we are moving to lausanne soon.
is it really true that it costs 25 CHF per hour to have someone clean your house?
is this an ad hoc rate, or is there a different rate if you regularly employ someone for 5/6 hrs per week?
does anyone have a live-in au pair who helps with cleaning?

I'll bite.

25 CHF is cheap here (Zurich).
Usual rate here (Zurich) for someone who knows what s/he's doing is around CHF 28. If you want to be legit, add 8,33% holiday pay and CHF 100/year in accident insurance. Ad hoc rates from agencies are around the CHF 35 - CHF 40 mark.

Yes, minimum

Cleaning lady?!? What kind of sexism is that! Is a cleaning man not good enough?

I hope you know that an Au Pair doesn't clean your house as she is not a cleaner. She has to clean after the children and after herself but not after you.

I live in the lausanne area and pay 25f / hr. She comes every week for about 5 hours and alternates between extensive clean and minor clean with ironing. We decided it was more cost effective to pay her to iron hubbie's work shirts than to take to cleaner. HTH

If you're already shocked at the fees of a cleaning person, you're in for a lot more bad surprises!!!

Hope you have invested in an excellent ironing station, if not the sales are on (can be under chf 200.) - the cleaner will get that part of the job done much quicker

How much will your hubbie earn P/H?

As I know 25chf per hour is indeed an average fee to cleaning lady (I live in Lausanne). It can vary from 20-30chf, but 25 chf would be the most common.

How is this more relevant than what the OP herself might earn p/h?

Yep, 25chf is low here in Basel too, its more like 28chf.

PS i would be miffed if i was taken in as au-pair and was expected to keep the family house clean too (apart from kids mess and self mess), unless properly paid, I think the clue is in the job titles.

I use www.putzfrauenvermittlung.ch - it's about 40chf an hour.

I like using an agency because they are responsible for the legal stuff, my cleaner clocks in and out properly, I don't have to deal with the cleaner (my cleaner doesn't speak English, and has basic German, so even if I try to use German she won't necessarily understand me)...

She does our 5.5 room apartment in 3 hours, once a fortnight, and it sparkles. She also does a small amount of ironing if I put it out for her, but most weeks I don't have the ironing, so she just does the 3 hour clean. Also, the agency promotes that they will do 'extras' - my cleaner usually choses one 'extra' (within the allotted time) - one time it might be the windows, another time the doors, and occasionally I defrost the fridge or freezer the day before and she will clean it properly...or the oven...etc

I certainly don't earn 40chf an hour, but my husband and I both work, and having a good cleaner is something that helps our household to run smoothly.

I reckon a good professional cleaner can do twice as much in an hour than an 'amateur' -mine is a part time worker and she has to be back home to meet her child at lunch time from school, so she arrives and leaves promptly at the planned time...no paying for 'wasted' time...or having them tell you it's going to take longer so you have to pay more...

Yes, most firms will do extras such as window cleaning but charge a premium rate for the work , say plus sfr 10/hr