All those of you who have a cleaner

[linzoid]

What chores do you expect from your cleaner? Do you expect things like the oven and the windows to be cleaned?
I have just got myself a new cleaning job in a 3 bedroomed, quite big house. It's 4 hours once a week, including ironing. Wondering what other cleaners do and don't do. As much info as poss please...........thanks mumsnetters!

I also give the cleaner at least one cup of coffee if I am home, and expect her to make herself one if I am in work (which I usually am). She varys her hours to suit and I tell her to make a sandwitch if she is in the house over lunchtime.

She does the best part of the housework in 4 hours, but I do try to tidy up before she comes so that she doesn't waste her time.

sorry, didn't read properly. The work isn't done, thats not on really is it.

I think linzoid means the inside of her windows CD !

I used to clean and when i needed to catch the hourly bus to go and see dp i would run myself ragged doing all the work in time to catch the bus, I did the same as i would in 2 hours in sometimes just over an hour. I was just more sweaty than i would have been if id have took 2. I still did all that needed to be done, I just did it quicker. So maybe thats what your lot are doing?

Charliecat I wish that was the case, but believe me my cleaner is definitley not breaking a sweat,I have watched her.

I am astonished and delighted that so many of you have cleaners!! This is fantastic and wonderful news and will make me feel much less guilty when I pop my ad in the newsagents window on Monday!!

well,i think you should either inform the agency(if thats where you employed her from)they can start their disciplinary process,known as competency procedure in this case.if not from an acency then you could do this yourself-
1.verbal warning
2.1st written warning
3.2nd written warning
4.dismissal.if she has not been employed for ayear then she is not protected by these laws and so it could be an instant dismissal.but,has she ever been any good?if yes,then maybe something is wrong in her life etc,not yr problem i know,but then more caution is needed in how you deal with it.i am now a cleaner,i would prefer if someone would tell me straight away if im notperforming as they would want.also,as others have said ,sometimes my hours do vary,1/2 hr extra one day,1/2 less the next.

Just wondered what the going rate for cleaners is, as don't have one and have thought about it, as have a job 4-5 days a week, garden which I look after and it's too much to keep house constantly clean...particularly children's bedrooms(anyone else have children who are messy...there must be!) and no matter how hard you push them are messy after a couple of days..Thought £5 an hour was about right...am all ears.

Ours is £27 for 3 hours (South London prices).

Does anyone know why on earth my kitchen floor is still wet in patches 6.5 hours after she's left though?? Never having washed it myself, I don't know if this is normal!

message withdrawn

£20 a week. She does all three floors, bathroom, kitchen, washing up and ironing. Her hours are up to her, but it usually about 2.5 hours - sometimes much more, sometimes much less.

I'm paying £7ph in Hampstead.... the last one asked me for a rise from £7.00 to £8.50! Couldn't believe it, so said no and I'd understand if she found somewhere else that would pay more. She was a rubbish cleaner too.

9 pound here

i charge £5.5o for "home"cleaning,and £7 for "office" cleaning.(per hour)i clean in hackney,walthamstow and docklands.(basically east/north london).

pay £8 per hour (london).

Our cleaner is my favourite person. We pay her £30 quid & she does 3.5-4 hours (East London). Tidies & cleans the whole house, changes the sheets, will do ironing if I leave it out for her, empties the dishwasher. The other day she swept up the leaves in the back garden. If we could have her twice a week I would be so delighted.

Soupdragon, I'm ashamed to admit this but I too had never cleaned a floor till the cleaner broke her arm and her a few weeks off. Anyway, I just sloshed the soapy water on and it was wet when DH came home. DH then told me that you are supposed to mop the water off otherwise it dries grimy and streaky. I have still not lived this down.

I clean and iron 3 hrs a week for my mum at £12 per hr and 2 hrs every 2 weeks at my dh office for £15 per hour which adds up to over £200 a month. I'm a SAHM so the money comes in handy for buying extras but I'm probably one of the best paid cleaners 'ere oop north. I'll have to get some feather trimmed rubber gloves a la Kim and Aggie.

lavendar - you would be fortunate indeed to get a cleaner for £5 per hour. I live on the Hampshire/ Wiltshire border and pay my cleaner £7 per hour (and her agency £2 per hour)

hmc youa re being ripped off! £6 in salis

Paid 20 for approx 3 hours - some weeks more, others less. Central London 2 bed flat. She did everything incl ironing, changing bed linen and cleaning oven. Only prob was not very reliable about turning up on time.

We've given our cleaning firm the boot this week and are trying a new one. Fingers crossed.

My cleaner is here as I write. She is costing me £8 an hour. Judging by what she did last week she hopefully is going to be worth eevery penny. She spent three hours doing my bedroom and the bathroom, a proper spring clean, she is going to continue doing that until the whole house has been done and from then on, 6 hours a week maintaining it.