New cleaner took 4.5 hours instead of 3

[Plum02]

I contacted a cleaning company to arrange a weekly house clean. I gave a detailed breakdown of each room and what I wanted in each room and was told it would take around 3 hours at a cost of £20 per hour but they couldn’t say for sure the length of time it would take the first time. It actually took 4.5 hours and that was with me telling them not to bother steam the living room and hallway floors and not to bother hoovering the playroom (which were on the original list) because they’d been here so long. There were also things on the list that I realised weren’t done after they left - e.g. I specifically asked them to hoover under the sofa, beds and other furniture which wasn’t done. The person I spoke to who gave the quote / estimated time wasn’t the cleaner who came.

As a result of it taking so long I was charged £30 more than expected for less cleaning. They did explain they couldn’t say the exact time before seeing the house, however given I’d provided such a specific / detailed breakdown I don’t think it’s reasonable for the estimated time to be so wrong (half an hour or so out would be fine) and if they’d realised it was way out when they arrived at the house it should have been discussed again when they arrived to agree how long it would take and see if I still wanted everything done or what could reasonably be done within around 3 hours.

In general I've found the first two cleans to take longer whilst the cleaner gets to know the house. If on visit 3 they show no sign of speeding up then either (1) set boundaries that 3 hours is the max and do what they can in this time or (2) try another cleaner that cleans faster.

In your experience is 3 hours enough for your list? How long would it take you to do this or how long did it take your previous cleaner?

Some cleaners take the piss. You know if you got your .money's worth or not... act accordingly.
Either rebook or readvertise

Your house was probably pretty dirty then!

Impossible for us to know whether the estimated time was unreasonable or the speed at which the cleaners were working. What was your impression of how fast they were working? Do you think you could have done it faster? I personally am always more focused on things being really clean; I can do a shit job of cleaning stuff myself, it's the 'deep clean' I am interested in.

ETA I agree that given they were going significantly over they should have discussed it with you but then perhaps that's not how it was communicated to the cleaner? Perhaps the cleaners were just given a list and were unaware of the estimate?

Did they have to pick up or move a lot of stuff or was it really dirty?

Not standard to move out furniture and clean under it.

Mine is the opposite. Cleans the house in 2 hours. I pay her for 3. Annoys me as she never fully cleans the house.

She should have checked if it was OK to do 4.5 hours, but I'd pay her and say maximum of x hours next week.
She may well speed up as she gets to know the house and perhaps was more thorough this time, more of a deep clean.
@NebulousWhistler
Ive had, a similar issue, I WFH but am often in meetings, last week I think as off work and said oh that was quick how much do I owe you and she recalculated her fee, I ask for kitchen and bathroom to be cleaned and then do whatever else she can in remaining time, ie windows or clean the lounge, hall, stairs etc on rotation.
I know she hasn't got enough time to clean the whole house but I think it may have become kitchen and bathroom then leave.
Thinking about it maybe doing a whole house clean or just kitchen and bathroom is better than saying do whatever you can in within the time - might be too vague/unquantifiable.

It’s a new build house and we moved in 5 weeks ago…how dirty could it be?!

I didn’t say it was standard, I said I asked for it when booking the clean and was told they’d do it and it would take 3 hours to complete that list of tasks.

No. The house was tidy throughout, I clean the kitchen everyday and we only use one of the bedrooms, the other 2 bedrooms have never been used so just need a hoover and dust - nothing in there except the furniture. 3 hours sounded like a reasonable estimate for the list.

Christ on a bike, imagine getting your knickers in a twist because the domestic's taken slightly too long to tidy your mansion.

What a ridiculous comment. You are happy to pay more for a service you were quoted for then? You wouldn’t even bother to check whether the extra hours were reasonable. You would just hand over an extra £30 and book them again without a moment’s thought? You must be loaded to not care less about £30.

Similar happened to my DM when she first employed a cleaner. In all honesty, she really didn’t recognise just how dirty her house was.

The first clean always takes longer. Also, it's not just about number of tasks, it's how dirty/ dusty the area is in the first place.

I use a local agency. When the owner comes a 3 bed 2 bath house takes 3 hours. When her employee comes it takes 4 and a half hours. They do exactly the same tasks but the employee does a much better more detailed job.

It's not acceptable to just add another bundle of time on and charge for it without any discussion.

That would put me off using them completely (and would for any job - you can't just tell your boss or a customer "oh it took me way longer than expected, here's the bill")

My experience is that it’s nigh on impossible to get cleaners to clean under sofas or move them to clean, even if you ask specifically and offer to pay for additional time.

Also, the first couple of cleans do tend to take longer.

How many rooms?

They did cover themselves by saying they couldn't know for sure how long it would take so you'll have to pay it right enough.

If your house is only 5 weeks old why one earth are you asking them to steam the downstairs rooms?

Well, given in your follow-ups you’ve said it’s a new build, you clean regularly and tidied before they came, You’ve only been living there for five weeks and two of the bedrooms are unused so presumably not a huge family, 3 hours sounds more than enough for a routine clean With an extra half hour for first time familiarisation. If you started stipulating moving furniture or things like windows or cleaning inside the fridge, then I can see how it took so much longer.
Were you there during the clean to see whether they were actually cleaning for the full 4 1/2 hours? If so I’d Give benefit of the doubt this week, but maybe be more specific about time next week & reduce your list of jobs.

Take the piss? You're kidding right. I defy anyone to clean a full house to a high standard in 3 hours. It's a physical impossibility, especially if it's a deeper clean (skirting, windows, under furniture etc). Clients expect miracles. I'd tell you to do one in no uncertain terms.

It really is finger in the air the first time, even with an itemised list - I had it the other way round today: paid for three hours but they got everything done in an hour and a half, and brilliantly too.

The first two or three should be where you negotiate the jobs you want doing regularly and the time spent. If you haven’t come to an agreement by the end of the third clean, then try and find someone else.

Love that you gave them an itemised list of jobs for each room though - I’ve genuinely never been that invested in my cleaner’s job, I just say which rooms I want cleaning 😆.

There should always be an agreement between you, say 3 hours and they leave what they haven’t got time to do, not go on to give you a bill for more later, as you have no contract, you can dismiss their future services.

I think by accepting the fact that they said they couldn’t say exactly how long it would take means she did agree to it.