s/o: hired cleaners?

[suziek]

Just wondering what I professional cleaner costs (either by the hour or job) in your area. Cleaners earn $25 an hour here. Also, what do they do/not do? (They do floor but not windows or laundry, for example.)

Just curious after reading the other post about cleaners.

[Linda on the move]

It varies widely, even in the same location.

A standard cleaning is things like

bathrooms:
scrub shower/tub
clean toilet (inside and out)
remove all item from vanity, clean vanity, dust items
mirro
floor
straighten or replace towles

kitchen:
remove all items from counter and clean under them
clean fronts of appliances
clean sink

mop or vacuum all floors
dust all furniture
change sheets

some cleaners do extra things to one room each time they come -- such as the mop boards, ceiling fans, etc.

many cleaners charge more for the first time they come, and most charge less if you have them every week instead of every other week. Some will come ever third week.

The range for our current house (which is a large house) varied from $100 to $185 for basically the same service.

[JessieBird]

I pay mine $20/hour each. They're a mother & daughter team and they come for between 1 & 1.5 hours per week, so I pay between $40 and 60 per week.

In that time they do:
- 2 fullbathrooms top to bottom
- vaccuum entire house (about 1800 square feet, open concept with central vac so fairly easy as far as vaccuuming goes)
- wash all floors (about 900 square feet as we have some carpet)
- dust surfaces (we're minimal/modern with few nick nacks so this is easy)
- various extras every week, depending on how much time the have left over - could be washing a few windows, cleaning out the micorwave, sorting recycling, whatever they see that needs doing.

They are willing to laundry and the kitchen but I don't ask them to because I do those things on a daily basis anyway.

I should say that this is a very good deal. I tried out a few other cleaners and all were more expensive and not nearly as good.

[cappuccinosmom]

Mom and dad's cleaner earns $100/week. That's for 6 hours split into two days. So $16/hour, and we're in a rural, low COL area, so not bad money.

What she does:
-dishes and thorough kitchen cleaning
-bathrooms (2.5)
-tidying/putting away
-vacuum/mop floors
-organization
-dusting
-occasional big projects

She does not do:
-laundry
-pet cleanup (no changing cages)
-windows
-bed-making. Although, now that the little kids are here, I've noticed that she'll make their beds. I think it's purely for her own aesthetics, since they make their beds somewhat sloppily.

IMO both she and my parents have a very good deal. She enjoys the work, she's getting a consistent cash income (they always pay, and always on time), she gets bonuses because they *love* her, if she needs to switch days any time she can, her job is secure unless they die or move away even if they could survive without her ,and she's the first person they talk to for other jobs that need to be done that either she or a family member could do. And they have someone who does an excellent job, her work means the house stays tidy and comfortable all week, she's become a good friend.