Can you give me an idea of what a cleaner might cost me please?

[urbanturban]

Just that really-going back to work after maternity leave with DC3 and dreading how much time the cleaning takes up. Looking to get a quote for a fortnightly clean but haven't a clue what a 'reasonable' price is!

House is 4 bed, completely carpeted upstairs, apart from bathroom. Bathroom has bath and large shower cubicle, fairly big floor space too. Downstairs has 20ft carpeted lounge/dining room, tiled kitchen, tiled downstairs bathroom, tiled utility room, with laminate in the hall, study and second sitting room/playroom.

Would be asking the company to do all floors, polishing/dusting rooms, cleaning bathrooms-what do you think a reasonable price would be please?

Also any tips/hints/pitfalls etc would be appreciated!

If I was in your area, I would be looking at charging £10-£12 an hour and would expect to be in your home 4 or 5 hours as it sounds quite big.
I would need to meet you at your home to discuss your need's, as it really depends on what you want doing. I don't do ironing, others do.
I tend to charge £15 for extras like ovens/fridge freezers/front and back doors/washing down woodwork etc (the as and when required kind of jobs)
At the end of the day it depends on the amount of work required and how long the job will take.
I would advise against using a large cleaning company as they charge more, I would suggest you advertise locally or ask locally for recommendations. Do not use the franchise companies they treat their staff terrible. May I suggest your first place of call would be asking the kitchen/cleaning staff at the local school/nursery.
I would however suggest you make a list and confirm with whoever you take on, that the jobs on the list are done fortnightly and any extra jobs be scheduled monthly.
I would suggest you also give whoever you take on a trial period and meet with your cleaner to clear up any misunderstandings or omissions. As these can arise, in that people have different ideas as to what is help and what is hinderance. One of my customers got quite irate because her perfume bottles where in a particular order on her dressing table and I kept moving them when dusting.

I pay 24 pounds a week for our cleaner. She is here for 3 hours and does all floors, bathrooms, dusting and polishing and wipes down kitchen.

House has 7 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, all carpeted except kitchen and entrance hall.

I am super tidy though and think this cuts down how much time it takes her to clean as she doesn't have to pick anything up or do any tidying at all.

Ours is 2 hours weekly for 4 bed house. I think you'd be better off with weekly rather than fortnightly as like this you'd keep on top of things - you know, the tidying up before the cleaner comes in :)

I have 2 hrs twice a week and pay £10/hr. This is a new arrangement though so I'm still learning as to what is realistic. It needs nearly every deep cleaning job done at the moment as I have 'let it go' so it will take a while to get back to normal!
I used to have a cleaner for 3hrs once a week but I found that it wasn't enough to get into a good routine with the deep cleaning alongside the more regular stuff.
This cleaner seems more thorough/has a clearer vision of what needs doing than my previous one so I will probably start paying her closer to £12/hr to reflect that - it is early days though!
We have a 5 double bedrooms (two used as offices), small ensuite shower room, small family bath, downstairs loo, small sitting room and another three fairly small reception areas and two dogs.
One of the reasons I love having a cleaner is that I want to do more! It is good to have a deadline to ensure the house is completely tidy etc. Also, if everything has been done to a good regular level I am much more inclined to tackle a deep cleaning/decluttering/organisation task myself.

I would charge you £45. It sounds like it would take roughly three hours to clean.

Cleaners can be as cheap as £8, but they may be hard to find.

Thanks all for your replies, and sorry for not checking back in sooner......it's the school/nursery holidays here in Scotland and with three DC under 5 it's a bit manic at the moment!

Got a quote last night which was £25 pw, and that was all floors, polishing/dusting and all bathrooms........looking at some of your replies here that seems really reasonable. The quote was from a cleaning company run by a parent of one of the kids in DD1's school class so I am pleased that it's a reasonable quote and that it's a 'homegrown' local company (thanks for the tips ccridersuz).

aftermay I said that to DH last night, I bet I am running around frantically tidying and cleaning before the cleaner comes!

You will :) as you won't want the cleaner to spend the time finding the floor and the counters but actually cleaning. Good luck. Sounds good, especially if someone local.

Hi urban - I live near you and am also looking for a good cleaner; will you please let me know if you find them good?

Thanks a million!