Cleaners - tardiness and fees?

[SpringDreams26]

I have moved house, 15 miles but a different county.

I paid £20 per hour for a cleaner who was with me several years and wonderful. She continued to clean for a few months to help us but couldn’t keep up with the travel so gave me notice. She cried when she left she was genuinely fantastic and we got along so well.

Now everyone is charging £25-27.50 per hour. Even self employed, one woman bands. AIBU to think that’s madness? I come out with about £30 after taxes earning £50 an hour. Cleaning used to be marginally above minimum wage and now it seems the same cost as a professional? Not to say cleaners aren’t professionals, but the start up costs and overheads low.

Then you have to weed out the awful cleaners, I’ve had many in my time who just move dirt around.

Had 4 people quote ALL have been late by atleast 30 minutes. If you want to justify your rate atleast show up.

and yes, I know the answer is to do my own cleaning. But AIBU that the market has changed this much?

Just going on what you said.

It's always the same. People really think that cleaners should be happy with a few quid and smile while cleaning other people's shit. It's not the case anymore as it should be. They always look 'down" rather than look at what their own jobs should be paying.

They're a luxury and those who want one need to decide on whether they're worth paying for or not.

They are 'professionals', though, they're running their own businesses through which they provide a service for those unwilling or unable to do the same job themselves. They take on the professional risks and liabilities associated with doing so. Whether you think what they charge for it is too much is irrelevant.

Also, lol at the idea of only 'professionals' having student debt in 2026 given how many graduates and recently redundant workers are finding themselves struggling to find work of any type to keep them afloat. This argument is a bit snobby to be honest. (And I'm sure cleaners also have the same crippling childcare costs etc that anyone else does - or are you assuming all working class women can just get a jolly old nana to do it for them?)

It's the self employed bit that makes the difference from a minimum wage employed position.

Your self employed cleaner has to take into account that there are no paid holidays - so they need to put aside 28 days of wages from their full time hourly rate to allow themselves to have some time off and for bank holidays when clients may not want them to call.

They don't have a company pension contribution so need to put aside a percentage of their pay for a pension contribution.

They need to provide cleaning products, including a hoover that will need replacing regularly as well as cloths and laundry costs to refresh these.

They need liability insurance.

They will need to maintain a car, fuel it and allow time travelling between clients for which they are not paid.

It is likely when you've taken all that into account a £20 p/h cleaner is actually earning very little more than an employed person on minimum wage of £12.21 p/h.

My opinion, is that £25 per hour doesn’t represent good value for money in the context of a cleaner.

Lovely. Good for you.

Now shall we go back to using AIBU for what it's actually for?

It’s not the case anymore.

To be clear this is a regional difference, it’s not a flat rate as I’ve established with both how much I was paying, how much friends pay etc in different areas.

You realise you don’t have to engage? I’m sorry if I’ve taken up your time but you weren’t compelled to respond. If this thread isn’t a worthwhile time investment for you then scroll on.

It isn't up to you to decide how much a cleaner should earn. You are in London where you know full well the rate is far higher than £15 and you are taking advantage of your cleaner's lack of belief in herself. Your first two sentences make it very clear how disrespectful you are.

Also, it is not a cleaner's job to change bed clothes.

Also, it is not a cleaner's job to change bed clothes

If you want to outsource that then who would you suggest?

No, I don't have to engage, but I'm quite happy.

You, OTOH, seem to think that you can say something other people think is unreasonable, and then you get up in arms when we say so.

On a board titled 'Am I Being Unreasonable'.

It does make me rather suspect I understand why you're struggling to find someone willing to come to your house and do a job, TBH.

I wouldn’t describe myself as up in arms, I’m pretty relaxed tbh.

Housekeeper.

But if cleaning rates makes you choke, a housekeeping salary might make you faint a bit.

Yes it is if it's been agreed.

It might shock you but having several Airbnb properties for the last ten years I’ve had no difficulty in finding a cleaner to change bed sheets and iron. As it happens people will do the same at my house for £25 p/h!

There you go then. What you complaining about?

You can’t really compare with the National living wage, which is about to go up to £12.71 soon in any event. Someone on NLW would be employed, meaning they’d be entitled to at least 4 weeks’ paid holiday (I think that works out at about 14% on top of an hourly rate if on a zero-hours contract?) and sick pay. They can also generally work 7 or 8 hours in a day, whereas a full-time cleaner generally has unpaid travel time between jobs and will have dead periods, so on an annualised basis the cleaner’s hourly rate needs to factor that in too.

On top of all the above, the Real Living Wage (£13.45 or £14.80 in London) is a better benchmark to use than the NLW as it is a better estimate of how much someone needs to have a minimally acceptable standard of living.

OP, take no notice of some belligerent people on here. They would literally argue with a blank wall.

I don't know where you are, but I'm in Chelsea, London and people don't pay that for a cleaner.

Even via an agency, it's £18 per hour. It's true that they don't always send the same person and some of them are not great. But if you find a good person, you can ask to have them weekly. Also, rather than say, a single cleaner for 8 hours, you can book a team of 2 for 4 hours.

I did have a cleaner (not via an agency) for a while up until last year. She lived locally and worked in other houses along the street. I paid her £20 per hour. She wanted cash, would not take a bank transfer ever. After 6 months, she said she was going to visit her home country for a month - she then said she expected me to keep paying her while she was gone. Apparently this is what "everyone else does." Well, more fool them! I said, she is of course able to take holidays whenever she likes because she is cash in hand and not under any contract, but, by the same token, I am a private individual, not a company that provides holiday pay. So she left. It was a relief tbh.

Where on earth in the UK are you?

Are the houses more expensive?

If you're left with 30 an hour after taxes on 50 then how much do you think they're left with on 25 an hour?

@gamerchick It wasnt a complaint. I’m just contradicting your ascertain that there’s a distinction to be made between a “housekeeper” salary who’s prepared to change beds and a “cleaner” when that is not my experience. I hope your cleaning doesn’t miss the point as frequently as your posts.

Being self employed and having a job isn’t the same as being a professional. We don’t live in a socialist country, it’s right that we don’t all earn the same, else why should anyone go to university and spend years and thousands of pounds training?

Cleaning is a respectable and necessary job. It’s not professional and it’s not skilled.

think you've probably answered your own question there - the best/most punctual/cheaper cleaners are all fully booked and guarded like gold dust by their current employers, the ones with slots available aren't as good, thus why they have capacity!

When are you comparing 'just over the minimum wage?' to? As if you were paying your old cleaner £20 that would have been nearly double minimum wage a few years ago anyway. If you look at how much MW has increased over the last decade (nearly doubling) it's not surprising other in-demand roles have increased exponentially.

I always find the comparisons between hourly rates to be a false flag.

It's all very well saying that you get paid £50/hour, but are they paying you £50/hour to drive home, to look after your kids, to do your hobbies? Of course you can't apply the same rate to all parts of your life.

The key question is can you afford it, and does paying for it mean that you therefore a) don't have to do a task you don't like, b) enjoy a clean home and c) enjoy more of your free time?

I was advised by a London agency 25 years ago that a good way to keep cleaners was to pay them throughout the year and not expect them in for 2 weeks of it. IIRC it was a condition of working with that agency. It meant cleaners who worked through the agency could have an annual holiday, being paid by all clients and not stress about money.

I carried on that rule after moving on from the agency and it has served me well. I also pay an extra amount at Christmas equal to a week's money, and usually Easter. I wouldn't pay for a month unless it was a cleaner who had been with me for many years and I'd skip the Christmas and Easter money that year. Question was never asked though!

I only pay bank transfer and at least my last London cleaner was completely legit as I did her tax return for her for 10+ years (she was very happy as her friends were paying £400pa to an accountant!). Actually, I pay by weekly standing order, with top ups as necessary.

I have never paid more than £15ph for a cleaner. I currently pay this in the countryside. Current cleaner wanted £15ph originally 3 years ago but we paid a bit less as we didn't want products or materials included, we have certain things used. We pay her a bit more now. I'd expect to pay £18ph in central London.

All cleaners have changed sheets, done ironing etc. From my experience, cleaners have more of an issue with cleaning under furniture, cobwebs etc than cleaning sheets!

Thats what I was thinking. Would make sense really and everyone would be happy.