Should you pay a cleaner by the hour, or one fixed price for the whole job?
Both are common in London, and they suit different people. Here's how each one works, the honest pros and cons, and why we chose a fixed price.
Two ways cleaners charge
Neither way is wrong. They suit different people, so here are the honest pros and cons of each.
By the hour
You pay an hourly rate and choose how many hours to book.
The good:
- It's quick and easy to book.
- You decide how much to spend. If you only want two hours, you book two hours.
- The cleaner is in and out within the time you've set, which suits a busy day.
- There's usually nothing to show beforehand. No photos, no questions about your home.
Worth knowing:
- You're paying for time, not a finished result. When the hours run out, the clean stops, whether everything is done or not.
- If your home needs more time than you booked, something gets left. You find out at the end, not at the start.
- Every cleaner works at a different pace. With hourly cleaning, a slower pace means less gets done for the same money, and from the outside it's hard to tell whether the hours were used well.
- The final cost isn't always clear upfront. If you add hours to finish the job, you pay for them.
- A cheap-looking booking can work out as less value than it seemed, if the clean you get is only part of the clean you needed.
One fixed price for the whole job
You pay one price for the job, based on your home, and the cleaner stays until it's done.
The good:
- You know the total before anyone arrives.
- You're paying for a finished clean, not a number of hours.
- If the job takes longer than expected, that's the company's problem, not yours.
- Everything agreed gets done, so nothing is left because the clock ran out.
- However fast or slow the cleaner works, the price stays the same and the job still gets finished.
- You can still tell the cleaner what matters most to you, and the rest still gets done.
Worth knowing:
- The company needs to see your home first, usually through photos. It can feel like a hassle at first, but it takes a few minutes and it's what makes the price right.
- If your home turns out to be very different from the photos, the price may need to change, so it's worth sending honest ones.
- The cleaner stays as long as the job needs. That can be longer than you'd expect, especially on a first clean, so it suits people who care more about the result than the time it takes.
Which suits you?
- Hourly can suit you if you want an extra pair of hands: help with a few jobs here and there to lighten your week, on a budget you set.
- A fixed price can suit you if you'd rather not clean at all: you want the whole home done, every visit, and to know the total before anyone arrives.
If you're comparing the two, compare like with like: an hourly rate is the cost of an hour, and a fixed price is the cost of the finished job.
What sets a fixed price
With hourly cleaning, the rate stays the same and the number of hours you book decides the total. With a fixed price, the price is worked out from your home instead. These are the things that set it:
- The size of your home. This is the biggest one.
- A regular clean or a deep clean. A deep clean takes much longer.
- How often you book. Weekly, fortnightly and monthly cleans cost less per visit.
- Extra bathrooms, and whether it's a house or a flat.
- How much build-up there is. A home that hasn't had a proper clean for a while takes longer.
- Extras, such as inside the oven.
Why we chose a fixed price
When we started London Cleaning Wizard, we offered hourly cleaning too. We weighed up the same pros and cons you have just read.
We wanted to be a company built around results. When you book with us, we want you to get a clean you're genuinely happy with, not a set number of hours.
For us, a fixed price is the way to do that, so it's how we charge.
It won't suit everyone, and that's fine. If you'd rather have an extra pair of hands for a couple of hours, an hourly cleaner may be the better fit.
How our pricing works
- Every regular plan starts with a deep clean, at the deep clean price. It brings your home up to a standard that a regular clean can then keep.
- Your regular price starts from your second clean, and weekly, fortnightly and monthly cleans each come with a saving on every visit.
Every size of home is priced on our regular cleaning and deep cleaning pages.
Why we ask to see your home first
If you've used an hourly cleaner before, you probably weren't asked for photos. That's because with hourly cleaning, the condition of your home doesn't change the booking. The cleaner comes for the hours you've booked, whether your home was cleaned last week or hasn't had a proper clean in years.
A fixed price works the other way round. The price covers the whole job, and the cleaner stays until it's done. That could take two hours, or it could take four.
So the price has to match the job. Without seeing your home, any company can only guess, and a guess goes wrong one of two ways. Too low, and there isn't the time to do the job properly. Too high, and you pay for work your home didn't need.
Photos are how we get it right. They also tell us how many cleaners to send and how much time to allow.
Send the honest photos, not the tidiest corner. Nobody is judging. The honest ones are what make your price right.
If you can't send photos yet, message us on WhatsApp and we'll give you an estimate first.
Comparing quotes
The cheapest quote isn't always the cheapest clean. Ask what's included, what happens if something goes wrong, and whether the same cleaner comes back each time.
A clean that has to be redone wasn't cheap.
We've written more about the questions worth asking any cleaning company.
Not sure which clean you need?
That choice moves the price more than anything else on this page. If you're unsure, message us on WhatsApp and we'll tell you honestly.
Which would you choose?
Would you rather pay by the hour, or one fixed price for the whole job? We'd genuinely like to know why.
Tell us in the comments on our Facebook page or Instagram, or message us on WhatsApp.