Moving is stressful enough without stressing over the state of your floors
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You can hire cleaners for your new home or your old one.
Pro cleaners will make sure you satisfy the terms of the buyer or your landlord.
Hiring a cleaning service will save you time and stress.
Expect to pay between $200 and $500.
Before you can enjoy the new beginnings opened up by a move, you must tie up all the loose ends at your old place. This process includes a thorough cleaning of the space after you’ve packed up and loaded your belongings into the truck or handed the boxes over to movers.
There’s cleaning to be done at your new home as well, wiping away any dust left by the old residents and contractors to make sure that all of your previous items will be landing on clean surfaces.
In both cases, a thorough deep clean is just what’s in order. Why not leave it to the pros? Read on to find out why it may be worth hiring a cleaning service during your move.
Whether you’ve sold your home or you’re leaving a rental unit, there are advantages to hiring cleaners before handing over the keys. After you finish packing and tidying—or when you get most of the way there—you can simply let a professional cleaning service take care of the rest.
When you’re handing over possession of a home, the other party typically expects—by custom, contract, or law—to receive one that’s clean from top to bottom. A home seller must deliver a “broom clean” environment, a term that’s open to a degree of interpretation. In a rental, a good cleaning may be the difference between getting your security deposit back and not. Hiring professional cleaners will ensure the job gets done to the level required to avoid penalties.
Moving involves quite a few steps. After you’ve packed up all your belongings, loaded the truck, and dealt with all the paperwork, the last thing you want to worry about is cleaning your old home. Leaving the work to cleaners takes a big job off your plate when you’ve got little energy or time to spare.
Cleaning companies that offer moving services will tailor the work to your needs. In some cases, you may need the whole house cleaned top to bottom, while in others, you just need to make sure to accomplish a checklist of tasks. Be sure to go over specific tasks with the cleaning company you hire to make sure you’re both on the same page.
You’re probably focused on getting the kitchen and living room set up in your new place, but there are good reasons to consider hiring a cleaning service on the other end of your move too.
Professional cleaners employ specialized equipment and techniques that will get your home cleaner and keep it that way for longer than what you can accomplish on your own. You can get off to the right start in your new place and put off the day when you’ll have to clean it again yourself.
If you’re sensitive to allergens, moving into a new home can run your senses through the gauntlet. Any pet dander and dust may leave you with a runny nose and itchy eyes if you don’t make sure to scrub the place before moving in.
Even if it’s a new build, there may be debris left by contractors that can trigger your allergies. Professional cleaners are equipped to eliminate these pollutants from all their hiding places, using HEPA-rated equipment, allowing you a smoother transition to your new home without the irritation of pollen, dust mites, or mold.
Once you finally get all your belongings into your new home, you’re itching to start decorating, arranging furniture, and exploring your new environment. Hiring a service to take care of the cleaning gives you the time to enjoy the reasons you moved in the first place while making sure your new home is spic-and-span.
When you hire a local cleaning service before a move, the company won’t just be tidying or doing regular housekeeping chores but performing a deep cleaning. As you decide whether or not to take this step during your upcoming move, it’s worth understanding the differences between a regular cleaning and a deep cleaning.
A deep cleaning targets all the dirt and grime that accumulates on the surfaces in your home, and within every little nook and cranny. You should aim to deep clean two to three times a year—and it’s also something that you must do before bidding farewell to an old home and before you settle into a new one. Whether you take the time to DIY or hire out for this step is totally up to you.
During a move, whether you’re coming or going, the deep cleaning is likely to include a handful of key tasks.
The full cost of hiring a cleaning service for your move depends on the size of the home, your location, and the scope of the job. For a moving service deep cleaning, most customers pay between $200 and $400. Expect deep cleaning work to cost as much as $0.20 per square foot on average. Doing the work yourself will require supplies costing between $40 and $50 if you start from scratch.
The only real downside to hiring professional cleaners for a move is the cost involved. You can, of course, always clean your old and new homes yourself.
It’s ultimately a question of the cost you can spare and how you value your time. If you decide to hire a pro, make sure to book well in advance to make sure there’s availability between the time you sign your closing documents or new lease and when the moving truck arrives.
If you’re hiring someone to clean an empty and tidy house before you move in, there’s little prep work to do. Make sure to discuss your goals with the cleaning service, arrange entry to the house, and communicate any problem areas or special requests. If you’ve already moved into the house, or if it’s messy, it’s best to complete the following tasks before the cleaners arrive:
Declutter things like clothes, toys, or cardboard boxes
Do the dishes
Put fragile items in a safe spot where they can’t be accidentally broken
Keep pets away from cleaning areas
Whether you’re a renter or a buyer, you should clean a house when moving out. For renters, it’s usually written in the lease that a house must be cleaned before it’s vacated. If you’re unsure how thoroughly to clean the place, check with the landlord beforehand; otherwise, you may not receive your deposit back. When selling a house, a contractual agreement is often made with the realtor that the house is swept and that all personal belongings are removed before the previous owners move out.
Unless it’s written into the purchase agreement, there’s no legal obligation that a house you’ve bought as to be clean before you move in. The previous owner is generally required to sweep the house, but that doesn’t guarantee everything will be spotless upon your arrival. If possible, discuss the cleaning requirements with the real estate company before moving in.
