The Job a Regular Visit Does
A regular house cleaning keeps a home at a steady baseline. It clears the dust, crumbs, splashes and soap scum that build up over a week or two, so the house does not drift far from clean between visits.
It is not meant to reset the whole house. Jobs that take a long time on a single appliance, like the inside of an oven, or that mean moving furniture, usually belong to a separate deep clean. Knowing where that line falls makes it easier to plan a visit and to read an estimate.
The Kitchen and Bathrooms
These two rooms get the most time on a regular visit, since they see the most use. A cleaner will usually work through the surfaces you touch and look at each day.
- Counters wiped, including the backsplash behind the sink and stove
- Sinks scrubbed and faucets shined
- Stovetop wiped and degreased
- Fronts of the fridge, dishwasher, oven and microwave wiped, and often the inside of the microwave
- Showers and tubs scrubbed to lift soap scum
- Toilets cleaned inside and out, down to the base
- Bathroom sinks, counters and mirrors cleaned
Living Rooms, Bedrooms and Floors
In the rest of the house, the work is mostly dust and floors. Cleaners tend to work each room from top to bottom, so dust knocked off a shelf lands on a floor that has not been vacuumed yet.
- Shelves, tabletops, picture frames and window sills dusted
- Baseboards dusted
- Mirrors and glass tabletops wiped
- Beds made, with sheets changed if you leave a fresh set out
- Trash emptied in each room
- Carpets and rugs vacuumed, and hard floors vacuumed and mopped
What Usually Waits for a Deep Clean
A deep clean goes after the places a regular visit skips. These jobs take longer, often mean moving things, and for most homes only need doing a few times a year.
- Inside the oven and the fridge
- Inside kitchen cabinets and drawers
- Behind and under the fridge, stove and heavy furniture
- Grout lines and hard water stains on shower glass
- Blinds, window tracks and the inside of windows
- Walls and doors washed down
- Ceiling fans, vents and light fixtures
Getting the Most From a Regular Visit
It often makes sense to start with a deep clean before regular visits begin, then repeat one once or twice a year. Starting from that clean baseline means the regular visits keep the house there instead of playing catch-up.
Before the first visit, walk through the house and decide what matters most to you. If the shower glass bothers you more than anything, or the dog hair on the stairs does, say so, and it can go to the top of the list.
Bedding is worth raising early too. Some cleaners change sheets as a matter of course and others only make the bed, so leaving a clean set on the bed makes your wishes plain. If you would rather nobody touched the TV screen or a computer, say that as well.
Keep a short note for anything that changes from one visit to the next, such as a guest room that needs its bed made or a room to skip this week. If something keeps getting missed, mention it early and be specific. “The top of the fridge” is easier to act on than “the kitchen could be better.”
Our residential cleaning covers kitchens, bathrooms, dusting, floors and trash in houses, condos and apartments, as a regular visit or a single clean. Tell us what matters most and we will build it into your estimate.
