To prepare for a cleaner, do a light reset, not a clean. Clear floors and surfaces, put laundry away, deal with dishes, secure anything valuable or fragile, sort out access and pets, and tell the cleaner what matters most to you. Then the hours you pay for go on cleaning, not on moving your belongings around.
That is the whole idea. The rest of this guide shows you how to do it in about 20 to 30 minutes, room by room, and what to agree in advance so your first visit goes well and the second is easier still.
TL;DR
- Tidy, don't scrub: the cleaner's time is for cleaning, so clear floors, worktops, desks and coffee tables and put laundry and dishes away.
- Put valuables, paperwork and fragile items out of the way, and tell the cleaner about anything delicate.
- Settle access, parking, pets and alarm details before the day, not on the doorstep.
- Name your top three priorities. In a timed visit, a clear brief beats a long list.
- Check what your booking covers, and book extras such as ovens, carpets or upholstery separately.
Table of Contents
- Why a light reset matters more than a deep scrub
- The 25-minute tidy: room by room
- Valuables, fragile items and things that should not be touched
- Access, keys and alarms
- Pets and children
- Agree your priorities: the three-item brief
- What does a domestic clean usually include?
- How much can a cleaner do in two hours?
- Is the 5-5-5 rule worth using?
- What does a cleaner cost, and what shapes the price?
- Our view: why a well-prepared visit is a better clean
- Book a clean that starts the moment we arrive
- A short checklist for the morning of the clean
- FAQ
- Sources
Why a light reset matters more than a deep scrub
Most people's first instinct is to clean the house before the cleaner arrives, out of embarrassment. It is worth resisting. Professional cleaners are not judging your home. They have seen every kind of kitchen, and a bit of clutter or a dusty shelf is simply the job.
What does slow a visit down is anything that has to be moved before a surface can be cleaned. A cleaner who has to lift 30 items off a worktop, pick clothes off the bedroom floor and stack dishes is spending paid time as a tidier. When you book by the hour, that is time not spent on the bathroom, the floors or the kitchen.
The guidance from Ideal Home is the same: tidy so the cleaner can focus on cleaning, but do not duplicate the work. In practice that means clearing floors and surfaces, putting laundry away and clearing dishes. It does not mean scrubbing the shower first.
The 25-minute tidy: room by room
Set a timer. You are not aiming for perfect, only for clear. Work in this order, because the kitchen and bathroom are where most of the paid cleaning time goes.
Kitchen
- Clear the worktops of anything that lives there only by habit: post, chargers, spice jars you can put in a cupboard, loose packaging.
- Empty the sink and either load the dishwasher or wash up. A sink full of crockery cannot be cleaned.
- Put food away and clear the hob so it can be wiped properly.
- Take out the rubbish and recycling if bins are full, so the cleaner can use them for the visit.
- Clear the front of the fridge of anything you would not want wiped off or moved.
Bathrooms
- Put away toiletries, razors, make-up and medication from the edges of the bath, sink and windowsill.
- Take towels and bath mats off floors and rails, or leave them in the wash basket if you want them washed.
- Move any bottles standing on the shower floor, so the base and screen can be cleaned.
Bedrooms and living areas
- Put clothes away or in the laundry basket. Clothes on the floor mean the floor is not cleaned.
- Clear bedside tables enough for a cloth to pass over them.
- Clear coffee tables, desks and the tops of shelves of loose papers, cups and cables.
- Pick up toys, shoes and bags from the floor so the vacuum can reach everywhere.
Floors
Floors are the single biggest win. A cleaner can vacuum and mop a clear floor quickly. A floor covered in belongings must be cleared item by item, and the places under those items are the ones that tend to get skipped when time runs short.
What you do not need to do
- You do not need to clean before the cleaner arrives.
- You do not need to buy products. At Cleanny, all supplies are included, along with eco-friendly products, so there is no need to leave a bucket and a shopping list out.
- You do not need to hide your mess. You only need to make it movable-around.
If you want a visual of what a clean home looks like once the basics are in place, our regular house cleaning checklist gives you a five-day plan for keeping the tidy part easy between visits.
Valuables, fragile items and things that should not be touched
The reasonable rule is: if you would be upset to see it knocked, lost or wiped away, put it where it cannot be.
- Cash, jewellery and small valuables: put them in a drawer, a safe or a closed room. This protects you, and it protects the cleaner from any suggestion of a mix-up.
- Paperwork and laptops: stack documents together and close laptops, so nothing gets shuffled and surfaces can still be wiped around them.
- Fragile or sentimental items: tell the cleaner which shelves hold delicate ornaments and whether you want them dusted or left alone.
- Medication: keep it out of the way, especially if children live in the home.
- Items that are not for cleaning: a half-finished jigsaw, a model, a work project. Leave a note. A cleaner cannot guess what is deliberate.
When clearing a lot of items at once, a room-by-room approach helps. This room-by-room clearing checklist shows how to move through surfaces and household items without missing a space.
Access, keys and alarms
Access problems are the most common reason a visit starts late, and a visit that starts late is a visit with less cleaning in it.
Decide in advance which of these applies, and write it down for the booking:
- You will be home. Tell the cleaner whether to ring, knock or text on arrival, and where you will be working.
- You will be out and leaving a key. Agree how it is handed over, whether a key safe is used, and who to contact if it fails.
- You live in a flat with an entry system. Give the buzzer name or number, the floor, and any concierge or porter instructions.
- There is an alarm. Share the code only if you are comfortable doing so, and explain how it works. Better still, switch it off remotely or before you leave if that is possible.
Also cover parking. In central London, Oxford and Cambridge in particular, permit zones and limited spaces are a fact of life, and a cleaner who cannot park nearby may arrive late. If visitor permits are needed, say so when booking.
Pets and children
A cleaner works better and more safely when animals are settled.
- Tell the cleaner what pets you have, their names, and whether any are nervous, territorial or likely to bolt through an open door.
- Where possible, keep pets in one room with a closed door, or in a crate, and tell the cleaner which room not to open.
- Move food and water bowls, litter trays and pet beds to a spot where they will not be tipped over, and say whether you want them cleaned.
- With cats, make sure windows and doors are secure before the cleaner arrives.
- If a child or a dog will be at home during the visit, say who is in charge of them.
Pet hair is a normal part of a domestic clean. Mention it so the cleaner can plan for it, especially around sofas, bedding and carpets.
Agree your priorities: the three-item brief
A clean is timed, so a cleaner cannot do everything in every visit. The most useful thing you can do is rank what you care about.
Before the first visit, write down:
- Your top three priorities. For example: kitchen worktops and hob, bathroom limescale, floors throughout.
- Anything to skip. A study full of work papers, a child's room, a cupboard you would rather stay closed.
- Anything special. A surface that marks easily, a product sensitivity, a wooden floor that should not be soaked.
Share it in the booking notes, or leave a short note on the kitchen table. A short, specific brief is read and followed. A long one is skimmed.
If your priorities change, say so. A good cleaner would rather hear "can you focus on the bathroom this week" than guess.
What does a domestic clean usually include?
People often prepare for the wrong thing because they are unsure what is covered. A regular domestic clean is generally about keeping the home clean on the surface, week to week. Typically that means:
- Kitchen: wiping worktops, the hob and the outside of appliances, cleaning the sink and taps, and mopping the floor.
- Bathrooms: cleaning the toilet, basin, bath or shower, taps and mirrors, and the floor.
- Living areas and bedrooms: dusting reachable surfaces, vacuuming, mopping hard floors and emptying bins.
The exact list varies from provider to provider, so look at what your own booking says. Cleanny's domestic cleaning service is the place to see how we describe ours.
Tasks that usually need to be agreed separately
Some jobs are either too slow for a regular visit or need specialist equipment. They are normally booked as extras or as a different type of clean:
- Inside the oven, which is a job of its own.
- Carpet and upholstery cleaning, which needs specific equipment.
- Inside cupboards, the fridge or the freezer.
- Interior windows, wall washing or high-level cleaning.
- Heavy build-up of limescale, grease or dust that has not been tackled for some time.
If your home has not been cleaned thoroughly for a while, a first-time deep clean is often a better start than a standard visit, and then a regular clean keeps it that way. Our guide to what a deep clean includes lists the tasks, and our deep cleaning checklist breaks them down by room.
Special situations have their own preparation. If you are getting ready for a move, a move-in cleaning checklist shows what to clean before you unpack. If you are selling, pre-sale cleaning is its own plan. After building work, it helps to understand the difference between a builders clean and a sparkle clean.
How much can a cleaner do in two hours?
The honest answer is: it depends on the size and condition of the home, and how well you have prepared. In two hours, a cleaner working alone will typically cover the essentials in a small flat. In a larger family house, the same two hours will go on the kitchen, bathrooms and floors, with little left over.
Three things stretch the time you have:
- A tidy home. This is the biggest factor, and it is the one you control.
- A clear brief. The cleaner starts on what matters most, rather than deciding.
- A realistic number of hours. If the list is long, book longer, or alternate priorities between visits.
If you have a long list and a short booking, ask for the priorities to be done first and the rest next time, rather than expecting everything in one go.
Is the 5-5-5 rule worth using?
The 5-5-5 rule is a popular quick-clean idea: five minutes, five tasks, five areas. It is meant for short bursts of cleaning, and it is rarely tied to any one official definition, so versions differ.
It is handy as a pre-cleaner routine if you adapt it. Spend five minutes in each of the kitchen, the bathroom and the living area, and pick up five things in each: dishes, laundry, post, toys, clutter. It gets the home to the point where a cleaner can start. It is a tidy-up method, not a replacement for a clean.
What does a cleaner cost, and what shapes the price?
Rates depend mainly on where you live, the type of clean, how many hours you book and whether supplies are included. Hourly pricing is common for regular cleans, and fixed pricing is common for one-off deep cleans.
At Cleanny, domestic cleaning starts from £18 per hour, and a one-off deep clean starts from £135. Pricing is shown upfront when you book online, with no hidden fees, and supplies are included. Other services, such as end of tenancy, carpet, oven, upholstery and after builders cleaning, are quoted through the booking process.
What moves the price in practice:
- Size of the home: more rooms and bathrooms mean more time.
- Condition: a home that has not been cleaned for months takes longer than one on a regular schedule.
- Frequency: a regular visit is faster than a first-time clean, because the work builds on the last one.
- Preparation: a tidy home means more of the booked time goes on cleaning.
That last point is the one you control. Preparation does not reduce the hourly rate, but it does make every hour count for more.
Our view: why a well-prepared visit is a better clean
We have done thousands of cleans, and the pattern is consistent. The visits that go best are not the ones in the tidiest homes. They are the ones where the customer and the cleaner both know what the visit is for.
That is why we ask for a light reset rather than a clean-before-the-cleaner. Clear the floors, the worktops and the sink, put the valuables away, and tell us your priorities. We bring the rest: all supplies included, eco-friendly products, and a vetted, background-checked professional.
We also think you should know what you will pay before you book. Our pricing is shown upfront with no hidden fees, and we are available seven days a week, including evenings and weekends, so you can book a time that suits your routine rather than rearranging it around ours.
If a clean does not meet the standard you expected, our re-clean guarantee is there for that reason. Preparation helps us get it right first time, and the guarantee is there if we do not.
CLEANNY
Book a clean that starts the moment we arrive
Once your home is reset, the booking is the easy part. Cleanny covers Greater London, Reading, Oxford and Cambridge, and you can choose and book online in minutes. Our professionals are vetted, background-checked and insured, they arrive with eco-friendly products, and the work is backed by our re-clean guarantee.
For regular help, see our domestic cleaning, from £18 per hour. For a one-off reset, our deep clean starts from £135. You can see everything we offer, including end of tenancy, carpet, oven and office cleaning, on our services page.
A short checklist for the morning of the clean
Print it, or keep it on your phone.
- Kitchen worktops and sink clear, dishes done or in the dishwasher.
- Floors clear of clothes, toys, shoes and bags.
- Laundry put away or in the basket.
- Valuables, cash and paperwork put away.
- Pets settled and the cleaner told where they are.
- Key, door code or parking arranged.
- Your three priorities and anything to skip written down.
- Bins accessible, with a spare bag on hand.
If you run an office rather than a home, the same logic applies to desks and shared areas. Our guides to office cleaning frequency and the UK office cleaning checklist cover it, and you can see our office cleaning service for how we work with managers.
FAQ
Do I need to clean before my cleaner comes?
No. A tidy-up is enough: clear floors and surfaces, put laundry away and sort the dishes. Ideal Home advises against duplicating the cleaning, so the cleaner's time goes on the actual clean.
Do I need to provide cleaning products and equipment?
Not with Cleanny. All supplies are included, along with eco-friendly products. If you have a specific preference, such as a product you would like used on a particular surface, mention it in the booking notes.
Should I be at home during the clean?
Either works. Many customers are out and arrange access with a key or entry code. If you are home, let the cleaner know which rooms you will be working in so they can plan around you.
What if I have pets?
Tell your cleaner about them before the visit, keep nervous animals in a closed room if you can, and move bowls and litter trays to a place where they will not be knocked over. Make sure doors and windows are secure so that no pet slips out.
What should I do about jobs that are not in a regular clean?
Book them separately. Ovens, carpets, upholstery and heavy build-up are usually dealt with as their own service, or through a deep clean, rather than as part of a regular visit.
Sources
- Should you clean before a cleaner arrives? | Ideal Home
- Apartment Cleanout Checklist: Room-by-Room Steps