How do I find a cleaner?

[shillyshallysholly]

The emphasis being on a single cleaner.

In the past I have had great cleaners. We moved in August and I can't for love nor money find someone who will clean my house without working in a team.

I wouldn't mind having a pair of cleaners who came regularly (though would prefer one person for four hours to two for two hours so they could, eg, put on sheets to wash and move them to the drier rather than leaving them wet in the machine). But that would be two people who always remained the same. Every cleaner I have been able to find comes with one or more 'helpers' who don't speak English. I have had three primary cleaners / cleaning businesses in my current house, paying between £17 an hour (each) and a whopping £23. I know that the primary cleaner is taking most of this money and giving the helper a very low wage, and I feel uncomfortable about employing someone in my house on a below-minimum-wage salary, particularly as these 'helpers' are also obviously dissatisfied with the work and therefore constantly changing over. Yesterday was particularly problematic because the 'main' cleaner didn't come at all herself, so when I came home from work unusually early I found two people who I'd never seen before (and who spoke no English) in my bedroom.

I asked my last cleaner to leave in an almost identical situation and wonder if I just have to give up entirely on having a cleaner. But I work long hours in a stressful job and have 3 DC (8, 6, 2) and a messy husband. I honestly can't keep on top of it all by myself. Does anyone have advice about where to advertise or agencies I might use? (Outside London, Home Counties.) Until July we lived in London where this was all incredibly easy (and no one was charging £23 per hour.)

Have a look on the DCBN website which lists all cleaners who are members. Some will be larger companies, some will be individuals. All will be legitimately registered with HMRC and have PL insurance. You can search by area.
Out of interest, what made you think the 2nd cleaner was being paid below Min wage?

Thank you very much for the reply.

I don't know that it's true for all three companies, but it became clear in December when the 'main' cleaner was away for two weeks that her helper was only being paid £10 an hour, which meant that I was paying one person £24 per hour and the other £10 per hour for doing the same work. The 'main' cleaner was legally here and had pretty good English and I think neither was true of the other woman. But it still didn't seem a good situation. My new cleaner has a very young woman helping her (between 16 and 18, I would say) and seems quite harsh towards her, sometimes shouting. But I have no idea what their actual relationship is. I just don't like the feeling of employing someone in my house who is miserable and badly paid.

Ask people you know for personal recommendations.
Ask everyone you know - colleagues, dh colleagues, neighbours, family, friends, other parents at activities and at school or out of school provision, staff you speak to at OoS Provision, anyone you are able to chat to, just ask if they know anyone.

I've found my last 2 excellent cleaners by asking for recommendations on our village FB page

Thank you. I have been asking people but not as widely as you suggest.

How do I stop them from coming as a pair? Or outside London is that the norm? (We live in the centre of town and there are lots of bus routes: we also don't have a driveway and the parking is tricky, so I don't think it's about coming together by car.)

Apart from hearing about agency cleaners through MN, I've never heard of cleaners coming as a pair.
But all cleaners I know of - that friends and people we know use - are all self employed and get their work through recommendations.

I dont like agencies as a rule. And like you I've found in the past agencies often send 2

When I last asked on FB I said I didn't want to use any agencies, I wanted someone who was self employed

I'm a cleaner. I've found the majority of my clients through Care.com but also try local FB groups too and ask on there. I'm a one woman band! Never use anyone else. You always get me! Would never expect my clients to accept random strangers in to their house that I bring along. I'm much much less than £17 an hour too.

Hiya are you still looking, I am a self employed cleaner?

It might be worth going on your local NextDoor (the social media platform) and advertising for a cleaner. There are always people on my one advertising for work. I’m a single cleaner and have found several jobs through NextDoor. All the best

The problem with asking on social media - FB, Nextdoor, and the likes - is that the vast majority of recommendations is for their wife, friend, gran, cousin, etc. It's almost never a true rec, this is what I found when I asked in both sites.

There's an agency called Fantastic Cleaners (London, sorry OP) that I used with mixed results. One they sent someone brilliant but the next time was someone truly awful.

I had one that came every two weeks and it was excellent but always work over the agreed hours and I felt compelled to pay. Also talked far too much and I wfh most of the time so she drove me mad. Good cleaners are like the Holy Grail, nigh on impossible to find. I wish you luck 🍀

(Apologies for the boatload of typos/mistakes, a mix of autocorrect and typing in a rush)

That’s a good point about advertising on social media - people recommending their relatives etc.
OP do you have a street/local WhatsApp group? Perhaps you could ask your neighbours if they use a cleaner they could recommend?

I've always found ours on Facebook local groups. Just ask for references.

I used to advertise on Gumtree when I was a self employed cleaner. Was always fully booked. Really the minimum a cleaner should be charging these days is around £20 an hour. Even at £11.50 min wage there is holiday pay, NI, pension contribution. Travel costs, travel time, equipment, insurance.

I used to charge between £20-25 ph cleaning rural holiday cottages. Honestly better off these days working for the LA at £12.70 an hour.

Out of curiosity how much do you actually take home per hour? I used to charge £20- £25 depending on mileage/ commute time. I found even at that I was barely making minimum wage by the time I totted up expenses / paid myself holiday pay etc.

Heya where are you from was wondering if I could help as am self employed cleaner?!