Nice way to make money, nasty way to spend it (Cleaners)

Member Name: bruffyboy

Product:	Cleaners
Date:	14/07/09 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: earn lots

Disadvantages: spend lots

I worked as a cleaner for a couple of years during my degree, and all I can sat is that it's well worth doing. I can break it down into two categories really:

1) As an employee
Working for a cleaning company will earn you little over the minimum wage, but it's easy work. Think of all the stuff you do at home and you've got it, just on a bigger scale. I've cleaned shops, offices and factories, and all of it is just hoovering, cleaning loos and wiping surfaces. It requires little skill, although a strong back for lifting stuff up stairs, and an even stronger stomach for cleaning the crap out of someone's toilet.

On the plus side, you're often left unattended, and also can often finish a job quicker than the time you're paid for. Whilst you shouldn't cheat your employer, this often means you can go dead quickly through the job and either finish early or take your time and dawdle a bit.

The other plus is that you can listen to an MP3 whilst working, which is nice!

2) As an employer
Buying an agency cleaner to clean will cost you at least £8 an hour, and having been one I can tell you they won't have had any real training or whatever. My advice is to find someone you know and trust and offer them the money. You'll often find their conscience will mean they'll do a better job for you than someone you don't know.

However, be prepared to have to have all the cleaning equipment yourself.
Also, you'll need to give a spare key to someone. If you're getting your house cleaned, remember to hide certain things (at my brother's house it was always a case of 'don't look in the plastic bag under the bed!')

As an employer, please take your cleaner through a detailed run-through of what you want them to do and how you want them to do it - assume nothing, and you won't be let down.

All in all, cleaning is a great job for an agency, but getting a cleaner can be hit or mess depending on who you get - agency OR private.

Summary: do it