How an apartment cleaning works around the building
The clean inside a studio, a one-bedroom or a condo is the same work as any home. The questions on the call cover more than the rooms, though. Access, the stairs or elevator, and the parking in a tower all come up before anyone opens a cabinet.
1. Getting in
The first thing on the call is how we open the front door. A buzzer that works, a key fob, a lockbox at a back entry, a code on a keypad lock, a front desk that will send us up, or a key the resident drops at the unit. Loading zones and parking are part of this too, especially in a tower with a service entry. We go over whichever one applies to your building.
2. The kitchen
The work is the same whether the kitchen is a separate room or opens into the living room: counters, the sink and faucet, the stovetop, the fronts of the appliances and the cabinet pulls. A tight galley moves one person at a time, and a backsplash close to the stove tends to carry more cooking spray.
3. The bathroom
The tub or the shower, the toilet, the vanity and the mirror. If the apartment has one bathroom shared by roommates, we work around what is on the counter rather than clearing it. If a shower curtain is still damp, we work around it. The toothbrushes and the bath mat stay where you left them.
4. Living and sleeping areas
In a studio these are one room. In a one-bedroom, they are two. Surfaces wiped high to low from the floor, nothing climbed, beds made or linens changed when you ask, a light tidy on the shelves and the coffee table. Bookshelves and open shelving get a pass where they are within reach from the floor.
5. Floors last
Vacuumed through the unit, including along the baseboards and into the corners, then washed on hard floor. Area rugs vacuumed on both sides when they are small enough to turn.
6. The unit's bins
Trash, recycling and compost go into the unit's own blue, green and black bins the way the household sorts them. The hallway outside the door, the laundry room, the lobby, the stairwell and the trash chute belong to the building, and none of those are our work.
| Home | What to tell us when you call | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Studio in a large building with a front desk | The front desk check-in and your unit number | How we get up to the floor and what your building asks of vendors |
| One-bedroom in a mid-size building with an elevator | Elevator hours and any time-of-day rules | When our cleaners arrive and leave |
| A home on one floor of a two-unit building, with stairs from the street | The way in and who else lives in the building | How we park and walk up |
| Condo in a newer tower | Parking, the service entry and loading dock hours | The way we get in and out, and when |
| A home over a garage reached by a front stair | Which door we come in and where to park | Walking up a shared stair |
When apartment cleaning fits, and when another service fits better
When this is the right page
A lived-in apartment, condo or loft, where the inside of the unit is the job. A one time cleaning or a regular schedule, both start on the same call.
When another service fits
For an empty unit on move-out day, an empty unit at move-out is the right page, since cabinets and appliances open up for the clean. For a thorough catch-up on a lived-in place, a deep clean handles the trim, the inside of the oven and fridge and the grout. For a short-term rental turnover, a host turnover is set up around the host's list. For the standard room-by-room upkeep on a schedule, regular visits are the base.
What the visit covers
The inside of your unit, as the home list runs: dusting high to low from the floor, the kitchen and the bathroom, bedrooms and living areas, and the floors last. We go over products on the call, including anything a condo rule or the lease has named. The condo rules or the lease decide what the building allows; we work inside those.
Buildings vary on what they ask of vendors. Tell us when you call what your building asks for, and we go over what applies before anything is set.