£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?

How all businesses work is

1. they charge whatever they want
2. you decide whether you pay it or not

most businesses exist ti make money, and as much of it as they can

if they are charging £22ph then that is because enough people in your area are prepared to pay that

Don't be ridiculous. Facebook is just used as a marketing platform. Plenty of legit sole traders and small businesses advertise on Facebook.

This site really does attract shitty people there is currently a thread about retail saying how easy it is and how stupid retail workers are then there is this thread minimising the worth of cleaners. Then there is another thread going about uc saying everyone needs to get a job and stop scrounging.

Back in the day cleaners were doing it for pin money, now they're professional, self employed "housekeepers."

I reckon it would take someone halfway competent with a mop unlike me 3 hours to clean my house. £66pw x 52wks = £3,432 pa!

I’d take it all with a massive pinch of salt - lots of people are just here to troll and get a reaction out of people.

Cleaners can charge whatever they like, as long as they can find customers who are willing to pay.

I don't really understand the outrage that some people seem to feel about their rates. They are running a business and not a public service, and they are not under any obligation to make it affordable for everyone.

If others feel that the rates are high, then there is nothing to stop them from setting up as cleaners themselves. There seems to be a lot of demand for good cleaners despite the rates, so they will probably find plenty of work if they know what they're doing.

Yes and those "professional" roles earn way more than £22 an hour dont they? so I dont get your point.

I recently had to hire a solicitor for some conveyancing work and they charged £300 an hour.

Do you know of a single solicitor, chartered accountant, engineers etc who earn £22 per hour????

I lost mine when she moved 18 months ago and I paid £22 and supplied my own cleaning supplies.

When I had an agency, they charged £5/clean admin fee and I paid £18/hour to the cleaner. I actually preferred this as they supplied cover, had proper insurance in place and if I was unhappy I had the agency to deal with, not the cleaner. I prefer supplying my own materials as I don't want the house stinking of chemicals and I hate bleach, absolutely unnecessary for normal living.

Yes, back in the day, women's work was treated as less valuable because it was assumed that they would be financially dependent on men. Surely you aren't suggesting that we should go back to this situation?

It's Schrodinger's profession, isn't it: something that I couldn't possibly do myself, but also something that any old person could do?!

It baffles me that people seem to think they have the right to a cleaner but get angry about the cost. If you can't afford it or don't think it's worth it, don't buy it! It's not like it's your water bill, that you have no choice but to pay.

In fact, to the people who think that it's a licence to print money and a massive easy income for not much work... why don't you become a cleaner, then?!

My fabulous cleaner in that ball park. She gets what she considers fair, I get a thoroughly great job done by someone I trust hand have now worked with for 15+ years. She’s worth every penny.

Exactly! Noone is forcing you to pay for a cleaner.

Clean your own damn toilet if you think the cost is so horrific and if the pay is so outrageously high and the job so lucrative then become one yourself!

“Anyone can do it”

Apparently not. Hence why we have cleaners. OP has just stated she is incapable of using a mop. So there you go.

1 teach in FE. 20 + years' experience. My hourly rate (and part-timers are paid by the hour) is below £20 per hour. However, my self-employed rate in the other part of my working week is £40 and after I factor in saving to cover any time off, travelling, insurance, tax etc... I earn less than the woeful hourly rate in F.E. So £20 for a selfemployed person won't look anything like that when they actually put it in their pocket. Remember your cleaner earns nothing in between jobs, on lunch, during time off. Unless it's a pocket money job, self employed people can't afford to charge much less than that. Even if it makes other jobs' pay look even worse by comparison. Which is a problem, but a separate problem.

On paper, my billable hours are worth multiples of that amount.
Why is a cleaner's time, energy and expertise worth less than mine? The way it is, and all that, but it'll never sit right with me.

The going rate for cleaning where I live in London (and babysitting, dog walking etc) is between £15-18ph.

One CF informed me that she "doesn't do skirting boards." Apparently they are included in her Deep Clean Package.

This is pretty condescending. What do you do for work?

You can get up to £50 an hour where I live as there’s a shortage of good cleaners. Loads of people I know do it on top of their office jobs at weekends etc as the money is so good

Back in the day cleaners were doing it for pin money, now they're professional, self employed "housekeepers."

Damn them, hey!

I reckon it would take someone halfway competent with a mop unlike me 3 hours to clean my house. £66pw x 52wks = £3,432 pa!

If it's not worth it to you, don't pay it 🤷‍♀️

...or indeed a solicitor who is physically exhausted at the end of their working day - and whose job takes a serious toll on their back, knees and wrists?

Totally this

Also round here there are millions of them and people definitely exploit them. Supply and demand. I’ve seen some of them advertising themselves on local forums for £10 an hour! I pay mine £16. I live near public transport, she doesn’t drive and I supply everything and also give her food and drink while she’s here.

Well it's not back in the day now is it and people expect to be paid for their work.

A lot of bitter people on this thread. If you're jealous that even after all your debt and schooling, people can out earn you by cleaning, that's a reflection on you.

I’m getting used to all these initialisms but the CF one is “cheeky f*cker,” right? So someone is a cheeky f*cker for establishing what is included in their package? It’s up to them. People’s expectations have to be managed, and some things cannot be cleaned in certain timeframes. Looking forward to hearing how long your cleaner lasts, and how much you decide they are worth paying.