Do I find a new cleaning lady?

[Nannaboppa]

Hi all I'm new to this site and after a bit of advice.
I've had my cleaning lady for over a year now & all is well. She's very good, reliable etc. I work from home some weeks when she is here. Last week she was cleaning my cupboard doors with a cloth I wouldn't use so I passed her another and asked her to use that, then she started mopping the floor without having vacuumed first, I've asked her to always vac it first as it gets very dusty, at which she turned to me & said I'd have to trust her to clean on her own or I'd have to find someone else!
Do I sack her & find someone else? I was a bit taken aback, it's my house & I want things doing my way.
Tia

Um

If you've liked the way she's done things for a year why question her methods now?

I'd get a new one, yes. Who mops before hoovering? And then gets arsey when questioned about it.

But how come you've been happy til now?

I'm not always in when she's there so I don't always see what she's doing, but when I am there I've noticed she doesn't do things the way I asked her initially.

I reckon you'd need a better reason to sack her than that.
Using a cloth you wouldn't use is tbh totally par for the course with cleaners - it can be irritating to find that someone has turned a nice tea towel into a ragged mess by using it on the windows, and sure, you can and should be able to give reasonable directions, but if you want things done in a very particular way, you can only be quite sure of that if you do it yourself.

So you care about process more than results?

But if you've been happy with the outcome surely it makes no odd how she goes about it.

I just believe that people should do as you aks them in your house Saga & Stealth but I suppose you have a valid point. I will have a rethink.

She's probably flummoxed that you pulled her up on something you've previously been happy about. Just have a chat with her, I'm sure she won't want to lose the work right before Christmas.

Op in all seriousness I appreciate she's self employed but you're talking about her like she's an appliance rather than a human being.

do as they are told????

I wouldn't have a homeowner instruct my cleaning staff on how to clean their home, we all clean to my methods not the clients, we are professional cleaners and homeowners are not and would not know how to be, we are certainly not the homeowners' employees to be instructed by them. They can buy our services or not but they cannot have a say in our methods of delivery of these.

Having said that I do think if a cleaning service provider is not vacuuming the floor before mopping it you would need to change providers. That is very unprofessional of a cleaning service and you can do better elsewhere. Even though you can't very well just start to direct their service yourself the answer is simple - just take your business elsewhere!

Please do not worry about her needing the work, cleaners are all inundated with far more demand for their work than they could ever supply, just get someone else who suits you better. I certainly would.

why on earth does she mop before hoovering? Se'll be wetting all the dust so it wont be picked up by the hoover. I'm a cleaner and if a client wants me to use a specific cloth i would use it (although ive never been asked to and bring my own) the hoovering after mopping i just cant get my head around.

Its quite insane- she'll be walking all over cleanly mopped floors to Hoover them with grubby hoover bristles. So she isnt leaving them clean. Mopping is the very last job i do to the point that i mop myself out of the house so no walking on mopped floors.

I'm with those who believe that if you employ someone to do a job for you, then you let them get on with it.
If you'd been unhappy with the end result over time, then fair enough, but, as you have apparently been happy with the end results, then continue to trust that, although you might do things differently if you were doing it - you're not. You are paying her to do her job, so let her get on with it.

I've had the same very reliable cleaning lady for five years and I've let her get on and do the job the way she feels is right because she is the expert and I am not. I wouldn't dream of telling her how to do her job.

dangly if I am paying for a service I want it done to my specifications, not the suppliers.
I would never use a supplier that disregarded my requirements.
My money, my decision!

jane that's absolutely your choice but within the cleaning industry we are independent contractors and, given a cleaning service provider is good, (although in this case that is obviously not the case) there will always be far more demand than we can supply therefore we can pick and choose our clients.

Speaking for my own business and many others, we simply cannot hire and train fast enough to meet demand in which we find ourselves and I think I speak for most of the domestic cleaning business owners across the UK I have the good fortune to communicate with as per one of my roles within a trade association, although superb customer service is imperative, the majority of us would not continue to work for a client who tried to direct our service, all of a client's requirements and whether our service can meet these should be discussed and established at the point of sale and then, we only provide service for those clients for whom we are a good match but fortunately for all of us the vast majority of our potential clients are really lovely respectful people who have genuinely need for our services without any hidden agenda and whom we are a great client/company match for.

Having said that - the customer must indeed be satisfied with the service provider, this is the crux of the relationship and in this case that is not the case and therefore I really think the OP should seek another cleaning service as the one she is receiving really is extremely substandard and unprofessional.

There will be many other services able to perform better than that, if a cleaner does not vacuum before he/she mops they have not a clue how to clean correctly to be perfectly honest and they don't deserve the job.

Ok but if I require a certain standard and I'm not getting it I will tell any subcontractors to fuck off.
My money my choice.

I have always given a spec which includes what I want, including cleaning.materials, and exactly what I want cleaning.

I think it's easier to do the cleaning myself cos it's done how I want it.
However it's not the right choice for the business

There was a thread on here about mopping before vacuuming and vice versa, and both sides defended their method. I always vacuum first though.

Here it is