Cleaners

gabyjane

Ok i work as a cleaner 5 days a week part time in a private club, so more dusting and polishing than anything that i would call horrible! I also clean a friends house every fortnight and used to do others before my other job became very full time. I am very thorough and quite anal at home that everything is tidy and clean so feel i do a very good job (and am told this by everyone who comes round or i go to!)

Due to my working hours being so long now we decided to get our own cleaner to do an hour on a friday so the house is clean for the weekend and i dont have to run round doing it all. We had them (there are 2 of them) in friday gone and they asked me what i wanted doing. I said the only thing that i was a bit slap dash on were the floors, places like under the bookcase, the sofa, desk etc..so floors needed a good going over. also the bathroom doing. I got home and wasn't really sure what to expect but the floors had been done..the bathroom floors but looking at the tiles they hadn't and nothing else, this cost £15 for the hour.

Now for those of you who clean or have one what do you do..or ask to be done? I personally do everything when i do our friends house from tiles to floors..maybe i'm doing too much! Just interested to see.
Thanks

MyRubyRed

£15 an hour for a cleaner seems a bit steep to me but an hour to do what your asking seems a bit of a tight timescale too. Cut the wage and increase the hours maybe?

BitterAndTwisted

Well, you're the one with the experience so what would you be able to get done in an hour? Or two hours if you're paying two people for an hour's work each.

I don't think that two hour's worth of housework a week is enough time to get everything that needs to be achieved done so perhaps you could consider leaving them a list of what tasks you would like them to attend to each week.

gabyjane

MyRubyRed wrote: »

£15 an hour for a cleaner seems a bit steep to me but an hour to do what your asking seems a bit of a tight timescale too. Cut the wage and increase the hours maybe?

Hi sorry maybe i didnt explain it properly. It is £15 an hour but there are 2 of them so effectively £7-50 each.

gabyjane

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Well, you're the one with the experience so what would you be able to get done in an hour? Or two hours if you're paying two people for an hour's work each.

I don't think that two hour's worth of housework a week is enough time to get everything that needs to be achieved done so perhaps you could consider leaving them a list of what tasks you would like them to attend to each week.

Hmm see this is where i agree with my sister as she said i would be picky as i am quite anal with it all! Me personally in an hour would get a lot done..more so if i had a friend with me but yeah depends on what i ask for i guess!
Those of you who do have one what do you get cleners to do? i have a feeling things like polishing tiles in the bathroom and doing light fittings etc (which i do) they call 'deep cleaning' so may not do it for the money. I will ask them when i see them next!

Thanks for the replies x

monicaj

I have a cleaner for 4 hours per week. We have quite a large 4 bed house with 2 adults, 2 adult children and a 5 year old. Each week I ask her to concentrate on either:

Downstairs - large kitchen/family room, lounge, playroom, office, hall and utility room OR

Upstairs - 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms landing and stairs.

She has been with me for 2 years and is very thorough, within a month as well as the basic clean, she will have done skirting boards, inside windows, cobweb hunt, under beds, etc etc. In other words, by not expecting too much I get everything done to a very high standard and I would say my house is always clean.

I always make sure she has the correct products (ones she likes using and does a damn good job with ) and a plentiful supply of cleaning cloths, and of course coffee and biscuits !!

I think it is very dependant on what type of floors you have - carpets are a doddle, just a vaccuum (even around the edges) - I have wooden floors or tiles throughout which need to be vaccuumed and mopped/polished and I factor this into my expectations of what can be achieved.

Hope this helps

meritaten

scuse me? bit confused here? you are actually paying two cleaners to come and clean for YOU while you go and clean for someone else?
and its just for an hour?
couldnt you just cut back an hour or so on your own job? this seems silly to me - like a mechanic paying someone else to fix his car while he fixes someone elses?
unless you are earning MUCH more per hour - in which case why underpay someone else?

BitterAndTwisted

Sometimes it's not possible to cut back on the hours if you still want to keep the job. In the current economic climate the OP might be doing the most sensible thing under the circs

monicaj

meritaten wrote: »

scuse me? bit confused here? you are actually paying two cleaners to come and clean for YOU while you go and clean for someone else?
and its just for an hour?
couldnt you just cut back an hour or so on your own job? this seems silly to me - like a mechanic paying someone else to fix his car while he fixes someone elses?
unless you are earning MUCH more per hour - in which case why underpay someone else?

Maybe, just maybe ???? the OP is so fed up with cleaning, the last thing she wants is to start again when she gets home !!!

I have been accused of being a "snob" and "lazy" for having a cleaner, I work long hours running my own business and don't feel I need to justify my choices to anyone, neither should the OP !! Would you say the same if she had another job title ?

meritaten

monicaj wrote: »

Maybe, just maybe ???? the OP is so fed up with cleaning, the last thing she wants is to start again when she gets home !!!

I have been accused of being a "snob" and "lazy" for having a cleaner, I work long hours running my own business and don't feel I need to justify my choices to anyone, neither should the OP !! Would you say the same if she had another job title ?

I havent accused anyone of being a snob or lazy - I just find it hard to understand why someone who is a professional cleaner (and i DO have respect for that profession - I couldnt do it) and admits to being picky about her own home - would employ others to clean HER home.

I would LOVE to have a cleaner! but unfortunately cant afford one! and my OH thinks I should do it anyway (despite being disabled).

I DO see your point though about not feeling like cleaning when she gets home - I didnt think of that!

but on the whole - I still cant help thinking its strange! but in the immortal words of Echo and the Bunnymen - People are Strange!;)

Foggster

Can I suggest you do the work yourself and time it. This is what I did when I employed a cleaner, I can get a fair bit done in 2 hours! Personally I think 2 man hours is plenty of time to clean floors unless you live in a country pad and havent told us! LOL