How long to clean a house this big?

[hippospot]

Four bedrooms, two bathrooms (one only has a shower), downstairs loo, hallway, miniature study, small kitchen, open-plan living/dining room, two flights of stairs.

Hard floors throughout except stairs. Quite minimalist in terms of clutter and it's always tidy before the cleaner arrives. No pets.

She says she needs five hours to clean it. I think four hours is enough. I don't have anything to polish, I don't expect sheets to be changed, and I only require downstairs and bathrooms to be mopped.

In addition she does an hour of ironing.

I just went back to work and I can't afford on my salary to pay for someone six hours a week, plus I just don't think it should take six hours to do all that!

Opinions please!

I think it's sometimes possible to make the job fit the hours. My cleaner used to come for four hours. After two years I gave her a 'pay rise' by keeping her wages the same but asking her to come for just three and a half hours. There was no noticeable difference in the result of her work.

Minnelli but if you did 6 hours a fortnight rather than 3 a week? At least then once a fortnight it would be immaculate and everything would be done rather than doing a surface clean weekly and never having time for the deep clean stuff. The total cost would be the same

We had a cleaner fortnightly at our old house, can't afford one anymore. But she did 4 hours which was ample to properly clean and the house then stayed clean longer because it was done thoroughly. If I had a cleaner here, I would need him/her to move furniture etc because if not, the dust etc from underneath would still be there and it escapes!

I've told her I'll pay her for five hours to clean - no ironing at all.

That way I don't feel guilty/exploitative. I'll do my own fucking ironing.

We have one every other week for 4 hours and if she finishes early we just leave some ironing out for her. To be fair she's great, never takes the mick and goes above and beyond, changes bedding/washes and puts dishes away/feeds the cat/I even found the hot water bottle in my bed on one particularly chilly day!

I have five bedrooms , 2 bathrooms , husband , 2 kids , 2 cats.I work parttime only so usually get to do some cleaning everyday.I have help every two weeks and we tidy and clean the house the house together (no ironing) , it takes us 3/4 hours.