Cleaner price increase

[yellowgecko]

TLDR: it’s going from £130 a month to £250 a month at the start of August. Is that usual market rate for East Midlands?

We pay an hourly fee of £17. Cleaner is usually here less than 2 hours. In that time she cleans 3 bedrooms, 1 family bath, 2 en-suites, open plan kitchen /living room. (Hoover, mop, dusts some things, wipes down kitchen & dining table, sinks, etc) EOW she cleans spare room (4th bedroom), alternate weeks she does skirting boards & blinds.

i have previously said we’re happy to pay for 3 hours, and she can do other things in the time but she’s always said no to this.

Going forwards she’s going to charge £70 per week for a 4-bed house clean. The weeks she does 3 bedrooms will be £55. There’s no extra time or services being added to this. It’s being framed as a ‘clean’ rather than an hourly price to reflect the ‘level of service she gives’. It’s good, but I don’t see it as a ‘premium clean’.

Of course she’s free to structure her business as she likes and we’ll figure out what to do. Does this seem reasonable / with the current market? Are other people with similar houses paying £250 a month for a cleaner?

extra info to avoid drip feeding:

We supply all cleaning materials and equipment
She doesn’t empty bins or the hoover
we are in East Midlands large town
She is very reliable, which was a huge problem when we used agency cleaners

TIA

That is expensive. I pay for a 3 hour clean at £20 an hour. They supply materials and are excellent.

She doesn’t vacuum?!

I think that’s a massive jump in one go. I’d honestly look for someone else, though I appreciate that’s easier said than done.

Yes I think it is as well, but I’m curious to hear what others pay. She has been so reliable after so many crap cleaners but I don’t think I can justify the cost

Sorry meant to say she doesn’t EMPTY the vacuum! She does use the vacuum, it’s always bursting at the end of the clean! (Small one, needs regular emptying!)

I don’t see how she can do all that and to a good standard in less then 2 hours

Depends if you can offord it, but it's not the going rate.

My childminder said she needed to raise fees due to col by 33%

What she couldn't grasp was I didn't have a extra 33% and couldn't magic it up or ask my employer to raise my wages 33%. So I moved ds to nursery. Ie you don't have to pay it and that % rise is very cheeky. I'm in Surrey hills. Extremely wealthy area. Going rate is £15-£20

I pay £100 every 4 weeks for a hoover mop dust and deep clean of bathroom and kitchen takes around 4 hours for a 3 bedroom house. South east England.

East mids and we paid £20per hour and all their own products/hoover. Not the cheapest rate locally.

is it worth it to you what they are going to charge? Can you afford it?

I live in the centre of London and the going rate for a cleaner is £17-20 an hour depending on whether they supply their own products and equipment or not. No holiday nor sickness pay because they

…are self-employed.

I adore my cleaners and have used them for over a decade, but they’re suppliers rather than a friend of the family like a nanny might be.

I would say you can’t afford those rates but will understand if they need to move on, and will provide a reference.

Oh my bad. I read that completely wrong!

If you take the hourly bit out, is £70 quid reasonable to clean a 4 bed house? Is £55 reasonable to clean a 3 bed house? Well yes I would say so.
If she works harder and gets it done to a good standard faster than others, she isn't being unreasonable. Add in the fact that she turns up reliably and does a consistent job you have your answer really.

Our clean:
thames valley
2.5 to 3 hours
£60 a week
our house is tidy and basically clean
no pets
2 bathrooms plus cloakroom
3 double bedrooms
kitchen, utility, dining room and lounge
we supply equipment and products

Our cleaner also steam mops our tiled floors but otherwise does same as yours

Very reliable, lovely, thorough

You are overpaying

I guess it boils down to whether you can afford it and you think it's worth it to you.

Its a massive increase and the fact you have to supply the materials too doesn't seem like this cleaner is as affordable as others would be. Maybe look around at some quotes for other cleaners, especially another who's not agency. I think I could cope with a bit less high standard to save £100+

That's a massive increase and I think it's a bit dodgy for a cleaner to charge per clean rather than an hourly rate. I'd look for someone else. You don't need to pay over the odds for a cleaner.

We're in the south east and pay £13.50 an hour. There's also an agency fee which is something like £10-15 a month I think.

We pay £19.50/hour in London, with us providing everything.

How long have you been paying her £17? I think cleaners' pay rises often seem dramatic but that's because lots of people don't give their cleaner a pay rise every year so they have to ask for a few years' worth all at once.

It does seem on the steep side if the 3 bedroom clean only takes 2 hours. That said, I tend to take the view that having someone reliable, who does a good job, knows your house and isn't difficult to deal with has a lot of value in itself. I dare say you could find someone cheaper but whether that's a good decision is tricky question.

Well this is why I wanted her to stay for 3 hours…the standard is good, but it’s not £70 a week exceptional. She spends time making things look ‘pretty’, but the house is clean when she’s been.

We could just about afford it, it’s whether I can justify it. It’s £3k a year, that’s the family holiday…

She’s almost doubling her prices for exactly the same service. That’s what I’m struggling with.
and it is her business, she’s entitled to charge what she likes. I’m trying to figure out if it’s worth it.

It went up in August to £17 per hour, so we are due a rise. I don’t mind it going up, as previously mentioned I wanted an extra hour but her response was, this is a general clean, other things are part of a deep clean which which was quite a lot more.

Yep I think you might be right…

@yellowgeckothis.
That's really 3 hours for a decent basic clean. But I don't think an extra £15 for the extra bedroom is fair.

Wow, she's ripping you off OP! I'm really not sure she's being very thorough to get your property clean in 1.5hours, it'll only be a 'surface' clean therefore doesn't warrant such an excessive increase in charge.

@salcombebabesometimes it’s 2 hours, often it’s less so yes it is absolutely a surface clean. She’ll dust the headboard for example, but the hanging pendant light right next to it at the same level doesn’t get a dust…there’s other examples but that for me puts it at ‘good’ not ‘£70 exceptional’