AIBU to wonder if I am being overcharged for cleaning?

[2026baby]

So I am a cleaner in London and charge £20 per hour. Whenever a new client gets in contact they seem to think I am ridiculously expensive, they always try to negotiate and lately I have been refused work based on my hourly rate.

I am currently heavily pregnant so not working but also not coping with my own housework so thought let me get some help in! I didn't think I was cheap so was willing to pay someone else around £20 too (perhaps more even!) and thought that was reasonable.

So far I have been quoted £200 for a basic bathroom clean that should take 2 hours at the most, £350 for exterior window cleaning (I live in a flat and have 4 windows, all accessible from the inside....) and the minimum price per hour seems to be £25 for individual cleaners and £30 if a company!

Is this normal?! Am I wildly undercharging?! Where do I find clients who are willing to pay these prices?

And more importantly where do I find the cheaper cleaners that my clients claim they can get?! Or at least someone charging similar to me!

I pay £25 per hour. I feel it is expensive but it is the price in my area. I feel I’m overcharged because they don’t stay the full time and much is left undone but I have tried a number of different cleaners and various situations. It is pretty much all the same. Once I get really pissed off, I move on to the next.

There was a recent thread where OP (me!) was roasted for querying being quoted £22 ph for a regular clean in not London, not SE.

Company I use is £25 p/h for a deep clean, minimum 4 hours and £20 p/h for standard clean, no minimum time. Some other cleaners are available for £18 p/h so it looks like £18-20 is standard - Central Belt Scotland.

I’m in the Midlands and pay £20 ph. It’s just gone up from £17.50 I think. They do a good job and are nice ladies so I don’t complain. I think £20 is fairly standard.

Ha- people would rather give you their husbands than their cleaners!!

I live outer London and my cleaner charges £17 an hour. Your hourly rate is perfectly reasonable. What people don't think about is that you don't get paid for holiday or sick. I do pay my cleaner for these things at 50% of her usual rate. My friend paid her cleaner furlough during Covid. I am not sure why people seem to think self employed cleaners charge too much.

I've just been quoted £27.50 per hour - NE Scotland. I really don't know if I can justify it. According to fb, £15 - £20 is the going rate locally.

So based on that, I'd say you aren't overcharging at all.

Are they sending a team in for £100 per hour?
My cleaner sometimes doubles up with a friend, they do two hours instead of four.

I pay £26.40 an hour. That includes VAT which pushes it up but after cheaper, unreliable cleaners I decided to pay extra and go through a company. They bring equipment etc and do a great job but I know I pay more than others. If a cleaner is sick they send another one so it’s far more reliable. I’m in the south west.

My council have introduced parking zones and parking rates are through the roof. My cleaner charges £15 per hour and I also pay for parking vouchers.

I sometimes wonder if I'm being a bit soft with the parking but she's reasonably good and I don't want to go through the faff of finding someone new and getting used to them.

That's Scotland and my window cleaner for the outside is £15 for 2 big picture windows monthly.

My cleaner in zone 3 N london charges £20 per hour, price went up from £15 last summer and I am fine with it. All above board, no cash in hand. Sounds like you are getting quotes from the type of companies who do one-off end of tenancy cleans and the like- I rent out a flat and use those on occasion and that pricing sounds familiar. Your issue will be that you are not looking for a regular service. Have you tried any of the franchises like Merry Maids or Fantastic Services?
Presumably as a competitor you’re not interested in paying someone cash in hand for a more casual arrangement? There are lots of “unofficial” cleaners in London…

I’m in London, zone 4 pay £18 an hour to an agency (so cleaner gets less per hour).

The quotes I recieved for the bathroom and windows were both off Facebook - individuals responded and no one mentioned they were a company. I made it really clear it was just a standard bathroom clean, last cleaned a couple of weeks ago but they insisted it would be an all day job and the price was fair!

Haven't tried Merry Maids but tried Fantastic Services and was quoted £26 an hour, minimum 3 hours.

Totally understand the need for a minimum as people who do take the piss but means its £78 for a job that I would charge £40 for myself!

I guess there is something to be said for their prices - they have saved me money as I've just got on with it the best I can today and done it myself! Can't do the bath properly but sod it - its not worth almost £80!

£20 is very cheap for London..You can pay more than that in the Midlands.

Are the bathroom/window cleaning prices standard in the Midlands?

You're undercharging. Anyone paying under 20 quid for a self employed cleaner is absolutely taking the piss. Don't sell yourself short. Charge what you're worth and if you get the customers who want to pay peanuts, they can find someone else.

£20 per hour for London seems cheap? I’m in the North East and was quoted £20 per hour with an agency. It is cheaper if you can find someone independent but then you don’t get the reassurance of insurances and holiday cover.

I'm intrigued, would you pay the price I have been quoted for the bathroom cleaning?

Favourable NHS employer benefits, holiday, sick pay, employee protections and pension. Can’t compare hourly rate. Lots of demand for domestic cleaners if the stress gets too much…

I'm in SE and pay £20ph through a company. I did start to have a look for a new one as they were messing me around a bit and everyone else seemed to cost more.

And my window cleaner charges £20 for a 4 bed semi with loft conversion.

My cleaners prices doubled from £11/h 9 years ago to wanting £23/h 6 months ago (home counties).

We bought a robot hoover amd realised it was stuff we could easily do ourselves so got rid of cleaners. I actually love it and barely notice, its only one day out of 7 they did. It was costing me about £300 a month out of my post tax pay, I have to earn £6k a year to pay that. Its not worth it.

£20 is fair, I have had people try to charge more on a per job basis but didn’t keep them on.
the window cleaner is an absolute rip off unless it’s a high floor and I’m missing something. I pay £180 for regular exterior clean for a substantial house

Or they'll realise its low skilled work they can:

• do themselves
• pay a teenager a tenner an hour to do
• replace with a robot hoover etc

Its not always a given that you can keep demanding more money for basic/routine work. People can just choose to not have a cleaner.

Would you be happy to share the company you use either here or PM?

I'm in London - mine charges £15/hr. She isn't looking for more clients. When we found her, prices ranged from £14-20/hr.