How much do you pay for a cleaner?

[cardy]

We have decided to get a cleaner, 2-3 hours a week will probably suffice. I have no idea what is an acceptable rate of pay/how much do they charge. The type of cleaning would probably involve cleaning the bathroom, hovering upstairs, cleaning the floors downstairs and some dusting and polishing.

What do you pay? I am in a city outside London if that make a difference.

I am a self employed domestic cleaner in Gwent south wales. I tend to spell it out clearly before I start to work for anyone what my going rate is and that I expect a rise of 25p per hour every October. My going rate as from this week is £7.50 per hour, today was the first time I had a problem asking for my rise. The lady I worked for (only 1 hour) said 25 pence was far too much. None of my other customers complained. There's always one!

...For that particular amount of work; Over here,We place Ads on all of the
Bulletin Boards at the supermarkets,laundromats...and a few Posters on Tele-
phone poles. The Ads state that "You will be paid in Cash.Pay is $ 5.00 a Room"
No one has much money at hand over here.People are Grateful to earn....
Anything. After a few hours of work,since we Cater...we give our house-keeper
a fine gourmet lunch...also we pay for their Transportation.Jill.

hello, I have worked as a cleaner for someone. I have been self employed as cleaner.
We are in 2012 and cleaners should charge £10.00 per hour, why? Because we are expected to clean bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms and any other rooms that need cleaning. We are expected to do all that in the space of 2 hours because people think its 'only cleaning' but you wouldn't clean everything in 2 hours no way, yet cleaners are expected to do all that and more in two hours polishing, dusting, hoovering, mopping, whipping, cookers, fridges, people dont clean their fridges every week or their ovens every week but expect a cleaner to do so in the space of 2 hours.
I was also expected to Iron a basket full of clothes and in them where knickers and boxer shorts which they wouldn't do them selves.
Im a very intelligent women and have worked in public services within the local government, I noticed how little people think of you when you clean for them. They don't realise you might be more educated and intelligent than they are just because you clean doesn't mean your stupid.

I challenge anyone to clean the full house as expected of a 'cleaner' in 2 hours!
I will not charge any less than £10.00 and I advice all cleaners to do the same and not be short changed by the people who want them to do everything of as little as possible.

I was paying a cleaner £10/hr but I now do it myself. I would be more than willing to pay more than that for a cleaner who could use their initiative and clean properly and efficiently - up to £15/hr. I wasn't happy to continue paying my last cleaner £10/hr to wipe, rearrange and plump when I just wanted things to be cleaned properly though.

Essex I pay £10.00 an hour

£7.50-£10.00 ph

£10/hr is pretty normal these days.

I charge a flat rate based on wanting £15 an hour. I've earned anywhere from £9-£22.50 an hour in actual practice, but on average it's about £14 an hour.

Gawd, I am paying way over the odds. My cleaner is charging £12 ph in the North, and he refuses to do certain jobs (changing the bed - why is this so yucky?)

Thank you so much for starting this thread OP I kept meaning to canvas MNrs about cleaning rates ....I don't mind paying so long as someone is doing a really thorough job, which of course he is not at the moment. Got to bite the bullet and speak to him.

I'm in the North and I'd say the majority of cleaners advertising their services charge £12 an hour or slightly more. There are also some at £10 an hour, but they're less likely to be advertising.

I've been doing domestic cleaning for a couple of years now as it fits perfectly in with my children being in full time school & to be honest I do actually enjoy cleaning & making a home smell & look nice :) I don't think anyone should do this for a living or take someone's hard earned money from them, if they don't genuinely put their heart into it.
I charge £7 an hour, have done for the past 2 years & should probably put it up really!! I have a great relationship with all my customers, have the keys to their homes & take pride in the fact they trust me with this & doing a job that makes them feel great when they get in from a long day at work & takes a huge load of their shoulders!!
It all depends on the size of the persons house, it can take me 4 hours to do a big 4 bedroom detached home with 2 bathrooms & a pile of ironing & I never stop for a break/cuppa whatsoever. But then a small 2/3bedroom terraced/semi can take 2 hours inc some ironing. It comes down to trust with the person who's cleaning your home, knowing they are there working not dragging their feet & trust them to charge however long they have been there :)

Resurrecting this thread. What's the going rate in London?

£8 an hour; my cleaner does a whopping 10 hours a week includes ironing though.I have two under three and I work from home when the children are sleeping so she also does tidying. TBH I'd rather have a clean and lovely house and work whilst the children sleep than pay for childcare whilst I'm working then clean whilst the children sleep IYSWIM.

Between ten and twelve pounds an hour in Derbyshire, agencies are around fifteen.

Also, forgot to ask, do you pay them if you are away so they don't work?

Mine gets £10 an hour but keeps hinting about holiday pay.

Some people pay when they go away, but most just have the cleaner come in as usual while they are gone.

It's a bit annoying to cancel cleaning when you don't need it. If someone does that too often, I warn them that I can't promise to hold their place in my schedule.

I don't expect to be paid when I cancel for any reason. I have to budget my money accordingly.

But, if you do the maths on the equivalent pay for an employee, with NI and holidays, you will see that £10 an hour isn't that much especially considering the time and costs of transportation between houses.

Thanks Katy.
I don't cancel other than about two weeks a year and give her a nice Xmas bonus plus paid her when she had to have an op but she is away four weeks and I don't see why I should pay then.

Whilst you are here, she uses the phone a lot whilst she cleans, albeit with a headset which bugs me as her work is a bit poorer than I think it should be and also it's annoying as I'm trying to work. How can I tackle this without upsetting her...we are quite friendly as I can't do that employer formality thing with her!