Cleaning is one of those tedious, time-consuming tasks that few are happy to take on. As our shifts seem to become longer and our lives more hectic, there’s little room left in our minds and agendas for a few hours of cleaning. Luckily, there’s no shortage of professionals in the field able to get your home sparkling clean in no time; however, how long does it usually take a housekeeper to get their job done?
It can take anywhere from 15 minutes to three hours to clean a room, depending on its size, original condition, and required level of cleanliness. Experience can also greatly affect this timeframe. Regular people need 1-2 hours to clean the same space a professional might clean in 30 minutes.
If you’re thinking about employing a housekeeper to keep your property in great condition, calculating the amount of time needed to clean your space is crucial when it comes to budgeting the hourly wage you’ll be allocating to this type of service. Below, you’ll find everything you need to know about how long it usually takes to clean a room, how the time frame changes when there’s a professional involved, and what type of services you can expect in one or three hours.
How Long Does It Take To Clean One Room?
It usually takes between 30 minutes and two hours to clean one room by yourself. Larger rooms that are very cluttered might even take up to three hours to clean. However, if you’re doing a regular deep clean of your house, schedule around 45 minutes per room.
As you can see, cleaning takes quite a bit of time that could be better spent elsewhere. However, if you can’t justify paying a housekeeper, there are still ways to make your cleaning more efficient. For example, getting a Roomba can sometimes cut your cleaning time in half, as all the tedious sweeping and vacuuming you have to do will be taken care of.
How Long Do Housekeepers Take To Clean a Room?
Housekeepers take between 15 and 30 minutes to clean a standard room. If the room in question is unusually large or cluttered, they might need up to an hour or two to give it a deep clean. Professionals need roughly half the amount of time it would take a regular person to clean the same space.
Keep in mind that the timeframe outlined above depends on a wide array of variables. Aside from size and condition, which I already mentioned, you’ll also have to account for the type of cleaning you’re expecting (how thorough you want the job to be), the professional’s experience and overall approach to their job, and general working conditions.
Another factor that affects a housekeeper’s ability to do their job as quickly as possible is how well they know the space they’re working in. For example, if your house cleaner already knows where everything is located and what is expected of them, the process can be sped up significantly. That’s why maintenance staff in hotels, for example, work extremely fast, as the same people have been working for years on cleaning the same rooms.
So, if it’s your first time employing professional house cleaning services, account for some getting-used-to time on your housekeeper’s behalf.
Keeping in mind the timeframe required for a professional house cleaner to attend to a single room, you can expect them to clean up to 15 rooms in a day, meaning your average housekeeper would be able to deep clean most houses within a day. So, if you’re in a pinch, you shouldn’t worry about not having enough time to get your space sparkling clean.
However, what if you don’t have a full day worth of time? What if you can’t afford to pay your housekeeper for an entire 8-hour shift? Is it worth enlisting their services at all?
What Can a Cleaner Do in 3 Hours?
If you get in touch with enough professional housekeepers, you’ll find that most of them don’t work full-time with one single employer. Instead, they cater to different clients in a day, spending a few hours cleaning each of their houses.
In fact, you’d be surprised at just how much a cleaner can do in three short hours – so much that it might not even be necessary to hire them for a full day. So, what can you expect from your housekeeper within a 3-hour timeframe?
In three hours, a cleaner can scrub and de-clutter your entire bathroom and kitchen, vacuum the entire house, and wipe all surfaces and mirrors. During this timeframe, you can expect a pretty thorough (though not deep) cleaning of your whole house.
However, if you’re after a deep clean that leaves no nook or cranny untouched, the whole three hours can be spent in a single room, though pros usually take even less than that if the room is standard-sized. Depending on your needs and priorities, you can swap some of the tasks to get the most out of your money.
For example, you can ask your housekeeper to clean two bedrooms, your bathroom, and your kitchen within a 3-hour timeframe, leaving vacuuming and surface wiping to yourself. This is just an example of a task combination you can try, but you get the gist – the possibilities are endless.
If you’re still unsure, consult with several housekeepers before hiring one to get a better idea of what they can offer within the same 3-hour timeframe.
What Can a Cleaner Do in 1 Hour?
In one hour, a cleaner can attend to two standard-sized rooms. Alternatively, within this timeframe, they can declutter, vacuum, and dust your entire home. Depending on your needs, you can swap any of the above tasks with mopping, organizing, prepping the laundry, or doing the dishes.
Generally speaking, you can expect a great surface-level cleaning of your entire home from a house cleaner in an hour. This timeframe is perfect if you only have a room or two to clean, but not ideal if you want to have your entire house thoroughly cleaned.
Conclusion
An hour is usually more than enough for a professional housekeeper to clean one room. However, if you want your entire house cleaned, you might want to employ their services for at least three hours, depending on the size of your place. Housekeepers are very efficient at their jobs, so their services justify their hourly wages.
If you can’t make room in your budget for a professional housekeeper, prepare to spend 30 minutes to an hour cleaning each room in your house.
