Having a cleaner

MrsE_2

Wrote a list of jobs that would need doing.

2 bed house, 2 adults living in it.

Important jobs -
Hoover/sweep/mop floors
Dust & clean mirrors
Clean bathroom
Clean worktops & splash backs & fronts of cupboards in kitchen.

Extra jobs, maybe 1 every week rotating.
1. Bathroom tiles
2. cooker (I could have mr musceled it in advance)
3. Fridge/freezer
4. Damp wiping skirting & door frames & window frames & wiping four sets of wooden blinds.

I would do laundry & change bedding.

How long would this take per week?
2 hours? 3 hours?
If I get an individual in will I be looking at paying her holiday pay when she's off & holiday pay also if I'm off?
If I got a firm I wouldn't have that issue they would send someone regardless & I would probably be able to cease when I'm on hol.
They charge about the same, despite the holiday issue, so no cheaper getting a local person - just maybe agro with the holiday issue.

Any advice?

fluffnutter

Wow, you clean your oven every fortnight? You shame me!

Two hours for what you're asking. Not sure about your holiday question. I didn't pay my cleaner holiday pay but then I never went anywhere.

MrsE_2

fluffnutter wrote: »

Wow, you clean your oven every fortnight? You shame me!

Two hours for what you're asking. Not sure about your holiday question. I didn't pay my cleaner holiday pay but then I never went anywhere.

Every month, 4 "extra" jobs, 1 a week. Everything gets done once every 4 weeks.

Is that the usual list?

Spirit_2

MrsE wrote: »

If I get an individual in will I be looking at paying her holiday pay when she's off & holiday pay also if I'm off?
?

We do not have any help at home at present, however over the years we have had cleaners we have given them paid holiday. We are paid for holiday and it seems unfair to deprive them of their living for weeks. At the outset we would say we will pay 5 weeks holiday per year, so it did not matter if it was when I was off or they were off..it was 5 weeks.

If Christmas and New Year fell on a day they cleaned we paid them for that but usually asked them to work an extra (paid day).

MrsE_2

Spirit wrote: »

We do not have any help at home at present, however over the years we have had cleaners we have given them paid holiday. We are paid for holiday and it seems unfair to deprive them of their living for weeks. At the outset we would say we will pay 5 weeks holiday per year, so it did not matter if it was when I was off or they were off..it was 5 weeks.

If Christmas and New Year fell on a day they cleaned we paid them for that but usually asked them to work an extra (paid day).

Thank you. I may as well use a firm then & I will have my cleaning done every week.
If an individual was cheaper then I could understand the holiday pay being extra, but cleaning firms charge the same & provide cleaning every week you pay for - thank you for the info.

Metranil_Vavin

We don't pay our cleaner any holiday pay, but then she came via personal recommendation and not an agency.

I pay her £40 a fortnight and she pretty much blitzes through all the important cleaning that needs doing - kitchen, bathroom, hoovering, dusting etc, and also cleans the oven if it needs doing.

Funky_Bold_Ribena

I used to have one for 2 hour a fortnight until a few weeks back, as my paid job is ending and I am starting a new business, so being cautious I decided to forgo having her but I am missing her deeply.

My advice is to get one to do a trial month and if you need her for longer, then you do or just do the less important stuff yourself.

Dunroamin

Metranil_Vavin wrote: »

We don't pay our cleaner any holiday pay, but then she came via personal recommendation and not an agency.

I pay her £40 a fortnight and she pretty much blitzes through all the important cleaning that needs doing - kitchen, bathroom, hoovering, dusting etc, and also cleans the oven if it needs doing.

If she does all that in two hours a week she sounds like a miracle worker - keep her!

Metranil_Vavin

haha she actually does a stint of 4 hours on one day a fortnight Dunroamin. I pay her £10 an hour.

I agree, she'd have to be super-human to do all that!

I do give her a nice pressie at Christmas too

BitterAndTwisted

MrsE wrote: »

Wrote a list of jobs that would need doing.

2 bed house, 2 adults living in it.

Important jobs -
Hoover/sweep/mop floors
Dust & clean mirrors
Clean bathroom
Clean worktops & splash backs in kitchen.

Extra jobs, maybe 1 every week rotating.
1. Bathroom tiles
2. cooker (I could have mr musceled it in advance)
3. Fridge/freezer
4. Clean fronts of cupboards

Do you honestly want each of those jobs done only once every four weeks? I'd want them done weekly. How often do you do these yourself?

How long would this take per week?
2 hours? 3 hours?

How long would it take for you to do these jobs? Cleaners aren't on a different time/space continuum to the rest of us. Aren't you going to ask them to clean the sinks, basins and bath/shower?

Get a couple of cleaners, got through personal recommendation if you like, and ask them to quote you for the tasks you have listed. Usually, there's a fair few you haven't though of, most especially if you're not going to lift a finger yourself other than a bit of tidying up as you go along.

Back in the good old days when I could afford a weekly cleaner she'd do things like emptying and cleaning out cupboards, damp-wiping skirting-boards, door-frames and window-ledges, cleaning electrical-sockets and light-switches, dusting light-fittings. All of the sorts of jobs you forget about until they're not done.

Dunroamin

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

How long would it take for you to do these jobs? Cleaners aren't on a different time/space continuum to the rest of us. Aren't you going to ask them to clean the sinks, basins and bath/shower?

Get a couple of cleaners, got through personal recommendation if you like, and ask them to quote you for the tasks you have listed. Usually, there's a fair few you haven't though of, most especially if you're not going to lift a finger yourself other than a bit of tidying up as you go along.

Back in the good old days when I could afford a weekly cleaner she'd do things like emptying and cleaning out cupboards, damp-wiping skirting-boards, door-frames and window-ledges, cleaning electrical-sockets and light-switches, dusting light-fittings. All of the sorts of jobs you forget about until they're not done.

Actually, I disagree with the time issue. I'd expect anybody who did something for a living to do it more quickly and more efficiently than an amateur would. I agree that some jobs have been left out, although some that you mention seem more like spring cleaning type things to me. (Mind you, I'm a sloven.:o)