About the industry
Asking yourself … what should I expect to pay for a cleaner in London?
It’s hardly surprising that with ever increasing busy lifestyles most people in the UK employ a regular cleaner to domestically clean their home.
Some interesting facts about the UK cleaning industry:
- The UK market for contract cleaning is estimated to be £5.6 billion.
- There are around 448,400 people working in the industry in just over 32,000 companies.
- Migrant workers make up 37% of the English cleaning workforce.
- 86% of all cleaning companies have 10 or fewer employees.
- 1% of companies have 200 plus employees and provide work for approximately half of all cleaning employees.
Half of Millennials hiring cleaners as they are ‘too busy’ to clean one-bed flats
The telegraph
Pricing and payment
There are lots of cleaning companies offering regular cleaning services.
Most established companies charge between £10-£13 per hour exc VAT for a standard regular cleaning service.
Some companies do offer a premium service which is more bespoke and tailored to specific needs.
The regular cleaner is normally self-employed and should have their own public liability insurance. If you are recruiting your own cleaner make sure you get proof of ID and ask for at least 2 references.
Payment method
The pricing is often split into two payments. The first part of the hourly rate payment goes directly to the cleaner as cash or a cheque. The remaining amount e.g £3 per hour is paid to the cleaning company via monthly standing order. This fee covers things like replacing a cleaner if they are ill, vetting the cleaner, ensuring the cleaners public liability is up to date etc.
The hourly rate can include ironing and making the beds if agreed in advance. For larger family homes we suggest 4-8 hours a week.
Trusting your cleaner
For most people, trusting someone to come into your home every week is something that takes time. Twinkle Clean work differently to other cleaning companies who offer regular house cleaning, a supervisor will visit your home with your cleaner the first time round introduce you the cleaner and talk through the service. This is a great opportunity for you to ask any questions and agree on what areas will be cleaned and discuss any requirements.
With larger properties, it’s not uncommon to write a tailored checklist so the cleaners know exactly what to clean each week.
When choosing a regular cleaner look for a cleaning company that has vetted their cleaners. This normally means that the cleaners have been met in person and their identity has been verified and references have been checked. Also, insist that your regular cleaner has public liability insurance and regularly check this.
Trust is something that is built up over time. We suggest not giving a key to your cleaner until you are comfortable doing so. Most of our regular house cleaning customers give a key to their cleaners after 1 month.
We advise that any expensive valuables are stored away. While we are confident that our cleaners can be trusted its always advisable to take this precaution. We would advise this same precaution if it was a plumber coming to repair your boiler.
What’s included
Some of the things you should expect the cleaner to do include:
- Wiping all work surfaces and furniture
- Dust all accessible surfaces
- Wipe down all mirrors and glass fixtures
- Clean all floor surfaces
- Take out garbage and recycling
We suggest that the regular cleaner starts on the kitchen and bathroom(s). Once complete then the cleaners move onto the communal areas such as the living room and hallways.
Good luck and remember it will be a bit of trial and error at first!