In a 9-hour day with a 15-minute tea break and a 45-minute lunch, your housekeeper works 8 hours. Plan for 7½ hours of tasks and keep the last 30 minutes for moving between jobs and interruptions, such as answering the gate or a delivery. In an average 3-bedroom family home, that comfortably covers the daily cleaning plus one weekly job such as laundry, ironing or a deep clean. A large home with a big family, cooking and ironing every day is often more than one person can do well in 8 hours. Use the calculator to check your home.
This guide is for families who need housekeeping only: cleaning, laundry, ironing and, if agreed, cooking. It doesn't include looking after children. Children in the home still add dishes, laundry and tidying, so the calculator allows for that.
The legal working day
The Sectoral Determination for domestic workers sets the limits. Any workload you plan has to fit inside them:
| The rule | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Ordinary hours | No more than 45 hours a week, and 9 hours a day if she works 5 days or fewer (8 hours a day if she works more than 5 days) |
| Meal interval | After 5 hours of continuous work, a meal break of at least 1 hour. It can be shortened to no less than 30 minutes by agreement, so a 45-minute lunch plus a 15-minute tea break works if you agree on it in writing |
| Working during the break | If she must work or stay available during her break, it counts as paid working time |
| Overtime | Only by agreement, no more than 15 hours a week, paid at 1.5 times her normal rate |
| Rest | At least 12 hours between finishing and starting work, and 36 hours in a row off each week |
A common full-time day is 08:00 to 17:00, with tea from 10:15 to 10:30 and lunch from 12:30 to 13:15. That's 8 hours of work a day and 40 hours a week over five days, inside the legal limits. For a shorter 8-hour day, allow at least 45 minutes of breaks: a 15-minute tea break and a 30-minute lunch. That leaves 7¼ hours of work, and the 30-minute lunch also needs to be agreed in writing. If she works six days a week, keep to shifts of up to 8 hours Monday to Friday and a 5-hour Saturday. That's about 41 hours of work a week, inside the 45-hour limit. If the work regularly runs over, it's overtime, and it must be agreed and paid. See our guide to the 2026 minimum wage for the rates.
How long household tasks really take
These are typical hands-on times for a capable, experienced housekeeper in a home that's cleaned regularly. A home that hasn't been cleaned for a while, or a first clean, can take two to three times longer.
| Task | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Make a bed and tidy a bedroom | 5–10 min |
| Daily clean of a bathroom | 10–20 min |
| Deep clean of a bathroom | 30–45 min |
| Kitchen clean-up and dishes for the day (no dishwasher) | 45–75 min |
| Sweep or vacuum and mop a 3-bedroom house | 45–60 min |
| One load of washing: load, hang, fold, put away | 30–40 min |
| Ironing | 3–5 min an item |
| Change the linen on one bed | 10–15 min |
| Cook a simple family meal | 45–75 min |
| Clean the fridge and oven | 45–60 min |
| Clean the inside of one window | 5–10 min |
Every adult and child adds dishes, laundry and tidying. Young children add the most. Pets add hair and floor cleaning. A dishwasher or tumble dryer saves real time.
Workload calculator
Enter her working hours, then describe your home and the housekeeping you'd like done. The calculator works out her working time after breaks, keeps a small margin for interruptions, and compares the rest with the time your home needs. Children count towards dishes, laundry and tidying, not childcare.
A 9-hour day includes at least 1 hour of breaks.
Her duties and your appliances
The line marks the 7h 30m planned for tasks.
See the breakdown
These are estimates for a capable, experienced housekeeper in a home that's cleaned regularly. Adjust for your home, and talk it through with her.
What a realistic day looks like
Here's a fair day for a full-time housekeeper in a 3-bedroom home with two adults and two children. Daily tasks fill the morning, and one weekly job fills the afternoon. There's 7½ hours of planned work, and 30 minutes of slack spread through the day.
- 08:00Breakfast dishes, wipe kitchen surfaces, start a load of washing
- 08:45Make beds and tidy the bedrooms
- 09:30Clean the bathrooms
- 10:15Tea break (15 min)
- 10:30Hang the washing
- 10:45Sweep or vacuum and mop the floors
- 11:45Tidy and dust the living areas
- 12:30Lunch (45 min)
- 13:15The day's weekly job, for example deep cleaning the bathrooms or the fridge
- 14:30Ironing
- 15:45Bring in, fold and put away the washing
- 16:30Lunch dishes, wipe down the kitchen, take out the bins
- 17:00Finish
Spread the bigger jobs across the week
Not everything needs doing every day. Giving each day one bigger job keeps the workload even and the house consistently clean:
| Day | Daily tasks, plus… |
|---|---|
| Monday | Change the bed linen and catch up on the weekend's washing |
| Tuesday | Ironing |
| Wednesday | Deep clean the bathrooms |
| Thursday | Kitchen deep clean: fridge, oven and cupboard fronts |
| Friday | Thorough dusting, inside windows and a second round of ironing |
Monthly jobs, such as washing curtains, cleaning cupboards inside or polishing silver, can replace one weekly job now and then. Agree on the routine together and write her main duties into her employment contract.
What's fair, and what isn't
Fair to expect
- Daily cleaning of the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms and floors
- Laundry, and ironing spread over the week
- One bigger job a day on a set routine
- A simple family meal, if that's part of the job and the rest is lighter
- Clear priorities when there isn't time for everything
Not fair
- “Just finish before you go”, when that means staying late unpaid
- Working through the tea break or lunch without pay
- Adding childcare to a full day of housekeeping
- Adding garden work, car washing or a second home without discussion
- Judging her on a spotless home when the workload can't be done in the time
If the work doesn't all fit
If the calculator shows the work won't fit into her time for tasks, the answer isn't to expect her to work faster. Change the plan:
- Rotate jobs. Move deep cleans to every second week, and windows to once a month.
- Share the load. Older children can make their own beds and tidy their rooms. Rinse dishes before they go in the sink.
- Use appliances. A dishwasher or tumble dryer can save up to an hour a day in a busy home.
- Iron less. Fold rather than iron towels, linen and casual clothes.
- Add help. An extra day a week, or a second worker for laundry or the garden.
- Agree on overtime properly. If extra hours are really needed, agree in writing, stay within 15 hours a week and pay 1.5 times her rate.
Frequently asked questions
Are the tea break and lunch part of the 9-hour day?
Yes. In a typical 08:00 to 17:00 day she's at your home for 9 hours, works 8 and has an hour of breaks: a 15-minute tea break and a 45-minute lunch. Because the lunch is shorter than the 1-hour meal interval in the Sectoral Determination, agree on this split in writing. The breaks aren't working time unless she has to work or stay available during them, in which case they must be paid.
Why plan for 7½ hours and not the full 8?
The task times don't include moving between rooms, setting up and packing away the vacuum or ironing board, or interruptions such as the gate, a delivery or a spill. Keeping 30 minutes free for these stops jobs from rolling over. For shorter days, the calculator keeps a slightly smaller margin. On a smooth day she can use the time to get ahead on tomorrow's work.
Can I expect more work if I pay above the minimum wage?
A higher wage is a good way to attract and keep an experienced housekeeper, but it doesn't add hours to the day. The workload still has to fit into her working time.
How much can a part-time housekeeper do in one day a week?
In a single day, she'll usually manage a thorough clean of a small to medium home, or the main rooms and floors of a larger one. Laundry and ironing for a family usually need extra time or another day.
She's not finishing everything. What should I do?
Check the workload first with the calculator, then talk to her. Agree on priorities, and on what can wait. If the workload is realistic and the work still isn't done, deal with it fairly through a conversation and, if needed, a written warning.
Should duties be in her contract?
Yes. A short description of her main duties in the employment contract avoids misunderstandings. You can keep a separate weekly routine that you update together.
Find a housekeeper who fits your home.
Tell us about your home and family, and we'll match you with a vetted, experienced housekeeper. We can also handle payroll, UIF and COIDA.
Sources: Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Worker Sector (ordinary hours, meal intervals, rest periods and overtime); Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997; 2026 national minimum wage of R30.23 an hour. Task times are typical maintenance cleaning times published by professional cleaning services, adjusted for a full-time housekeeper.
This guide is general information. The calculator gives estimates only, and every home is different.