"Do I need a deep clean or just a clean?" comes up in most first conversations. The short version: a regular clean maintains a home that's already in good shape, and a deep clean gets a home back to that point. Here's what each one includes, so you can tell which you need.
What a regular clean includes
A regular clean is the room-by-room checklist we do on every weekly or fortnightly visit. Kitchen worktops, splashback and sink cleaned and shined, the hob and appliance fronts degreased, cupboard doors and handles wiped, the floor hoovered and mopped. In the bathrooms the toilet, bath, shower and basin cleaned and disinfected, taps and shower screen descaled, mirrors and chrome polished, floor mopped. Bedrooms and living rooms dusted, mirrors and glass cleaned, carpets and rugs hoovered, beds made. And throughout the house: light switches and door handles wiped, hard floors mopped, window sills wiped, bins emptied.
It's a thorough clean of everything you see and touch every day. What it doesn't do is open the oven door or move the sofa.
What a deep clean adds
A deep clean covers everything above and then goes into the build-up:
- Inside the oven, including the racks and the door glass
- Inside the fridge and the kitchen cupboards
- Tile grout scrubbed in the bathrooms and kitchen
- Skirting boards and door frames through the whole house
- The inside of the windows
The kitchen and bathrooms also simply get longer, because limescale and grease that have had months to settle don't come off with the wipe that keeps them off week to week.
When a deep clean makes sense
- A spring or seasonal clean
- Before guests or a family occasion
- When the house hasn't had a proper clean in a while
- A fresh start before regular weekly or fortnightly cleaning
- Moving in, or moving out: the end of tenancy checklist is a deep clean of an empty property
When a regular clean is enough
If the oven glass is clear, the shower screen comes up with a wipe and there's no grey line along the grout, your home is in maintenance territory. A regular clean will keep it there. Paying for a deep clean on a home that's already clean is money spent on work that doesn't need doing, and I'll tell you so when I quote.
A quick way to tell which you need
Walk round with these five in mind. Does limescale on the shower screen stay put after a wipe? Is the oven door glass brown rather than clear? Is the grout grey? Is there dust sitting on the skirting boards? Are the window sills grimy at the corners? Two yeses or more, and a deep clean first will make every clean after it easier.
How we approach a deep clean
A deep clean is one long visit rather than a quick pass. We bring everything we need, start with the kitchen and bathrooms, where the build-up is heaviest, and work through every room on the checklist. How long it takes depends on the size and condition of the property, so I give an estimate with the quote rather than a guess on the phone. Every visit is at least 2 hours. We hoover every carpet, but we don't shampoo or steam clean them.
What a deep clean doesn't include
So there are no surprises: we hoover carpets and rugs but don't shampoo or steam clean them, we clean the inside of the windows but not the outside, and we don't do the clean-up after building work, loft or garage clearing, or anything that needs a ladder on the outside of the house. If your home needs one of those, it's worth booking a specialist for that job and a deep clean for everything else.
Getting ready for a deep clean
Clear the surfaces you want cleaned: worktops, window sills, the tops of cabinets. If you want the inside of the freezer done, switch it off the night before so it has defrosted by the time we arrive. Take anything precious off the shelves that will be dusted, or tell us how you'd like it handled. We'll say when we confirm the booking if anything else needs moving first, and we work around furniture rather than asking you to shift it.
Deep clean first, then regular
The most common path is one deep clean, then weekly or fortnightly visits. The deep clean gets the home to the standard; the regular visits keep it there, and they stay quick because there's nothing to catch up on. If you're deciding how often, weekly or fortnightly is covered in its own post.
Read more about our deep cleaning and regular domestic cleaning, or send the quote form and tell me what you're seeing. I'll say which one your home needs.