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 should also add on cleaning days I get up an hour before I leave for work and before the cleaner arrives, I do this specifically to tidy and make sure the toilets are decent (again 4 kids!!) so I know the condition the house is left in is nice.

I`ve never had a cleaner id rather do it myselfe.
Being a minimalist i dont have much to clean anyway.

This. I’ve had two fantastic cleaners - both polish. The second one did four hours a week and worked like a dervish. Tidied, cleaned put on a load of washing- she was amazing and this was in a house with three messy children and two full time working adults. I had no luck after she left - lots of feeble, lazy cleaners who thought it was beneath them. I’ve given up now.

What on earth are fag farts??

no advice sorry, I’ve currently got a wonderful new cleaner. So far reliable, good standard. Found her on Facebook local group recommended. I do tidy up before she comes because I’d rather she spent her time actually cleaning than picking up after us.

Pls come and do my house!!

I find the day our cleaner comes exhausting. We are an untidy household so have to get up early to tidy round! She certainly moves things to clean under them as I find the bathroom shelves and window sills all beautifully arranged after she has been.

Farts that smell of fags. We only had her round once (sent via an agency), and she would let out the most horrendous fag fart stench as she cleaned. She also smoked out the window towards the end of the clean.

Sadly not otherwise I would of loved to come in and show you what a proper cleaner can do 😀

My experience is that most cleaners do not do the job as well as you would do it yourself if you did it. I refuse to use agencies because they generally only clean and don’t tidy and I also don’t want to pay for a middle man.

Oh I could write a book...! From the one that did a 2.5 hour clean in 20 mins when we were on holiday (ring doorbell busted them 👀), to the one that insisted they were fine with our dog on the 'test visit' then sent a poor petrified woman round who hated dogs to do the regular clean, to the one that took the whole 2 hour slot cleaning the downstairs loo 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣. Had another who insisted on tidying and not cleaning, and many many more who were unreliable, shit, or just didn't do what we asked.

No tips sorry, just solidarity! We found someone eventually, that's okay ...

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned.,….
I’ve had my cleaner now for about 8 years.
At first she used to break so many things and was generally dreadful.
I didn’t sack her because I felt sorry for her being so clumsy. Anyhow she’d already broken almost everything breakable!
Over the years she’s really improved and now I would classify her as a very good cleaner.
So perhaps sometimes worth persevering and they may improve with time?

I've had them all. A woman who was so scared of spiders, or anything that looked liked a spider, she couldn't enter the room. This would include a black hair bobble, a thread of black string etc.

A woman who trauma dumped about her daughters MH problems ans stealing, then tried to bring the daughter cleaning with her.

People who seemingly can't tell the time and have a loose interpretation of what 2 hours looks like.

Agency cleaners who called me every 5 minutes to point out a flaw in my paintwork/ furniture, lest they be accused of causing it.

I have a lovely cleaner now, she's an absolute dynamo and achieves in 2 hours what would take me 4. But she's hugely unreliable.....I've decided to stick with her as the least worst option.

One thought - find a cleaner who doesn't expect to be paid in cash. A diligent tax payer might make a more diligent cleaner.

We have the same and every so often you find a gem and you hold on to them for as long as you can. One thing I've learnt is that to be fair you have to give them at least 4 go's to get used to your house. I thought I would have to let our current cleaner go when she first started but it just took her a few weeks to get up to speed. Scattered in between the gems have been some disasters. The one who did absolutely nothing and the one who plastered photos of our house on her social media without permission stand out.

I have never had a bad cleaner and they stay with me for years. However I never go through an agency I just advertise locally. I pay above the going rate, and give a bonus at Christmas. I never ask them to do what I would not happily do myself and the house is tidy as I don’t want them to waste time tidying up. I make it very clear but politely what and how I want something done, and I always thank them for their hard work and compliment them on how nice everything is when they leave.
having said this I used to live in leafy suburbia and now in a small country village and I always choose women that seem to like housework. I avoid young women who are only doing it because they are between jobs and feel housework is beneath them. Which I ( perhaps wrongly) assume all that is available in busy towns and cities.

Just caught mine mopping my bathroom floor with the filthy water she’d used to mop the entire ground floor. Gone through so many cleaners haven’t got the strength to start again

It is like any job! You have to find someone who actually enjoys cleaning and is really clean and tidy themselves. Add in someone who is discrete as well and has some experiencing of cleaning schools or hospitals, you will find a great cleaner.

It feels very random trying to find someone good. I've had cleaners who did a great job (mum and daughter working together) but regularly cancelled on us at the last minute. Then I used a big franchise company who were pretty rubbish at actually cleaning, and cost an absolute fortune. But now we use a small local company who are really great. She set up a year ago, there's only a few of them, the lady in charge communicates brilliantly, and they all clean amazingly with really good attention to detail. It costs me less than half what we were paying, so I can have them every week instead of fortnightly. I just took a chance based on her Facebook advertising, but so glad I did.

This is true. I have low expectations of the first visit. I know it's possible to do my house in four hours but no-one manages it first time.

My best cleaner was hugely unreliable, let me down frequently at short notice because of issues with children ( childcare, sickness, school refusal). She was so good I overlooked it but eventually her chaotic home life got the better of her and gave it up.

Interesting, I’m glad it’s not just me.
Our current cleaner does things her way, and her way only. She spends such a long time cleaning the tiniest bathroom in the world that there’s no time for the rest of the house. She is refusing to use the vacuum attachments to get the edges and corners, so I have to go round and do them after she’s gone. DH says ‘just get someone else’, to which I replied, ‘No YOU get someone else’.

Hard agree with this its definitely a skill and probably under appreciated and under paid for the really good ones. Agree that lots of people probably think they can do it/go into it without the interest in it or skills.

Use an agency. Then if you aren't happy they will change your cleaner. My first ever cleaner was just so slow and spent ages rearranging magazines and fluffing cushions. She was quickly replaced when I spoke to the agency.

I have had quite a few cleaners over the years, and many have been strange characters, but I don't mind quirkiness, and as long as the job has been done to a good standard at the end, I don't care if they have their quirks.

I also make sure the house is tidy though before they come. I pay them to clean, not to tidy. That's on you to make sure the house is tidy when the cleaner is coming.

I also make myself absent when they clean. This might be working in the study/garden, or I try to go out such as for a swim or to walk the dog. They can't chat to you then. Although I do always chat for a couple of minutes when they arrive if I am there

My current cleaner isn't with an agency. She came recommended by a friend. I think most of her customers are recommendations and she doesn't often have vacancies.

I had one cleaner who used to bring her own brushes to clean the tops of the skirting boards. And she had her own invention made of stuffed tights to clean behind radiators.

I don't think I've ever been more in love in my life.

My current one isn't a patch on her but a good cleaner is rarer than a hens tooth.

I think there are a lot of people who like the idea of £20 plus quid an hour but don't know how to clean properly to a professional standard. And yes finding someone who will clean AND change bedding is rare as hens teeth. Don't get me started on agencies who you have to pay an always strange sum each month but ALSO remember to get cash to pay the cleaner separately. I only ever found one great cleaner who sadly moved away, the others were either rubbish, left after just over an hour when paid for 2 hours etc, one actually left the place dirtier, lots of dark hairs belonging to her other clients courtesy of filthy cloths. I don't bother with a cleaner now.