Initial Cleaning

Why is it different? • Why is it necessary? • Why does it cost more?

Better Home Care

Your home and possessions are among your most valuable and most treasured assets. Nevertheless, most of our clients are simply too busy to clean those with the time or care that they deserve.

Our First Visit

Our first cleaning visit is more like spring cleaning or perhaps “catch up” cleaning. Before we can begin regularly scheduled cleaning of a home, there are a variety of first-time tasks that require extra time and effort.

There is a big difference between “old dirt” and “new dirt” If we don’t get rid of the old dirt, no matter how hard we try, simply removing new dirt isn’t going to make your home sparkle.

It is not uncommon for us to spend two to four times longer on a first-time clean than it takes us on regular, repeat maintenance visits!

Throughout the Home

Perhaps no one has vacuumed behind or beneath the sofa for months. Bookshelves, baseboards, windowsills, and windows are prime candidates for long periods of neglect, and may require extra initial “TLC”.

Kitchen cabinets, countertops and appliances usually require extra attention on our first visit. Grease fingerprints, and other dirt seem to make their way through everyone’s home and gravitate toward the kitchen. It doesn’t take long for kitchen dust to become impregnated with grease, which is more difficult and time-consuming to clean than a week’s worth of ordinary surface dirt.

If we don’t spend the time and effort to get the shower doors, shower-door tracks, shower, bathtub surfaces, plumbing fixtures, and floors thoroughly cleaned, these objects won’t look really clean no matter how often we visit. 

Access to Your Home

Since we clean during normal business hours while many of our clients are at work, we need a way to get into your home to provide the service. Once we’ve cleaned your home for the first-time and you approve of our work, the most reliable access for future visits is a copy of your house key(s). This is the way most of our clients allow us access.

If a key isn’t possible, here are two additional options.

  1. We send out email reminders 2 days prior to scheduled appointments. This is a group email and sometimes ends up in a spam folder so please look for it. We will try to arrive within a 2-hour commitment window. If we are delayed (or early) because of unforeseen reasons, we will call and keep you advised of our status.
  2. You may call the office the day before your scheduled visit with an approximate time of arrival. Please note that this time often is not negotiable because it is determined by the time of scheduled cleanings before and after yours.

*There is an upcharge for inside the windows, cabinets, oven and fridge