Cost of a cleaner

[ThisCalmJadeSquid]

So I realise this could be slightly controversial and I’m not trying to be rude, but I was recently looking into getting a cleaner for my house… I am working more and juggling kids and dogs and thought it might help take the pressure off a bit. But they are changing £20-25 an hour. I don’t make anywhere near that an hour and work as an accounts/office manager.. so I’m struggling to justify the cost.. can anyone advise why the cost is so high? Thanks

They’re self employed

have to travel between houses and pay petrol

buy cleaning supplies and equipment hoovers etc

sick days holidays pension tax etc

You might make more per hour but I guarantee they'll make less per day.

They might only have 4-5 hours work per day as they have to travel between multiple clients. They can also often be let go at short notice or told they're not needed for two weeks while someone's on holiday. They also don't get paid annual leave or sick pay.

You get a solid 7-8 hour day paid for without having to worry about whether you'll be told not to turn up next week, and if you go on holiday or have to spend time off work as you're unwell you know your wage is going to drop into your bank account regardless.

£20 an hour here (very rural corner of the country)

How many hours / how frequent do people have cleaners ?

I pay £20 ph in London.

I’m happy to pay £20 but have had £16-£20. It’s just a bloody miracle to find someone who can actually clean to a decent standard and is not constantly cancelling at short notice.

I’m in Manchester and pay £20 an hour. They have travel costs and time between each job, whereas presumably you only have to travel at the start and end of the day - that limits how many “paid” hours they can work in a day. You presumably get sick pay, annual leave, a pension etc - they have to pay all that out of their £20 per hour. They have to pay for marketing to continually find work as people move house, decide they no longer need/can afford a cleaner etc. It’s also just hard work and they earn it!

I pay £16 per hour - based in Lancashire.

We pay £20 an hour for five hours of cleaning a week. We have two cleaners so they are here 2.5 hours. Worth every penny

Mine is £20 an hour, but she’s not working 8 hours a day, she has travel time and gaps between clients and obvious tax, ni, cleaning materials, transport costs and everything else.

£20ph here. South west.

My cleaner charges £18 ph but I quickly put it up to £20 as she is really good and brings her own cleaning stuff.

£20-25 is normal here. I pay £22.

Ok, I see these kind of posts so often.

From your job title, I presume you are employed? Do you know that it costs your employer way more to employ you than they pay you hourly? They pay into your pension, NI, holiday, public liability insurance and provided you with everything you needed to do the job and advertise to bring in the clients for your company.

A cleaner is self employed. So we don’t have anyone buying everything we need for the job. I’m a cleaner. Year to date, my costs are 30% of my turnover. Out of my remaining 70%, I need to take out my pension. No one else contributes to that. Holiday pay for an employed person is 12.07% of your income.

So, that self employed cleaner who is charging £20. Let’s take off 30% for her overheads, that leaves £14. They’ll get no holiday pay. No pension contributions.
Anyone paying their cleaners £15, after overheads that cleaner is making £10.50 per hour. NMW is over £12/hr. Plus an employee would get all the above mentioned benefits.

Do you question, when eating out, why a meal costs more than if you prepared it yourself?

So, in answer to your question, that’s why they charge what they charge.

How did you work that out? Did you presume she works every day in the year? Never takes unpaid time off? Doesn’t have to pay insurance? Buy stock, equipment, supplies? Accountancy fees? Pension? Unpaid time off if she’s sick? Advertising? Dead unpaid time when she’s out doing quotes, laundering kit, placing orders?

@ThisCalmJadeSquid we paid £25 pH in London we pay £15 pH in Gloucestershire.

I presume she’s self employed meaning she has to factor in paying tax, national insurance, not having sick pay or annual leave.

Also most cleaners only work 2/3 hours for each family and have to factor in travel time during their day to get to each job.

Paying someone £20/25 an hour if you were employing them for a full time job would be a lot but you’re not. You’re hiring her for a few hours a week.

Whoa @user1494050295£15? I paid that way outside London last time I had a cleaner four years ago.
OP £18-20 seems the norm. I mean it’s grunt work - quite physical and there’s the time between jobs. They should get a good rate for cleaning other people’s toilets!
Cleaners are so variable that’s the issue - I’ve had great cleaners who get so much done to a good standard and others who seem to be working just as hard but get half as much done. Getting a recommendation is also key. You need someone you can trust.

£20 an hour here. It’s products, insurance, tax, holiday pay, pension and hourly wage so yeah I get it.

She was charging £85 for 2 hours work - so I took it from there but you're right I didn't take into account her advertising and costs. When I do I still think it massively over priced. Like I said previously though good luck to her, out of my price range but clearly people are paying it she appears to have customers 👍🏼

I pay £17.50ph. South west.

We pay ours £20 an hour. Worth every penny, and as pp has said once you’ve deduct costs, annual leave, travel time, time she doesn’t get paid because we’re away, employer’s pension contributions ect ect it’s not a huge wage.

£85 for two hours on the other hand I will agree is ridiculous!