The better prepared your home is for us to clean, the more we can focus on what we are hired to do. Individuals vary as far as what they want done or have time to do when having their carpets or tile cleaned, so you must decide to what extent you will prepare for our visit.
The following suggestions therefore are optional:
People often ask us, “Do you vacuum before you clean”? Yes, we can. However, why should you pay us for something you can do? So circumstances permitting, vacuum your carpet. You won’t have to vacuum the next day after we clean as that idea comes from the old shampooing days of carpet cleaning.
If you've moved out, let us know if the carpet will be vacuumed or not. If it won't be, we charge $25.00 per floor to vacuum with no charge if there's stairs. If you have pets and they shed hair, again if your circumstances permit, we recommend that you vacuum as much up as possible before we arrive.
The next big thing to prepare for us is moving stuff. Some people move as much as possible, even large pieces of furniture and others just move Knick Knacks and tell us to clean around the furniture. Most people just move the light and easy stuff and may ask us to move and clean under chairs and sofas in their family or living room.
What helps us a lot is preparing access to your home through the garage. It is far better for our hoses to come through your garage than around sidewalk corners and flower beds. If your outside water faucet is in the garage, we’ll need the large garage door open for us to access it and we may need to park outside near the garage. If we’re doing an empty house, we need to know if there is electricity or water on. If not, we can bring our own.
We also need to park in front of your house or perhaps in your driveway, so if there’s a lot of vehicles out front, we’ll need room to park. If someone needs to leave after we arrive, they should pull their car out of the garage or driveway before we arrive so we don’t park in their way and have to move when they have to leave.
A major way to prepare for our visit is to place mats, small rugs or even towels on your hard surface floors in walkways just off the carpet. When walking from wet carpet to hard floors like tile, it can be extremely slippery. Another solution is to have out towels to place on a carpet walkway so your feet/shoes don’t get wet.
Plan on showing us the areas you want cleaned and point out any specific spills, pet damage or problem areas. Also, please plan on doing an activity (or plan for your “helpful” mate or children) away from the cleaning site as the work area is usually wet and lined with hoses that could be difficult to navigate around.
If we’re doing upholstery cleaning or you want end or coffee tables moved, please remove lamps and items on top. Do not place anything on furniture we will move or clean. If there’s a lot of pet hair on the upholstery, brush it or wipe your hand across it to remove as much as possible unless that’s why we are cleaning it.
Remove anything on the stair landing and if anything sticks out or is glass on the stairwell wall, please take it off.
Remove any area rugs you don’t want cleaned to a neutral area. Rugs that will be cleaned can be cleaned on carpet or tile but not wood.
Bed ruffles and curtains that touch the floor should be elevated. For Tile Cleaning, move as much off the tile as possible including the pantry. We will need to know your email address if you want a copy of the invoice.
We will be using your outside water faucet. If the faucet leaks terribly, is there another faucet with a long hose that can be stretched toward the front of the house? If you can't be there when we arrive, let us know at least 30 minutes in advance. If someone else will be at the house instead of you to let us in, make sure they are at least 18 years old and we are aware of their name. Thank you.
Published by A. Andrews & Sons March 16, 2015
Call or Text A. Andrews & Sons at 951-805-8585 or email us at aaasons@gmail.com with any questions.
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