Lay My Hat

We have a feeling we may be paying too much for this. Can anyone give us an idea of what a 'normal' hourly wage should be?

And roughly what percentage of gross revenue should we normally expect to be spending on cleaning and laundry annually?

Hi, There was discussion here on this recently but I can't find the thread.

It will vary a lot based on your location and the local economy.

In Dorset we are paying £11 per hour for the cleaning and a fixed rate per item for laundry. Cleaning is typically 2-3 hours and bed linen £30-£40 depending on how many bedrooms.

2-3 hours 1 person? How many bedrooms would that be?

Hi, It can vary, sometimes it is one person sometimes they turn up with 3. We have a 2 bed one bath and a 3 bed 2 bath.

I just looked at some of last months invoice and costs had gone up(I forgot), the 3 bed was 3-3.5 hours at £12 per hour and £41.20 for Laundry.

That is for a general clean, they do a good job but we go once a month and clean the ovens, windows, move the furniture and touch up any paintwork. We always get great feedback on how clean it is presented.

Regards

Are those costs ex VAT or including VAT?

No VAT, I am assuming they are keeping the company small enough to stay under the threshold.

So when you say it's sometimes 1 person, sometimes 3, does that mean that 1 person works for 3 times the hours? How many hours total then for both cottages?

Hi, Yes its 3.5 hours for 1 person or just over an hour with 3.

The 2 bed is usually only 2 hours and £55 for cleaning and laundry. We have some extra costs for welcome pack and other things we provide.

Oh my God!

Does that include changing beds? How much furniture and knick-knacks do you have?

Before you try and save any money, is your cleaning service reliable and to a very good standard???
When I do my end of year accounts, cleaning charges always add up to an eye watering amount, but it is essential.

What you don't want to do is move away from a good, dependable service which is worth its weight in gold. Sadly you only find out how true this is when you use someone who lets you down one way or another.
Just something to consider....

Edited to add - you often find in areas with a number of holiday properties that there is a local "set rate" which may be known to all the cleaners, but not necessarily you.

Our cleaners are taking 10.5 hours for 3 double bedrooms!

They are not big properties and we have deliberately decorated them to be easy to clean. We have a kingsize bed in the first bedroom and twins in the second. The downstairs in the 2 bed is one large open plan room.

It does include making the beds and dressing the property just as we request it. We don't particularly have lots of devices but it is not sparce, there are bedside lights, radios etc and a small number of decorative ornaments.

I am assuming you are having to pay more.

Just to clarify, does your 3 bedroom sleep 6?

I've just taken a look at the 2 bed property. You do have a lot out on display that would need to be dusted (possibly even using a ladder). So your costs, plus the fact that you advertise as "luxury" should be higher that some.

However, 10.5 hours is more than a standard working day. Are they doing the garden as well in that time????
Have you thought of popping in sometime unexpectedly to see exactly what is going on?

Edited to add - how do you manage a same day changeover?? Or even a following day changeover if guests leave by 10am the cleaner surely isn't there till 8pm that night?????

No garden. And yes, I will be popping in now. %?*^&**!!!!