How much should I pay - cleaners, babysitters and man-and-van (sydney) ?

Hi - finding my way around here in Sydney and have a few questions which I'm hoping a few may be able to help me with;

1) What is the reasonable cost of a cleaner? I used to pay anywhere between 8 and 11 pounds per hour in London.

A friend of mine said she paid something like 45 dollars an hour and I had to ask her twice...as I thought I misheard.

What is the going rate then as I think I may be cleaning my own place for a long time if its that expensive...?

2) Babysitters...again I used to pay anywhere between 7 and 10 pounds an hour..depending on the age of the baby sitter and whether they had my children during the day (and took them out) or whether it was an evening baby sit job and they were in bed. A gap year student cost around 8 and older carers more like 10 pounds.

I have absolutely no idea what the going rate is over here in AUD. Is there such a thing as gap year students floating around over here? I wonder if there are reliable baby sitting agencies....not that we will be leaving our kids with the first person we find...but good to have an understanding of the basic rate...?

3) We will be hopefully be transporting furniture in the near future (if someone moving back to UK is letting theirs go?) and was wondering the average cost to hire a man and a van. In UK I think I paid around 15 or 20 pounds an hour. I think its more here (on average I double to get the conversion and then its more than this)...What would you say is the right kind of a cost for this service in Sydney (I think prices probably differ by city/state and Sydney may be more expensive than most).

Thanks so much!

Not in Sydney

We pay $50 for 2 hours for our cleaner

The national minimum wage is much much higher in Australia so you will have to expect to pay much more for minimum wage jobs.

$25.00 for a private domestic cleaner is around the going rate ..you will pay more through an agency probably around $ 28 per hour .mbut they will be police checked and insured ..agencies take around 15% of their cleaners wage .monthly cleans are around $30-35 and one of cleans $45 per hour ..bond cleaners charge alot more per hour but they are classed as professional cleaners and guarentee their work

In Perth my friend charges $40/45 an hour and she has no shortage of takers, turns people away.

thats for cleaning

In Perth my friend charges $40/45 an hour and she has no shortage of takers, turns people away.

 

thats for cleaning

Geez I was too nice then, I charged $70 for 3 hrs for a regular clean xx

Geez I was too nice then, I charged $70 for 3 hrs for a regular clean xx

Haha you were brilliant. Would recommend you any day

Tbh...I clean my own house, I couldn't afford a cleaner on a weekly basis.

We just let our cleaner go yesterday (sob sob). We were paying $55 for two hours. She has a waiting list.

Yep, as the others have said, I pay $50.00 for 2 hours cleaning.

Sorry, Cant help you with the other things.

Cheers

Beck

wow..I had better get used to the prices over here...wild prices for a cleaning per hour...up to 45 dollars per hour.. Paying 25AUD per hour still feels too much...I think I will be spending part of my weekend cleaning for a lot longer until I can get my head around that...I would have thought people would be crying out for the work for 15-20 dollars per hour? In UK there was something to be said for the massive influx of Europeans who were happy to be paid 10 per hour for cleaning and that was the going rate really without feeling like they were being taken advantage of...

wow..I had better get used to the prices over here...wild prices for a cleaning per hour...up to 45 dollars per hour.. Paying 25AUD per hour still feels too much...I think I will be spending part of my weekend cleaning for a lot longer until I can get my head around that...I would have thought people would be crying out for the work for 15-20 dollars per hour? In UK there was something to be said for the massive influx of Europeans who were happy to be paid 10 per hour for cleaning and that was the going rate really without feeling like they were being taken advantage of...

$15 an hour is illegal. If someone is casual the going rate is $21. I do t want to live in a country where people are 'grateful' for an illegal rate of pay.

$15 an hour is illegal. If someone is casual the going rate is $21. I do t want to live in a country where people are 'grateful' for an illegal rate of pay.

Well that's a tad black 'n white. In Europe, most cleaning and sitting jobs are paid cash in hand. No taxes or social premiums are being paid so minimum wage has nothing to do with it.

I could see it being the same in Oz. Realistically a cleaner on a 25/HR pay would take a Esther staggering 52k annualky. I mean bless their cotton socks, but in my book that is a lot for that kind of work.

wow..I had better get used to the prices over here...wild prices for a cleaning per hour...up to 45 dollars per hour.. Paying 25AUD per hour still feels too much...I think I will be spending part of my weekend cleaning for a lot longer until I can get my head around that...I would have thought people would be crying out for the work for 15-20 dollars per hour? In UK there was something to be said for the massive influx of Europeans who were happy to be paid 10 per hour for cleaning and that was the going rate really without feeling like they were being taken advantage of...

Minimum wage in Australia is $17.29. In UK it's £7.20 for 25+. Hence why services tend to cost more in Australia.

Not sure how that works for the self-employed, and if they can charge less if they choose to.

wow..I had better get used to the prices over here...wild prices for a cleaning per hour...up to 45 dollars per hour.. Paying 25AUD per hour still feels too much...I think I will be spending part of my weekend cleaning for a lot longer until I can get my head around that...I would have thought people would be crying out for the work for 15-20 dollars per hour? In UK there was something to be said for the massive influx of Europeans who were happy to be paid 10 per hour for cleaning and that was the going rate really without feeling like they were being taken advantage of...

You thought people would be crying out for work at 15-20 dollars an hour? In Sydney, where the rents are stratospheric? Would you be able to manage on that?

I understand what Van is saying - a lot of people work cash in hand or a part time job for one reason or another and $45 an hour for a cleaner is way over the top - I know skilled people earning less than that.

I understand what Van is saying - a lot of people work cash in hand or a part time job for one reason or another and $45 an hour for a cleaner is way over the top - I know skilled people earning less than that.

Depends if it includes tham bringing there own cleaning products and equipment and if they are insured. If so then cost would be more than just the wage of the person doing the work.

2) Babysitters...again I used to pay anywhere between 7 and 10 pounds an hour..depending on the age of the baby sitter and whether they had my children during the day (and took them out) or whether it was an evening baby sit job and they were in bed. A gap year student cost around 8 and older carers more like 10 pounds.

I have absolutely no idea what the going rate is over here in AUD. Is there such a thing as gap year students floating around over here? I wonder if there are reliable baby sitting agencies....not that we will be leaving our kids with the first person we find...but good to have an understanding of the basic rate...?

 

Babysitters you need to look at between $20-$25 per hour, best find them through word of mouth or older siblings of school aged children. There is a website https://www.jugglestreet.com/ that you could check out.

Chris

One of the things I love about Australia is the higher minimum wage that enabled a decent quality of life for people working in traditionally lower paid jobs. I think it's brilliant that a cleaner, waiter, shop assistant earn a living wage. The cleaners I employed in Brissie (only for bond cleaning) worked very hard for their money and earned every cent. If the living wage and penalty rates mean that goods and services cost more, so be it.

and in the U.K for so many jobs now, people are screwed down on wage levels so the taxpayer has to step in to fund top up benefits, subsidise employers such as McDonalds so that hardworking staff can pay rent and feed their kids....disgraceful state of affairs.

We pay $45 an hour each and don't begrudge it.

Our cleaners a couple come for 1 hour once a fortnight, ever since I broke my arm and shoulder badly, and couldn't manage as the house has nearly all tile floors, which take a lot of cleaning, lot harder than a house with carpets that only need vacuuming.

It's their own business, they supply everything, do the hard cleaning, and do a better job than I would. They always do longer than they are paid for.

They are worth every penny.

My neighbour has a cleaner for 2 hours once a week. The cleaner brings all the cleaning materials - when she leaves the house is immaculate - mainly tiled floors and bathrooms. She pays the cleaning lady $60 for the 2 hours. The cleaner has a little van and literally goes from one job to another and is kept busy 'doing' the local B & B's too.

$30 per hour in Sydney. But after about 24 hours you would never know they'd been! :chatterbox: