Employing a cleaner - and difficulties thereof

How appalling ,but nothing surprises me anymore .
On one occasion ,I was told that according to an astrologer the day that we arranged for her to start wasn't auspicious !

I've noticed that different companies, agencies and private cleaners have different interpretations on cleaning. Finding one for my housebound sister has been terrible.
What I've learnt is there is communal area cleaning, a whizz round with a vacuum, a bit of dusting, wiping kitchen counters etc. So it is sometimes best to get a professional company to blitz your home, thereafter using a local person or company once a week to maintain. Unless you're lucky enough to find someone to thoroughly clean, then maintain, they are not easily found.

Desdemona

If a company is used presumably the cleaner is insured for damage to property etc, whereas someone off of Facebook who is paid cash isn't?

My cleaner is fully insured, has DBS and I can pay her cash or through online banking.
I’m very lucky. She brings all her own cleaning materials and vacuum cleaner.

If a company is used presumably the cleaner is insured for damage to property etc, whereas someone off of Facebook who is paid cash isn't?

I use a local cleaning company after my original cleaner gave up. The cleaner I have now is not perfect but I trust her and she does some extra jobs without being asked.

I’ve had a lot of replies from next door. I’ll start trawling through them later. Some are easy to dismiss, as too far away. Given my experience so far I think I may dismiss companies, that will take the list down quite a bit.

Agree with watermeadow - ask around the neighbourhood. Go by recommendations.

When I was ill and needed help with housework I asked a neighbour who had said she’d done cleaning. She was friendly and helped others with odd jobs and agreed to come and do what I needed.
Because I had asked her, and she had not applied for the job, I paid her way over the average. She is a delight, loves my dog, does any extras required, punctual, thorough, reliable.
If you ask around you might hear of someone else’s treasure who would work for you.

Heavens WW2 ! What a saga.
I bet you are nearly on the point of giving up!
Very disheartening for you.

I really like the suggestion of a trial period for whoever you eventually choose. After all, the person is in your home when you will probably be there too, trying to keep out of her way so you need to feel completely comfortable with her.

I hope you post an update when you have had some success!

Mine is lovely. She is the daughter of the woman who used to clean for me years ago. She is reliable, but I try to be flexible if necessary, so if she has a child-related thing to do she can come later etc - usually it makes little difference to me, so long as I know in advance. In between mother and daughter I had some frustrating ones - one used to stop work to chat for ages, another turned up when she felt like it, and there was one who spent two hours scrubbing a small area of tiles in the kitchen, and after a while said she couldn't bend or stretch.

I was very pleased when the current one said she was starting her business, and we've never looked back. When her children leave school in a couple of years I think she'll find a full-time job somewhere, and we'll be back to square one, though. I think people often forget that whilst an hourly rate may seem higher than equivalents, it has to cover tax, transport, gaps between jobs and so on, and a lot of clients won't pay sick pay or holidays. Many cleaners are willing to trade that for a bit of flexibility when their children are young, but it's more profitable to get a proper salary later on.

I always completely tidy up. I pay her to clean not tidy up after me. I always vow to tidy up as I go along so I'm not rushing about like a mad thing before she comes, but it never quite works out that way.

Maybe get a list of questions at the ready? I had a nice person but then she let me down. The other one didn't even make it through the door.

Have you got a school near you? It might suit somebody looking for day time hours.

How many of us tidy up before the cleaner comes? In my case things end up in strange places and some times don’t re-emerge for weeks!

I usually find cleaners in my local Nextdoor. My present one is fabulous, even emails me if she may be late which is rare. I try to help by accommodating her severely disabled son during school holidays. I tolerate the screaming because I want to keep her.

She is on holiday and yesterday's temp made up my bed without telling me I had left out a single sheet by accident. I was downstairs, not rocket science. I discovered this when I was about to go to bed just before midnight.

Well I’ve asked on “next door” and I’ve had about a dozen replies so far. So a surfeit of cleaners!!

I shall trawl through them later.

Wish life was more simple.

I agree, try the local Facebook page or NextDoor.
Or could you ask anyone you know locally or a neighbour for a recommendation?

We really are in need of a cleaner as we're not managing very well now and I'll ask locally or else ask for a firm that comes in to do a deep clean every so often then try to keep on top of it in between.

Local recommendations are the best

I detest housework, so as soon as I rented my own flat at 18, I took on a cleaner. FB, etc., wasn't around then in 1983, so it was word of mouth, and I still do it that way now. I never go to agencies or anything online.

I've had some really brilliant cleaners, on time, with good work ethic and so on; others as described by you.

In the previous area I lived before moving here to Whitby, I had Tony and his husband, Martin; they came twice weekly, were top class and never gave me any trouble. They were with me for 11 years before I moved, but they're still my besties, and we text/email each other all the time!

The woman I have here now is OK.

I am very lucky to have my granddaughter's cleaner, and she is brilliant. Not only is she an expert but she's a friend too. She's Polish. She has children, and I always tell her they come first if one is ill, etc, or if there's any kind of problem, but she hardly ever has needed to miss a day. She comes 2 hours a fortnight and leaves the house immaculate. I look forward to her visits!

I've had ups and downs going with an agency but local personal recommendation is definitely the best. We had a wonderful Polish lady for years but she decided that she wouldn't be able to continue in such a physical job so she retrained as a hairdresser in her own time. I could only applaud her good sense and wish her well. I currently have a team of two ladies who thoroughly blitz the place in an hour each week. They were recommended by a neighbour.

Local word of mouth recommendation.

We "inherited" our cleaner when we moved here 7 years ago; she came with a glowing reputation and is excellent in every way. She works for many of our neighbours and offers a range of additional services such as ironing, bed changes, etc.

If you find someone, you might agree a trial period so easier to cancel if it doesn’t suit. I didn’t think to do this but luckily it has worked well.

I feel your pain.
When my H was ill I had, from recommendation, the most wonderful cleaner, she was a gem, with us for several years but Covid put and end to it,she found a better job for herself.
Since then I have had two no shows,like you, all set up and then nothing.
I have now had a cleaning service once, they are due again on Thursday, this visit will decide if I carry on with them, on the surface they appeared ok but gradually I realise it wasn’t perfect.
I think I was spoiled by my previous “ lady”

I would go by local recommendation.

I know someone who does the cleaning when , ahem, the police need blood etc cleaned up.
I would be asking her.

When i worked full time we always had a cleaner. It is i found a bit of a saga. We tended to use small companies ( not national ones) I would have months of it being fine then something would happen, the cleaner would change and it would get a bit 'bumpy'. The main problem tended to be that we would be paying for 2 hours and they would just do 1 hour. I am not a clock watcher and if the house had been clean in an hour I wouldn't have cared but it wasnt. I got a bit tired of having awkward conversations at home when that was something I had to do at work! Sorry this isnt encouraging. But I reiterate what others have said my best experiences were via asking on the local Facebook.