Cleaner charging £24.50 per hour?

[wejammin]

I’m in the north west. I’ve never had a cleaner, but I have 2 kids, am pregnant and working, DH works long hours and I’m not keeping on top of it. I live in a 2 bed terrace. I contacted an agency who said they can do a trial clean for me in a couple of weeks, they send 2 employees for “an hour or a bit over” and do the whole house plus one room deep cleaned, bring all their own products and are fully insured and DBS checked.

Sounds great but it’s £49 per visit which is £24.50 per cleaner per hour. I’ve read on mumsnet that people are paying around £15 an hour, is that still right?

I'm guessing the agency will take a decent chunk of the money. You'd probably find it cheaper to look for an independent cleaner and not go through an agency.

No, that's ridiculous. I'd pay that for a whole house deep clean at the end of a tenancy, or if there was a specific issue to sort, but as a general cost that's too much. £10 - £12 an hour is more usual here (Scotland)

Where roughly in the NW op? That is scandalous.

I can't imagine they would get that much done in an hour either.

I'm also in the NW. I pay mine £25 for 2 hours. Try to avoid an agency if you can.

I’m in central London and I pay £10 an hour. Those prices are ridiculous.

Is that definitely the cost for every visit, or just the first one? If the latter, ask them to break down what the charge is for the deep clean and what is for the 'normal' clean, so the figures are clear. It might turn out that the normal hourly rate is more reasonable once you take off the deep clean.

I'm in London and pay £11 an hour, although my conscience pricks sometimes and tells me it's a bit low...

Have you read it right?

Maybe first visit including deep clean I’d £50 then the rest of the visits 24£ per week?

Even fully insured and dbs checked with own products I still don't charge more than £12.50 ph for a deep clean.

The agency will take most of that. Insurance is £60 ish a year and a dbs is £25

This was the information they gave me -

The girls will be in your home for around an hour, maybe a little more, which is 2 hours of cleaning. But they will clean all of the rooms for you and also do a deep clean (internal windows and furniture moved) in one of your rooms each visit.

Type of clean: Weekly

Date of clean: Wednesday 13/06/18

Time of arrival: 1-2pm

Access: Customer home

Description of cleans required: 2 x bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, through lounge, hall stairs and landing

Estimated cost: £49 p/visit

Method of payment: Cash, cheque or bank transfer

Special Requirements: n/a

I’m glad I checked, I’ve never done this before! Assuming this is extortion, where is the best place to look for a good non-extortionate cleaner? Local Facebook page? I’m in a non-expensive part of South Manchester (ie not Didsbury/Altrincham/Chorlton etc)

Are you maybe very distant from their usual route? We had a similar issue with an agency when we moved temporarily to an area that just doesn't have people working as cleaners iyswim.

@AnnieOH1 no I live 30 doors down from the agency office!

Ah - they mention more than one person. We pay similar per visit for two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, halls/landing/stairs, living room and dining room. But for that we get three people for around an hour and a half (or two for around two hours). So possibly not that unreasonable if you consider that it's two people per hour? (So around £12 an hr)

My local agency charges the same, £25 ph.

I’m a cleaner. I charge £10ph and bring all my own products, hoover mop etc.
I sometimes do cleaning jobs for a company when they need extra help. I know they charge £12.50ph and pay their staff at minimum wage. £25ph hour is ridiculous. I’d be very worried that their staff were being paid minimum wage and they were making double that for themselves!

They've obv got people who pay that, so that's their market.

Look for someone independent. Ask on Facebook?

I've had a few independent cleaners over the years and only one was really good. Sometimes its nice to have the reliability of an agency

From that information they sent you I think it's £49 for both of them for 2 hours

So 12.25 per hour per cleaner

Sorry sorry I'm wrong, just re read it.

I wonder if they meant 29 not 49 though, I've never heard of rates that high.

Try some other agencies.

I pay agency £14 ph, prefer using an agency as a bit of a wuss about dealing directly with the cleaner.

In my area a lot of people ask fo recommendations on the local community page on Facebook, I'd try this and see if there are a few repeated names recommended or indeed if any cleaners message you directly.

That's very expensive! Shop around. I'm in the SE and pay 12ph