If you have a cleaner who does 3.5 hours a week (one visit), can you tell me what they do?

[franch]

Recently got a new cleaner after having the same one for 8 years and am beginning to wonder if the last one was superhuman in terms of what she got done in the time. The new cleaner is doing only a fraction of what the previous one did, and I don't want to move on to someone else if the problem is on my side - ie I'm just expecting too much because I've been spoiled for 8 years.

What's a reasonable amount to get done in 3.5h?

Ours does 3 hours, 4 bed house, not big.
Thorough clean of kitchen and bathrooms
Hoover, mops floors
Dusts throughout
Polishes the stuff which needs doing
Cleans inside of windows if needed
She does a very good job

Thanks spacedog. Sounds like same size house as ours.

I'm expecting (in 3.5h):
Clean kitchen and bathrooms
Hoover, mop floors
Dusting
Empty wastebaskets
Change sheets on either our bed or the kids' (ie either a double or 2 singles).

Our old cleaner managed this no bother and often had time left over to do extra jobs like cleaning the fridge out or polishing the front door brasses. Is that normal or not do you think?

As a cleaner O would say it depends on how clear the house is - If surfaces are clear etc you can much more done.
In an average size house I would say in 3.5 hours
Dust and hoover throughout
clean bathrooms
clean kitchen
wash floors
windows, mirrors etc if needed
And then should have time for the odd, ransom job if required.

I rarely take more than 2 hours for a standard clean

What are you asking her to do?? What does she currently achieve?

Franch, that is easily doable in the time you have allowed

my whole house - every room could be done in 3.5 hours.

We have a big house so she:

tidies and hoovers dining room and sitting room and conservatory
cleans kitchen, cooker, kitchen floor
empties all bins and dusts all rooms
Tidies and cleans 3 bedrooms
Cleans bathroom
Polishes wooden furniture in our bedroom
Tidies and cleans the playroom
Hand picks fluff from our cat off the stairs!!!!!

Will iron and do laundry if asked, but I don't normally ask

Ours does same as spacedog, she also sometimes folds childrens' clothes (I think because she likes it), cleans skirting boards and changes bed linen off her own bat, depends how grotty the house is though!

She is the best we have ever had though.

sorry, forgot:

sweeps out porch and front drive

...oh, I should add she does this because she thinks leaves look messy on drives, I do not ask her to do this!

We have a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom house with a big kitchen.

Oh sorry, you wanted to know what my cleaner did, not just hear me bragging

Well she does everything, tidies as she goes and I love her dearly and wish she could move in. All floors mopped or hoovered, loos and showers and baths cleaned, kitchen cleaned, all beds made and rooms hoovered and dusted and all up the stairs into my loft room.

she takes 3 hours once a week. your new lady might speed up as she gets used to your house?

1 hour - my cleaner does
hoover living room and dining room ( cream carpet black dog really hard work) polish table, sweep and mop kitchen floor, clean kitchen sides, wipes down the cupboards and white goods.

thats all the downstairs.

I wish I still had my cleaner, she was lovely. Hey ho. In 3 hours in a 3 bed she:

• hoovered
• mopped and cleaned kitchen properly
• dusted and polished
• mopped and cleaned bathrooms properly
• emptied bins

At the time we had spare bedrooms and so she only did those every few weeks.

She never did the oven or windows because 'that is house keeping, not house cleaning'?

So how come if all these cleaners can do all this in 3hours...how come I struggle to do it all in a week?!

lightbulb moment - that'll be because of mumsnet...

Thanks all. At the moment she's just about getting through everything I listed in 4h (which of course I'm paying for although I asked for 3.5h), but she's clearly struggling. I don't think she likes changing the beds much and she's asked me to leave the relevant bedding out so that she doesn't have to find them herself.

I guess I'll give it a few more weeks to give her a chance to get used to the place (and for her to get used to me and vice versa), but I've a feeling I may be on gumtree before long.

Mine does 2 hrs ironing then takes 3 hours to do:

3 big bedrooms (not changing beds, but she has offered)
2 biggish bathrooms
Hoover two flights of stairs and all upstairs carpets
Kitchen (including cleaning oven and sometimes - oh happy day! - my fridge) and living room - all surfaces and mop floors.

Like Cyb, I wish mine would move in. I love her. Last week she folded up all my jumpers.

Riven - it does sound like yours is VERY slow.

Those of you with great cleaners: any of you in South London???

I have two cleaners who do about 1.5 hours in our 2 bedrooms house:

Hoover rugs and carpets/wash floors
clean kitchen including outside of appliances and cupboards
clean bathroom and downstairs toilet
empty and clean rubbish bins
make beds (but I usually make them beforehand anyway)
dust/polish surfaces
clean banisters
polish mirrors
clean front door
washing up if there is any (but I don't leave any as I prefer to get the other things done well IYSWIM)

I leave the surfaces as clean as possible and tidy up beforehand. Usually spend about 30 minutes the night before. I can definitely see the difference on days where I have tidied less well (as per norks comment)

Franch - just outside South London - Ours are from a franchise of MyHome - there is probably one near you. I find the standard to be very high and although we don't always get the same people every week they are always really friendly.

Aha - you get what you pay for MiniMarmite. My SIL runs a franchise of Merry Maids in South London and they are brilliant - I'd love to use them regularly but they cost nearly twice as much as an independent cleaner so I have to save them for 'spring cleans' twice a year or so.