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.

Yes but she’s expecting quite a lot of it (mopping and hoovering) to be done twice

To be fair it’s not quite clear what she is expecting - as in hoovering and bathrooms could be done in one of the 3 hour blocks and beds/window cleaning/ironing could be done in the other 3 hour block. This is why it is important to have an open and realistic conversation about expectations.

If you were a new customer of mine I would suggest I do 3 hours of basic cleaning - e.g floors, bathrooms, sides and changing beds. Then the other 3 hours ironing (agree what is reasonable) quick wipe of bathrooms and floors and 1 ‘big’ job e.g skirting board/window - whatever you think.

Not for the size of house

5 bed
4 bath
toilet
3 x living spaces
kitchen

I remember when my kids were smaller it took me ages to pick up all the stuff from the floor. Hoovering was done quickly but preparation for that took ages😱🤦‍♀️

After the first couple of weeks that could easily be kept on top of by the cleaner thus giving them plenty of time to do other chores.
Going to sound like a twat now but the difference is finding a cleaner who actually enjoys it and takes pride in it and having a cleaner who does it just for the flexible hours and the cash. I honestly loved doing it and making a difference in someone’s house - I worked like a beast to ensure each time they got home something else had been cleaned that they hadn’t realised needed cleaning! If only I could apply that to my own house 🤣

Ha ha I actually had one client who said I didn’t need to hoover as she could do that in 10mins - she just wanted me to clear the toys and put them away ready for her to hoover 🤣

If it’s a total of 6 hours to do it all then that’s fine but if it’s m expected that it all gets done twice a week (3 hours each time) it’s too much

True. That’s why op needs to discuss with any prospective cleaner about realistic expectations. Last thing she wants is someone promising they can do it all and then slacking and having resentment on both sides. Best to be realistic up front.
Op - maybe do what you expect a cleaner to do and time yourself - then maybe add on an hour because they don’t know your house like you do and they will likely want to do a bit more - then see how much time you need from someone