Hired 10+ cleaners… all have been crap in some way.

[CleanerWoes]

I should start by saying I am good client - pay on time, cash, 3 hours every week, very rarely cancel. I don’t have unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved in the time limit, nor am I fussy about the cleaning really - just need it to be clean enough until the next week. I’m not tight with my budget, I have paid up to £30 per hour in the past. I am self-employed myself, so I totally get some of the difficulties with being self-employed, too.

I’ve now hired (and had to get rid of) over 10 cleaners. Some have been horrendously unreliable - cancelling just before they are meant to be here, or not telling me at all, just not turning up. Some have spent ages chatting to me, or any other family member they can, up to 30 minutes chatting not cleaning (I have teenagers who feel too awkward to say anything or to walk away). Cleaners who trauma dump and tell me really intimate and inappropriate details about their private lives. I have had cleaners who were rubbish at cleaning. I’ve had cleaners who tidied but didn’t clean. I had one cleaner who smoked out the window and would do fag farts around the house 🤢

My current cleaner is good at cleaning, however insists they do not tidy. That sounds fine, right? I’m not an untidy person at all, but like most people, there may be a pair of shoes on the floor…they won’t even pick a cushion up off the floor, they will hoover and mop around it! When I messaged to ask why they hadn’t cleaned under the pillow (I did so in a light-hearted, almost joke way), they replied saying they don’t tidy so anything out of place won’t be moved. Similarly, they don’t move anything from surfaces as ‘they might break it’, they don’t move photo frames, lamps, nothing…

How do I find someone decent, any tips? I need a cleaner as DH and I work 12 hour days…

I have mine via an agency. Had to send a few back because they weren’t good…. Current one has been with us for 15 years and is the most amazing cleaner we’ve ever had. Generally I find the ones from Eastern Europe the best, especially if not young. Don’t chat beyond a friendly, how are the kids, and just get on with it, properly (the English ones we had spend a lot of time explaining why they couldn’t do something)

I’ve had cleaners ruin things as well, one sprayed bleach all over our wooden table and took all the varnish off…

We had ours for 2.5 yrs. She was really good at cleaning but would also cancel at short notice ar least once a month and didnt work the summer holidays (understandable due to her kids). She moved out of London in July. I haven't bothered to replace. I clean myself on days off. Its working for me for now and I am saving money.

it’s not at all helpful to your post but we have rinsed through cleaners for similar reasons (including via agencies) and I now do my own cleaning (alongside a more then full time job for me and DH and 3 kids). I think the main problem is that anyone thinks they can be a cleaner for a bit (or a lot!!!) of cash but they really can’t. Most are crap, My mum was a cleaner and stayed years with her clients who were devastated when she retired but she took great pride in what she did and saw it as more of a housekeep role,

This is the very reason I wouldnt get a cleaner, I know I wouldnt be happy.

I hate strong chemical cleaners, I am a hot water, dish soap and elbow grease kind of cleaner so they would hate me anyway!
I also am a very fast worker so my expectations would be too high.

My experience is similar. I've had my current cleaner for a very long time, and she does some of the things you mention (cancels at short notice/ just informs me when she is or isn't coming, doesn't tidy, etc) and actually even sometimes overchargers me for time she hasn't actually spent. I can't bear the thought of looking for someone else though for all the reasons you mention, and hate cleaning so put up with it.

I agree - cleaning is a skill, and one that my cleaner does so much better than me. Sure, everyone can clean their own stuff to their own standard, but being a cleaner, and cleaning professionally is a skill

Exactly - and when you are asking £20-30 per hour which they all do here (south east) I expect a bloody good job!

I had some amazing cleaners, some shockingly bad ones which made my house look even worse 🤪and most very mediocre ones. I now clean myself as it’s a lot easier to put up with badly done cleaning when I haven’t paid someone else to do it. When I clean I actually pretend I am cleaning someone else’s house and getting paid for it as I think that means I do a better job 😆

I'm going through the same. I posted this on another thread.
DH and I are retired and have a large house. We don't need a cleaner but it's nice and there have been times due to health issues that I really did need help. Having someone once a month while we do the rest works well.

When we first lived here 40 years ago I had a succession of good cleaners. All left for good reasons. Even when I had small children I always tidied because I hate cleaning and want the cleaner to spend her time cleaning.

I have found that they all have quirks. One used to be hyperactive and banged the furniture and skirting boards a lot, but she cleaned like a dose of salts.
One used to moan and complain all the time carrying a black cloud of gloom around with her. When she started telling DH off for something she had to go.

More recently I had a lovely woman who did a brilliant job. She had a difficult and chaotic home life with four DC who were all a problem. She used to let me down at short notice over and over but I never minded as she did such a brilliant job and I wanted to support her and wasn't desperate. Unfortunately she gave it up in the end.

My recent search has been odd.

They all seem to want to bring their own cleaning products which I'm not keen on. One came for four hours and only managed upstairs.
Another responded to my enquiry saying she brings her baby and so needs frequent (unpaid) breaks. My house is not geared up for a one year old and I don't want that.
One wouldn't give me her hourly rate because she "likes to look at the house first".
I've seen a couple advertised on FB with a hideous AI generated ad, anonymous post and so no clue who they are or where from.
I have one who seems normal so far and agreed to come. She didn't turn up.

They all seem to charge £20 an hour. It's a rural area in the North.

Last week I found another. Different in many ways as she's never cleaned before but is setting up a business and taking on some cleaning to pay the bills . She was an absolute joy. However she's obviously got higher standards than me and spent too much time deep cleaning so didn't get round the whole house. I've booked her again and hopefully I can be more prescriptive next time.

I’m just at a loss of what to do really. I’ve done agencies and had bad experiences with them too, I don’t understand why it’s so difficult to find someone decent.

Interesting, maybe I need to advertise for a housekeeper rather than a cleaner.

It’s a big generalisation there but from my own experience I’d have to agree - have had some rubbish ones but for years now we’ve had a lovely older Bulgarian lady. We have to communicate in gestures but she’s so great! Though today she amused me by creeping around trying to listen to the builders we have in to figure out what language they were speaking. Apparently Polish according to her!

How is everyone sourcing cleaners? Mine are generally coming from recommendations from Facebook.

We've had a few in the last 6 years and the few that were very good left for varying reasons. We started with an agency when I had my son and had a few different ones week to week but they were all quite good then the owner told me they could no longer clean my house in the same amount of time (despite doing it for 2 years) so we quit the agency. Got a recommendation from Facebook for a local lady. She came twice and didn't finish in the time either time. First time her daughter was unwell and second time she was so slow she only did upstairs in a 4 bed in 3 hours so we moved on. Another recommendation for an agency and had a good cleaner then the prices went up and we found out none we being passed onto the cleaners so we left the agency but pay the cleaner privately now. She's ok, no great but it's a toss up between finding someone new/doing it ourselves and putting up with it being ok to keep us ticking over week to week. So for now, we just keep the arrangement because neither of us has the time or want to have to do cleaning every week.

I have only ever had one good British cleaner. Try to get an Eastern European one if at all possble - not only do they clean well and make it sparkle they are reliable and professional.

Unfortunately we (British) aren’t taught to be professional and instead of just texting to say “ very sorry I can’t make it this week” they would phone and give a long story why not or ask to make alternative arrangement - I was just so busy I did not have capacity and it did my head in.

I have no idea where the “I don’t tidy” thing comes from - maybe insurance? But given these are not unionised employees I find it really annoying. I’m not asking them to spend extra time tidying, it all comes out of the 3 hours.

I don’t have an untidy home, I could understand more if it was toys everywhere, clothes all over floor etc. but it might be the odd shoe, a cushion (I have 4 children!!) but I pride myself on a tidy home. Not picking up a cushion and instead hoovering and mopping around it seems really petty to be honest.

This is why i do my own cleaning. I'm paying myself and am better value XD

Unfortunately, IME, you might have to live with "I don't tidy".

My cleaner has a quirk where they fold/tidy up anything they can get their hands on when I'd rather they were remembering that this week the skirting boards needed doing (they will literally fold the dirty laundry in the damn basket if you accidentally leave it in sight).

But after various quirks of unpunctual, chatty, bad cleaners etc, we've realised we have to settle for a quirk we can live with...

Can you tell the kids that the cleaner doesn't tidy, so can they pickup stray cushions, clothes,shoes...?

Since lockdown my cleaner has effectively been replaced by a Robot Vacuum cleaner and mop.

I'm a cleaner I don't think I've even had to cancel. Would always pick stuff up off the floor. I always see posts on here about people saying their cleaners left early also. I'd be mortified. I love to clean so that helps me to do a good job. A lot of my customers say they have had cleaners before. Who cancelled last minute or weren't very good. You just need to find a good one.

Yes it's the only time I use FB, looking for trades. I join all the surrounding village groups.

I have to say that one of my failures was a lovely Polish lady who only managed to do upstairs in four hours. Not even all the bedrooms.

You don’t happen to be in the South East?! 😂

Yes, but with four kids and needing to leave early morning (before the cleaner arrives), it’s inevitable there will be something left out. If you saw my house you’d be surprised there are four kids here, I often get complimented on how minimalist, tidy etc it is. As I said, I get it if it were a sty, but not even picking up a stray cushion or shoe because you don’t tidy seems really bizarre to me! Surely it’s more effort to hoover and mop AROUND it 😂