What a deep clean covers that a weekly clean does not

The two get quoted against each other as though they are the same job at different speeds. They are not, and knowing the difference stops you paying for the wrong one.

A weekly clean maintains a standard

It works on the surfaces you use: floors, visible surfaces, the bathroom, the kitchen, the bins. It is designed to be repeatable and to fit a predictable window, which means it works around things rather than through them.

There is nothing wrong with that. It is exactly what most homes need most of the time.

A deep clean resets one

It goes after accumulation rather than mess, which means opening, moving and dismantling.

• Inside appliances. Oven, hob, extractor, fridge, washing machine drawer and seal, individually rather than wiped down.
• Inside cabinets and drawers, emptied rather than fronted.
• Behind and under furniture and appliances, which a weekly clean cannot move.
• High surfaces. Door frames, wardrobe tops, rails, light fittings, fan blades.
• Grout, silicone and limescale, treated rather than wiped.
• Tracks, channels and drains, which pack and then stop working.
• Air-conditioning filters and housings, which redistribute everything otherwise.

When a deep clean is the right call

Moving in or out, a tenancy changeover, after a renovation, before or after a long period where nobody could keep on top of it, or when a weekly clean has stopped producing a result because it is working over accumulation rather than through it.

If a regular clean stopped feeling like it makes a difference, the problem is usually scope rather than effort.

What it is not

A deep clean is not remediation. If there is an odour with a source, biological material, or a unit that has been left far too long, that is different work and doing a deep clean over it produces a home that presents well for a fortnight.

We will tell you which one you actually need when we look, including when the honest answer is the cheaper one.

The service is general and deep cleaning. For renovations specifically see post-renovation cleaning.

What to tell us before the day

A deep clean is bounded by time, so the useful thing is to say what matters most to you rather than leaving it to be guessed.

• The rooms you actually care about, if it is not all of them.
• Anything fragile, valuable or not to be moved.
• Surfaces with a history, natural stone, a treated timber floor, anything previously damaged by a product.
• Whether anybody in the home reacts to cleaning products.
• What has already been tried on a mark you want gone.

That last one saves the most time, because it stops us repeating something that has already failed.

What a deep clean will not fix

Wear, etching, scratches, staining that has gone into a material, and mould caused by an ongoing leak. Those are repairs, and cleaning them again does not change them.

We will tell you when something is in that category rather than scrubbing at it to look busy. It is more useful to know that a floor is worn than to be charged for the discovery twice.

The move-out version is in move-out cleaning, and the air-conditioning question is in renovation dust and your air-conditioning.