Paying a cleaner

[Rachel-And-Sam1]

We have been hosting our small studio apartment at the beach (on the east coast of Australia) for about 1 year. We have had the same reliable cleaner for about 8 months. Our agreement has been we pay her $60/ clean (this includes the care of the linens as well). We charge our guests $50 a clean and pay her $10 out of our pocket. All of a sudden she has invoiced us $90 for a clean because it was a public holiday, with no prior discussion. After some discussion she has told us she is selling herself short and not happy with what we are paying her. 

Regardless of if we find a new cleaner, we are just wondering....

Are we not paying enough for a 45 min clean and the care of linens ($60)?

What % of your income do you spend on cleaning?

Do you charge your guests the same about of cleaning fee as you pay your cleaner? Or do you take a cut from your income?

Thanks so much fellow hostees!!! 

[James2566]

That's not enough time, and it looks like you've been knocked some stars for cleanliness. I'd give 3 hours for your smaller studio and 4 for the one that has a lot more upholstered surfaces and cushions, rugs. My cleaning fee for a studio is typically US$100 and I haven't had any complaints. Guests who don't like it are welcome to stay at nearby hotels that charge US700 a night and offer "free" cleanings. 

[Andrew2270]

just cation for Australian hosts - there is a cleaning award rate that you must follow

just using ABN does not negate your responsibility to cover at least the minimum award rate and conditions as you are being invoiced for labor as a bulk of your invoice value

If you pay less then the award rate by using ABN regardless if the cleaner agrees in writing or on signed agreement you are breaking the law and engaging in sham contracting and will face as others have 100k fines plus and possibly loose more then just your business. so don't risk it hire professionals and insure you confirm in writing that they are working at award rates and do the math yourself

why would you treat cleaners unfairly after all there dealing in some cases with guests bodily fluids rubbish and many other sanitisation tasks not paying public holiday rates REALLY?? on the award even under ABN you cannot pay less then $48.22 per hour which is what you should be paying on Sundays also. I would remove the comment made about that as your admitting to breaking the law in qld and nsw 

you are also legally billable for a minimum of a two hour shift even if your clean takes 45minutes 

anything less and your breaking the law in Australia just look up cases in front of the federal court the backlog of these cases is growing and ontop of paying the cleaners what is rightfully there entitlement going back upto 7 years business owners are being slapped with massive fines for doing this to cleaners knowingly or unknowingly  

I urge all hosts to speak with fair work , a lawyer or research m000022 award for 2020-2021 as casual labor rates in the award are the minimum you can legally have a cleaner agree to

you are running a business and its your job to make sure your aware of these things

don't say your not warned or don't tell the judge that everyone on airbnb is doing it

or they just agreed to it or the most common claim is that you will have to remove your property as you can't afford the minimum rates

cos a judge will tell you fine remove it! but you still have to pay for the previous work done.

there is no excuse for underpaying anyone profit only comes after costs and there seems to be a mind set of trying to sell to owners 500%+ increase in return over long term rental market yet a majority of threads on here hosts are claiming its not worth it they will just remove there property from airbnb as cleaning cuts into profit??? totally crazy statements

im shocked that on every forum for air bnb in Australia hosts are admitting to sham contracting in serious volumes im not surprised the ato is going over airbnb books this year

I will post examples of the minimum you can pay a cleaner either on ABN or TFN in queensland

mon-fri 2 hour checkout clean $83 during 9am-5pm regardless of the size of your property this is just a minimum

but it gets tricky if you have 2 cleans same day you must pay there time to travel to the next clean and you must pay a travel allowance of .80c per klm

you can get around this by calling it two seperate jobs however a split shift allowance occurs for this if multiple jobs within the 9am-5pm period

if your clean is on a Sunday the same rules apply in qld under the award your minimum you can agree to pay

sun-9-5pm $117 for a 2 hour clean

if you agree your cleaner is to take linen home for processing you can and should be billed for this also as a shift or a shift plus the use of there equipment/machines

again this is just a cation for those in Australia it seems a lot of business owners/hosts are unaware and slowly coming unstuck

with the ato audit and scrutiny coming up

either do the clean yourself on all your properties or start paying your cleaners minimum award rates is my 2 cents

also a further note don't forget to confirm super is included in the rate and again confirm it by checking the math against the award rates currently its 9.5% but next month increases to 10% but I can't stress enough check for yourself

even under ABN contractors must still receive enough to cover superannuation or your billable for this at any point with no time limit on when a cleaner can report and come back to you with there hand out

a dollar saved now will only be paid to the cleaner later plus fines.

if they lodge against you regardless of email trails you have zero leg to stand on and you will receive an order to pay im aware of a case a personal guarantee was also added to the order so regardless if the business closes your still in debt to the cleaner and under court order to pay

not sure about you but none of this sounds like loosing my home over

THIS IS JUST A QUIK RANT BUT DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH 1 PROPERTY OR 10 MAKES NO DIFFERENCE

[Sarah977]

@Andrew2270  A "quik"rant? No, that was a super long rant.

You have no listing as a host and no history as a guest. So why are you posting this here? Are you a cleaner?

[Andrew2270]

im investigating the legalities of hosting and looking to host and in my research I have found wage theft right through the industry in my local area.

fyi my " rant relates to Queensland Australia and not mexico it clearly states that.

do you think hosts are entitled to wage theft cleaners?

are you not aware of minimum awards in your area? or don't think they apply to you?

your response begs those questions.

it looks difficult to compete for fair prices if so many appear to be breaking local and federal laws in Australia 

[Karol22]

We increased our cleaning fees over the pandemic because it's more work for our cleaners. Also, we make sure to charge enough in cleaning fees so that it pays for the entire cleaning service. We pay our cleaners more than average because they are professionals and are reliable. They also know that we hold them up to high standards. Our guests review us highly for cleanliness and everyone is happy.

[Matt682]

Professional company, insured, holiday cover etc.

£140/m for three hours a week. That covers all public areas twice a week, and the bedrooms once a week. I do the bedding and laundry. They move the days based on my arrivals and departures too.

It is my home though, so I don’t know if that makes the deal better or worse

[Huma0]

@Rachel-And-Sam1 

Interesting topic. Personally, I think $60 AUS for a 45 minute clean sounds extortionate, but then I do not know how long laundering the linens takes, so maybe that makes up the bulk of the payment. Also, even though London is a very expensive city and people get paid more here than elsewhere in the UK, I have heard that salaries for some professions (tradespeople, for example) are higher in Australia.

I pay my cleaners £13.50 per hour (I think that's stone $25 AUS), which is standard, or even slightly high, considering I hire them direct and not through an agency. Agencies here charge around that amount but take a cut out of it, so the cleaner doesn't even get minimum wage. That's one of the reasons I prefer to pay the cleaner direct.

A few people have mentioned that 45 minutes is not enough to clean a studio. Well, it doesn't sound long, but it depends on how fast and efficient the cleaner is. Mine are super fast. They clean all communal areas in my house (I do the bedrooms and linens myself and supply the cleaning materials) in 2.5 hours. It's a large, four story house and the areas they clean include a large entrance hall, big kitchen/diner, large living room, 3.5 bathrooms and a lot of landings and stairs. They do move things, not just clean around them. They polish mirrors and dust chandeliers, etc. etc. It's not superficial. So, no I don't agree that you need three hours to clean a studio. All that costs me around $62 AUS. That is the price they set. To be fair, this would take me all day or more if I was doing it myself, but I'm not a professional cleaner.

They also did a deep/end of tenancy clean for my mother of a two bed flat that had been occupied for years. It included a large landing area, hallway, two double bedrooms, bathrooms, open plan kitchen/living area that all needed a thorough clean as the tenants had been there for years. Total cost, including four hours of cleaning + cleaning materials was around $100 AUS.

Only you know if you are happy with your cleaner and the job they do and if it is enough. The cleaner should have informed you if they were going to charge more for a public holiday (mine don't charge more, but that's their choice - a lot of cleaners don't work on public holidays) rather than spring it on you unexpectedly, but now you have to decide if the request for a higher wage is valid or not based on the job that they do.

[Neil-and-Carolina0]

If you are fortunate enough to have a place you can rent out and make generous income then you should share the wealth. Could you live on what you are paying these people.

Even if they quote that low you should offer more. We cant just take advantage of peoples situation and their lack of ability to defend themselves and charge properly.

Just a thought next time you see them working hard for 2.5 hours for $60.

[Kelly1707]

I cleaned for a host spent half my day cleaning he agreed to pay me $50 and when he got paid from air bnb he took the money to the casino and said he wouldn't.pay.me. I went back the next day to try to retrieve my.money and he tried to have me arrested for trespassing . I went back a week later and he threatened a restraining order. Has this happened to anyone. What can I do to get paid. I even told him I would except something lesser the amount even an apology still nothing.

[Helen3]

You don't say which country you are in so I don't know your laws @Kelly1707 

This is nothing to do with Airbnb but to do with you and the host who contracted with you to do the work.

1. Did you get him to sign a contract for the work?

2. Did you confirm fees and payment in writing?

I'm not sure why you would have agreed to work for a new client without being paid on completion for the work carried out and am sorry you have been treated badly.

In the UK you would make a claim in the small claims court. Maybe you have something similar?

[Lolitabonita0]

so u worke for less than 10 dollars, spend your gas, mileage, tools, cleaning products, knowledge for $50 dollars...ouch.  Do a simple contract, ask for driver license number (u put the numbers and information), spell out what u are going to do...extra for dirtier place or after mess from a party, dog hair..etc.  How long it takes to travel from your location to the cleaning gig, taxes, and go from there.  If the person do not want to pay don't do the job.  do not sell yourself for pennies.  Do an exceptional job and u will have more people calling you but do not charge pennies...In regards of the looser...is nothing u can do because is not a written contract...so this is a lesson to learn.  good luck

[Lolitabonita0]

First of all cleaning is not easy, lots of details and Knowledge , realiablity, honesty, integrity is what u pay for.  U can pay 10 dollars an hour and find out that someone broke into your place a month later, clean is not spotless...so would you work for low pay just because your boss think what u do is easy and only takes you 4 hours?   

Remember, that cleaners have to pay taxes, insurance, do a very physical demanding work...plus knowledge...is not the same thing to clean your home -by you- than clean someone else place.  So, i think you are paying her too little.   Put here shoes and see how u walk her walk...then decide if u should pay her less for her faitful work/