Residential Cleaning Preparation Checklist
Important Appointment Reminders
If you must reschedule your appointment or adjust your cleaning order, please contact us as soon as possible.
To avoid a cancellation fee, please give us at least a 24 hour notice. If your schedule changes and you cannot be present during your entire appointment, please see suggested options available on our Frequently Asked Questions page. If you need to adjust your cleaning order by either adding to it or reducing it, please contact us as soon as possible so we can allow appropriate time in our schedule. Check out our full list of services here.
Our schedule runs on appointment windows, rather than exact arrival times.
We will contact you the day before your appointment to confirm your appointment and your arrival time window. As a small business, we must schedule enough time between appointments to allow for anything unexpected that happens during the day. Occasionally, we may have to adjust your arrival time. We do not want to rush through one customer to arrive on time at the following customer. If, for some reason, we have to adjust our schedule, we will communicate it to you. By being prepared, you can help us stick to our planned schedule on the day of your appointment.
Your estimate
Your telephone or online estimate was based on the approximate square footage you provided. The exact square footage of rooms or rugs cleaned will be measured at the time of your appointment. We keep your measurements on file for future reference. Heavy soiling and necessary expert spot removal will be determined at your appointment. Estimates are also based on proper preparation detailed below, particularly pre-vacuuming and furniture moving.
Residential Cleaning Preparation Checklist
Thoroughly vacuum and sweep.
The more dry soil that is removed by pre-vacuuming, the better your cleaning results will be. Our cleaning rate is based on the carpet already being freshly vacuumed. If the carpet or floor is not vacuumed before our arrival, we can do it for an additional $.05 cents per square foot.
- Carpet – Thoroughly vacuum all carpeted areas to be cleaned. Use a crevice tool along wall edges and steps.
- Rugs – Thoroughly vacuum before we pick up or you drop off at our shop.
- Upholstery – Vacuum off excess pet hair and any debris on the decking under loose seat cushions.
- Tile Floors – Sweep area to be cleaned.
Empty the areas as much as possible to ensure the best cleaning.
We have two different rates for carpet cleaning based on your preparation.
- Carpet Cleaning Regular Rate: Remove all breakables, such as lamps, pictures, vases and other miscellaneous items from furniture tops which we will be moving. Also remove small furniture such as dining room chairs, computer chairs, chair mats and any other small items such as plants, paper shredders, toys, small rugs, etc. If we are moving a multi-piece sectional or bed, the room will be priced at the regular rate.
- Carpet Cleaning Empty Rate: The room is to be completely empty, which will save you $.06 cents per square foot on carpet cleaning. We will make an exception to this for rooms that are “almost empty.” Furniture that is not practical to move can remain in place and we will carefully clean around it. These may include china or curio cabinets, entertainment centers, aquariums, desks, file cabinets, over-sized plants, pianos, pool tables, bookcases, grandfather clocks and appliances. The room is measured completely as if it were empty. We will allow a couple pieces of large movable furniture that we will move around while cleaning and still allow you to receive our empty rate. This would include a regular sofa, love seat or dining room table. If you have an adjoining area that these pieces could easily move to, then these pieces would be expected to be removed. You can use areas with hard surfaces such as kitchens, bathtubs, attached garages or areas not being cleaned for temporary storage. Let us know if any furniture is fragile or broken so we can use extra care when moving it. Due to liability we cannot move appliances, TVs, pianos, etc.
- Living, Family, Great Room: Remove chairs, recliners, end tables, coffee tables, magazine racks, plants, and any other small to medium furniture. Hang full length draperies on coat hangers from the rods.
- Dining Room, Kitchen, Dinette: Remove dining room chairs. Do not place chairs on top of table. Remove the bottom front cover on the refrigerator and the bottom drawer on the stove. This will allow us to thoroughly clean to the edge as far as possible.
- Bedroom & Closets: When cleaning only the traffic areas in a bedroom, you may place small items on the bed. Please clear out items from under the bed so we don’t accidentally bump into them when cleaning. If possible, we can usually clean about one foot under the bed, around the perimeter without moving it. If moving beds, do not load things on top of the bed. Remove drawers from heavy dressers or chests unless we are cleaning around them. Tuck up bedspreads or skirting on beds that touch the floor. Bedroom walk-in closets can be cleaned only in the center open area if you do not want to empty the items from the floor. If cleaning the closet completely, have the lower clothes up off the carpet several inches.
- Upholstery Cleaning: Please ensure we have approximately three feet of open space on all sides of the piece being cleaned.
- Vehicle Cleaning: Please remove all personal items from your vehicle. If we are cleaning the seats or floor in a van and the seats easily detach, please remove them.
- Mattress or Fabric Headboard Cleaning: Please remove all sheets, blankets and pillows from the mattress prior to our arrival.
Please move vehicles from your driveway.
It is best to park our van in the space closest to the door we will be entering. We cannot park inside of a garage or carport because the exhaust fumes from the truck engine cannot be contained in these spaces. If you have to leave while we are cleaning, please remove your car from the garage and park it on the street before we arrive so we do not block you in. During inclement weather, you may need to shovel snow off your sidewalks and driveway or sweep your garage floor to help us from tracking it into your home.
We may need access to a water source and electric power.
If this becomes necessary, we prefer a soft water hook up in your garage. We can alternatively use an outside faucet or an indoor sink. Please let us know if you have a water faucet that is broken or unusable. We are not responsible for any damage caused by a pre-existing broken faucet. Our equipment is powered by the van engine, however we may need electric power to turn on lights, power our fans or steam iron for specialty stain removal. Access to power can be a concern when a house is vacant and up for sale and the utilities have been turned off.
We want to keep your pets safe and secure.
Some pets do not like the noise of our van and equipment. Please place pets in an area where they will not bark, bite, escape or walk on freshly cleaned surfaces. While working in your home, the door will be open about 2-3 inches to allow for our vacuum hoses to come in. You are responsible for your pet’s location during your cleaning.
Please Note: If you have a pet bird, our cleaning solutions are nontoxic and safe for your family and the environment. However, birds may have very sensitive respiratory systems. We ask that you move your bird to a separate room for 24 hours where we will not be cleaning or cover the bird cage with a sheet.
Safety first.
We want you and your family to be safe while working in your home. To prevent injury, slip and fall accidents or burns, please keep children away from our van, equipment, tools, hoses and cleaning products. We appreciate our elderly clients and we ask that they relax and have a seat during their appointment. This is to prevent tripping over hoses or slipping on wet floors.
Please inform us of any pre-existing conditions or other items that may require special care.
- Furniture: Please inform us of any furniture that has loose legs, broken parts or items that cannot be moved.
- Edges Along Baseboards: We use great care while cleaning the edges of carpet along the wall with our hand tool, however, freshly painted baseboards could easily be scratched. If your baseboards are freshly painted, please bring this to our attention. We will only clean edges along freshly painted baseboards if you take responsibility for any touch up painting that may need to be done.
- Berber Carpet: Please inform us of any loose yarns. If we are not aware of these, our equipment may cause the yarn to “run” and we cannot be responsible. Please have this repaired by a professional carpet installer.
- Tile & Grout: Grout can become loose or cracked from improper installation or floor settling. If this happens, the grout will need repaired. We are not responsible for loose grout that is removed during our normal cleaning process.
- Odor: Odor from pet accidents may become more noticeable for a period of time after the cleaning because of the elevated moisture content. Generally, it will return to the same pre-cleaning condition after it has completely dried. We are not responsible for such odor producing deposits unless we are able to identify, treat and neutralize such odors. Learn more about our Pet Spot & Pet Urine Odor Removal process here. If we are treating pet urine odor, for best results when using a black light, the room should be as dark as possible. Please cover windows or close any blinds or shades to block out sunlight.
Please inform us of any spots, stains or odors which may require special attention.
If possible, identify the cause of a spot. This will help us choose the correct solution to remove it. Let us know if you used any spot remover previously. Some spot removal products can permanently discolor carpet or fabric and may not be apparent until the carpet or fabric is rinsed. We cannot be responsible for damage caused by previous cleaning attempts. We will make every attempt to remove your stains. Some stains require special attention and advanced solutions. We will advise you of possible stain removal solutions. Some solutions may cause color loss. If you would like us to attempt stain removal, you accept responsibility for any damage that may occur.
We open and clean under every door adjoining to areas we are cleaning to remove any dark edges.
If there are any doors you do not want opened or private areas of the home you do not want us to enter, please bring this to our attention upon arrival.
Help your carpet dry faster.
If cleaning during the summer, please set your air conditioning to 72 degrees for our arrival. This will help the carpet dry faster because the air conditioning removes the humidity from the air in your home. It will also keep us cool while working hard to clean your home. We will use our fans to begin speed drying while at your home. We are always careful, but please bring to our attention any items that are not securely fastened to the walls to avoid our fans from blowing them down. If you have any fans or dehumidifiers, please have them available for us to set up before we leave. If you have ceiling fans, set them so the air is blowing down. Check that the fan blades are clean so dust does not fall onto the freshly cleaned carpet. Turn off any humidifiers, as these add moisture to the air, which will slow the drying process.
It is recommended to apply protector after cleaning to help your carpet, rugs, furniture and floors stay cleaner longer.
Learn more about the benefits of protector below.
Payment is required upon completion.
As a small business, we prefer payment by personal check, Venmo or Apple Pay. We accept cash, however, we do not usually carry change. We also accept Visa/Mastercard/American Express with a 3% processing fee.
All checks and payments should be made payable to Distinctive Cleaning & Restoration. If you must leave before your cleaning appointment is completed, we request that you provide a payment method. Payment/Billing may be prearranged for some commercial accounts. Gratuity is accepted, but not expected. All math on invoices is double checked after your cleaning. If math errors are discovered, we will contact you with the proper adjustment and either refund or collect the difference. A $25 fee will be charged for any NSF and/or dishonored check. All accounts if not paid as agreed are collectible with attorney fees, court costs and without relief from valuation or appeasement. After 15 days, a finance charge is computed by a periodic rate of 1.5% per month (21% annual) on any unpaid balance. When the invoice is complete, we will email you a copy.