£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?

I’m a dental hygienist with 20 years experience. I went to uni for 3 years to qualify. I have to pay almost £500 a year indemnity insurance in case I’m sued. I’m self employed so have to pay my own pension/holidays/sick pay. I’m on £32 an hour. I think I need to change professions seriously. I started on £30 an hour 20 years ago but wages in my area have hardly gone up. I seriously might start looking at being a cleaner if I could be looking at £25 an hour.

Edited to add, I also need to pay a few hundred a year to keep up on CPD as well as paying for my own instruments and uniform etc.

If you want a cleaner, then be prepared to pay a decent rate, it's a luxury not a necessity. So many people seem to think that cleaning is below them and then therefore so should the pay.

Because cleaning work is

• unskilled. Anyone can do it.
• requires no qualifications, regulations etc

A "professional" is someone working in a professional occupation, something requiring qualifications etc - Solicitors, chartered accountants, bothered chartered occupations, engineers, nurses, doctors, teachers etc

If you are indeed in Shottery then it’s prob down to the cleaner knowing where you live!

Radical idea: if you don’t want to pay that much, clean your own house.

I don’t understand why you think they are not professional? My cleaner is incredible. The work she does in 2 hours would take me at least 6! I think that is a skill. Also, she is a professional as she gets paid for it.

To be honest, mine was no better, faster or thorough than me. I do a better job myself, I'm good at cleaning, but I'm time poor. However I'm not pissing away £22 an hour.

I have to earn £36 before tax to pay that.

Ive told my eldest when he is in secondary i'll pay him to clean.

If they are self employed then sounds reasonable. It's very hard to make a decent living on less than £20 an hour if you are self employed.

It is definitely a luxury- mine charges 34 per hour but then that is for two cleaners per hour so they can get the maximum amount done. They don’t do regular cleaning but will do one-offs.

Miy cleaner charges £18 an hour (Outer London) and supplies her own cleaning products. She comes in every two weeks for three hours. If she doesn't work she doesn't get paid, so on the rare occasions I need to cancel I always pay her 50% of her fee.

Ours is £25 per hour. I assume this is the going rate. I think it’s reasonable.

Our gardener charges £30ph.

It's not true that 'anyone can do it', it took me ages to find a cleaner who actually turns up on time and does a good job and is efficient in the time.

Find me a self-employed solicitor who charges £20 an hour please.

My cleaner is £20 per hour and she is a godsend. Worth every penny to me.

It's fine. IF they do a really good job. In my experience (3 cleaners before I gave up), they don't.

They either didn't do the things I wanted or didn't use all of the time I paid for. And I'm not paying for a service I'm not happy with.

I'd pay more than £22 an hour on a weekly basis for a great job, meeting my needs.

I earn more than £22 an hour. Why shouldn't they? It's fine. IF they do a good job.

Mine charges £20 an hour

Mine is £21. I agree it seems like a lot, but at the end of the day it's your choice. If you don't want to pay then you clean your house yourself.

It’s reasonable - being self-employed is expensive, especially since fuel prices have shot up.

Ours went up to £20ph from £15 recently. I figured out that after tax etc I make £25 an hour (my FT salary is £60k). I have a masters in a STEM subject from a highly respected university and 16 years experience in a niche field. I know I get holiday pay etc but it still feels like a lot. It definitely is a luxury, I actually would quite like to do it myself now, especially as once we’ve tidied before she comes I really don’t think it’s that hard to get it done (I’d much rather clean than tidy). However my husband doesn’t agree.

Come on, none of these wallys on Facebook are going to be paying their tax and for insurance. It’ll be cash in hand

Mine is 20. And she does me out of time leaving early with jobs undone or not turning up at all.

I think its hard to make a living on much less now. What's NMW per hour?

How do you know?

I’m self employed, advertise on Facebook and most certainly do pay my tax and insurance, thank you very much 🙄

I found mine via fb, recommended by another client, and i pay by bank transfer. So they are not all like that.

We currently pay £20 an hour for 2 x 2 hours a week
Worth every penny!
Just about to increase it as we like to keep a differential between what we pay and the minimum wage

Many so called professional roles pay less than £22 per hour. How can people then pay a cleaner if they need it to help them save time

I also pay £22 in Glasgow. My cleaner has a waiting list of clients. I pay by bank transfer. She has a registered company. I think it’s the going rate these days for a decent service. The cost of everything has gone up over the last few years. I used to pay around £15 3 years ago.

It's a profession. It's not a huge wage when you take into consideration expenses. If you don't want to pay it, don't.