Cost of help.

We pay somebody to help in the garden one afternoon a week and he charges us £10 per hour.

Same here.

Which part of the country do you live because the charges vary enormously. I pay a grass cutter £14 and it takes him around 20 minutes.

I pay a cleaner £22.50 for 3 hours a week and the agency just under £15 a month.

I'm near Manchester. X

£12 per hour each for Gardner and cleaner, married couple.
Don't know what I'd do without the Great Gary? He helps with odd jobs, paperwork, and is on call if I fall and press my alarm!
( the last time I was stark naked and bleeding all over the place from tearing my fragile skin on my arm!

He sounds wonderful, Galen.

The man who helps us in the garden is a friend of DH's. They go fishing together once a week and I know he'd be the first person I'd call if there was a real emergency.

Some people are just worth their weight in gold.

DH does the garden for two separate older ladies at £12 per hr he also does odd jobs and carpentry for them at no extra charge. One of 'his ladies' calls him her little treasure

I think between £12 and £14 an hour is a reasonable price.

This is an ongoing argument that I have with my Mum who thinks she is being incredibly generous paying her cleaner £7.50 (she has to walk half a mile from the village and back again for just one hour's work). Given how very comfortably off my Mum is, I can't understand why she is absolutely determined to pay not one penny more.

Thanks, some great replies. Can I also ask if they supply the hoover etc., lawnmower etc. or do they use yours? Sorry but I only had one full house clean and it was like the fairies had been in while we went Christmas food shopping, wonderful.

Galen You have a very good man taking care of you. Some people are worth their weight in gold it seems.

We pay Age UK £15 per hour for cleaning and shopping for MIL but we know it has some kind of regulation and they give lots of feedback - unfortunately they are not as good as they used to be at covering sickness absence and holidays e.g. they rang us on Christmas Eve and said no-one would be visiting this 101 year old until 4th January!

We have a cleaner for 2 hours once a fortnight and I pay her £20 and the agency (which vetted her and gave me her details) charges £45.50 every 3 months. She cleans right through our 3-bed dormer bungalow apart from the bathroom and downsrairs loo which we do oursleves on a regular basis. She works really hard and doesn't take a break and I supply the vaccuum cleaner and all cleaning products. She is a diamond!

The window cleaner charges £14 for doing the outside ones but comes when he feels like it!

I pay £50 for 2 cleaners who come for 2 hours every 2 weeks. They provide everything including their own vacuum cleaner. One of them had cleaned for a neighbour for 20 years so I had the best recommendation.

rubylady DH takes some of his own small tools. Also hedge trimmer and occasionally his own mower, depending on the state of the lawn as his is more powerful than those each lady owns.

Lilke ann I have 2 cleaners who come for two hours every two weeks for £44. They bring everything (including bucket and mop) and clean right through our 4 bedroomed house except for the bedroom which DH uses as an office. I think they were probably hotel trained as they always fold the end of the toilet rolls into a neat V shape!
Our window cleaner has just increased his price to £8 which is incredibly cheap given the number of windows and will do the insides too. He also cleans out the gutters and washes down the outside woodwork once a year.

P.S. I live in Essex - not the cheapest part of the country for wages so £11 p.h. per person is reasonable.

My cleaner does 3 hours once a fortnight, (did every week while I was post operative) and I pay her £35 per session - and she doesn't half clean the place! She uses all my equipment and products.

My gardener just comes in to prune and tidy, and only charges £8 an hour.

When DGd1 (18) was at home, she did my ironing for £10 - I miss that. My cleaner did it while I was recovering, but really there isn't enough to justify me not doing it. At least I am up to date with "The Archers"!

Then there's Sainsburys delivery each week, and Tesco occasionally, and thank the Lord for Amazon...

Anazon Prime has turned out to be useful. I did a free month's trial over Christmas then opted to stay with it. The amount I've saved in petrol has already covered the cost and being able to get something delivered next day has saved me having to dash out to look for things like presents, books, household items etc. that I need quickly.

On the whole gardeners supply their own equipment and the householder supplies hoover, cleaning materials and cloths etc. The occasional cleaning agency supplies everything but they are few and far between.

I cancelled my Amazon Prime renewal last month because the price had rocketed from £49 to £79 a year, to cover the cost of all the download folderols I don't use or even want. But oh, how I miss it!

I love Amazon Prime as I get so much next day delivery free and lots of great TV and Films included in the price.

Amazon prime and Sainsburys deliveries on a thread about hired help.

I found this selection of videos by a company called corgi homeplan which demonstrates very clearly how to deal problems that you may have otherwise had to call out an engineer for! Couldn't believe I hadn't found it before! I have included the link here for everyone else to have a look, it's one of many really useful videos that may save you money by not needing to call out a professional! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v62-ykrNQmk