House cleaning!

gallopingby

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How much would be a reasonable price to pay per hour for domestic cleaning? Inside only - a farmhouse so sometimes a little muddy 🤣 with input from the odd horse / dog / cat as well as humans 😀 Would be a regular contract.
 

Lois Lame

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I don't have a cleaner 😭 but here I think they are rather expensive. Wild guess, but maybe about $50 per hour. Maybe that works out as a quite similar rate 🤔
 

Bellalily

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Cleaners round here - Lincs/Leicestershire border charge between £15/£20 per hour….and most of them have a waiting list. Minimum wage is over £11 per hour now and they are self-employed so doubt anyone would work for less than £15. Cleaners are highly underpaid and under-rated.
thank you!!
 

Abacus

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I'm in Oxfordshire and pay 17ph, they do a mediocre job but I like the girls and they are always sweet with the dogs. That said our house gets pretty muddy and it's old, lots of spiders etc, so it's probably tough getting it all done in 4 hours. It depends on whether you use an agency, which I did until they went VAT rated and their hourly rate went up from 18ph to 24ph.
 

Bellalily

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Is that one cleaner?
I'm in Oxfordshire and pay 17ph, they do a mediocre job but I like the girls and they are always sweet with the dogs. That said our house gets pretty muddy and it's old, lots of spiders etc, so it's probably tough getting it all done in 4 hours. It depends on whether you use an agency, which I did until they went VAT rated and their hourly rate went up from 18ph to 24ph.
Is that one cleaner?
 

Bellalily

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It's not terrible, but they definitely miss stuff like under the sofas and round the edges, and often the cobwebs. I don't mind the latter, I like spiders.
If you have a regular cleaner, she should know what you like. Have you mentioned it to her? Maybe leave the feather duster out conspicuously 😃
 

gallopingby

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Thanks guys, l’ve been quoted £20 plus vat. Its difficult to find anyone wanting to do any work - plumbers, plasters or sparkies at the moment.
 

SO1

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In Norfolk mum pays 15 per hour and cleaner does 3 hours. 2 bed and 2 bathroom house plus changing sheets/duvets on 3 beds. We found her on the neighbourhood forum. She does a great job.
 

Annagain

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Sorry to hijack but @Bellalily, would you be offended if someone asked you dust and clean the bannisters (as in in between the spindles). We had a cleaner to do a deep clean after building work and I came home when she was about half way through. She had done the hall but the bannisters were still really dusty so I asked her to do them. She did, but only after making a big fuss and saying nobody had ever asked her to do that before and making out I was really demanding for asking. I really want a cleaner now as I'm working long hours and it never seems to get done but dust in between the bannisters is the one thing I really notice and it really bugs me so I wouldn't want another cleaner who is going to think I'm unreasonable for asking them to do it. If it's not the done thing to ask I'll just have to do it myself.
 

HappyHollyDays

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Sorry to hijack but @Bellalily, would you be offended if someone asked you dust and clean the bannisters (as in in between the spindles). We had a cleaner to do a deep clean after building work and I came home when she was about half way through. She had done the hall but the bannisters were still really dusty so I asked her to do them. She did, but only after making a big fuss and saying nobody had ever asked her to do that before and making out I was really demanding for asking. I really want a cleaner now as I'm working long hours and it never seems to get done but dust in between the bannisters is the one thing I really notice and it really bugs me so I wouldn't want another cleaner who is going to think I'm unreasonable for asking them to do it. If it's not the done thing to ask I'll just have to do it myself.

A good cleaner will work from the ceiling down. Cobwebs, picture frames, skirting boards, every ledge, door frames, light switches, stairs including the banisters and everything in between. Under and behind the downstairs loo and sink, the pipes and the pedestal. Mirrors, glass, floors, blinds, even the seals on the fridge and freezer. Tiles, shower screens and taps de lime scaled if required. I even used to clean the inside of window/door frames and conservatory door runners.

It‘s all about personal pride in the job you are doing and if they can’t be bothered to do something as basic as stair spindles then they are missing things elsewhere.
 

PinkvSantaboots

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Sorry to hijack but @Bellalily, would you be offended if someone asked you dust and clean the bannisters (as in in between the spindles). We had a cleaner to do a deep clean after building work and I came home when she was about half way through. She had done the hall but the bannisters were still really dusty so I asked her to do them. She did, but only after making a big fuss and saying nobody had ever asked her to do that before and making out I was really demanding for asking. I really want a cleaner now as I'm working long hours and it never seems to get done but dust in between the bannisters is the one thing I really notice and it really bugs me so I wouldn't want another cleaner who is going to think I'm unreasonable for asking them to do it. If it's not the done thing to ask I'll just have to do it myself.
Not unreasonable at all
 

malwhit

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My neighbour used to own a cleaning business. Just before Lockdown I asked about the cost. Then it was £15 an hour.

This is in S. Yorkshire
 

FREESTYLER

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£20 an hour is reasonable. A cleaner can ask if there is anything specific that is required and bannister rails is definitely not an unreasonable ask. As others have said , skirting boards work from top to bottom, but it does depend on the hours worked. 2 hours in a large house is a quick clean everywhere, sometimes if you want a good clean everywhere in that room it may only be possible to do 2 rooms top to bottom really well, but depends on how dirty the rooms are in the beginning.
 
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