What Should You Do Before Your Cleaners Arrive?

A short, honest prep list — including permission to skip the parts that don't actually help.

If you've just booked a cleaning service and you're wondering what you're supposed to do to get ready, this post is for you. A lot of people stress about this — scrubbing the house before the cleaners come, second-guessing what's expected, worrying they're doing it wrong. You shouldn't have to. The whole point of hiring a cleaning service is to take something off your plate, not add to it.

So here's exactly what helps, what doesn't, and what to leave to us.

The one rule: pick up, don't clean

Please don't clean before we arrive. We're cleaners, not picker-uppers — but we are cleaners. We'll still wipe that kitchen counter exactly the same way whether or not you wiped it first. Cleaning ahead of us is completely wasted effort, so save your energy.

What genuinely helps is the opposite: pick things up. The more that's put away, the more of your home we can actually reach and clean.

The usual culprits are the ones that block access — scattered kids' toys, laundry or towels tossed on the floor, and general clutter on counters and surfaces. If a counter is buried, we can't clean the counter. We work around what's left out, so the more you clear, the better the result. (And a note: we don't do laundry, so anything on the floor is ours to work around, not to wash.)

Two things worth clearing specifically: the sink and the papers

Dishes. We don't do dishes. Please wash them or load them into the dishwasher before we arrive so we can get to the sink. If dishes are sitting in the sink, all we can do is take them out, clean, and set them back in — which puts the dirty dishes right back where they started and defeats the purpose. A clear sink lets us actually clean it.

Paperwork. We won't move, sort, or handle any papers — we work around them. So if there's a desk or counter covered in mail, documents, or clutter and you want that surface cleaned, clear the papers first. This matters most for home offices: pick up the paperwork ahead of time and we can give the desk a proper clean instead of dusting around a stack.

Getting in and parking

If you won't be home, make sure we can get in and get parked without a hold-up at the door.

Tell us exactly where to park, and if you can, save the spot for us — a dedicated space on the street is ideal. Please also make sure it's somewhere we're actually allowed to park. If there's nowhere valid and we end up with a parking ticket, that cost may be added to your invoice, since making sure we have a place to park is the client's responsibility. A quick heads-up about parking saves everyone the headache.

For your first clean, be home if you can

Prep for a first-time clean and a regular maintenance visit is basically identical — same pick-up, same everything. There's just one difference worth knowing.

For the first cleaning, if you're able to be home, it helps. There are always small questions that don't come up until we're in your space — where the trash goes, whether you'd like a certain thing done, whether to leave something out. Being reachable that first time lets us get it right. After that visit, we build a detailed profile of your home so we can reference your preferences going forward — and you won't need to be there or re-explain anything. If you'd rather not be home even for the first clean, that's completely fine; it's just smoother if you're around or a phone call away.

Put your valuables somewhere safe

This one matters, for your sake and ours.

Before we come, take anything high-value, fragile, or irreplaceable and put it somewhere safe — a drawer, a safe, out of reach — or gather it in one spot and simply tell us: don't clean this, don't touch it. Jewelry, expensive pieces, delicate items, sentimental things you couldn't replace — those are the ones to set aside.

We're as careful as we possibly can be. But accidents can happen to anyone, and some things are genuinely impossible to control — something can slip or break. We'd much rather protect your treasured items than risk a situation where something irreplaceable is damaged. Flagging it or putting it away protects your things and takes the worry off both of us. Tell us "don't worry about this one," and we won't.

A quick word about pets — and people — during the visit

We're happy to work around friendly pets. As long as they don't bite and won't get into our supplies or drink from our buckets, having them home is no problem, and we don't mind them wandering near us while we work. If you can keep them in a separate room or area, that's a little easier for everyone, but it's not a requirement.

Here's the one thing to understand: if we've just mopped a floor and your dog tiptoes across it, we won't re-mop it — the floor was clean when we finished. The same goes for kids and adults. If someone walks onto a wet floor or sets something down on a table we just cleaned, we're not able to redo that room simply because it got used right away. We cleaned it; keeping it clean for a few minutes after is the part we can't control. If that's fine with you, it's fine with us.

Ask early: add-ons, special requests, and schedule changes

If you want to add something to your service, have a special request, or need to change your appointment, the earlier the better — ideally two or three days ahead, or right after your first service.

Here's why: once we've built the cleaners' schedule for the day, a last-minute request the day before often can't be squeezed in, because we've already planned exactly how much time each home needs. Giving us a heads-up early lets us account for the extra time and fit it in properly. For schedule changes, same rule — as soon as you know, let us know.

One important thing: talk to the office, not your cleaner

If you have a question, a change, a special request, or a concern about your service, please bring it to the office — the people who communicate with you about your cleanings — not to the cleaning technician at your home.

The office is where all the scheduling and decisions happen. Your cleaner is there to clean, and it's not fair to put them in the position of solving something they weren't there to solve — especially since cleaners can change from visit to visit. Sending anything important to the office means it actually gets handled, and handled right.

The bottom line

None of this should feel like homework. Pick up what's on the floor, clear the sink and any papers, put your valuables away, sort out parking, and send any requests to the office early. That's really it.

We can't take everything off your plate — but we can take cleaning off it, and we want to do that without stressing you out in the process. That's the whole point.

Immaculate homes. Magical touch. Free quote in one business day — 331-244-1554.