Cleaners

[Merlin]

I use a husband and wife team of cleaners every week for a two storey house and they take 2 hours per week. For a scrupulous house clean such as this job sounds,  I think in 7 hours my two cleaners would have done a good job but certainly, for someone (ie one person) to promise to clean an entire house, including blinds etc particularly after the previous owners had left the house in that state, sounds like it was incredibly ambitious in the first place. I would definitely only pay 75% of the invoice as she needs to be paid at least for doing some work and just write this off as a bad experience.
I found my cleaners through word of mouth and as they own their own franchise (ie they belong to a large cleaning company chain)  I have found them very reliable and trustworthy, plus I have the guarantee of their parent company if anything goes awry. I also had several other firms come to do a house clean as a test run to see what they were like before deciding on my current cleaners.
Unfortunately, with any cleaners I have used they never seem to see the small things that you do so I have found you have to be very specific in asking them to do various jobs around the house and my cleaners know by now how I like things done and they will often do little extra jobs around the house if they see something has to be done even when I haven't asked them to.
Good luck though- sounds like this lady is a piece of work!!

[Tasty]

I agree that doing a vacate clean would take longer and was surprised that she initially said that she could do it in 6 hours (she had been in the house to do the oven so she knew what it looked like). I thought maybe she had more efficient methods being an experienced cleaner but not so!

Anyway, I don't even know how to pay her as I only have her mobile number. At this stage, we are going to wait for an invoice or further contact from her.

[Merlin]

Tasty, even better! No news is good news in my books. If she does eventually send an invoice, she should list which jobs were done and I don't think she can just text you or verbally ask for her money without one. Also, she should be dealing with you directly and not asking the estate agent to do her dirty work, pardon the pun!!

[Tasty]

Well we got the invoice and I was furious when I got it.

This is what she did in 7 hours (and she didn't write how long on each task like we asked).

Vacuuming (all rooms had been vacuumed and steamcleaned a couple of days earlier and i mentioned this on phone)
Mopping
Cleaning windows
clean bath
bathrooms
toilets
laundry

Apart from the windows, all the above tasks were just done quickly like a weekly clean and would've 1/2 hour of less. Even the windows weren't done the best as mentioned earlier.

I've decided to pay her in full as I am sick of having it hang over my head but I will be asking her to pay for the broken flyscreen on a window which I doubt she will pay anyway. I have learnt my lesson and will never trust another recommendation from this real estate agent and will take photos in future. So angry at the wasted money.

Fortunately the guy coming to put curtains in for us (over the blinds in main bed) fixed the blind problem for us for free.

On top of this, I will also be forking out more money to get the most of the blinds in the home cleaned (something she said she would do) as dust keeps falling everywhere every time we open and close them.

Vent over!

[Yvette]

Tasty I would still only pay her 75% and say you are taking some out for the broken screen. She will probably be glad to see the end of it too. Judging by what she did there was no way it should have taken that long 

[gertbysea]

Do you mind us asking just how much the invoice was for as it is difficult to tell whether it was for a professional clean or just for. A amateur one.

Gert

[Tasty]

No worries. It was $30/hr so $210

[gertbysea]

Ok just to  compare my wonderful Maria works for Absolute Domestics so is supervised and insured. She works for no less that three hours for which she is paid  $78.

In three hours she does not stop believe me.  My house is one level, 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms , two living areas, a study and laundry. She comes every two weeks  and one week she also cleans some of the floor to ceiling windows and the very large outside under over patio. The other in the month she cleans all the high stuff with a ladder. That includes changing the ceiling fan blade stockings as needed.. She sweeps  then vacuums and washes the tile floors  with a rag mop.

Some weeks she does the three blinds  I own but when she washes the windows she also cleans the screens on the sliding doors.  The skirting boards are always clean and the hanging stuff on the walls are clean too.

Truthfully I am amazed she can get through it in three hours. It  used to take me three hours just to do the floors.  She even  cleans the outside furniture once a month.  I never ask her to do anything extr? I just say if you want to do such and such and it takes extra time just take the money out of the drawer. Sometimes she may take an extra half hour but not often.

My house is not really dirty with just the two of us. I mainly want her to do the floors . I am always astonished and pleased to come home to a sparkly house.  

If I wanted a vacate clean that would involve the walls, ceilings, inside all the cupboards and the wardrobes which have that plastic covered steel which is a b*****d to clean.  We worked out that it would take at least  10 to 12 hours  and  2 people to do it properly in a day.

I have watched the defence force houses in the area with interest. They get cleaned thoroughly ever time a new officer moves out. They have a professional team of four who start at 0730 and finish at 1630 and the houses are much smaller than mine.

So even though you did not get what you asked for I think you were not ripped off too badly.  I would send her $180 and tell her to sue ya for the rest just because she was not completely honest.  

I am exhausted just thinking about all the cleaning. I would not do it for quids.  Oh wait .....I don't !  

Gert

[obbie]

I pay my cleaner $85 for 4 hours

[meganjane]

I would make sure that you let EVERYONE know that you would not recommend her services. I would also include a note with your cheque stating that you are disappointed and will not be able to recommend her services to anyone.

[gertbysea]

Clever Judy!

Gert

[droverjess]

I did an exit clean of our 4 bed house & large conservatory, and exterior office, with a friend 2 weeks ago. I paid her for 6.5 hrs@ £10/ hr  and was working just as hard at same time. So 13 hours. We had a vacuum each. This was while the removals men loaded the furniture. I had previously washed a lot of cupboards and drawers out as Id packed them, and already done the Aga inside and out. I ad swept out arages night before. So even more hours.
House only lived in 9 months all newly painted/renovated before and regularly cleaned. We did not have to wash all the paintwork as it was so new. 2 wood fires to empty too. It was spotless, but a lot depended on a good handover.

Came into our own house previously tenanted and am still cleaning. Fighting over tenants deposit as they did not have  professional cleaning of carpets, oven  etc as per tenancy agreement, so we hope to claim that back and a bit more for broken things and extreme dirt in other places. DH painted all walls and hoping when he is back he will wash all the internal doors as they are awful. Next job replacing taps.

Also i cleaned DD flat when she moved in, so feels like I do nothing but exit/enter cleaning right now. But I'd rather go nannying than cleaning to earn money.

[judydawn]

Me too DJ, way past cleaning my own home let alone someone elses

[gertbysea]

Jess I really feel for you . You really need some Good luck coming your way.

Gert

[mcmich]

When we moved into our house 2 1/2 years ago it was in a terrible state. The property was only 12 yrs old and had been let go. So while we got an excellent price as it was so poorly presented it was a big, big clean up. It took me a day just to clean the kitchen, including the oven and the kitchen is really small.