Puzzled about a cleaner's charges

[mauvish]

I've had a flyer through the door, from a local person who's setting up a house cleaning business. It all looks very professional but I don't need a cleaner.

But I was puzzled about the charging structure and just idly wondered if this is normal?

Weekly clean £x per hour
Fortnightly clean a little more per hour
and so on, up to
deep clean £2x per hour --- ie double the hourly cost compared with regular cleaning.

Now obviously you're going to pay more for a deep clean compared to a basic weekly top up, as there's a lot more to do. But is it normal for the hourly cost to be a lot higher as well? It means that if a deep clean took, for example, 8 hours instead of one hour, you wouldn't pay 8 times as much, you'd pay 16 times as much.

Or is it more that a regular customer (getting weekly cleans) benefits from a "loyalty discount"? If so, then that would suggest that the deep clean rate is the standard rate --- and it's considerably more than a junior doctor earns!

A house that is cleaned weekly is going to be cleaner than one cleaned fortnightly so they would need to put more effort in so that’s why they charge more maybe?
Maybe for a deep clean there are two of them? Or maybe it’s just because of the effort involved in going in for the first time. It’s not just going to be a touch of dust on the skirting if it needs a deep clean!

But I'd have thought all these things would be covered by the fact that it's going to take a lot longer and hence cost more in the first place.

I can see it costing a little more if more cleaning products, especially perhaps specialised ones, are used; and also if there's a lot more effort with moving furniture around, emptying cupboards etc. I could understand a small hike over the basic hourly rate to cover that sort of thing too. But double? I just wondered if this is standard practice in the cleaning world?

they are self employed so are willing to offer a discount for regular bookings. If someone wants them every other week they need to find another client to fill the other week which is more admin and bother.

It's physically heavier work so they'd probably have to do shorter days on days they do a lot of deep cleaning. It will probably also involve .ore products used so I can see a higher cost being reasonable to cover time lost resting and extra supplies.

Deep cleaning also tends to be more one off work so it's also covering the costs of finding new clients more often in advertising and admin (answering phones and making appointments etc).

In my eyes a deep clean is for people with severely neglected properties, hoarders etc so it is a different job entirely with hazards involved (urine soaks carpets, getting rid of a lot of rubbish etc) so that'll be why. I organise deep cleans for people through work and it's usually several people doing it from a company and quoted for the job.

Deep cleans are a lot more effort. They take more products and more expensive products to properly degrease. They require more cloths so more laundering at the end of the day. There’s often hidden areas which eat into the time and akin can easily run over. Every clean needs an initial quote which is time and travel.

Then there’s the junior doctor thing….

I’m a cleaner and I’ve heard so many times how it’s more than so and so earns to do their job. The main thing to understand is, the hourly rate your cleaning company charges is NOT their take home pay.

I did a quote today for a one off clean which went as follows:
I spent about 30mins in total arranging a time to meet and answering the potential clients questions before I even met them.

I’ve driven 5 mile round trip. They were running late and weren’t home so I had to wait 20 mins for them. Then we did the walkthrough of the home. Total time I was out of my house = 90minutes

Once home, I emailed them with their quote, detailed breakdown of what’s included and potential dates which took another 40mins.

So I have spent 2hrs 40mins on this (potential) client so far and earned nothing. I’ve also liased with other types of cleaners on their behalf to see if they have availability to carry out other works the client requires.
I could repeat this process 5-6 times before a client actually books a clean.
A weekly/fortnightly clean, once booked on the schedule, does not require this amount of time.

An employee benefits from holiday pay, sick pay, pension, mileage for work related journeys, possibly private medical care, various discounts and perks.

Out of my hourly rate I need to pay public liability insurance, website fees, advertising fees, laundry fees, uniform, accountancy fees, scheduling software, consumables, equipment….These are not costs that would come out of an employees hourly rate/salary.

So when an employee gets £xx per hour, that’s what they get. When I charge £xx per hour, that is NOT what I get.

There is no pension, no sick pay and no holiday pay. No earnings when a client is sick and leaves a gap in my day and no pay for all the quotes that come to nothing.

Agreed. We tried a cleaner but it turned out that things I would have considered to be part of a normal clean, she considered to be ‘deep’ clean. So I thought in that case I may as well just do the cleaning myself as I do a better job!

Normal clean- wiping surfaces, dusting, hoovering etc. Deep clean- on your hands and knees for a hour soaking and scrubbing the oven, emptying and disinfecting fridges, shifting and cleaning under and behind furniture etc. It’s backbreaking.

Deep cleans are harder work, and generally one-offs.

A recurring weekly clean requires almost no time beyond travel and actual cleaning. Deep cleans require more conversations re scope, quoting, dealing with queries before/after - and probably less certainty re getting paid.

I would much rather go and vacuum and dust at a clean house that I look after, than go and scrub a filthy oven and fridge at a new property that I don’t know. So yeah, I would charge accordingly.

Deep cleans mean more equipment and materials eg carpet cleaning and more labour intensive which means probably wouldn't be able to take,on more,clients that day.

Of course they shouldn't as mere cleaners ever be charging more than junior doctors.......ffs. Anyone running their own husiness can charge what they want whether its to pay their tax, hi accountant, pension, holiday leave, or just to make a decent profit!

My window cleaner charges more to come every 8 weeks than every 4. I assume as they will be dirtier after 8 weeks. I guess same principle applies here

it's considerably more than a junior doctor earns!
And your point is?
SE has to cover their tax and NI and all costs.

Hourly rate for a cleaner doesn't cover their time / petrol costs travelling between each job, down time if they have an hour between jobs or if a client cancels, sick pay, holiday pay, pension etc etc. It's impossible to compare it to a salaried job like a doctor.

Deep cleans are for heavy build up of dirt usually. It involves moving furniture, additional products in general working with a. Lot more dirt. They’re also a one off so I imagine the cleaner would cancel another client on the day they come to you or they’d come on a weekend or one of their days off.