How much to pay a cleaner? Midlands.

[Itsasunshineyday]

I'm a domestic cleaner. I'm currently charging £15 an hour. I supply everything including cleaning products, broom, mop and bucket, vacuum cleaner etc. My DP is adamant that I could and should charge more, but with the COL I think by charging more I'd lose customers. Is £15 enough?

I'm in the Midlands.
My cleaner has just put her price up to £15 an hour.
I think that is absolutely fair.
Beyond that, I'd be wondering if it were a luxury I could afford to treat myself with. I mean, I wouldn't argue with £16, but if it were £20 it would be beyond what I could justify.

I pay £16.50. Midlands. Cleaner has a waiting list so people happy to pay that amount.

I pay £10 per hour for labour only, I supply everything

17 an hour is apparently normal where I am (north). I don't have a cleaner but have asked around a lot about what other people pay for theirs.

I pay £18, South East. I expect she'll go up to £20 at some point and I'll probably pay it as I couldn't go back to not having a cleaner, but I would probably explore what others are charging as whilst it's great to have a cleaner, she's not amazing like some are (like my old one years ago!) and I think what she charges is quite near the top of what I'd expect to be an appropriate range.

I'm in the East Midlands, my cleaner has recently put her price up to £17 an hour. I very nearly stopped employing her, because its too much and she doesn't stay for the full two hours. But I couldn't be bothered the hassle of trying to find a new cleaner.

I provide all the products.

I’m the midlands and pay 12.50 per hour but I supply everything

Gosh my cleaner only charges £12 (I supply products) in London I think I should pay her more!

It partly depends where you are in the Midlands as well. If you are cleaning in Solihull or Sutton Coldfield you can probably charge more than you could in Walsall or Bescot for example

Very true @Catchasingmewithspiders

Nottinghamshire. £14 P/h and she brings her own products but uses our mop/hoover etc as it's easier x

Ok.
Work out how much time you spend at home washing/drying cloths, sourcing products, getting your kit ready, doing your admin - arranging appointments, responding to queries, book keeping, going to quotes, how long it takes you to travel between jobs.
Add this time to the amount of time you spend cleaning. Base it on 4 weeks. This gives the TOTAL number of hours you actually work.

Then work out your expenditure (costs) over 4weeks - cost of products and consumables, public liability insurance, and QuickBooks or accountancy fees, cost of running your washing machine and tumble dryer, cost of your detergent, your uniform, website fees, mobile phone costs.

Now take your earnings over the same 4 week period and deduct your costs.
Now divide this figure by your TOTAL number of hours worked.

This will give you your true hourly rate. Is it enough? Does it meet NMW?

You need to set your prices to make it worth your while doing the job rather than on what you think people will pay or what others charge.

But, as an indication of what we charge, prices increased to £20 per hour in March. We lost one 2hr client who was paying £35 per clean.
They were replaced with a 3hr client paying £60 per clean.

£15 London. I supply everything.

I pay £20 per hour for my cleaning. All products provided and fully insured. I’m in Worcestershire. Gone up from £15 ph 2 years ago, as insurance costs and product costs increased.

I'm a cleaner in the NW and charge £12 a hour.

I think £15 is quite reasonable especially as you are supplying your own cleaning products. I don't think I would put the price up unless I felt I was being underpaid.

As PP said, depends where your clientele are. WM is diverse - if you don’t think they could afford the raise you run the risk of losing them.

I'm guessing you do more than 1 hour at a time usually.

I would increase to £17.50 for 1 hour. £34for 2 hours
£50 for 3 hours. Etc.

ie. Longer stints are slightly cheaper.