Anyone ever hired a domestic cleaner? Im doing more aand more hours lately and my fiancee has a serious hip condition and so the place is getting really hard to maintain. Plus the fact that cleaning eats up all our free time Im thinking a part time cleaner might be a good investment. Anyone know anything about costs expectations or have any experiences?

R

dont bother.... unless you really really have to.... in my experience... theres about a 99.99% chance theyll steal from you

My experience is that you can get a cleaner to do the whole house for £20-25. Usually takes a couple of hours, so £8-10 an hour should be about right. These are Northern prices, so may be a bit dearer down Souf.

From a bit of networking I used to do, the owner of a cleaning company told me that the closer the cleaner to the place of work, the lower the rates, so if you thinking of using a company, find one locally and you might be able to barter a better price...

Hmm £20/£25 a week would be ok. I was thinking of using an agency because of the stealing issue - is it really that wide spread of a problem?

I have lots of friends who have cleaners here in London, all are insured and covered for theft by the company, its fairly expensive but it might be London prices.

A friend i spoke to pays £60 per visit and the cleaner cleans the whole house, changes all the beds does dish washing and ironing. He estimates shes there about 6 hours. The have her come round once a week for a 3 bed house of messy guys.

do you know any single mothers or people out of work?
youll get  a much better deal if you know & trust & pay them
cash in hand.

My grandmother uses someone that does other peoples houses/bungalows on the same street. Is local.

We dont think she steals from her, but my grandmother reckons that she keeps dropping hints that she likes/wants things. Most people would ignore it, my grandmother just ends up giving them to her (on top of her pay) so no wonder she keeps saying "oh I really like this top" etc when after a few weeks my grandmother says "you can have it, Ill never wear it again" ><

Quote from: RivkidI was thinking of using an agency because of the stealing issue - is it really that wide spread of a problem?

well my parents have had 4 cleaners, 3 stole things for sure, not sure about the 4th, but some jewellery went missing one week when she was there, then re-appeared the next week... guess she either borrowed it without asking or nicked it then felt guilty.

my grandmother had 4 home helps or whatever theyre called and they all stole too... and not just little stuff, her wedding ring etc... (she had arthritis and couldnt ware it) - they took advantage because she was old tbh.... and no-one noticed till it was too late (its not like we poked through her things when we went to see her)

these were private ones, they didnt look after, just did a bit of cooking / washing up etc... was just over £600 a week to pay them, and they all had qualifications as nurses etc.. so werent just randoms off the street etc..

Quote from: Eggtasticodo you know any single mothers or people out of work?
youll get  a much better deal if you know & trust & pay them
cash in hand.

Id do this tbh...

hire one yourself - advertise on gumtree and get some references from two people in your area

hopefully youll get some polish student or something whos grateful to have a part time job which pays more than bar work and is cash in hand.

I can see a few problems with agency cleaners in that you wont always get the same one and there is probably a greater chance of theft - whether its insured or not is pretty irrelevant as its not likely theyll be nicking your plasma screen TV rather youll find your wallet is a bit light or some DVDs have gone missing.

Advantage of agency cleaners is you can trust the agency with the keys, theyre not given to the cleaner rather a driver drops them off and unlocks the door for them. If you employ one yourself youd probably want to make sure youre always in when she pops round - i.e. get the cleaner in on a Sunday.

The insurance is also useful if something gets broken. A friends cleaner dropped something on his ceramic hob and it cracked it, he found out she wasnt insured (independant cleaner) and was left with the bill from the landlord. He only uses insured agency cleaners now.

I would think that agency cleaners are less likely to steal as if they are reported the angecy would surely do something about it (fire them). But i may be being naive.

There are a few agencies near us that always send the same cleaner, as well as some family run firms that are insured etc.. Might give them a look.

Not 100% sold on the idea yet - does seem like a good idea though

Were on our 4th and she is fantastic.

Local lady in her 50s, retired from managing a hotel and cleans to earn some cash.

£25 for the whole house [4 bed town house], not huge but not tiny either.

The other 3 either overcharged or did not do a good job...

Hunt around, may take a while to find a good one.