Cleaners - what do yours do?

[WittgensteinsBunny]

So, I'm struggling with late pregnancy, a toddler and keeping on top of everything. Something has to give! I'm thinking having a weekly clean will just make life easier. And I think this may be the case when baby #2 arrives.

We live in a small 3 bed terrace. But only use one bedroom (co-sleeping toddler with cot bed in our room), guest room, toddlers room (just toys and general dumping ground).

So, upstairs (1 bedroom): it would be Hoover the bedroom, change the bed, wipe / polish two chest of drawers.

Downstairs (front room, kitchen and bathroom): Hoover, mop floors (all wooden or stone), clean 1 bathroom, bit of dusting in front room, bit of wiping in the kitchen.

The company I'm keen to use also offer a laundry service. Washing is something that seems to take over in our house. What would be realistic to expect? A load of bed linen ready for the next week?

Could they wipe the windows in this time too?

We'd be looking at 2 hours a week. Is this realistic?

We can do a small one-bedroom home in two hours or a little more (team of two for 1 hour maybe 1 hour 15 mins) we do not do laundry but if we did we would charge it out as an additional service.

The windows and paintwork are washed as included within our service however not all companies include details like windows and paintwork, most charge them as extra.

We charge out bed change as an extra but a token amount (£2 per bed)

Every service has a different business model so it depends what they can do for you - any reputable service owner or rep will come round and discuss your needs before a time/price is set.

Do not touch cash in hand types, they are cheap but it is not a legal arrangement and they will not be covered for the damage they cause (seen it all!) You need a legal arrangement, make sure they are insured, tax registered and legit for your safety.

You should get what you describe for in the region of £30-35 but it could cost a lot more if you go down the franchise route, and agency may do it for less but results can be erratic. Small companies tend to offer best value for money or individuals trading legally but these tend to be fully-booked, you can go on their waiting list if you don't mind a delay although my friend had people on hers for over two years! We decided to grow our company but still get full quickly - you can't find the staff!!

Good luck finding a good service match for your needs, I hope it works out!