What can a cleaner do in 2 hours?

[Paintyourbox]

I used to have a cleaner who was recommended by a friend but she started not turning up for weeks on end so we have parted company.

I am now looking for someone to do 2 hours one week and 3 hours next week. We live in a 2 bed, 2 bathroom house.

In 2 hours I would like the kitchen and bathroom cleaned thoroughly, downstairs loo cleaned and house hoovered. Is this reasonable? The extra hour on alternate weeks would be for ironing.

I always do a tidy round the night before so nothing needs to be put away as such.

Is it cheeky for me to ask for the beds to be changed?

The going rate around here for a cleaner is £12 an hour I do my little cleaning job for a lot less than that but its a peice of piss job, if not a bit knackering. Its good exercise ;)

Thank you lucy, I did consider it, but my employer does do lots - all the bits of running a cleaning business that I don't want to do (and as my DH is away a lot, don't have any support). I am also a self employed tutor (yes, I have training, experience, etc) and I charge about 3x - 4x for that to cover preparation, materials, admin, travel, etc.
The only time we get what we are worth is when we are with loved ones.
For that reason, I choose to work pt, and I need to have a caring aspect to my job, get a lot of job satisfaction from what I do, and the fabulous customers I have. I don't thinl I could find the customers on my own.
Am considering retraining for career in DH's line of work, but it is office based and I would probably get stir crazy.

This is a very interesting thread. I think am being ripped off!

The cleaners from the agency I have kerp changing week to week so never know where anyghing is. But they are always tutting & shaking their heads about cleaning my one bed flat in 2 hours.

So far I had one cleaner do the bathroom ONLY (& no, it wasn't grim, just a normal very small bathroom) plus galley kitchen floor in an extra 30 mins! The next cleaner next week managed the bathroom and kitchen (surfaces, floor, hob & some washing up), but not living room or bedroom...

The next cleaner used a Brillo pad to clean the toilet without any products, then smeared it over all surfaces, tiles & bath ... The bathroom stank of stale urine (I guess someone just before didn't flush either)... I had to employ another cleaner to get the mess sorted - I'm disabled hence the cleaner.

This week I made sure the cleaner overlapped with my PA so she could really manage her time & tasks properly, & it worked much better, even got a quick whip round of Hoover in bedroom. However, doing it this way means I pay the grand total of £54 pounds in wages to get my tiny flat cleaned!!!!

Grrr, can I have a nice & efficient cleaner please like some of the posters?

Doublelife it's hard to find a good cleaner.

I have had a number over the years, the worst being the lady that stole Tesco vouchers from us ( and the even worse cleaning agency treatment of me when I let them know) and the best being the current one - fingers crossed I can keep her.

I'm so glad she runs her own business so I don't need to pay for agency fees any more - I felt really bad paying someone just a little bit over minimum wage and an agency the additional £2.50 an hour just for them to be as good as a chocolate tea pot when I actually had a problem.

It sounds as if your cleaners don't know what they are doing - people think cleaning is an easy job but actually there is a real knack to it particularly if you are fitting in a number of jobs in a short period of time. I'd ask friends for recommendations or post in mumsnet local to get a new cleaner. I'd also complain a lot to the agency or get your PA to do it as maybe you can sort it that way.

Yes i get what you mean there happyturquoise - i have a PhD in biochemistry but i love my little cleaning job because i turn up, zone out and do it. No worries. DP is a builder i do the admin, its stressfull!