How do I determine a fee in this situation:

[leslieinbham]

My neighbor, also friend, needs someone to clean their house--essentially the stuff that she spends all day saturday doing, nothing huge. There are three adults in the house w/two kids e/o weekend, but it's her supplies and basically linens, laundry, bathroom, kitchen, etc. It's a great thing for me b/c I only have about 3 hours a day when the twins are in pre-k so other ways to make money are hard to come by and are desperately needed. Also, her house will be a freaking breeze compared to my own child-infested abode.

She wants to know how much I will charge and I've been a teacher and a gardener for pay, but not much else since the very early '90s. I'd like to figure a daily rate for probably 2 hours work 2x a week. I know it varies regionally but if I could get an idea, I can go from there and find something fair.

What do you think?

thanks,
leslie

[kav122]

at least $20 an hour, I would say! I think that it awesome though that you found something that works for you. I seem to remember you posting a while back that you were looking for something that worked with your schedule. (I think it was you).

So congrats on finding something! Also maybe you could do it for a week and then get a better idea of the price. Since she is your friend, she will understand. If you trust that she won't lowball you, you could also ask her what she think is a "fair price" and go from there.

[yourbeginnings]

My former boss had someone come in and clean. She was there about 2 hours and he paid her $80 for about 3 hours of work.

[Megan]

Originally Posted by kav122

at least $20 an hour, I would say!

I agree. Or ask your friend what she thinks is fair. Are their maid services in your area? If so, you could call them and ask them what their hourly rates are, just to get an idea.

[engchik]

I think anywhere from 14-20 is good. i pay my friend to clean and that is $55 for 4 hours. plus depends on what you are doing, lite work? heavy work? good luck!

[Gootsy]

20 is good # especially if she's supplying the stuff + under the table hehe. My grandparents did get a cleaner biweekly for a while that charged 15 an hour, but she was terrible. Now they're using pros who bring 2 people for 50 an hour minimum 2 hours... sadly they're also terrible .

Call around or look at coummunity centre/library/University postboards to see if there's many people supplying such a service to see comparable prices. Or check classifieds in local paper.

[purplefdu]

$20 give or take is about average if you are not part of a service, let alone one that is bonded. My mom has cleaned on the side for a friend's company for the past two year and makes $15-25 depending on how bad the place is and brings her own supplies (he reimburses her for those). She normally makes $18-20, with $25 being a frat house and taking them all weekend. He specializes in cleaning before or after tenants move so its pretty thorough cleaning in an empty home.

Because she's a friend it may be hard to ask for $20/hr, but so long as you treat it like a regular job it will keep it on the professional level. Don't short change yourself on partial hours either.