Costs of cleaning

Sam397
Level 10
Reno, NV

Costs of cleaning

 

Am I the only one who thinks cleaning people are just flat out taking advantage of host. I dont know what people are paying across the country but I am paying $100 to clean a 2 bedroom house and $150 to clean a 3 bedroom house. And now she wants more because she found out that other people are charging more. I had to raise my minimum days to 3 because of what I have to pay to clean the house.  Even with the 3 day stay I am barely making more than her by the time fees and taxes are taken. And what gets me is since its a BnB its getting cleaned every 3-4 days and 99 out a 100 guest leave the house pretty clean so it takes less than 2 hours to clean. Thats $50 an hour shes making to clean house. I dont mean to take anything away from house cleaners but C'mon $50 an hour. It doesnt take any special skills, anybody can clean a house and almost everybody has cleaned a house at some time in their life, its not hard work or takes a lot of brain power yet I am paying them more than my doctor, they make more than cops and firefighters who risk their lives every day and they make a lot more than our servicemen and women who fight for our freedom.  And now she wants more,  unbelievable.  How many people makes $50 an hour, I know I sure dont  And whats worse is all the cleaning companies are this way, I actually was told by one company that they charge $80 an to do laundry, $80 an hour to throw a load of laundry in a washer, (takes 60 seconds)come back in a half hour and throw them in a dryer(takes 30 seconds) then come back in an hour and fold them (takes maybe 10 minutes) and apparently there are host who pay that. There comes a point where you have to say enough and I have reached that point. So not only am I going to refuse paying her more I am going to stop using her altogether. And will let her know her greed cost her a $50 an hour job. I wont be using a cleaning company no more,  there has to be all kinds of people who would jump at the chance to do an easy job for 25 an hour. 

17 Replies 17
Paul1255
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Hey @Sam397  hope you’re doing well!

 

Gosh that all sounds like a lot- fingers crossed you’re able to find people who’ll jump at the chance for the work at $25 a hour so your costs are more manageable.

 

My housekeepers are paid at least £16 per hour, which most people I talk to here think is a large amount for unskilled cleaning work, but having done all of my own cleaning and laundry (and not very well) when I first started hosting I wouldn’t be without them 😆

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

It's a shame that people see cleaning as unskilled work. I've used cleaners for years both personally and for STRs and think there's a real skill set involved. @Paul1255 

 

I'm shocked people you talk to here think £16 is expensive for a cleaner in one of the most expensive cities in the world. When you take into account travel times, petrol, car insurance,  tax and NI, cleaning equipment etc it comes out barely at the minimum London wage.

 

@Sam397  I don't know what rates are likely where you live in the US so hard to comment on the rate. I can't agree that it doesn't take special skills to be at great STR cleaner who not only cleans but prepares homes for rental. To be honest your comments come across as rather patronising and rather insulting to cleaners.

 

I highly doubt you pay your cleaner more than your doctor.

 

If you're getting paid less than your cleaner sounds like you might want a change in career 🙂

 

At the end of the day if you feel she's overcharging and doesn't provide value for your market, find another cleaning service.

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Helen3 

 

£16 an hour for a cleaner is expensive if you are paying them direct. By 'expensive', I mean comparatively, not that it's too much.

 

My cleaners, who are very good, and a small company so they employ others and obviously take a cut out of that, were charging me £12.50 up until recently. They put it up because of the recent rises in the cost of living, which is fair enough. They have to heat their homes too. But, £12.50 or thereabouts would be quite normal, particularly if you are paying the cleaner direct.

 

The last time I used an agency, I think they charged £13.50 or £14 an hour, and agencies usually charge quite a bit more. I'd rather pay the cleaner direct so they earn a better wage, but the ones I use now are a tiny, family run business and I am okay with that. Everything's above board and they invoice me once a month. 

 

My cleaners just clean. They do not prepare the listing for guests. I do that. Even if they did, I don't think that warrants paying them more per hour, it just means paying them for more hours because it will take longer.

 

Then, of course, when you look at the hourly rate, you have to factor in the travel time, some admin, maybe some taxes etc (all equipment and materials are provided by me). Bear in mind, however,  that a lot of independent cleaners only take cash and are not paying taxes at all.

 

All that considered, $50 an hour is still a lot! $50 an hour to do laundry seems excessive. It might be the going rate in some places, but that doesn't mean it's not expensive and it wouldn't surprise me at all if that's more than a doctor get's paid. That's £44.55 currently. How many people do you know who earn that an hour?

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

I'm truly surprised you wouldn't get a decent cleaner for under £15 in Bristol 😁

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Paul1255 

 

From what I have read here on the CC, in some parts of the US, cleaners cost way more than they do in the UK. Another host told me that he pays $50 an hour but that is the low end as he's had much higher quotes. I've seen others post similar figures here.

 

I pay my cleaning company £15 an hour (they put it up a few months ago from £12.50) and, like you, I know I can find someone cheaper if I booked direct (an acquaintance told me the other day that he pays £10 an hour). But, I am happy to pay them that price. They clean all the communal areas in my house, including 3.5 bathrooms and a large kitchen and a LOT of stairs in just 2.5 hours, which I find astonishing, yet they are more thorough than any cleaners I've had in the past who all took longer. So, it's not bad value really. Only problem as I mentioned on another thread is that the lady they are currently sending keeps breaking things, but that's another issue.

 

Although I still do the guest rooms myself, it's a massive help as the house is so big. What they do in a few hours would probably take me days 🙂

Gwen386
Level 10
Lusby, MD

@Sam397 Good luck!!


My rental is an 815SF and it takes a minimum of 3 hours to make it spotless. And you say 99 out of 100 guests keep your rental pretty clean and it should take less than 2 hours to clean. Oh yuck! It may look clean, but take my word for it—IT IS NOT CLEAN!! Cleaning and sanitizing my bathroom and kitchen alone takes 1.5 hours. 

If it is such a brainless job and also not hard work, why do you have a cleaner. Why not do it yourself? 

An easy job—huh—you’re in la-la land. 

Lorna170
Level 10
Swannanoa, NC

@Sam397  You get what you pay for.  

 

Consider this:  Cleaners are not always available ANY DAY OF THE WEEK per your booking schedule.  I pay my cleaner more than the local going rate because she will come after every guest I book.  The cleaner who works with my neighbor will not come on Sunday or Monday, so she loses days and income.

 

Consider this:  If you decide to hire someone at less cost, will you start to see complaints about cleanliness?  That might be a blow to your bottom line.

 

I hope that you can find a person who does a good job at the price that you are willing to pay.

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Sam397 I can't comment on specific rates of pay in your region but the market will, in a non-unionised workforce, set the rate of pay subject to any legal minimum wage issues. If your cleaner charges more than the market rate then find another cleaner - Its not rocket science

Sam397
Level 10
Reno, NV

I apologize if I offended anybody with my comments about cleaners but to be honest my 10 year old  daughter cleans her own room I will leave it at that. 

And to give the people outside of the US an idea as to how much $50 an hour is, our minimum wage is like $8-9 an hour, (which is what people who clean hotel rooms get paid) and a good paying job like at a warehouse starts you out at maybe $15-20 an hour. I have a friend who is a police officer in my city and he said that he makes nowhere near $50 an hour. I am curios  a few have said that they pay E15 an hour, what percentage of what you make for an average stay do you pay your cleaner. For example I pay $100 to the cleaner and charge $110 a night so on a 3 night stay I make $330 so I am paying  roughly a 1/3 of what I make to the cleaners.

@Mike-And-Jane0  unfortunately this is the market rate and that is what sucks, somewhere along the  line people started paying a lot of money for this and the rates kept going up. And it will keep going up until people stop paying, thats why I say they are taking advantage of host.

@Lorna170  as far as working any day needed, that is part of the job, and is no different than someone working graveyard shift or being on call.  I do think they should be paid extra for doing this but  $50 an hour is crazy. IMO.

@Gwen386 the house is cleaned very well, it may not be sanitized but its clean. Like I said this being a BnB the house gets cleaned every few days and most guest clean up before they leave so its basically just changing the linens, ( a lot of times its just been one bed slept in)cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming the floors and cleaning the kitchen.(which a lot of times was never used during the stay). Then once a week the whole house gets dusted and once a month we go around and clean the top of baseboards, under the beds and behind things that dont get seen. I am sure if you are a host that you know that if the house wasnt cleaned well there would be something in our reviews and I have had going on 500 reviews since I started and not once has there ever been anything said about the house not being clean in fact the majority of them commented on how clean the house was. And for the record I cleaned the houses for the first few years so I know exactly what it it takes and yes I do consider making beds and cleaning floors easy work, its a hell of a lot easier than the jobs I have had in my life. 

@Helen3, I havent been on this forum in a few years but there are two people I remember and you are one of them. Thank you for your input on this and I am sure you didnt mean to call me a liar but it is more than I pay my doctor. And I am finding another cleaner.

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Sam397 


@Sam397 wrote:

my 10 year old  daughter cleans her own room I will leave it at that. 

 


So, would you trust your ten-year-old daughter to clean a listing to the standards that guests expect, including things like scrubbing the toilets?

 

To me, $50 seems really high, because that is definitely not the going rate where I live, but you have already said it is where you live. I guess it's all about supply and demand. If you could find a cleaner that is as good/reliable/available for much less, surely you would be using them already...

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

@Sam397  I'm just surprised that doctors in the US charge so little after having had a couple of hospital admissions while staying in the US prices were astronomical - luckily my travel insurance covered them

 

In the UK we are fortunate to have one of the best public health systems in the world and don't ever pay for a doctor when using our National Health Service..

 

Your cleaner will have to pay for her travel, equipment tax etc out of the $50 dollars an hour that you pay her.  But if you feel she is charging too much in comparison with what good cleaners charge in your area absolutely you should explore your local market.

Debra300
Level 10
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

@Sam397,

 

In our Atlanta Metro rentals we pay our cleaner about $20 p.h., and the cleaning fee goes directly to her.  She is slow, but thorough and does an extraordinary job.  We and our guests are never disappointed with her work.  The cleaning fee for the 775 s.f. apartment is $180 and for the 1800 s.f. house it is $250, but we rent long-term only.

Lorna170
Level 10
Swannanoa, NC

@Sam397   My comment about working any day needed is based on 20+ years of experience with cleaners and cleaning services.  Cleaning services typically want a static rental property turnover day, i.e., every Saturday, so that they can assign a cleaner.  Individual cleaners who have multiple clients want to calendar a month or two in advance, so they are not always available to come several times in a given week if I have rentals of only two or three nights.  When I had a property service handling a few properties, they would actually block dates on my calendars when they did not have staff available.  

 

I have had many cleaners over the years, and most of them worked multiple jobs and did the cleaning when not at another job, like working at a restaurant.  I have an employee that has a full-time job as does her daughter, and they tag team cleaning as they work different shifts at the factory and can cover for each other and handle any last minute rentals or changes.  I am more than happy to pay them a good wage for this excellent service.

Kia272
Level 10
Takoma Park, MD

@Sam397 It's called supply and demand. They have something you want, and therefore you have to pay for it. Whatever the going rate is for cleaners in your area, if you won't pay it, someone else will. You may find someone who will charge less, but can you count on them to leave your property spotless? Your profits are based on good ratings, and the cleanliness rating is so important. 

 

Sorry, but you're sounding pretty entitled here. 

 

I clean my property myself, not because I love to clean, but because I can't find someone good and responsible in my area to do it, and also because the reason you mentioned: profit. I invest my sweat equity so that I can keep more of the money. I am SO sick of cleaning my cabin, but I do it anyway. Once, as I was  complaining about doing it, a friend asked, "Are you sick of getting the deposits in your bank account?"

The answer to that is no, so I keep cleaning. 

 

Running an AirBnB is a job. Not all jobs are fun all of the time. 

 

As to your reference about minimum wage, it's actually $7.25/hour. Could you live on that? Probably not. Entrepreneurship is all about providing an item or service, and finding out what the market will bear in charging for that service. Kudos to your (former) cleaner for realizing that there is value in her work and for asking for pay that's commensurate with her skills and knowledge.