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.

Two things: i dont think thats sufficient hours for that size home.
Most cleaners dont tidy,put away stuff, iron or change beds (i have to tidy up before my cleaner comes so she can clean) thats more housekeeper.
Either say hours negotiable and ask the applicants to say how long your requirements would take. Or reduce what your requirements.

When you do the ironing for the 4 plus people in your family how long does it take ?

because I’m thinking that’s already 3 hours work?

Given the list you want done I think that’s 2 days work, maybe 12 hours @ approx £23 per hour?

Definitely not enough time to do all of that - I’m my experience you’re better off saying what you want done and then ask them how many hours that will be.

We have 5 x double bedrooms, 3 x bathrooms (all showers no baths) - clean through once weekly plus all bed changes is 5hrs.

Apart from a couple of cleaners in the past who liked ironing and were happy to do extra hours, most cleaners are bad and slow at ironing 😂 but designated ironing firms are crazy expensive imo especially if you want sheets.

I would say you want twice the amount of hours at least for what you want done and that assumes you find someone happy to do all of those jobs.

You also haven’t said what you’re paying…but typically if something isn’t selling it’s not priced right. Could just be the hours but might be rate too. Again - in my experience you ask don’t tell for hourly rate. They will have a set rate, you accept if you’re happy to pay that.

I’ve never hired a cleaner but from what I’ve read on MN, no tidying is involved so they refuse to do things like picking toys / clothes up off the floor. I doubt they iron either. Essentially people pay them to vacuum, mop, clean the bathroom and wipe the worktops down. That’s what I gather anyway. Presumably they vacuum around mess on the floor? I don’t know. I don’t get the point in it personally. I’d pay someone to do what you said but not what actual cleaners seem to do… Apparently (if MN is correct) you need a maid if you want someone to tidy.

Also should say my brother has paid a woman to do his washing and ironing for years. He drops it all off with her twice a week, she does it all and he collects it. I think it’s a separate service.

Every cleaner ive ever had has tidied toys and folded (clean) clothes.

Eg chuck soft toys in soft toy basket, books on to shelf. Nothing expecting complicated organisation.

I never get it either. The cleaning & hoovering takes no time at all if its already tidy. Its the tidying that takes longer. I dont bother paying a cleaner any more for this reason

Depends on the size of your house I’d say. Cleaning and hoovering this one takes a long time, and besides I dislike domestic work.

I'm a cleaner I think I'd get this done but not the ironing also. You would have to get that done separately. Where are you based and how much are you offering them?

I think tidying could be an issue. We always leave our home ready for our cleaner to clean. We are a tidy household generally and tidy as we go along so never a case of spending hours tidying before hand. You’re looking for too much to be done in too short a time. Five bedroom house with three hours (which would need to include a 10/15 minute break really) to tidy toys and put away clothes, change beds, hoover and mop the floors and one of the sessions to also clean the bathrooms (as well as presumably dusting and wiping surfaces) and iron.

Also, we ask our cleaner to make the beds but we have the bed-linen removed beforehand. And I’ve found over the years that it can be difficult to find a good cleaner who is good at ironing. Some of them have been fantastic at cleaning but not great at ironing so I hire someone else for the ironing.

People are strange when it comes to larger homes. We have a 6 bed 5 bath. I have a cleaner twice a week but only for the rooms we use and main areas. I tried a new cleaner the other day as mine can’t work for the foreseeable and she told me she expected more money as it was a big house. I told her she was only cleaning the equivalent of a small house as she could ignore most of the rooms, but she wasn’t having any of it. Cheeky cow.

It's the timing. In my experience, cleaners are willing to tidy and/or iron BUT that has to be negotiated and it adds time.

I have a 3 bed, 2 bathroom house and I have cleaners who come in fortnightly and do 5-6 hours for a really good clean which always includes at least one "extra" eg cleaning the inside of the fridge one week, cleaning inside cupboards in the kitchen once a week etc. They change bedding and do light tidying - nothing major - mostly just picking up things and putting them into piles if they find them (inevitably mostly in the kids' rooms) but they don't iron.

So the total of 6 hours for your much bigger house with ironing is a ridiciulous ask in my opinion. Ironing alone could easily be an hour or more, depending on what needs ironing. Bedding changes - assuming for at least 3 0r 4 bedrooms is probably at least 30 minutes, if not a bit more. Vacuuming and mopping - for a house that size, and to do it, in effect, twice in those six hours? Come on, you can't be serious that you think it can all be done in that time.

Maybe put on the ad what you want doing so people know before applying

Yeah you’re looking for a housekeeper not a cleaner. Cleaners clean, they don’t tidy up or do the ironing. Making beds isn’t necessarily their domain either.

We are generally a tidy household and I find tidying takes very little time as we tidy as we go along/put things away when we’re finished with them, etc. From a young age, our children always tidied the playroom with us each evening and then progressed to doing it themselves. I have never wanted our children to feel they don’t need to tidy and care for their belongings or expect someone else to tidy up after them,

We have a cleaner as we have busy lives and can afford one. What we are paying for is someone to hoover, sweep/wash floors, clean bathrooms, wipe down kitchen presses and worktops, polish mirrors, dust frames and furniture, skirtings, doors, stairs, fireplace/hearths, etc, etc, Occasionally re-make beds but we mostly do that ourselves. Obviously, not everything needs to be done every visit but they have their routine of when they do each task. Our cleaner will do some minimal tidying, if something happens to be in the floor or kitchen table, they will put it back to where it belongs, they wouldn’t just mop around something but they are certainly not walking into an untidy house when they arrive.

It is a fantastic feeling coming home to a house where everything is sparkling and a big time saver.

I would send the ironing out, that will put loads of people off. Also, tidy up before the cleaner comes.
I am thorough but also fairly quick so would probably manage the rest in 2x 3hr visits

Its the ' putting toys away ' which is scaring them off. Cleaners do not like to TIDY or organise clutter. Its too overwhelming. Ironing is fine, laundry is fine. But TIDYING is a step too far.

As evidenced by many on here - cleaners may do a variety of jobs...

for us - similar size house (slightly fewer bathrooms, but possibly more downstairs rooms) - 5 hours once a week covers

• cleaning it all
• hoovering
• changing bedsheets (no kids - just two of us, but also spare bedrooms if used)
• ironing all our stuff (as above - two adults)
• general tidying to clean - we are quite tidy anyway, but if papers are on the coffee table they will be piled up tidily etc. - no actual tidying...

she is brilliant

Definitely housekeeper territory .. I have similar in similar sized house .. but have 12 hours a week for cleaning and ironing done separately by another wonderful lady … I would say you’re not giving the role nearly enough hours

I have a cleaner, she comes once a week for 5 hours (4 hours cleaning and 1 hour ironing). We live in a 2 bed 2 bath flat. She changes the beds and puts away toys, also deep cleans the kitchen or the bathrooms once a month (on rotation). She hoovers incl. skirting boards and does the windows. Also waters our plants (small balcony). I think you need to add more hours to your listing. We are in London and pay £20 p/h

Cleaners clean. dont tidy toys or change beds etc. You are looking for a full time house keeper

3 houses twice a week? Am i
missing something ??
I see you meant hours. How
much are you paying an hour ? And yes putting toys away is asking a lot

My cleaner comes into my 4 bed 3bath house every other week for 4 hours. Most of the house isn’t used so she doesn’t do it all, it’s always tidy for her to clean, when she’s done doing whatever I’ve asked for that week or whatever she thinks needs attending - she’ll do some ironing with the remaining time. She uses her brain and is flexible - I got her through a local agency. They seemed very switched on didn’t over egg the cleaning job - it’s been the easiest arrangement I have ever had. I think asking for toys and clothes to be put away is unusual but I don’t think it’s unreasonable.

Yes you are being unrealistic. 6 hours a week for a house that size. 2 of those hours would be taken up with hoovering/mopping floors as you want that done twice weekly. With the remaining 4 hours you want all 4 bathrooms cleaned, all the beds changed etc etc. if you want the job done properly you will need a minimum of 8 to 10 hours per week.

Most cleaners won’t change bed sheets, put washing away etc so maybe you need to specify and look for someone who is more like a housekeeper. Can’t see why the size of your house or time it takes would put someone off, you will be paying the same rate as anyone else hourly so can’t see why that would matter.