How much do you pay hourly rate for cleaning?

[AliciaSoo]

Currently in the process of finding a cleaner...
This would be for a house 3/4 bed, weekly clean 3-4h.
I used to pay around 3-4 years ago through agency around £12/h and continue that until about a year ago.
For X reasons I stopped using that agency.
Private cleaner charging £17/h, I agreed as I was desperate for some help at home.
She's left due to personal reasons needs to decrease her workload. I felt she was been overpaid tbh, the rooms were all round, I stopped picking a certain little paper etc from a corner just to see if she'd done something about when particularly asking, "please pay special attention to certain area", but still her cleaning was not very good... but again, desperate measures and really needed the help at home.
Now in the process of looking for another cleaner.. I've asked 2 or 3 people around the area the asking rate is £17.5/h.
Is the world gone mad?!
Am I been unreasonable of thinking that is a crazy asking price?
Really looking for some insight here, thanks everyone!

I was paying £15 5 years ago so it sounds about right.

I pay £15 ph in Hampshire.

It's the living wage isn't it? I paid £18 in Brighton a decade ago. Seems fair. Our Gardner and window cleaner is £25 and cleaning is the same in my mind.

£15 p/hr here in London and I think we need to raise it.

I pay 15 ph in London. I don't care if I pay 15 or 12. My standards will be the same and if the job isn't done properly I'll try to speak to them and if they do not improve I'll look for someone else.

£18/hour.

Village in Scotland. She's really good and well worth it.

Well I pay £20, but mine uses their own materials, mops, vacuum etc. As the National Living Wage is £11.44, which by the time you add in employers NI, pension contribution and holiday pay must be around £15, then I don’t think that’s unreasonable. Going through an agency I’m not sure how they could do it for much less and be above board and paying taxes etc.

Our going rate locally for private cleaners is £20 per hour which I think is reasonable as they will need to pay tax and NI contributions, fuel, and purchasing cleaning products. I’m in the North of Scotland

In Sussex. I pay £12.50 ph to my current cleaner. My previous one charged only £10 and the one before that, £12.50.

I pay £20ph (South Manchester) and I think that is fair. She uses all her own products and vacuum cleaner etc and has NI and taxes to factor in. She is also incredibly trustworthy (she has been with us for 6 years now) and has her own key, she comes when we are on holiday etc. So all in all I think it is worth it.

On the other hand - she only does 2 hours per week on our 4 bed house, do you really need 3-4 hours per week on a 3/4 bed house?

I also agree with this - agencies cost far more than this so I think £20ph is fair

I pay £15 per hour Last time my cleaner put her rates up, I dropped down to having her alternate weeks instead of weekly as I wasn't able to afford the new rate weekly. You could consider that if you find the rates expensive - I understand that people need to earn a living, but for me it was too much weekly. I do a more basic clean myself on the weeks she doesn't come and it works out fine.

North London. £20ph

I'm a cleaner in north Oxfordshire ,£16,50hr and supply everything ( bring Hoover and mop too).

The question is, how much do you think you should be paying OP?

We're in the Midlands and pay £16 per hour, and we provide cleaning materials. It has gone up a bit over the last few weeks but our cleaner is amazing, and what she can do in 3 hrs is frankly phenomenal so I don't begrudge it. She's toying with retiring in the next year or two and I'm dreading it!

A housekeeper helps so much! My little girls make such a mess of the house. I agree with hitting the national living wage as well!

Also found a post on how long a cleaning should take here. Might help with finding out how much it would be.

It sounds like the going rate even where I am in the NW…….they are self employed…..they have got petrol costs….my SIL charges 20ph …..and she has a waiting list…..it’s not like earning 20 quid an an employed person…..getting your annual leave, bank hols, sick pay, carers leave, compassionate leave, paid mileage, company pension.

yours seems like a bargain. I pay £20 per hour and they supply all of their own stuff

your cleaner is a mug working for that money….absolute mug

I agree with all of this, my cleaner also has a waiting list (£20ph also North West). I also don't pay her holiday or sick pay.

I was wondering this too. I asked a local cleaner how much she charges and she said £18 for basic and £25 for deep cleaning. When I asked what entails deep cleaning she said skirting boards, the fronts of cupboards, shower tiles, windows etc. Isn't that just normal cleaning?
She is self-employed cash in hand and works full time cleaning in the town going from one house to the next. She would have been using my own eco products.
£25 an hour works out the equivalent of more than £50,000 salary. It looks like cleaning is the business to be in.
I was surprised at the wage. The last time I had a cleaner it was £15 an hour from an agency.
I might look around a bit more.

£15 is less than minimum wage when you factor in mileage, holidays, sick pay, compassionate leave, mileage, pension…….you honestly expect people to work for less than MW

Typically, window cleaning and gardening is mens work and cleaning is womens work and people have a hard time accepting that women's time and work is just as valuable as men's work.