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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Consistently late cleaner

27 replies

Cuppateaneeds · 22/07/2025 09:02

I have a newish cleaner. She’s meant to be with us for 4 hours, 9am to 1pm. She is always at least 5 - 10 mins late yet always manages to leave on time or early (and it’s not like she’s all done as there’s always more to me done). I’ve had different cleaners over the years and never come across this before so asking if normal. At 9am I assume we’re the first so don’t understand why she’s consistently late - I know it’s only 5-10 mins but that does add up week on week. She comes by bike and lives only a few roads away so it can’t be traffic reasons. Any previous cleaner we have had would always work later if they arrive later but I’m feeling like with her slightly late starts and early finishes we are paying probably at least 20-30 mins where she’s not actually cleaning as she’s late, getting the cleaning materials from the dedicated area and then putting it away at the end. She’s not particularly fast, chats on the phone constantly, have seen her sometimes just standing over her phone (not cleaning) and standards have dropped already and we’re only about 2 months in. Do I pull her up on timings/drop in standards and speed if cleaning or get rid and move on?

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MarySueSaidBoo · 30/07/2025 21:55

Our cleaner is an absolute gem but we've never agreed a set time for her to clean. She comes on a Friday morning, does 3 hours and that can be anytime between 9 and 11am when she gets to us. She's a young Mum with her hands full and especially in school holidays she's reliant on her childcare turning up at a certain time.

Cuppateaneeds · 30/07/2025 23:01

Imusthavemademydeskaroundaquaterafternine · 30/07/2025 21:51

I’ll have a word with her.

I would go easy though - It's not abnormal to make calls when doing jobs like this, and she may have a great many clients who don't care / aren't around to care. It's your home and you are paying, so I'd be inclined to explain that her being on the phone simply doesn't work for you, and that you understand it might work for others, but not for you.

I remember a few years back now, when I was part of a team of sub-contract cleaners on a commercial site...I was subbing to a cleaning company (by that I mean the client wasn't mine as it usually would be) who'd been drafted in to support a team of in-house cleaners. Anyway, said client was a very public-facing organisation that had cleaners 24-7, and they had to "release" several of the people I'd been working with, on the basis that they didn't need quite as many as they'd originally thought...only this wasn't true. The real problem was the state of their uniforms, BO, and stench of cannabis.

But as the head of the housekeeping told me, "I am sure they will be fine somewhere else, they seemed lovely people, and someone else might not be bothered by the things that didn't work for us". 😁

Stench of cannabis? Yup that would be a no for me too! Thanks for your inside knowledge 😊 I won’t go hard on her. She seems a lovely person - when she’s chatting away and I’m trying to work it can be difficult to concentrate and it’s for long calls.

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