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!

My favourite comment on the whole thread! Wish it could be pinned for everyone!!

But yes this is exactly the idea behind my post and thank you for your views 💜

Sorry but £25-30/hr is absolutely not normal range for a cleaner!

In London - we recently looked around for a new cleaner and the range of prices was £14-18/hr. One person said £20, I think, but they were an outlier. I think £20/hr is top end.

Presumably then not declaring the income and probably claiming benefits based on not having any other income. No way can someone genuinely be living on that kind of charge, paying taxes, paying insurance, etc. unless they're on the fiddle or being subsidised by a high earning partner.

That’s exactly what I was thinking too, those prices don’t sound like legit cleaners running legit business prices to me, sounds more like the ‘cash in hand, no insurance’ brigade, so not a true reflection of current pricing

No that’s pretty cheap. My cleaner in London was £18 an hour almost a decade ago.

I said this earlier in the thread. I really don't understand what is going on on these threads

My cleaner in London 10 years ago charged me £11/hr.

I literally contacted a load in my local area 4 months ago as our cleaner left the area and £14-20 with £20 being very much the anomaly was the range people said.

I don't know if it's people using expensive agencies or cleaners posting to drive up the established rate but it's really not the reality in my area of London

I’m in zone 3 and our cleaner charges £15 an hour.

And yet there are posters claiming that £30/hr is a normal rate!

By chance if you are in Zone 3 in the west/north west London area I would love your cleaners info! 🤣