To feel a bit awkward re the cleaner?

[Icanseethechurch]

We got a cleaner for the first time a couple of months ago. She comes every week for 2 hours.

She’s been brilliant to be fair, reliable, works really hard and to the time we pay her for. However, she’s almost a bit too good/ thorough as each time she comes she only ever manages to clean 2 rooms in the 2 houses she’s here.

We have a 4 bed detached, a small, under stairs WC downstairs, a family bathroom and en-suite upstairs. I told her from the beginning don’t worry about the bedrooms as I hoover and dust those every week so she doesn’t touch those.

I came home yesterday from work to find she’d cleaned the kitchen/ diner (average size) and the family bathroom. Each time she comes, she does 2 rooms, so a room an hour? She’s cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms multiple times now, one of those being a deep clean so it should really be a case of just keeping on top of it? I am a very clean person so don’t let them get too grimy in the week before she’s due back again anyway.

Ive always done all the cleaning myself but with 2 young DC and a full on job I just don’t have the time anymore.

The rooms she’s cleaned are fantastic, I’m always happy with the quality, but it does mean I have to go around and clean the bathroom that’s not done/ the WC, hoover the whole house (which I do anyway a couple of times a week) I guess I’d hoped that each time she came, she would be able to get the kitchen/ diner done, the main bathroom, the en-suite and maybe the WC too.

Are my expectations completely out of whack? (happy to be told so) If you have a cleaner for 2 hours weekly, what do they manage to do?

I should also add, on Monday night before she comes, myself and DH have a tidy up and make sure all toys are put away, surfaces are clear etc (the house is pretty tidy anyway as we have a playroom and all toys pretty much stay in there) we’re both out at work when she comes and DC are in nursery/ school so there’s no one there making a mess etc.

AIBU to feel awkward saying anything as she does clean to a good standard?

If you’re as clean and tidy as you say you are - and I’m not disputing it OP - your cleaner should be able to get the two bathrooms, small WC and kitchen diner done properly in two hours, especially if you’re all out.

I’m a cleaner, and regularly do this. (I also wish more customers understood how much easier it is to get on with the job in an empty house, at least part of the time!) Yesterday, for instance, I did customer bedroom and en-suite, guest bathroom, small WC, large kitchen diner, study, living room and hallways in 2.5, which isn’t unusual. It was my second job of the day, so I was working more slowly too. Definitely not cutting corners either, my rating and reviews confirm that, so I’d say YANBU.

Sounds as if you’ve got a nice cleaner though, so just have a word and maybe book cleans for first thing in the morning, in case she’s flagging a bit by the time she gets to you.

Ours sounds the same size and it takes 5 hours (she hoovers bedrooms and changes a bed too). She also does 1 load of laundry and hangs it up. I’d say it’s cleaned to a good standard but not ‘deep cleaned’.

oh and half an hour of ironing. So cleaning as described takes 4.5. I also think she’s quite fast.

when I do our kitchen thoroughly it often takes me over and hour and half if I steam mop the floor too.

But that’s a completely different matter. Changing bed linen, doing bedrooms, laundry and other housekeeping chores, rather than just cleaning, does of course require 4-5 hours + depending on size of house.

The OP just wants a good clean of bathrooms, WC and kitchen-diner, general hoovering etc, which as an ongoing job - ie her cleaner comes weekly and the rooms aren’t filthy to start with - should comfortably be done in 2 hours.

I agree with others she doesn't have enough time to clean everything that thoroughly in 2hours.
So you heed to get specific.
Please can you always do the kitchen and bathrooms and then if you have time do the rest

I have a 3 bed house with 1 bathroom and 1 downstairs loo (tiny). My cleaner spends 4 hours a week at mine, of which about half an hour is ironing and changing the sheets on 1 bed. I wouldn’t expect a cleaner to cover your house in 2 hours!

Mine comes for 5 hours at a time and does kitchen laundry bedroom bathroom and some hoovering. She comes 3x a week so I guess different bedroom and bathroom each time. I think your expectations are unreasonable for 2 hours (this is something I have discussed with my cleaner - that many have unrealistic expectations). You could discuss that you want more rooms done but it won’t be as thorough.

I think it’s unrealistic to expect a good quality, whole-house clean in just 2 hours. We have a small house and mine comes for 5 hrs each visit

OP isn’t expecting a whole house clean though. What do you consider a whole house clean because OP told her not to bother with the bedrooms. So it looks like she just wants more than the two rooms which are being cleaned in the two hours.

Unless things are super messy personally I’d expect them to do be able to do more than a kitchen/diner and one bathroom. At least she should be able to do one of the other bathrooms.

Also is your cleaner coming every week for 5 hours? Because the frequency matters. OPs one is weekly not fortnightly or something.

My cleaner spends the majority of her time
doing kitchen and bathroom. But I think 2 hrs
should be enough.

When you start a new cleaning job it can be a nightmare tbh. If I deep clean a bathroom it takes well over an hour. The kitchen? Blimey! It sounds like she's a thorough cleaner tbh. There's no point scratching around on the surface. Why don't you start an interactive notebook. That's what I do. She can write down what she'd like done. You can write down what's been achieved etc. Any problems etc. Also what cleaning products she needs/suggests. You are right in that the bathroom that took an hour last week should take 10 mins the week after. Hope that helps.

Just pay her for more time.

My cleaners came on Thursday, I have two ladies who come in for 1 hour- so a total of 2 hours cleaning time, in that time they cleaner 5 toilets, 5 bathroom sinks, hoovered and mopped 5 bathroom floors, hoovered a 3 storey/5.5 bedroom house with 2 flights of stairs and 2 reception rooms (excluding 2 of the rooms) and also hoovered and mopped the kitchen/diner/family room and hallway.

It's a surface clean but they can do the whole house essentially in the 2 hours.

To prep for that I make sure there is nothing on the floor in their way.

I would be super disappointed to only have 2 rooms done in the same time, even if the clean was far more thorough.

I started with a cleaner six weeks ago, two hours a week. One week she does two bedrooms , two bathrooms, hoovers DH's office, the landing and stairs. Second week dining room, sitting room , hall and cloakroom, plus one bathroom. She has got faster since she started so I am compiling a list of things we can clean that I don't do very often.

I do the kitchen as it's a faff.

You quite simply need to talk to her.