Is my cleaner cheeky and should I hire a professional cleaning company?

[Skyl]

Hello- I have trialled many cleaners over the last year or two and have never once walked into the house and had that lovely feeling you're supposed to get where you can tell straight away that the cleaner has just been. I initially thought I was expecting too much as I didn't offer my cleaners enough hours. So, I hired a new cleaner recently and it was her second visit a few days ago. I gave her 7 hours to clean a large 5 double bedroom house with 4 bathrooms, 2 living rooms and large kitchen and utility room.
I came home and saw that the house looked pretty much exactly the same as I'd left it, apart from the floor having visibly been hoovered and the sinks and one bathtub looking clean. There was some clutter untouched (fine) but mirrors were streaky, TV screens had finger marks on them, top of microwave and desks had coffee marks on them and these are just a few examples.
Anyway...i am wondering am I supposed to just give her more feedback and make an effort to manage her or is she just cheeky and lazy? I am thinking it might be better for me to just get a professional cleaning company come in once a month and just do a really deep clean instead of wasting money weekly on people like this.

I think 7 hours is enough time. Your house is bigger than mine, and to be fair I don't do my own cleaning anymore due to time and also laziness, but when I did do my own cleaning I could clean my entire house in 5-6 hours:

4 large double bedrooms, 1 study, 2 bathrooms, large open plan kitchen/diner, lounge, utility, toilet, 2 staircases. I had a spreadsheet so I'd deep clean each room once a month (by deep clean I mean clean literally everything in the room, windows, bleach woodwork, dust walls and ceilings, wash light fittings, damp dust everything), and then each other room got a normal clean which is floors, damp dusting, kitchen and bathrooms cleaned properly including tiles.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time or energy anymore, so currently paying my 15 year old daughter to do a shit job. Before her I've had a series of cleaners, some great, some not so great. Lost my last cleaner during covid as she had health problems and never came back, hence shit daughter cleaning situation now. I feel your pain though because it's quite stressful living in a large house that's minging 😭

@WeCome1 before you ask - I do get free and discounted hotel stays as a benefit. But I wouldn’t stay in any hotel, no matter how much you paid me.

I used to be a professional cleaner. It would need 6 hours to clean from what you've told me

Our houses sound identical. It takes me 8.5 hours straight no interruptions to do it to the perfect standard.

@Fifi0000 can you tell me more about this hybrid situation please? I am sure that’s what I require

So my old cleaners wouldn't do organising or the dishwasher etc my house was quite cluttered. I'd been through quite a few to be honest, I didn't get why the house didn't look great. I have a health condition and work fulltime.

MN suggested I needed a dual kind of housekeeping/cleaning role. I don't actually mind cleaning so much I struggle with organising, my DH is equally bad . They do whatever I ask one week I required clothes folding beds changing , tidying then simple cleaning. This week it's really tidy so they did minimal tidying more cleaning. I requested anonymously on Facebook local group about cleaning/ home help role. I specified I did not want a traditional cleaner and listed what I want.

A few were recommended but one agency had really good reviews so I went with them. I'm annoyed I hired just cleaners for years and wasn't getting what I really wanted.

I think firstly, that's not enough hours for your house. And secondly, I don't think many people will be able to clean for 7 hours straight without a break. You'll probably get better results if you hire 2 people for 4 hours, or 3 people for 2.5 hours.

Oh forgot to add... my cleaner does a house that's similar to yours and she's told me there's no way she can finish it all in a day. She goes for 4 hours twice a week. (She usually does one house in the morning, breaks for lunch/rest, and then goes to another house in the afternoon)

I think it depends on the size of the house. It's 5 bed but how many m2? There's 5 beds and 5 beds!

We have 3 bed 3 bath lounge kitchen utility and large office. Our cleaner comes 3 hours per week and can do the whole house inc changing beds. It's around 180m2. All of our rooms are a good size.

7 hours sounds a lot to me. Is there a lot of tidying for her to do as well? If she's having to move things every time then that can take up a lot of time!

We have a similar set up to this but through our cleaner. When we hired her it was a very honest conversation about our family and work commitments. We have young children. We will always do our best to put everything away however the reality is that won't always happen. We need someone to change our beds and do the windows if the floor can't be hoovered. Sometimes the dishwasher will want loading. Sometimes the toys need putting away. She's amazing. We love her and she really embraces the chaos.

My cleaner does 2 hours a week, twice a week.

Mondays -

Bathroom (large with separate shower) and kitchen (average size), dishwasher sometimes needs loading. Steam cleaner is used due fo various allergies.

Stairs and hallway (which is oddly long and runs the length of the house) are hoovered.

2 bedrooms are hoovered/dusted and are tidy when she arrives.

Fridays -

My bedroom, living room, dining room and utility room are hoovered and dusted, everyone’s bedding is changed, any laundry put away.

Work full time, single parent to 3, disabled.

Its a bog standard sized cottage that would take 3 hours a week without the extra things that she does. It took her 6 hours the first week to do a deep clean to her standards.

You need more hours or a team of 2/3.

OP the fact that you’re trialing different cleaners and talking badly about cleaners who worked hard for 7 hours in the house shows that you’re not a suitable client for any good cleaners to take you.

Every home is different.

I spend around 45mins per bathroom on a regular weekly/fortnightly clean so that would use up 3hrs straight away.

Who determined the time? For an initial clean, a house of that size, I would estimate going over two days if it was me working alone.

An initial clean would be moving furniture out, descaling no, nooks/crannies.

There isn’t a set number of house for a house. There are huge 5 beds with 3 or 4 reception rooms and small 5 beds.

Bathrooms could vary according to the style of fittings.

I suggest you contact a company, pay out the level of cleaning you want and let them tell you how long that will take for an initial clean and then for regular weekly/fortnightly cleaning thereafter.

@Flyingdodo - I take it you're a cleaner given you're so offended by my post . What exactly do you suggest I should I have done on this occasion then? I didn't expect the entire house to be finished in 7 hours ...just a decent effort in that time would be great but my issue was that the house looked pretty much exactly the same as it did before the clean iyswim.

I had asked for bathrooms and floors to be prioritised. Floor was fine but bathrooms weren't. I think 7 hours for bathrooms and floors was enough. The bedrooms hadn't been touched (which would have been fair enough if the bathrooms had been done properly).

"She is allowed a 20 minute break by law"

Just wanted to say that this is 100% an absolute LIE.

There are no laws laying down break times for self employed workers!

@Tabitha1950s

1. no where does op state that the cleaners or cleaners she has tried are ALL self employed or employed via an agency or via a cleaning company.
2. Go and try doing a hard labour job non stop for 7 hours without a break - and see how you like it, and for what is likely to be at or near minimum wage wether employed or self employed.
   3)https://www.howellslegal.co.uk/news/post/The-Quick-Guide-to-Self-Employed-Workers-Rights#:~:text=Employment%20Rights%20for%20the%20Self,they%20perform%20the%20work%20personally.

health and safety includes taking a break to eat, drink and go to the toilet. Self employed people are not robots or entitled to less respect as a human being just because they are self employed.

@Tabitha1950s Just wanted to say that this is 100% an absolute LIE.

Jesus are you always this combative? Wouldn't it be a more reasonable and less aggressive approach to say 'it is not correct to suggest XXXXXX' rather than calling someone a liar and putting it in bold. People state incorrect things all the time, usually due to not knowing properly not because they are LYING ffs. Do you routinely accuse people like this?

We have a large house, but we're pretty tidy and clean. We have an amazing cleaner who does 3hrs a week, and does indeed leave it sparkly and lovely, and I always tell her so. 7 hours is A LOT. We had some shockers in the past, interestingly through an agency. You couldn't tell they had been sometimes, and they were more expensive. The only advantage was the agency had to fire them instead of me.

She sounds a bit rubbish. Don’t have her back, there are good cleaners out there.

You are wrong on every count.

Even cleaners who work via agencies are self employed, and I REPEAT, there is no law in the UK that states that self employed people have a legal right to a break.

You are getting law muddled up with common decency.

Nowhere have I suggested that S/E people (of which I am one) don't deserve a break or to go to the toilet.

What I said, and what I will continue to point out, it that no law in the UK states that self employed people have a legal right to a break.

@Tabitha1950s not every cleaner who works for an agency is self employed.
the op hasn’t stated the cleaner is self employed. You are wrong in both those points.
you are also wrong about breaks as I pointed out. Health and safety is law in the uk, and applies equally to self employed and employed. Yes health and safety law does included breaks.

Zzzzz... Bore off mate.

Neither situation - OP paying them directly, or OP paying an agency, necessarily means the cleaner is employed by the OP which is the relevant point. Someone working exclusively for one household would be employed but cleaners normally have several clients, as do plumbers and gardeners.

I think there are lots of cleaners who are not very good and good ones are on the rare side. That said, some people might find it easier to fit in 3.5h x 2 rather than a whole day in one place. But then some would also find a day in one place easier.

And cleaning is not a "hard labour" job. It's a physical job, but not "back breaking".

The application of H&S at work law is up to the cleaner who is running his or her own business.