Is hiring a cleaner worth the cost? For most households the answer rests on two things: what an hour of your own time is worth to you, and which jobs you would gladly never do again. Below we look at what the money actually buys, how to work out a year’s spend before you commit, and how to get more from fewer hours. Our hourly rates are listed on our cleaning prices page, so you can put real numbers into the sums as you read.
What you get for the money
The obvious return is time: the hours that would otherwise come out of evenings and weekends. Our post on the benefits of regular domestic cleaning covers that side. For the cost question, the more useful point is which jobs you are paying to be rid of. Bathrooms, kitchen surfaces and floors take the most effort, and a greasy oven or limescale on tiles takes far longer than it looks; someone who does this work every week gets through it quicker and knows which product suits which surface. If the oven is the job that defeats you, our oven cleaning page covers it as a separate job.
What a regular visit usually covers
The exact list varies between cleaners, so always ask. A typical weekly or fortnightly visit includes:
- Around the home: dusting and wiping surfaces, furniture and shelves, removing cobwebs and cleaning mirrors.
- Floors: vacuuming carpets and rugs, and mopping hard floors such as tiles, wood and vinyl.
- Bathrooms: wall and floor tiles, the shower, bath, basin, taps, mirrors and the outside of cupboards.
- Kitchen: worktops, splashback, sink and taps, and the outside of appliances and cupboards.
Jobs such as changing bed linen, ironing or cleaning blinds are often treated as extras. For what our own visits include, see our regular domestic cleaning service.
Working out the cost over a year
A single visit can look cheap or expensive depending on how you see it, so it helps to look at the whole year. The sum is simple:
hours per visit × visits per year × hourly rate
A weekly arrangement means 52 visits a year and a fortnightly one 26. Three hours every fortnight comes to 78 hours of cleaning a year; two and a half hours every week comes to 130. Multiply your figure by the rate for that frequency on our current price list, and check the minimum charge per visit too.
Then set that total against the hours you would spend doing the same work yourself, and what you would rather do with them. That comparison, not the hourly rate alone, is what tells you whether it pays.
How long each visit takes depends on the size of your home, the number of bathrooms and how much has built up since the last clean. We explain those factors in what affects the cost of a cleaner, and help you pick a frequency in how often to book a cleaner.
Getting more for less
Cleaning help does not have to be all or nothing. A few choices can bring the cost down without losing what matters.
- Pick the rooms. You do not need every room done every time. Some can wait for the next visit, and some you may be happy to keep on top of yourself.
- Set priorities. Perhaps the kitchen and bathrooms need a thorough clean while the bedrooms and living room only need a quick going-over. Saying so means the time goes where you notice it.
- Rotate the bigger tasks. Ask for one larger job per visit, such as the skirting boards one time and inside the fridge the next, instead of everything at once.
- Clear the surfaces first. Ten minutes putting things away before the cleaner arrives means their time is spent cleaning, not tidying.
- Rethink the frequency. If the house stays fairly tidy between visits, fortnightly may be enough.
When a one-off deep clean is better value
Sometimes a single thorough clean makes more sense than a regular booking. Moving into a new home, a seasonal spring clean, getting ready for guests or recovering after a party are all good moments for one. It is also a sensible start before regular visits begin, because it brings neglected areas such as skirting boards, light fittings, the kitchen and bathrooms up to a standard that shorter visits can then keep. Read more about a one-off deep clean. The hourly rates for one-off, spring and deep cleans are on our prices page.
When it may not be worth it
A cleaner is not the right spend for everyone. If you live in a small flat that stays tidy, have the time, or genuinely enjoy cleaning, the money may be better used elsewhere. A deep clean once or twice a year can then cover the jobs you never get round to. And if the hourly rate is the sticking point, it is worth reading about the trade-offs between a low-cost cleaner or cleaning company, or how to choose between a company and a private cleaner.
Find out what it would cost you
For a figure based on your own home rather than a worked example, call 01483 773531 with the number of rooms and the frequency you have in mind, or send those details through our contact page.