Finding A Good Cleaner

[Richb2004v2]

We don't seem to be able to find a decent cleaner. Over the past few years we have tried four or five different cleaners to clean the house once per week. After the first four we gave up and didn't bother for a year or so, but recently we have employed another on recommendations from our gardener. Apparently she has been cleaning for other ferang houses for a long time. The problem always comes down to the fact that all the cleaners seem only to concentrate on cleaning the floor and the windows, whether they need it or not. They seem to ignore other things that obviously need cleaning, like picture frames, window frames, dusting cobwebs or anything else really. Its as if they have all been trained at the same cleaning school. I see other cleaners turn up to houses on our Soi and seem to do the same thing. They arrive with a mop and bucket each day, clean the floors and go in half an hour or so. I guess the best thing might be to stick with this one and try to train her to actually clean the whole house and not just bits of it. I wonder what your cleaners do and don't do around the house.

[Soutpeel]

One that cleans everything.

"I wonder what your cleaners do and don't do around the house"

Nudge..nudge...wink..wink.....say no more....

[johna]

40 year old female relative of my wife down on her luck moved into our spare bedroom living here for free.

Every morning she cleans the house and sweeps out side before going of to work, the house has never been so clean.

Cleaning picture frames etc does not take so long, do it yourself.

[Richb2004v2]

40 year old female relative of my wife down on her luck moved into our spare bedroom living here for free.

Every morning she cleans the house and sweeps out side before going of to work, the house has never been so clean.

Cleaning picture frames etc does not take so long, do it yourself.

I have, but that sort of defeats the object of having a cleaner.

[Boo]

You dont' say how specific you have been to these cleaners.

But imo, you should create a cleaning rota & list of expected tasks. Creat a chart with a tick box after each one. That way there is no doubt what is expected & when. You can also see if the cleaner has actualyl been doign the tasks stated as completed.

You can't expect a cleaner to know your standards & what is expected of them unless you make it clear to them. If they don't speak good English or you are lacking in thai skills then ask a thai person to come & translate for you so that it is very clear & that there is no confusion later.

[dumball]

One that cleans everything.

"I wonder what your cleaners do and don't do around the house"

Nudge..nudge...wink..wink.....say no more....

From my experience in G/house/hotel/apartment etc , Thais know only what the action of clean means , they have no idea that the end result of the action should be CLEAN . Just look in many of their homes or the room where they live , pig-stye by my standards .

[Scott]

Try getting a Filipina maid. First of all they speak English and secondly they do a very good job. I've had a lot of Thai maids and have had the same situation as you have. I didn't mind too much, because I am very particular and long ago decided it was quite unfair to expect others to live up to my standards.

A lot of it has to do with communication, but in general, they don't tend to clean very thoroughly. If your taller than the maid, you can pretty much see where the 'dust-line' is! That said, most I've known do a pretty OK job once I show them and tell them how often to do it.

Always drove me nuts how they could walk in and sweep the floor and then starting dusting and cleaning and everything ends up on the floor, which then needs to be swept again!

Most workers here in Thailand don't take a lot of initiative--they prefer to be told what to do and when to do it.

[torrenova]

From my experience in G/house/hotel/apartment etc , Thais know only what the action of clean means , they have no idea that the end result of the action should be CLEAN . Just look in many of their homes or the room where they live , pig-stye by my standards .

I could not have put it better myself.

The level to which most Thais think it is clean is not clean at all. However, the same can be said for the majority of Asia which includes Japan to the degree of the kitchen at least. They do not see things as a problem and are certainly not bothered or capable of being pro-active in matters such as house cleanliness.

I agree with the check list but be forwarned that they might see it as too arduous and just quit. I thought I might get better results from older women but only marginally. They too are largely beyond doing it to an acceptable standard and as one poster stated, that sort of defeats the job.