£22 per hour for cleaning - REALLY?!

[DorotheaShottery]

I was thinking the other day "Dot - you've had enough of this cleaning lark - get yourself a cleaner!"

I put some feelers out on FB and it appears the going rate is £20-£22 per hour!!

Is that normal in the not-SE-not-Cheshire parts of the UK? AIBU to think it's ridiculous?

All those people are free to start their own cleaning businesses if it’s so wonderfully well paid 🙄funnily enough none of them ever do!

£20 an hour - supplies all cleaning products and materials, does a brilliant job and is totally worth that

I charge 20ph in Cambridge. I have liability insurance up to 5mil, business car insurance and a DBS certificate. I supply all my own equipment.

I take payment in cash because I have had too many clients be late with bank transfers, sometimes by a week or 2. I’m a single parent and have bills to pay. I do have a business account that I deposit my cash payments into with paperwork kept for my taxes.

I know I do a good job and I could charge more for the area, but I have spent time cultivating a strong client base, leaving jobs that were unreliable payers or who have unrealistic expectations.

Nobody is paid for their commute but if your job required you to travel between sites like cleaners do, then you’d claim mileage from your employer - so why do you think the self employed shouldn’t be entitled to the same benefit?

In terms of of choosing clients - yes, in an ideal world you’d drive to X and clean 5 houses and go home but the real world doesn’t work like that 🙄

Ha - I love it but it’s physically exhausting and the winters can be absolutely horrendous. Funnily enough most people only want my job on days like today when it’s dry and sunny 🤣

Yes in a day . Not comparable to a firefighter, a nurse , a electrician

If we all do then who will you clean for ? I’ve been a cleaner by the way prior to going back to uni .

Not sure where you are but here most cleaners only do a minimum if 3 or 4 hours , specially if rural . Maybe something to consider

He much would you want to be paid to travel to someone’s house and clean up their loss, put your hand down their toilet and change their beds and launder their dirty clothes?

What about the cleaners who claim it needs " getting up to standard" a day after it's been deep cleaned professionally? Most of them try that one.

We pay £23ph to an individual in Yorkshire. Tried a couple of £20 per hour (one agency one individual) and neither great. Costs of everything are crazy so don’t blame cleaners putting prices up. Over a day with travel time plus taxes and cleaning products it doesn’t amount to much

I think £20 is reasonable especially if they bring their own products which in my experience they all do. I can't afford a regular cleaner but that doesn't mean I think they should work for nothing. I have on I think 3 occasions now treated myself to a 'deep clean' with 3 different businesses. They tend to come in a bit higher (£25 ish) although the first ones I used literally doubled their prices after a few months which I did think was a bit much. People must be paying it though. I had one come to quote, booked them in and then said they wanted paying up front. I refused and cancelled as they were not budging. I have never paid up front in full for any service so I did think that was odd. I would have happily paid a deposit. All the others have been happy to be paid at the end of the job. All wanted payment by bank transfer.

When I think about it my window cleaner charges £15.00 when he comes and is only here about 15 mins. This seems to be the going rate and seems no more or less skilled. I am not sure why some people think domestic cleaners (i.e. women) should be paid so much less. If men come to do cleaning jobs (car, jet washing patio, window cleaning, oven cleaning) their hourly rates work out more. Why should women clean your house for 'pin money' instead of a living wage.

yes, they are. Just as you professional in your field the same is for them. They need money for their upkeep and work hard for it

What? This makes no sense, if they 'deep cleaned it professionally' one day they won't be trying to come and do it again the next day will they? No most of them do not do that, I've never ever heard of it.

The pp was talking about an initial deep clean to get the house up-together first which is what a lot of professional cleaners do offer, but they absolutely don't want to then try to do another one the next day at the same house, they'll have other clients to do the following day.

What part of self employed do you not understand ?
A cleaner in hospital will be on less than a nurse/ other health care professionsls
BecauseHCP,d have 3/4 years training ,most are degee quaified ,have a governing body who they are answearble too and have a lot of skills and knowledge to do the job
Whereas ,domestic staff whilst employrded by the hosputal or sometimes an agency that supply domestic staff. have none of these
A self employed cleaner is just that and can charge whatever they want .

No other cleaners had done a deep clean the day before as a one off. Not the ones who are saying " it needs getting up to standard"

Btw the property was immaculate. Was interviewing for someone to do ongoing weekly clean

I myself earn £18ph in childcare.

I pay my cleaner £20ph.

My cleaner doesn’t get sick pay, holiday pay, pension, job security etc. They also have unpaid time travelling between each job and provide all cleaning equipment.

This post says so much about the general atmosphere on MN - 'all professions are equally valuable', 'we should respect all professions equally'. And then this. Flies in the face of everything said about fake statements 'I don't mind my son being a tradie when he grows up'.

This is a bit histrionic. My cleaner does not put her hand down my toilet, neither do I, though I do keep my toilet clean. Changing beds isn’t a hardship but anyway I do my own bedclothes. Laundry isn’t hard and I do my own, I pay my cleaner the top end of scales quoted on here and she does more in a few hours than I could do in a couple of days. She’s very good at restoring order from chaos.

We are in SW and paid our cleaner £20 / hour. She was someone DH knew and agreed £18.50 an hour using our products, but we paid in cash and a £20 note is always easier and we were pleased with her work.
Don’t have her a lot currently as haven’t been able to afford that extra.

I agree, but I’m a bit confused by the “too” on the end of the sentence. I (for example) earn considerably less per hour, so by your definition I’m not earning a decent wage. I work in a profession widely regarded as lucrative but I’m on minimum wage, so I’m a bit stuck because I can’t afford help with cleaning.

My cleaning rates range from £17 to £19 an hour depending on distance.
It’s physically hard work . I am self employed I pay tax and national insurance. I’m also insured . I supply my own products and take my vacuum cleaner along as well.
There is only so many clients you can fit in one day, due to travelling.
Also remember if I am sick I do not get paid.
Reliability and trust are one of the most important parts of the job.
If clients are elderly you also become a carer as well along as a personnel shopper.
i love the variation of my job and remember your clients also become your friends.

But tradies and cleaners also cant be compared
I have no doubt there are some excellent cleaners who are worth their weight in gold and run a good buisness ,there is no specific training to be a cleaner though,
Unlike ,Plumbers ,Electericians etc

They should charge whatever the maximum they can and still get work. It's a hard job and also very trusted. You need to be discreet as well. They do an incredible job.

It is devaluing their work to question the hourly rate as per the title and your initial post, saying it is too high and comparing a self employed hourly cost to minimum or living wage.

It isn't devaluing their work to simply state that it either isn't in your budget or worth the financial outlay and time saving that outsourcing this work would give you.

Words matter and yours have been very critical and fundamentally misunderstood the nature of running a business. Particularly in a female dominated sector which is often looked down upon. I'm not a cleaner, but am self employed and employ a cleaner as the time saving to me is worth the investment.