domestic
Deep cleaning and one-off cleans
A deep clean costs £180 to £400 for a typical house and takes two to three times as long as a regular visit, which is why most companies send two people rather than one. It is not a regular clean done harder: it reaches what a weekly visit deliberately never touches, and it sets the standard that the weekly visit then maintains.
What this covers
What it costs. A deep clean costs £180 to £280 for a one-bedroom flat, £220 to £350 for a two-bedroom and £280 to £450 for a three-bedroom house. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Inside the oven, the fridge and every cupboard and drawer
- Limescale off shower screens, taps, tiles and the WC
- Skirtings, door frames, switches, sockets and extractor grilles
- Behind and underneath furniture that can be moved safely
- Window frames, sills and the inside of the glass
What is involved
This page is about buying one. What is actually in a deep clean, room by room, is set out in the guide to what a deep clean includes, and it is worth reading before you ask anybody for a price, because the scope is what the price is made of.
Two people rather than one is the norm and it is not padding. A deep clean is two to three times the hours of a regular visit, and a single cleaner working eleven hours is a worse job by hour nine than two working five and a half. It also means the property is back in use the same day.
The timing that gets the most out of it is before a regular cleaner starts rather than after. The weekly hours then go on maintaining the house instead of catching up with it, and both sides have seen what the property looks like when it is right, which is the thing that is otherwise argued about for a year.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask how many cleaners and for how many hours, because that is what you are comparing. One person for six hours and two for five are not the same job at two prices.
Ask what happens if it runs over: who absorbs it on a fixed price, and what the cap is on an hourly one. On a property nobody has seen, that is the question the price really turns on.
Ask for the scope room by room and in writing. A deep clean quoted as one line is a number rather than a scope, and the scope is the entire difference between two quotes.
Common questions
How many cleaners will come?
Two on most properties. A deep clean is two to three times the hours of a regular visit, and one person working eleven hours produces a worse result than two working five and a half.
Can I book it at short notice?
Usually a few days, and longer at the end of the month when tenancies turn over. It is a half or full day of two people's time rather than a slot.