What to do before the cleaners arrive
There is a persistent worry about whether you are supposed to tidy before a cleaner comes. The answer is not about manners. It is about arithmetic: the visit covers a set number of hours, and anything that slows those hours down comes out of the cleaning.
Clear the flat surfaces
This is the one that matters most. A counter covered in mail and chargers gets cleaned around, because unpacking your things is not cleaning and nobody wants a stranger deciding where your post lives.
Kitchen counters, the dining table, bedside tables and the bathroom vanity. Five minutes across the whole home, and it changes how the finished place looks more than any other single thing.
Deal with the floor
Shoes, toys, laundry baskets and the pile of things at the bottom of the stairs. A floor that has to be cleared before it can be washed is a floor that gets half the attention it would have had.
You do not need to put anything away properly. Moving it into one room that is not being cleaned that day is enough.
Say the awkward thing in advance
Nobody minds. Everybody minds finding out at the door.
- A bathroom that has not been touched in a while. It changes the time, not the welcome.
- Pet hair, and which rooms have the worst of it.
- A surface that needs a specific product, or one that must not be touched with anything wet.
- Allergies in the household, including someone who reacts to strong scent.
- A room you would rather we skipped entirely.
Sort access properly
If you will not be home, the arrangement needs to exist in writing before the day. A key with the concierge under a named person, a lockbox code, or a fob at the desk. In a condo, add the visitor parking situation and whether the service elevator needs booking.
The single most common cause of a late start in this city is a cleaner standing in a lobby while a desk decides whether they are allowed up.
What you genuinely do not need to do
Do not clean before the cleaner. People do it out of embarrassment and it is money set on fire, because you are paying for work you already did.
Do not strip the beds unless you want them changed. Do not move furniture. Do not empty the dishwasher. None of that helps, and heavy furniture is a good way to hurt yourself for no gain.
If you are home during the visit
That is completely fine and very common. The only thing worth knowing is that a room with someone working in it gets done last or gets done around, so if you are on calls all afternoon, say which room you will be in.
See your price before you talk to anyone.
The whole rate card is published, and the estimate form shows your flat rate before it asks for a name, a number or an address. Nothing is booked when you submit it.
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