gareth

Apparently we need a "domestic engineer"... how do you go about finding someone honest/reliable etc and what would I expect to pay?

Thanks!

AdamK_Cupra

we paid ours £5 an hour.

they are "technical cleansers" btw

gareth

guess that's south-east rates, so I might get away with 50p/hour plus a sound beating if they miss anything...

AdamK_Cupra

i expect "oop norf" u might get away with paying them less.

boxst

Hello

The "trustworthy" is important -- I had a cleaner (er, Domestic Cleanser) who spent hours phoning a psychic hotline. I had already sacked her by the time the bill had come in, so there was nothing I could do to reclaim the money.

Steve.

roadtrip

I'm "oop norf" and pay our cleaner 20 quid and it takes her 2 - 4 hours depending on how much crap I've left around,
So at worse she's on a fiver an hour going up to a tenner an hour on a good day.

From my experiences I would go for a younger, rather than older cleaner, its so much nicer working from home when a fit 22yr old lass is cleaning up for you in the middle of a scorching summer wearing a very short skirt and bikini type top

gareth

are we talking half a day, once a week? This is for a four-bed house, family of five...

Got me thinking about my selection process now (max age, marital status etc)

boxst

Hello

Mmmm .. they are certain "specialised" agencies that will do naked / French maid outfits. Although I would imagine they are more than £5 per hour!

To be more serious: Older people are more reliable. Or if young, (quickly hiding from my wife) try and get a Polish person as they are very thorough and trust-worthy. But that is more likely to be in London.

Steve.

ProperCharlie

Czech girls tend to be well proportioned and very energetic.

roadtrip

our cleaner comes round every Monday.

Found older cleaners too slow and very nosey, always reading our mail etc, and insist on doing things "their way". **** that, if I'm paying they do it MY WAY!

Our cleaner is 22 and a single mum, her kid stays at her mums when she comes cleaning. She's very honest, and almost every week finds money on the floor, behind the sofa etc and always leaves what she finds on the dining table be it 50 pence or 50 quid.
She got a Xmas bonus of £100 which she was well pleased about... I thought she'd blow it on a night out with her mates but it went on her kid!

Butkus

My Mum runs a cleaning company, just doing private houses. Charges £12-15/hour for each cleaner - they tend to go in teams of 2-3.

gareth

Thanks for the replies. So where do I get one from? Assume agencies are worth about as much as they are in my job (i.e. add no value, worse than incompetent, just deplete the earnings of the one actually doing the work), so is it a case of looking for cards in the newsagent's window? Do cleaners come complete with references these days?