Raise for house cleaner?

[DualvansMommy]

DH asked me to put this out for opinions and feedback. We've had our house cleaner for 3 years who is just awesome! She comes bi monthly to my home for 3.5 hours to 4 hours of cleaning which includes all bathrooms, sweeping (I have hardwood floors throughout), wet mop with swifter, dust and vacuum rugs, clean kitchen including the sink and stovetop. That's the standard she do for 90 dollars.

Question is do you give a raise to your cleaner? As that's the rate she's been earning with us for 3 years. And if you do give a raise, how much do you up from old amount?

I always give her birthday and Xmas bonus, so that's separate.

[kdeunc]

I pay my cleaner what she charges. In the time we have used her (off and on for almost 10 years) she has raised her price once. I treat her like a business, she has a set rate that she determines not me. I do give a Christmas bonus.

[TwoBees]

I have no idea but my first thought is how close are you to the PA border because we could use a great house cleaner!!

I think I'd start with a small raise, something like 10% or like $5 or $10 more than usual (for her total, not per hour if that's how she charges you). So if she typically charges $100, maybe give her $110.

I may be WAAAY off on what is customary though. DH usually deals with these things in our house.

[oneplustwo]

She's not your employee, so I don't feel that you have to give her a raise. She is self-employed and tells you what she charges for her services. When she wants to raise her rates, she will let you know. I've seen some people raise their rates for new clients but keep the same rate for existing/long-time clients. Definitely reflect your recognition of her value to you in her Christmas bonus.

We've had cleaners in the past, one for quite a few years, and we never gave them a raise. I would expect them to tell me if their rates have increased.

[pinkmomagain]

I did give a raise to my cleaner last year. She's been with us about 10 yrs. She comes biweekly. She was getting 120 and then we did a Reno that added a bathroom and that along with length of time, her personal circumstances, and her reliability/honesty I bumped it up to $150.

[Binkandabee]

We have had the same house cleaner for 15 years and she is like family to us. We give her raises every so often. Right now, we pay her $100.00 every other week and she comes for 4-5 hours. We also give her a $250.00 bonus at Christmas. The way I see it, she is INVALUABLE to me and it is so hard to find good help. When you find a good one, you want to keep her.

[HannaAddict]

We don't give a raise as they set their own prices. We do Christmas bonuses. Housekeepers often grandfather in existing good clients and as the add new clients, raise the price. It seems to be the typical business model. If I had a larger house or did a remodel adding more rooms, then yes, that would be different. We have gone from a two bedroom one bath bungalow of 1,000 sq ft to a 5,500 five bedroom home over the last ten years, all with same housekeeper and her rate went up accordingly. But for the last few years in the same house her rate has been steady.

[egoldber]

We have had the same cleaner for over 10 years. We moved in 2012 to a house with about 20% more floor space and another bathroom. She said to pay what was fair (hate that!!!) and I gave her a 25% raise.

I also give her an annual bonus of another cleaning fee.

[ckso]

She's not your employee, so I don't feel that you have to give her a raise. She is self-employed and tells you what she charges for her services. When she wants to raise her rates, she will let you know. I've seen some people raise their rates for new clients but keep the same rate for existing/long-time clients. Definitely reflect your recognition of her value to you in her Christmas bonus.

We've had cleaners in the past, one for quite a few years, and we never gave them a raise. I would expect them to tell me if their rates have increased.

I feel the same way. I don't view my house cleaner as an employee, and if you give annual increases (like you would an employee) at some point it gets too expensive. This of course is different than a nanny which I do feel like it's an employee but that position is very temporary since nannies are usually not long term. House cleaners are. If you give a $10 raise every year, how much would you be paying 5 or 10 years From now.

I always give bonuses for Christmas, birthdays and Chinese New Year. You can always give bigger bonuses to subsidize the "total annual pay" to reward her service but not change the per-service charge.

If you renovated or if your house is bigger, that would be different

[essnce629]

We don't give a raise as they set their own prices. We do Christmas bonuses. Housekeepers often grandfather in existing good clients and as the add new clients, raise the price. It seems to be the typical business model. If I had a larger house or did a remodel adding more rooms, then yes, that would be different. We have gone from a two bedroom one bath bungalow of 1,000 sq ft to a 5,500 five bedroom home over the last ten years, all with same housekeeper and her rate went up accordingly. But for the last few years in the same house her rate has been steady.

Yes to all of this. We've had our housekeeper for 5 years now. When we moved to our new house she increased her rate slightly as we went from having all carpet to mostly all hardwood floors which is more work. Since then there's been no increase in price, but I do know she charges new clients more than us (we pay $90 weekly and I think her new clients pay $120). We do give her a Christmas bonus.