Changeover charges in Normandy

[Coco]

Some friends of ours are in the process of looking for someone to do the cleaning on changeover days at their gite, which they hope to start renting out next season.

The changeover would involve cleaning kitchen/diner, living room, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and downstairs loo.  Anyone got an idea of current rates, I'm a bit out of touch.  Also, if they wanted the bed linen washed and ironed, ie two double sets and 4 single sets, what would be a likely charge for that.

Finally, anyone interested?

Manche, just off N175 near Percy.

[Coco]

OK.   I didn't realise it was such a closely guarded secret!  I'll put it another way.  When we let our house 4 years ago we paid a couple £40 for a turnround on a two bedroomed, two bathroomed house and £5 per set of laundry, which we thought was a little pricey at the time.  I don't think prices have gone up that much in this time and at the time I thought that £5 per set of bed linen was quite steep as they did the washing at the house using my machine, powder and power.  I would have thought something around £50 plus £5 per bed would be pretty reasonable for a house the size our friends.  Does this provoke any more of a response than my last posting?

[Fi]

Hi, I'd be interested to see what response you get to this, and it is interesting that you have not yet received any responses!

Last year we paid an english lady 60euros per changeover and that in fact didn't inlcude any real cleaning, just coming to the house having a quick wipe round the kitchen & bathroom and not much else really; which we did feel was really steep but had no other option at the time and fortunately we didn't have many bookings (which seems a strange thing to say really.....).  We also paid 10euros per load of washing but that did include powder & softener (using their machine) and ironed afterwards, which we felt was a little expensive but not extortionate.

However, this year, we have french neighbours who have done the changeovers for us, and we are yet to agree the final price, is it

(i)   better to have a fixed fee for the changeover (on the premise of swings & roundabouts, some weeks  will be more work than others depending on how the cottage is left by the guests); or

(ii)   better to pay on an hourly basis for cleaning that is actually done

and then the question of the laundry; better on the basis of

(i)   per bed basis

(ii)   per load basis

(iii)   all in for the whole cottage....

Its a bit of a minefield, and I do understand that it is obviously dependant to an extent on the neighbour, however, she has said (quite rightly) that I should propose something to her, and it will be a negotiation.....(I do this for a living and the hardest negiation i've had was with my neighbour over rates for caretaking & gardening!!)

So, any advice guidance on rates & what other people do would be much appreciated!

In anticipation...

 

[nimportequoi]

Hi St Armour

Depending on the condition stated in the Ts and Cs about how the house is to be left, you could be talking up to 6 man hours to do the cleaning. If you pay someone the SMIC and add on the social charges, that would be around 13€ per hour. I've no idea on the linen, I do all mine myself, but I would have thought £5 per bed would be more than adequate.

Fi, are you proposing to pay your neighbour legally or cash in hand?

St Armour, I've e-mailed you.

[Coco]

I was thinking of around the 12-14 euro per hour mark as a way of working out the cost, but was thinking more along the lines of 4-5 hours.  Although of course, for simplicity's sake it would be easier to take a midway point and then it's swings and roundabouts, you pay a set fee and some weeks it will take less time, other weeks more.

BTW I haven't receive an email or PM from you.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

€13-18 per hour for cleaning depending on:

• It being done above board;
• How heavy the work is;
• What the minimum number of hours per week would be.

Laundry service: €10 for a 5kg load does not strike me as excessive, though, again, that is an above board rate.

[Fil]

Hi,

my friend does several gite changeovers through the summer.  One she does she gets paid €45 for (€15 per hour which is all above board as she had it added on to her husbands siret number at the chamber of commerce at no extra charge as nettoyage de loco) and one day she arrived to find the family saying they had 'already cleaned' because they didn't want to pay the owner the charge of £60!  Hang on, she thought, he is getting about €90 and paying me half of it?  The other half of course was going straight in the owners pocket!  She was more than a little miffed!  Incidentally, the gite was NOT clean, and she still cleaned it after they had left.  She's had people with dogs who have not picked a pooh up at all, and even one gite that was full of dead cockroaches that she had to hoover up!  Another gite she does there is no mop and the owners quibbled buying one, saying why did she need it, as they only swept round!  Yuck, I would not want to stay in a gite like that!  My friend is VERY concientious and cleans really well, but really, no mop, and one time no electrics downstairs either!  She got down on her knees and washed the floor with a cloth that time!

The problem there is holiday houses we both think.  Badly equipped, no owners on site etc.  Obviously all holiday houses are not like that, but some are.  She also has a ghost!  One house (sleeps about 12 or 14 I think) has a big room at the very top of the house with about six beds in it (one double, five singles all jammed in) and she has found theses changed round.  To begin with she thought guests were moving the furniture, but as it happens every time, she has concluded it must be a ghost.  Especially with the beds, as they were too heavy for her to move back on her own!  And would have taken a great deal of effort to move - and lets face it, why would anyone want to move them?  Or even sleep in a room with six beds in it?

Odd, eh?

Fil