Why two identical flats take different amounts of time to clean

The price list says a one-bedroom takes 4-6 hours. Of two identical one-bedrooms, one is finished in four and the other takes eight. Square metres tell you almost nothing about how long a clean takes. These seven things do.

1. How long the flat has been lived in

One year and eight years are not the same flat, even with an identical floor plan. Grease, limescale and dust build up in layers, and each layer has to come off separately.

Of all the factors this is the largest. A long-occupied one-bedroom easily takes two hours more than one lived in for a year.

2. How the oven has been used

The oven is the slowest point in the whole job. The cleaner needs time to work, and burnt-on grease only comes off on the second or third pass.

A lightly used oven is 20 minutes. An oven used weekly for years with no cleaning in between is an hour, sometimes more. We always ask about it first, because it moves the estimate more than anything else.

3. Silicone seals in the bathroom

Mould in the seals is its own chapter. Surface mould washes off; discolouration that has eaten into the silicone does not come out with any cleaning product.

We say this plainly before we come: if a seal has blackened through, cleaning will not fix it. That is reseal work, not cleaning, and as far as ordinary wear goes a landlord cannot require it of a departing tenant.

4. Pets

Dog and cat hair gets into places a normal clean does not reach: skirting board gaps, behind radiators, cupboard door hinges. It has to be vacuumed out before any wet wiping, otherwise it just moves around.

In practice a flat with pets takes about an hour longer.

5. Whether anyone smoked indoors

Nicotine leaves a yellowish film on ceilings, walls and the top edges of cupboards. It washes off, but it is different work from wiping dust and needs a product that does not leave streaks.

This is the one item where we do not promise a result in advance. Some of the film comes off; some has already soaked into the paint.

6. The balcony and its glazing

Balconies often fall outside the price simply because nobody mentioned them. A glazed balcony — glass from inside, railing, ceiling and floor — is easily another hour.

Ask about it separately, both from us and from the landlord. Leases rarely mention balconies; inspections look at them.

7. Whether the flat is empty

This is the item that wrecks schedules most often. An end clean is done in an empty flat. If ten boxes and a sofa are still in the corner, the cleaner works around them and the job has to be repeated.

If the move slips, say so immediately. A rescheduled slot costs less than work done twice.

Summary: what adds hours

How to get an accurate quote without a visit

Tell us five things through the form or WhatsApp and we will come back with a price range:

• –the size of the flat and the number of rooms
• –how many years it has been lived in
• –how heavily the oven has been used
• –whether there are pets, and whether anyone smoked indoors
• –whether there is a balcony and whether it is glazed

Photos help more than words. Shots of the oven interior, the bathroom seals and the extractor filter are usually enough to land the estimate within an hour.

Why we do not sell a fixed price per square metre

A fixed rate per square metre would be easier to sell. It would also mean that tidy tenants subsidise the ones with eight years of grease in the oven.

We bill by actual time and give an estimate before starting. If the job turns out larger on site than the estimate suggested, we tell you before carrying on.

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Prices by flat size are in a separate article, and the scope of the work is on the move-out cleaning page. Send a request and we will go through those five questions and put the estimate in writing.