Cost of cleaner…

[PeonyPatch]

I live in the SE of England in a home county. I had a cleaner who used to come once per month and would clean kitchen/living room, hallway downstairs & upstairs plus downstairs loo and upstairs bathroom. She would charge £120 a month (only come once a month) she claimed to do a deep clean (as in would move all appliances out of the way in kitchen and clean underneath). Besides this, I’m unclear as to what differentiated this from your standard clean. I also found that skirting boards still had dust on so I would clean these myself.

I’ve made the decision to cancel her service, and I’m now wondering what the going rate is. She would be here for 3 hours.

Yeah you defo can afford more than once a month! £40/hr was incredibly expensive! You are right though it’s hard to find someone. Up here I found my first cleaner by putting a message on local Facebook groups and I interviewed about 4 people. She left after 18mths and this time I asked the class Whatspp mums for ideas and suggestion and found my current cleaners that way, They are sisters and the 4 hours are fine in 2 as a double act which is great as DH and I are often WFH when they are here

Good luck finding someone 😄

But the replies you like are the north West - where it's cheaper. And weekly - whereas you had one visit a month so a premium.

It's always going to be more expensive in the SE.

I’m in south east, pay our cleaner £20 ph. 4.5 hours per week. 5 bed house, 3 bath, and she changes bedlinen and irons everything. Kitchen and bathrooms will be spotless.

i feel you have definitely been ripped off.

That’s extortionate, she was royally taking the piss.

You would be far better off getting a good thorough cleaner (they do exist, I’ve got the best ever) once a week at £20 max per hour.

I’ve known some really bad seriously lazy ones in the past like your old cleaner.

Err, no… even people in the SE are paying less

Yes, this! I am shopping around but struggling…

She shouldn't have to ask. If you value her, pay her in line with the market rate, otherwise she'll just go to a job that pays her what she's worth.

It's absolutely not cheaper in the North West. Look at all the cleaning jobs advertised. £20 per hour is the norm now

Yes £14 per hour seems super low, it’s only about £1.50 over minimum wage then you’ve got petrol cost, time lost travelling between jobs, products used etc. 14 seems too cheap!

I've never in my life had a cleaner that doesn't empty the bins!
No one can do a deep clean in 3 hours, that's end of tenancy stuff when the furniture is out already.
Hope you find someone great soon!

I searched local fb groups for recommendations. I didn’t post myself because a friend runs a cleaning company but I don’t want to blur friendship lines and have her clean my home.

£20ph (fortnightly clean for 2 hours and worth every penny)

Thank you! 🙏

Following this as I’m looking for a cleaner right now. I’m in the south west.

I pay £50 for 3 hours. She was actually meant to be £15 per hour but I pay her a bit more to allow for things not always being perfectly tidy!

SE London/Kent boarders £17 per hour and have two hours a week. She’s brilliant - basically keeps on top of everything for us and I’ll change the beds or the odd extra job at the weekend.

Word of mouth definitely the best way to find a good cleaner.

£18 per hour, SE London. 8 hours per month split fortnightly, 3 bed Victorian. I think not bad considering I don't tidy up before she comes as I'm usually running around. Would like to have her come even more frequently 😄

£20 per hour 2 hours weekly. She was £18 but I put it up recently as I don’t want to lose her. Brings her own cleaning stuff and also steam cleans bathroom floors.

We have done some one off cleans and they are £140 for 3 hours for 2 cleaners though tends to be 2.5 hours. They do all downstairs and upstairs bathroom.

The hourly rate you get paid isn’t the same as your cost to your employer as they are paying NI, pension possible sick pay, payroll etc I was told a good rule of thumb is to multiply gross wage by 1.4 which on min wage works out at around £17ph.

Then you have to account for travel time between jobs, mileage etc.

I was a self employed cleaner and I charged between £22-25 ph depending on distance, it sounds loads but really my take home was £14 ph as I included my travel time, admin time etc. I’m employed now at LA for £13 something an hour and considerably better off especially once you consider the generous pension scheme.

This but it’s only worth it if the cleaner is doing their job properly.

i went through three until I settled because I want to come back to a immaculate house otherwise why outsource it?

It is 14/15 per hour and 4 hour clean to ensure house done thoroughly.

We pay £64 for a fortnightly clean in the SE. It is quite expensive but they are quick and mostly good. They do the whole house in perhaps 45 mins, but they work in a team of 3, sometimes 4.

What are you talking about? Of course she needs to ask for a raise if she wants one. People can’t read your mind. Also 14/15 is very normal rate going for certain parts of the North.

Cleaning is an odd one where population density tends to drive down prices. Often in bigger cities there will be lots of people who would be happy with a bit of cash in hand work.

I think in places where population is less transient then people eho who clean for a living tend to be insured, registered self employed and possibly have further to travel and are much more likely to be in the £20 ph ballpark

£120 is crazy for just 3 hours. I'd expect two of them working for 3 hours at that rate.

I don't understand the whole deep clean thing being charged at a higher rate. Its cleaning. It takes me 3 hours to clean my house reasonably but 5 hours if i have to move things.

So in the past I've paid 3 hours to just have a general overall clean or paid for 5 hourdeif I wanted the detailed bits doing.