Cleaner started today....should I give her a second chance?

[emski1972]

Ok so my cleaner started today. 2.5 bed terrace cottage...
The floors downstairs look dirty, she hasn't hoovered under the rug so there is dirt at the edge and there is dog fluff under the sofa, the toliet is not as clean as when I do it. There is fluff in one bedroom on the carpet that I noticed last night and didn't pick up ( that almost killed me) and she didnt dust the windowsill...jeez is it me?
She left the tap dripping and flooded the worktop and didn't clean behind the bin in the kitchen or bread bin...aaghgahgahgha

I would give her another chance but be very specific about what you want done and how it differs from what does.

I have a cleaner through an agency and they don't move furniture. They are also worse at most things than I am but I really don't want to do it myself!

Yeah it's you, sounds like you're just looking for reasons to do the cleaning yourself.

Did you give her a clear list of what you wanted her to do?

I wouldn't be happy with that level of cleaning to be honest, as it sounds like she didn't Hoover upstairs by the fluff evidence :) but depends on how long she was there and what she actually did do.

Did you specifically tell her to move furniture to clean underneath? I don't think most cleaners do that as a matter of course (not every week anyway.)

Ha seriously it's not me. I work full time, travel have two little kids and just split up with the husband...I NEED a cleaner. Honestly I don't want to clean my house ( working from home today hence my inspection...) Wouldn't you want the sink and loo pedestal cleaned?

Ok I would have thought you'd move the bread bin to wipe behind it or hoover behind a free standing kitchen bin and the sofa you can easily hoover under as its got legs... This is my first cleaner so just testing the water. She was here 2 hours...£10 ph. Maybe I need to try another out..

2 hours isn't very long. Perhaps it would be better to ask her to deep clean a specific room or 2 each time for an hour then an hour of superficial cleaning all round.

I think she hasn't done a great job, if it's a "spruce" clean and assuming it doesn't look like something of the C4 obsessive cleaning programme with six years of grime or obsessive hoarders then from what you describe it doesn't sound a lot.

In kitchen, i would expect things to be moved for counters and splash backs to cleaned. And a quick wipe down of things like the bread bin. I'd expect the bin to be moved the floors to be hoovered and mopped. I also have shiny cupboards so would want those to be wiped down too. Sink all shiny and defiantly the windowsills having a quick wipe.

In bathrooms, I'd want loo cleaned including the bottom bit, mirrors polished, floors hoovered and moped. Any surfaces polished/wiped down.

Living Room i wouldn't expect all the furniture to be moved for a spruce, but I'd expect rug to be lifted up and hoovered under along with under any freestanding furniture. I'd expect surfaces to be polished and cushions to be plumped up if they were not already (they would be)

Same again with bedrooms, hoovered, polished including windowsills

Quick hoover of landings and stairs including the edges :) DP forgets the edges

I can't see how that would take more than two hours, in fact I would do a lot more but I work quick and am crazy enough to like cleaning that would be my minimum expectation.

I would also be prepared to be told my minimum spruce was not achievable in two hours, and accept that if that was the case. But I don't have a lot of surface clutter so it would be a case of not having to move lots of things to do these jobs.

Firstly, her first visit will always be hardest, since there's an accumulation of stuff to do. Invite her back, walk her through what needs doing step by step, ask her if two hours is enough.

total rooms, divided by time there = amount of time per room.
so you have 2.5 bed rooms (how a room is half a bedroom I don't actually know)
then at least one bathroom
then a living room
a kitchen
stairs
a dining room?

6.5 rooms, maybe 7.5 if you have a diner.

so 6.5 divided by 2 hours, 120 minutes.
18.4 minutes per room.
then you need to take time off that for getting the equipment ready, filling a bucket, moving from one room to the next, emptying dirty water, refilling, putting hoovers back etc etc.
I'd say, average it to 15 minutes per room.
I doubt you'll get sparkling, spotless, everything moved, cleaned and replaced in that time unless your rooms are tiny?

I think a ,lot of people think cleaners are some kind of super human person that turn into Taz with two dusters as soon as they enter the house. Y'all have to be realistic, I cant tell if you are or youre not because I don't know how big your house is.

Yes, what Essential said. Walk through step by step.

I used have a cleaner for 2 hours for a 4-bed. She didn't do the spare bedroom or rarely used dining room unless I asked, and then she would miss one of the kids rooms.
In those 2 hours she;

• brushed and mopped the kitchen, utility, conservatory, hall & downstairs loo. This would take me the best part of an hour in itself.
• vacuumed lounge, playroom, stairs & landing, 3 bedrooms, ensuite & main bathroom.
• cleaned 3 loos & sinks (I never noticed pedestals being dirty so assume she did them). I did the shower & bath separately.
• cleaned kitchen & utility sinks and work surfaces.
• wiped down all windowsills in the above rooms, including all round the conservatory, and all furniture - kitchen table, hall unit, lounge coffee table, 2 units & TV unit, playroom 2 units, bedroom side tables & chest of drawers. She probably did mirrors too.

I'm not sure what a 2.5 bed terrace means (box room?) but an assuming you don't gave masses of downstairs space and probably only 2 bathrooms max?
Given that it sounds like for 2 hours she has done a fairly poor job.

I'd agree that I would expect furniture to be moved, but I would expect the vacuum to be pushed under higher legged furniture and the bin to be moved to be brushed and mopped under - ditto chairs round a table.

2.5 beds sorry 2 double one tiny weeny single little boys room.. its a hobbit house. 3 stories.. 1 bath 1 living room/diner and galley kitchen ( think country cottage) upstairs one double and one single (weeny) and a bathroom and then the loft conversion...not huge at all. There really isnt any furniture to move I'm a bit of a minimalist really as we have clever storage. The only thing to hoover under is the two sofas and table and chairs.

I would try someone else

I would find another cleaner, she sounds sloppy and has clearly missed obvious things that need doing. I've been through this and settled for a mediocre cleaner and then I found a great one and the difference is huge.

Three storeys is a lot of stairs.

The first clean always takes longer, so maybe she ran out of time?

Best idea is to do a deep clean the first time - maybe 4 hours. After that she knows her way around your home, and absolutely everything should be done. If not, that's when to let her go.

Is she self employed or through an agency? From people I know agencies seem to be abit hit and miss.

Agree with OFFFS This is what would make me nervous about being a cleaner, I've only ever cleaned homes I've lived in so know the layout/see what needs doing so I don't know how I'd be/how long I'd take in someone else's home. I'd probably spend a good five minutes standing in the hall going 'shiiiiiiiit!!!'

First clean always takes a lot longer - they get used to layout / where things are, etc as time goes on.
I would always talk with a cleaner about what you want first though - is it more of a priority to you that she 'lightly' does each room, or that she 'thoroughly' does some of the rooms, etc.
It needs to be a two way conversation.

Even if the task was too much for the first visit and two hours, surely you would expect at least a room to be completed not all half done?

Well I took the Alan Sugar approach I'm afraid...thanks all for your sound advice ;-)

I think sadly I would have gone down the same route.

I'm a cleaner. I wish that was all my client wanted me to do.

I've turned up today to find that in addition to my normal 3 hrs cleaning (and that's 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms) she wants me to clean inside the dishwasher, hang the wet clothes up (mostly her and her husbands underwear) and IF the food shop comes could I possibly pop it away clearly she knows the food shop is coming!!

emski Well done, your cleaners standards were not up to scratch.

I really think you should have given her a second chance. I am a cleaner and every new client I take on I tell them it takes 3 times coming to a house to get to know it and get everything done. After that it is like working on autopilot, you don't even have to think about what and where, you just do it. Yes, she could have hoovered better, but I can imagine she was trying to get as much done as possible in the 2 hours and was probably rushing some of the jobs. Just because a house is small, does not make it quick at cleaning, it depends on clutter and how well it has been cleaned/maintained before cleaner started.