks eg "wipe dust from radiator", "hoover skirting in all rooms". Last time I changed cleaners I tried out 3 until I found one that cleaned to a standard and timeframe I was happy with.

I am in London where every other person on Nextdoor is looking for cleaning work.

We have the same size house and pay a bit more for more weekly hours BUT my cleaner is just amazing! She will do anything, see dirt where I can’t and will move stuff clean under beds, deep clean each room at least once a week. Some just know and those that need to be told the very obvious things I would just let go.

We found her from our local group, and on recommendations.

I’m conscious this might derail the thread - but what do you mean by deep clean once a week?

It takes me at least 4-5 hours to deep clean a room - but by deep clean I mean clean the carpets with the rug doctor, shampoo sofas, wipe out drawers, clean the walls, dust down behind radiators, dismantle the oven to clean properly etc. I genuinely deep clean each room in my house once a year, and in between keep it hoovered, mopped, dusted and surfaces wiped down.

Bathrooms are deep cleaned more often because they’re much easier to do and there’s less difference between a normal clean and deep clean when you’re using bleach for a normal clean.

Is my definition of a deep clean different to others? As it always confuses me on here, and I can’t see why you’d do it once a week (or indeed how it would need to be done that often, or how you’d have time to do anything else to keep on top of stuff during the week)…

5 hours once a week to clean a four bedroom house that is tidy when the cleaners arrive and they are not cleaning properly - you need change cleaners.

Our cleaner doesn't do cobwebs or skirting boards, but she only comes for 2.5h for a 3-bed and also does some tidying, change bedsheets etc.
5h sounds very long indeed.

For 5 hours every week, I don’t expect the towel radiator to be that dusty. Even if they’re cleaning that place once a month, dust wouldn’t build up that much. You need to change cleaners.

They are taking the piss

Well this is a matter of perspective. On the one hand £400 a month (so about £92 a week) is a lot of money to spend on anything that you don't get good value from.

On the other hand, based on five hours a week that's less than £18.50 per hour, which is an OK-ish amount for a private cleaner (I'd expect to pay more), but a ridiculously low amount to pay if you are using a company who sends staff.

I've done a bit of private cleaning in the past, not much of it, really just to help people out, and it was not on my list of favourite jobs. I certainly would not like to be doing it for a company where I'm sent all over the place to clean for people I don't even know, for minimum wage.

Based on what my clients used to tell me, they only went to cleaning companies as a last resort, and seemed to accept that standards would never be that high, no matter how much they paid. As one lady told me, she found that all the really good cleaners who loved this sort of work were already working for themselves privately, on far more money than a cleaning company could pay. On that basis she didn't believe anyone who worked for a company could be that great or interested in the job.

Cleaning agencies are even more slap-dash than this, it seems, using people who are going to all the bother of being self-employed and yet need an agency to get them their work. Based on some of the prices I've seen quoted, I can't see how any of them were scraping minimum wage.

OP, it really comes down to the fact that you don't think you're getting good value. Good cleaners only ever come by recommendation only and you'll be lucky to get onto their waiting list, so I suggest you make some very discrete inquiries with a view to changing in the future. Do bear in mind though that a lot of people struggle hugely with the reliability of their cleaners and may accept a lesser quality cleaning experience over one where you never know if anyone is going to turn up at all.

"Deep clean" has no measurable meaning, it's like saying something has a "bad smell", it kind-of paints a picture, but its actual usefulness as a phrase is subjective.

In the case of the post you are referring to, it sounds to me like the cleaner in question is liable to maintain a very satisfactory cleaning routine, but gives more attention to different areas on a week by week basis.

It all comes down to what people want - I only ever cleaned for a small number of people although I had some clients for almost six years. Some people like the older clients wanted me to go in and just make things better for another week, with no great attention to details; other clients (especially those who were out at work) needed me to manage their cleaning for them and would tell me what their absolute priorities were so that I did what they needed. I remember one lady who was a teacher forbid me from moving any furniture on a regular clean, as she said there was enough to do in keeping everywhere going for another week.

She told me that she would move things during the school holidays, which she did, although I was allowed to be more thorough if I went in to clean when they were physically away on holiday and therefore not needing a weekly clean.

But to be frank, I could have been the worst cleaner in the world and they would have still hired me, as they liked me and I was incredibly reliable. It was rare I ever had to cancel anyone.

You ask around, and be prepared for people to be very tight-lipped, as no one wants to risk losing their cleaner by recommending them to a "better" client.

Harsh as it sounds, good cleaners (and tradespeople in general) do not advertise. A cleaning company may need to advertise so as to keep a balance of work coming in vs. cleaners leaving them / hiring new cleaners, but it would be rare to find anyone who works for themselves advertising for clients, unless they'd just started out.

There also seems to be an idea that by going to a company or to an agency that you'll get a better service - but as I've explained in another message above, if the people who love the job are working privately and getting & retaining clients easily, you have to question why someone wants to go and work for a cleaning company.

Try another cleaner.