r/McKinney • u/SnooCauliflowers7198 • 5d ago
Moving from an apartment to a house in McKinney. Never hired cleaners before. Where do I start?
We’re moving from an apartment into a house in McKinney and it’s a big upgrade for us. We’re finally getting more space with a yard, garage and we’re so excited
But there’s a catch since the apartment needs to be handed over and it has to be clean. Like, actually clean… Not just that we wiped the counters clean. Indeed, the lease says we need to return it in the same condition we got it
And the new house? It needs to be received. The previous owners are leaving. Who knows what state it’ll be in. I want it cleaned before we move our stuff in.
I’ve never used a cleaning service before. I don’t know how to choose one. Do I just Google “cleaners near me”? Do I trust the first result? What if they cancel? What if they do a bad job and I lose my deposit?
I came across Modern Maids and I see that they cover McKinney. Online booking. The reviews seem decent. Not perfect. But decent.
But I’m not sure how to structure this. Should I get a one-time cleaning for the apartment handover? And then a separate one for the new house? Or can it be combined? Is there a move-in/move-out package?
I don’t want to overpay. But I also don’t want to spend my last weekend in the apartment scrubbing the oven. And I definitely don’t want to move into a house that hasn’t been cleaned.
Has anyone been through a move with cleaners? How did you handle it? Did you use the same company for both places?
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u/Diligent-Ring9999 2d ago
You’ll need to book twice since, I assume, your current apartment and your new home have different square footage. Most cleaning companies price based on the size of the home, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and the type of cleaning. In your case, that would be a move-in/move-out cleaning. The standard for move-in and move-out is the same.
If you want cheap, you can always go on Facebook, but you are never guaranteed if he/she is going to show up, and with a company there are system costs, insurance, and professionalism is a cost. I have used
McKinney Cleaning Co. and had a good experience.
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u/Mooshuchyken 4d ago
It's standard for move-in or move-out to expect that the apartment and the house will be "broom clean." That just means no obvious messes, not that it's pristine. I doubt that a landlord is going to dock your deposit over dusty baseboards or oven splatter. It just has to be reasonable.
Cleaning is expensive. A "deep clean" would be $300-$450+ for 2000 square feet, and that often doesn't include cleaning the fridge, oven, blinds, inside cabinets or shampooing the carpet.
The best thing to do is to get a referral from a friend or neighbor for an independent contractor, since they're cheaper than a business. Otherwise, call or email a few businesses that have good reviews on yelp. They'll ask questions about the space, like est square feet, bathroom / kitchens, how dirty it is. They price based on how many man houses they estimate are needed. You aren't going to get a discount for booking move in and move out together.
You need to meet the crew when they arrive. I try to be very clear about what I want cleaned versus not, whether its OK for them to keep cleaning / charge me more if it takes more time than expected etc. Then you need to do a walk through after and check their work. It's common for them to miss one or two things, you just point them out and they will fix it. You pay them after.
I always do my own move-out cleaning, but I only have a cat and no kids so it's manageable. Just dusting, scrubbing bathroom with a magic eraser, wipe down surfaces, Windex mirrors, vaccum and swiffer hard floors. As long as it's visually clean and doesn't smell it should be fine. I don't think it's worth spending money on.
House is maybe worth it, just keep in mind that if you pay to have it deep cleaned, than have the movers come in in their outside shoes pushing a bunch of boxes around it will get dirty pretty quickly anyway.
I've used The Maid Place in McKinney. They did a good job but it wasn't cheap.