Is your cleaner paid by the hour or the job?

[windygallows]

If you have a cleaner do you pay them by the hour or by the set job? Just trying to see what the norm is before I query it.

My cleaners come weekly and do a set job for 50 pounds. They clean the kitchen, vaccuum, wash the bathroom and dust. They usually come in a group of two (there's three in the company) and can be in and out in 45 minutes. I do try and keep it really tidy for them so they can focus on cleaning and not picking up toys.

I never queried this arrangement a friend told me her cleaner comes for 4 hours @ 12 pounds/hour and does everything she can in that time - not only what I note above but also washing, ironing, washing windows etc. There's only one cleaner so obviously able to get less done than two I normally have.

At the moment I'm not sure I'm really getting value from my cleaners (also I really appreciate what they do and need them as a single parent working FT with 2DS). I think I need to raise this with them, but before I do wondered what the normal set up is out there.

Would be grateful to hear about your experiences.

Well you're paying them more than £25 an hour each. Which seems a high rate.

I pay for two hours, £10 an hour. But we did agree set jobs so if she does it quicker I guess she leaves earlier, but I don't really know as I'm not here when she comes.

I am a cleaner and get £10 an hour. Never been asked to be paid per job!

It sounds like you'd get more for an hourly rate.

£10 an hour and for that, she dusts throughout, hoovers throughout, cleans the bathroom and the downstairs toilet and changes beds as and when required.

Some weeks I win, some weeks I lose. But it works for both of us.

£25 is daylight robbery.

I pay £40 per week and my cleaner can be here 2 hours to 5 hours. Normally 3 hours.

She always does my ironing first, strips beds, plus general cleaning. And she's amazing !!!!!

I pay my cleaner £25 for 2.5 hours. In that time she cleans the bathroom, ensuite, 2 X bedrooms, hall, stairs and landing, downstairs loo, living room and kitchen. My House is pretty big so that's not all of it, and I'd say she surface cleans (ie doesn't pull out furniture etc).

I think you're being ripped off OP

Meant to add, I do the kitchen nobody does the kitchen to my standard. They can do it but not well enough, the rest of the house I am easy come, easy go, but not the kitchen.

Wow, that's a lot! I am a cleaner, private not through a cleaning company, have four local customers and charge £25.00 for 2 hours so £12.50 per hour. I'm in Greater London. I often go a little over the two hours until I'm happy with what I've done though and with my 93 year old lady (still charge £10 per hour, never put it up when my rates went up, just couldn't), I stay for a cuppa and biscuits and a chat and usually out after two and half hours. I've never heard of cleaners charging per job. Cleaning companies often charge more as they are taking a cut and the cleaner(s) are getting a percentage so they can be expensive. Why not look for a local cleaner, independent, not from a company. Local paper, online etc....

I pay £11 per hour and we agreed on three hours to achieve what I wanted cleaning. She usually gets it done a bit quicker but I don't really mind, I kind of see at she is here for a morning and wouldn't have time for a lunch break if she was going straight to another job so don't have an issue with it not being exactly three hours. If she wasn't doing everything agreed I guess I'd review that situation. It sounds like you are being ripped off.

I pay my cleaner £10 per hour. I pay her for 4 hours per week and in that time time she cleans my whole house (5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms) plus does one extra job per week eg Windows, oven, fridge.

I will add that I always tidy up so it's easy for her to get around.

What you're paying is a lot I'd say.

Thanks for all your comments and good to know that it's more common to pay by the hour than for the job. I can see the merit in paying 'by the job' as there's motivation to get it done quickly, but judging from everyone's comments it looks like I could probably get a lot more achieved if I asked them to agree on set hours.

They've also forgotten to vaccuum some rooms more than once and also spilled garbage all over the wall-to-wall carpet that I've had to get replaced so it's not been ideal.

They're not a company but a group of two/three women doing it together. I know they're not a company as they request everything is paid by cash (no business bank account) and don't have insurance - learned the hard way.

As i write I really think I need to get good cleaners. I just don't never have the time to sort it out and there are so few around here that I've been putting up with things.

Wow - I do think the 'per job' business model is better value in general and that's why we chose to offer that model, our clients get a standard service for a set amount based upon the scope of the work, but these sound just a bit rubbish, they don;t seem to have set out any any sort of service level to offer, it sounds like they just come in and 'do some stuff' then go!

I think you need to hire a professional service with insurances in place etc, could your friends or neighbours recommend a good service to you? These ones don;t seem to know how to provide a good clean at all.