Desperately need a cleaner but am I expecting too much?

[Gertrudethechicken]

I am struggling to recruit a cleaner/ housekeeper for my house. I’ve had afew replies to my adverts online but they end up ghosting me once I explain what’s involved, which got me thinking I might be scaring people off.

i am looking for someone to come in for three houses twice a week to hoover and mop the home (twice weekly), clean bathrooms (once weekly), change beds, iron, put clothes and toys away. My home is 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms plus a w/c, utility, living room, play room, dining room, kitchen, ect. I know it’s a large house so happy to negotiate. I can put my headphones on and blitz through my home in afew hours but I recognise this may not be the case for someone coming into a brand new house.

I would think its more the putting clothes/toys away than the size of your home, I would imagine lots of people with your size home have cleaners. Maybe you're looking for more of a housekeeper than a traditional cleaner?

Are you asking people how many hours they are expecting it to take and how much they will charge? Or are you giving them a time you expect it to be done in and how much you will pay? I’m surprised no one is snapping it up, any cleaning posts I put up have dozens of replies in hours and I can have someone pretty much immediately. There are also lots of apps like Wecasa where you can book people for one off or regular cleans. You can read the individual reviews for people as well, the one I use has all 5 stars

You are in housekeeper territory I’m afraid

Yes I’m afraid you probably are asking too much in the time available. Our house has three bedrooms (one used as a home office so the cleaner doesn’t even go in there) and three bathrooms, two of which are just shower rooms. The cleaner spends 4 hours just cleaning, not changing bedsheets and not putting anything away. We have a big tidy before she comes so she can get to surfaces to clean them. Can you ask how many hours they’d recommend for what you’re asking?

Three houses?

The ironing, putting clothes and toys away would do it for me, especially if you don’t say how many adults and children are living in a 5 bedroom property. A cleaner plus an ironing service might be better suited to your needs. How are they supposed to know whose clothes go where?

I meant three hours, twice a week. Oops!

Presume you mean three hours.

most cleaners don’t tidy. Or iron.

if they do iron they charge more for it.

I had a cleaner and sent my ironing out to an ironing lady. Housekeepers charge more.

Hmmmmmm yes a housekeeper not a cleaner is what you want.

Three hours twice a week is probably not enough time for a property of that size anyway. I mean, you want ironing as well as bed changing, tidying toys and putting away clothes.

I took a minute figuring this out too. I think OP means 3 hours

Ironing is not done by cleaners.
Tidying up needs to be done by you, before they come to clean.

You're looking at a housekeeper job really. If you make that clear in your advert, you might get suitable candidates.

My house is a similar size and my cleaner does all this (except tidying toys and putting clothes away) in 2 x 5 hours a week. 3 hours sounds very low but it depends how much ironing you have.

It’s the clothes and toys that are likely the issue. Your cleaner won’t know whose clothes are whose or where you want them, which toys go where etc. I think it would be ok to ask for eg toys on the floor to be put into a basket but not properly tidied. Clothes left hung or folded in the laundry.

I think she means 3 hours. Are you expecting all rooms cleaned in 3 hours or over the 6 hours in one week. I can’t believe you think they’ve got time to do all that. You’ve even got ironing in there ?

I see.. need to change the wording them. Thank you.

I wouldn't be expecting cleaners to tidy away clothes and toys, or iron, to be honest.

So you want the bathrooms (4) and dusting hoovering plus ironing and beds changing and stuff putting away all in one 3hr clean..this is where it may be difficult.
However once a cleaner comes regularly it will become easier for them and then they should be able to work it into a routine.

That's beyond cleaner territory and housekeepers command much higher wages, and 3 hours isn't nearly enough.

changing beds, ironing, putting clothes and toys away are not in a normal cleaner's responsibilities. 2 hours for those tasks at least.

We have a much smaller home and hoovering and mopping 3 non-bathroom rooms plus stairs and landing, plus cleaning one bathroom, takes 2 hours.

If you really need all that done it needs to be a 12hr per week contract and paid at significantly higher than minimum wage.

It's not enough time, IMHO. I had 3 hours of cleaning (including bed linen change) and 2 hours of ironing when I lived in a 2-bedroom flat!

Would take 5-6 hours just to clean our 5-bedroom house. DH does the ironing! So I think you need at least 10 hours a week. Maybe advertise without the toys and clothes put away, and have a chat about this when you have people around for a chat. You will probably also find it easier to find someone if you live in London or a major city like Manchester.

My cleaner would do any of the above but she does a set amount of time and will prioritise what I ask her too.

I think you either need to increase the hours available or say these are the types of thing I would like you to do but do as much as you can in the time you have. Some of these things it’s hard to know how long they take. A bathroom can have two sinks a bath and a separate shown and ironing can be two shirts or a huge pile. O

Are all 5 bedrooms having the sheets changed every week? That’s probably an hour as is a good hoover and mop and even 4 small bathrooms is going to take a lot of time. Maybe spend a day going through these tasks uninterrupted and time them?

You’re expecting a lot. We are 3 bed, 2 bathroom, office, playroom, three living rooms (one is very big though and has the dining table etc) and kitchen. Our cleaner does 7 hours. She does change sheets but she wouldn’t have time to do ironing, put clothes or toys etc away. I tidy before she comes so she can clean.

Your house is bigger and you’re expecting more work in less time.

Too many jobs not enough time.

Three hours x2 a week is not enough.

We are 4 bed, 2 bathroom and 1 downstairs wc, plus kitchen, living, playroom and I have a 3 hour clean. 1 bedroom is a spare so done 1x per month, en suite is barely used so done fortnightly. Playroom is given a hoover and wipe round but I have to tidy it.

Changing beds, tidying and ironing are not something cleaners generally offer. You need more of a housekeeper.

Our cleaners will change beds with prior arrangement but will take on an extra half hour for that. They will iron again by prior arrangement and it is charged per basket (they have their own baskets that you put the clothes into and they take with them to iron and bring back next day).

You may find someone who will clean and do above tasks as a private arrangement or one man band style cleaner but you would have to discuss it with them and it would be more than 3 hours twice a week. For example my sister in law cleans but will also do dog walks/ poo picking from the garden/ iron/ tidy and clear (fridges/ cupboards etc) but she works for herself and only her and it's very much private bespoke arrangement and she charges per task.

I’d advertise for a housekeeper/look for housekeeper on Facebook. I think the other thing you might need to consider is asking someone to come and quote and time the job for you (ETA, I mean you may get someone who can help but will require more time than 3 hours per visit).

Also, potentially the same person or someone different does the ironing. If the same person, they could collect on their first visit of the week, take it away and return it on the second visit of the week.

Otherwise, look at reducing the workload?

Did she say how much time was available? Or have I missed something

Ah yeah I had missed it

Ironing takes ages to do well, although a good quality iron and ironing board can make the job quicker.

I could probably do your cleaning and tidying in 3 hours but not the ironing. Add on extra time for the ironing or use an ironing service.