Cleaning News, Views and Tips Blog

Over the next weeks we will be giving you cleaning tips for different parts of the house. The areas that we will concentrate on are the living room, kitchen, bathroom, floors and also other general cleaning tips such as getting rid of bad odours.

Making use of these tips can make this most arduous of tasks more bearable if you do the cleaning yourself and do not employ a cleaner to do so. It will also make the cleaner’s life easier.  

Cleaning Tip No 1.

Schedule your house cleaning, from cleaning the oven to taking out the trash.

Everyone has his or her own idea of what ‘clean’ means. If you take a look in a number of different homes, you will probably see different degrees of cleanliness. A person’s house that does not seem to be as clean to you, may seem to be spotless to them or to someone else. Different people tolerate dirt and mess differently.

Once you have an idea of how clean you actually want your house to be, you can decide just how often each task will need to be done. Set realistic deadlines. If you work forty hours a week and take care of a family, you may not be able to wash your floors two or three times a week. Although, the more family members that can contribute to the household tasks, the better your chances of having the clean home you desire. But, having more family members also means having more cleaning to do.

To decide how often you will need to clean, you need to decide how clean your home will be. Do you want it to be tidy, clean or absolutely spotless?

Tidy: Things are picked up and look neat.

Clean: Everything is clean and ready for unexpected guests.

Spotless: You could eat off of the floor.
Next time: The household cleaning schedule in detail.

Because you are the employer of the Cleaner, you must ensure that your household insurance policy provides Employer’s Liability cover in respect of domestic servants, with a minimum level of cover of £10,000,000 per claim. Most household policies have this cover but you should check with your insurer if you are unsure.

 While your Household Insurance policy should cover injury to workers while working on the inside of your premises, you may find that it does not cover work outside such as gardening or cleaning the exterior of buildings. Do not ask your worker to do cleaning on the outside of your building.

 Where your cleaner is also contracted to do any outside work, such as gardening, check that the appropriate extension to your household cover has been added.

 Your cleaner should be covered by an insurance policy that normally includes Public Liability cover providing for a maximum payment of £1,000,000 in the event of damage to or loss of your property. Cover applies provided that this damage or loss is caused by the negligence or omission of the Cleaner.

 Damage to property will not be covered if it is considered the client has contributed to the damage - for example, as we have said, by supplying the cleaner with inappropriate cleaning materials.

 Accidents do happen from time to time and the purpose of the insurance is not to cover everyday minor accidents to low value breakages, but to provide cover for major disasters and damage.

 Most insurance policies will only cover loss or damage to property if and to the extent that the loss or damage is of value in excess of £100.

 Where any claim is of a value in excess of £100, the employer is liable to pay the first £100 of any such claim. Theft of belongings cannot be and is not covered under most household insurance. Fidelity Guarantee insurance to cover dishonesty would be very expensive and in any case would have only limited cover. Prevention is better than cure.

 Bleach damage caused by spills of cleaning fluids containing bleach is not covered under many insurance policies. We do not recommend the use of concentrated or neat bleach. (Whilst you may keep bleach for your own use, you should not permit the cleaner to use it. Alternative safer products are available.)

 Next article: Over the next few weeks we will present to you a series of cleaning service tips .

Hours worked

 When choosing the hours you require your cleaner, consider having them less frequently for longer hours, say three hours twice a week, rather than two hours three times a week. (To increase efficiency, the minimum recommended time per visit is two and a half hours.) On each visit a certain amount of time is taken up in gathering cleaning equipment and tidying away afterwards. Therefore they will do more work if they are there for longer on each visit. It also reduces travel time and costs for your cleaner and encourages them to stay with you.

If your cleaner cannot gain access to your home through no fault of their own (perhaps you have forgotten they were coming or someone has double-locked the door), pay them for their time even if the work has not been done.

Work routine  

Use a Task Sheet to write a list of the work that you want your cleaner to do. Make it quite clear not only what you want done, but also how. When filling in the task sheet, the following procedure might help - look around in each room and divide it into 3 levels:

  - Ceiling Level: corners where cobwebs might form, curtain rails, tops of doors, ceiling lights.

 - Eye Level: pictures, window edges, switches, surfaces, lamps, etc.

 - Floor Level: skirting boards, carpets, under beds, etc.

 It is recommended that you check the work done against the task sheet, either regularly or from time to time. If it is not as you specified, gently point out any deficiencies to your cleaner before the next visit, at the same time complimenting her on the task she has done well. If you find the tasks have not been completed to your satisfaction, discuss the problem with your cleaner using all the diplomatic skills at your disposal. Otherwise, the odds are you’ll never see her again!

Changes to a schedule

 Your cleaner relies on the regular income that your work provides, therefore if you cancel a cleaning session at less than 24h notice, a cancellation fee should be paid to her. She’ll like you for that and like you even more if you give her the full amount previously promised. This is not necessary if you give longer notice.

 If you wish to alter arrangements temporarily, at short notice, contact your cleaner direct and make them feel wanted and respected, otherwise they are quite likely to find another employer pretty quickly!

Look out for our next article: ALL you need to know about cleaning products. House cleaning tips

Cleaning Equipment

For Health & Safety reasons, ensure that all your equipment is in good working order and safe to use. Rehearse your cleaner in the operation of any electrical cleaning equipment and other systems such as security alarms. It’s no good just telling them. Demonstrate and then watch them DO it. Machines do vary from one make to another, such as in the method of changing dust bags in vacuum cleaners. Certain equipment may merit a few minutes specialist training - such as the Kirby or Dyson.

Provide a stepladder or other equipment designed for the purpose, to enable your cleaner to reach high items. Your cleaner should not stand on chairs or other items of furniture in order to reach things. For safety reasons, do not ask your cleaner to work from a ladder above head height, unless someone else is present.

Modern equipment and materials make it unnecessary for cleaners to use old-fashioned methods in their work. For example, it is now considered unreasonable to expect cleaners to clean floors with a scrubbing brush on their hands and knees.

Cleaning Materials and Solutions

Most householders prefer to provide their own cleaning materials. Exercise care in the selection of appropriate materials, cloths and cleansers. Abrasive cloths and cleaning agents are ill-advised and can lead to scratching of modern stainless steel work surfaces, lacquered furniture and glassware. Non-abrasive micro-fibre cloths and non-abrasive cleansers are now available on the market and should be selected in preference.

Ensure your cleaner does not use solutions that might damage your surfaces. For example, even some cleaning creams that have smooth appearance, contain abrasives that can damage the surfaces of baths and wash-hand basins. Insurers are often unwilling to accept claims involving the inappropriate use of abrasive cleaning materials or cleansers, especially as the damage can accumulate over time, so our advice is not to supply the cleaner with such cleaning materials.

Continued in Part 3 more domestic cleaning tips

There are a number of things that you should be aware of when you employ someone for cleaning. When you clean your own house, you can use practically any cleaning products you wish. When you employ a cleaner, however, you are under the Health & Safety legislation legally obliged to provide a safe working environment.

You can use your own system of  colour-coding to avoid the risk of cross-contamination. We would recommend the following:

  * Yellow for kitchen and food preparation areas

  * Blue for general low risk areas, excluding food areas

  * Red for toilets and sanitary appliances, including bidet and toilet brush holder.

 This is for your own protection. The colour-coding system is simple and easily understood. The golden rule is to have your cleaner work from the cleanest areas to the dirtiest, and to start in the kitchen before doing the toilets and bathrooms. Differently colour-coded cleaning materials should be kept separate from each other. The cloths provided should be high strength long-lasting cloths by Vileda or other quality manufacturers. They are normally designed to be boil-washed and reused, so save yourself some expense and instruct your cleaner not to throw them away after a few uses.

 Avoid supplying abrasive cloths and abrasive cleansers. In the event of damage to surfaces, insurers will view the use by a cleaner of inappropriate materials that have been supplied by the client as ‘contributory negligence’ by the client. Insurers will not meet such claims. Instead we recommend the use of non-abrasive cleansers and cloths.

  * A Safety Kit

 Make a small First Aid Kit available for the cleaner’s use. Safety Goggles should be available for high level cleaning work and goggles should be worn when mixing chemicals and for oven cleaning.In the next house cleaning article we will talk about insurance that you need.

Announcing the launch of a new content page for house cleaning in Mill Hill. Full details are available for cleaners services along with an online free quote system.

Giving our cleaners an extra area to clean, Domestic home cleaning west hampstead London NW6 has just been launched.  Services will include home cleaning, moving in and out, builders clean and the very popular spring cleaning service.

Starting off on the right note

Your domestic cleaner will love you when you pay her directly at the end of each session worked (no later than one week in arrears!). You must both complete some kind of ‘Time Sheet’

is a statutory requirement that you keep a record of all payments made to your cleaner.

 On your cleaner’s first visit, take time to go through your home, room by room, and specify the duties for each one. It is vital you have a Task Sheet to assist you, a copy of which you give to your cleaner. After initial instruction is completed, try not to ‘hang’ around your cleaner while they are doing their job. This can be very off-putting for both of you. Also, it goes without saying that if you stand around chatting to your cleaner, they may also get less work done and may not stay with you for very long.

Do not ask the cleaner to clean the exterior of the building or outside windows, as your household insurance generally does not cover accidents in these areas. Allow a few visits for your cleaner to adjust to your requirements and set up the best routine for cleaning your home. If you are not satisfied discuss it with them in a gentle and understanding manner throwing in some nice compliments along the way.

 If you wish to change the cleaning routine, or have more work concentrated on certain areas, have a cup of tea and a friendly chat with your cleaner.

Continued in Part 2. Home cleaning tips

As we expand across London we are announcing new pages to help our clients and explain the services we provide.  Today we launch the cleaner in St Johns Wood NW8  page.

Just a few stops along the Northern line underground from Camden we are now servicing cleaners in Golders Green. As wells as surrounding areas such as Hampstead and Swiss Cottage. The new page also takes advantage of using the free quoting system for domestic cleaner in Golders Green.