3 min read
Deep clean or regular clean, and how to tell which you need
A regular clean maintains a home that is already at a good baseline: surfaces, floors, kitchen and bathrooms. A deep clean resets a home that is not there yet, adding hand-detailed baseboards, door frames, window tracks, blinds, vents, grout and behind furniture. If nobody has properly cleaned the house in the last six months, you need the deep clean first. It normally costs 1.5 to 2 times a regular visit and is charged once.
This is the question I get asked most, usually phrased as whether the deep clean is really necessary or whether it is an upsell. Fair question, so here is the actual test.
The six month test
If a professional has cleaned the whole house properly within the last six months, a regular clean will hold it. If not, a regular clean will look good in the middle of every room and wrong at the edges, because the edges are where a year of dust lives, and no standard visit has the hours to deal with that.
What the deep clean adds
- Baseboards by hand rather than spot-wiped
- Door frames and doors washed, both sides
- Window sills and the tracks, which are the single most-skipped spot in any house
- Blinds, vents and cold-air returns
- Grout and shower door runners, plus hard water on glass
- Behind and under furniture that moves
Why it is only charged once
Because that work does not come back at the same rate. Once a baseboard is properly done it needs maintaining, not redoing. That is the whole logic of charging a higher first visit and then never charging it again, and if a company charges you a deep clean rate repeatedly, ask them why.
The honest exception
If you clean thoroughly yourself and just want the time back, you may genuinely not need it. Send me four photographs, kitchen, main bathroom, main living area and primary bedroom, and I will tell you honestly. I would rather lose the deep clean than sell you one you did not need.
