Getting Ready for a Move-Out Clean
A Move In/Out Cleaning visit works through the longest list on our checklist, and it assumes the home is empty. Whether you are leaving a home or about to move into one, what you handle in the days beforehand decides whether the cleaner can reach everything on that list. Here are those steps in the order they tend to come up.
Step 1: Book as Soon as the Date Is Set
Once you know your move date, choose the cleaning date on our booking page, where you pick the service, describe the home and select a day. A card on file holds the booking. A temporary hold is placed about 24 hours before the visit, and the card is charged after the clean is finished.
Cancelling or rescheduling needs at least 48 hours' notice, and later changes carry a fee set out in our Terms. We work Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 6 PM, and Saturday, 9 AM to 2 PM, with no Sunday visits and none on Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Arrival windows run about two hours.
Step 2: Keep the Water and Power On
Floors get mopped, counters get wiped and the vacuum needs an outlet, so the cleaner needs running water and electricity. If the utilities have been disconnected, the visit may be declined, because conditions like that are not safe to work in. Schedule the shutoff for after the clean, not before it.
Step 3: Empty the Rooms and Settle Heavy Items
The inside of a cabinet, drawer, closet or pantry can only be wiped once it is empty, so clear those first. Large-scale trash removal is not part of the visit, so leftover boxes and bags should leave with you or go out to the curb before the cleaner arrives.
Cleaners don't move heavy furniture or appliances. If something heavy is staying behind, such as a fridge or a washer, decide ahead of time whether you want the floor behind or under it cleaned, and pull it out yourself if you do. Cleaners also don't climb above a 3-step ladder, so shelves and ledges higher than that are skipped. Take cash, jewelry and other valuables with you or lock them away.
Step 4: Time It Between the Movers and the Handover
For a move-out, the right slot is after the last load leaves and before the final walk-through or key handover. Moving in, it is after the previous occupant is out and before your own boxes arrive. Either way, nobody is carrying furniture across freshly mopped floors.
Use the booking form to tell the cleaner how to get in. If the scope needs to change, such as adding rooms you had not planned on, request it by 5 PM the day before.
What the Move-In/Out Clean Covers
The visit includes every task the deep clean adds: baseboards, doors and door frames, windowsills and window frames wiped down, the fronts of every kitchen cabinet and drawer, the oven hood vent, and the tile grout in the shower. On top of that, the cleaner wipes the insides of kitchen, bathroom and living-area cabinets and drawers, sweeps or vacuums and mops the pantry floor and wipes its shelves, and cleans inside the linen closet and bedroom closets, shelves included. The fridge, oven and dishwasher are cleaned on the outside; the microwave is cleaned inside and out.
The full room-by-room list is on our cleaning checklist page, the Move In/Out Cleaning page covers the plan in more detail, and dates are chosen on our booking page.