How much do you pay your cleaner??

Murtle

CG77 wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I should probably have said we have called a couple. Both have said 2 hours, but they send 2 cleaners, bring all their own products (and hoovers etc), clean all appliances (inside and outside of microwave for example), and obviously send someone else if one cleaner is I'll for example. They have said £30 for the two hours for two cleaners, so maybe the 8ish per hour sounds about right as we'll be providing cleaning stuff of course.

Oh and no pets, just one child with a playroom which we won't ask them to clean. The house will be left tidy (surfaces clear etc)

CG. X

That sounds about right. I live in a two bedroom flat and we used to have 1 cleaner for 2 hours. 1 hour was never enough, 2 might have been slightly too much, but if she finished the "standard" cleaning list there were always cleaning treats to be done! Things from the annual list really.

I would have thought if you give them a list an no time frame, they'll either be there all day...or speed through it really quickly but not 100%

CG77

Thanks folks-lots of food for thought!

CG. X

pinkteapot

We have exactly the same type of house!

We had three quotes, all from individuals (sole traders, not the larger companies). They ranged from £35-45 to clean our house fortnightly. We went with the guy who charged £35 as we liked him and 18 months on he's still cleaning for us. I actually felt guilty paying him so little so recently put it up to £40. I've had several cleaners before who start out great and after a few visits start to miss things. We've had consistently good service from ours.

Bear in mind that if they send two cleaners for two hours then you are paying for four hours.

The companies in my area charge about £17 an hour, of which the actual cleaners probably only get minimum wage. I prefer to use self-employed individuals.

If you can get recommendations that's a good way to go. If not (we couldn't in our new town) then look for references and that they have insurance.

We're in Essex BTW - it seems to vary across the country. If you're in London you'll probably have to spend more.

zcrat41

My cleaning lady does 1 bed, 2 bathrooms, lounge, kitchen, cloakroom and utility room, up and down small hall and stairs.

Takes 2 hours (£16) but I have to do a deep clean every few weeks. she wipes the shower for example but doesn't have time to scrub.

For a 4 bed house you'd be looking at 4 - 5 hrs for what you want doing.

Badger_Lady

CG77 wrote: »

Are you saying you don't think 2 hours is enough? I did say I was guessing, I'm really not sure myself.

Your house sounds a similar size to mine, if a rather different layout. I pay £18 for 2 hours and the cleaner comes round weekly. In his two hours, he:

- Vacuums the carpets on the top and middle levels
- Sweeps and mops the floor on the bottom level
- Wipes all the stair banisters and skirting rails
- Does our washing up and puts it away
- Cleans the bathroom / shower / toilet
- Cleans the kitchen surfaces / hob
- Dusts the surfaces in other rooms
- Does a bit of ironing on occasion if we leave it out ready

Things he doesn't manage in that time, and that I therefore do myself on occasion:
- Cleaning the cooker out
- Cleaning the microwave
- Defrosting the fridge
- Tidying up bedrooms
- Cleaning windows

Gillyx

sarahk100574 wrote: »

omg! thats only 17p per hour over minimum wage....before expenses!! will she do mine do you think - I've never been able to afford such luxuries but at that price....:D

It's a friends mum, that's why it's so cheap. I think if she was doing it for others she'd charge more. It's also quite a small hour so she gets loads done in the time.

Badger_Lady

Just to add - my cleaner now doesn't provide any cleaning supplies - he writes me a list of things I need to buy for him.

My old cleaner used to add a supplementary charge of £1 an hour to supply their own. I really wish I could go back to that system!

kittybangbang

Quick answer: I think a reasonable rate for a cleaner who is going to do a good job is £10 an hour. So for a house your size, between £35 and £50. (ask whether they provide their own cleaning materials too!)

Rambly, long winded answer: My partner and I have recently hired a cleaner, and we pay her £20 a week between us (this is with ALL cleaning materials provided too!). Our house is a small 2 bedroom new-build property. For £20, she hoovers throughout, mops the kitchen and downstairs loo, cleans the whole bathroom, dusts throughout and does a basket of ironing (around 5 of my partners work shirts, and a couple of his t-shirts and jeans). If she has done all of these main tasks in the 2 hours, she usually does any washing up we have left, or cleans the windows inside.

You need to figure out how long is a reasonable time to clean a house of your size, but also you don't want to be ripping anyone off, as the cleaner needs to make the job worth their while. (otherwise you'll get someone who only does half a job, cos they're not getting paid what they think it's worth)

The best thing we did, was to source all of the local cleaning firms in our area, and ask for their best quote. We got quotes ranging from £25 to £45, with some of them wanting to charge us £40 for jobs that we didn't want doing every week, like window cleaning, but they insisted that this was part of the package...

We decided to persue the £25 quote, and when she came to visit she was lovely, and we negotiated with her on the things we needed, and all agreed on £20 a week with a 3 week trial. We made it clear that if she was struggling to get all the jobs done, or if she wasnt happy in any way, then we'd meet again and discuss it. So far, things are great, and we have no complaints. She does a great job, and we are happy to pay her £20.

I'm guessing, you should expect to pay between £35 and £50 for a house that size, as you want someone who is going to do a good job. (no point paying a single penny if you're not happy with the job they're doing) so think about the priority/time saving jobs that you'd like doing. Things like windows and skirting boards only need doing every other week, so can be alternated...

(I'd like to add, (even though I've rambled on quite a bit already!) that the reason we need a cleaner in such a small house is that we both work full time, and have sideline jobs which take up most of our time in the week. We didn't wanna spend our quality weekend-time cleaning, as it caused a few rows in the past..ooooops!)

findingmyownway

We pay £10/hour.

She comes for 3 hours every 2 weeks. In that time does kitchen, living room, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and a significant proportion of the ironing

jaqui59

CG77 wrote: »

Both have said 2 hours, but they send 2 cleaners, bring all their own products (and hoovers etc)CG. X

I wouldn't like a cleaner to use their own Hoover .. You don't know where it might have been .. YUK!!