How long does a deep clean take?

No estimate without someone knowing the condition

We deliberately give no hours per square metre here. Two homes of the same size can differ by several hours depending on condition, and a figure that looks precise but isn't is worse than no figure. What you can do is understand what drives the time – then the estimate a company gives you makes sense, and you can judge whether it's reasonable.

What decides the time

Condition, not size

How long it has been since the job was done properly is the single biggest factor. Limescale built up in a shower over years takes time that can't be shortened by adding people. A large but well-kept home can go faster than a small one that has been left.

Furnished or empty

An empty home is substantially faster. Nothing has to be moved and everything is reachable. That is also why a deep clean before moving in costs less than the same clean afterwards.

Kitchen and bathroom

Those two rooms account for most of the time in a deep clean. The oven, the extractor filter, the insides of cupboards, limescale in the shower and descaling taps are the steps that take hours. Two bathrooms instead of one extends it noticeably – more rooms of the same type barely does.

The add-ons

Window cleaning, blinds and cleaning the fridge and freezer inside are often added, and each add-on has its own time. Window cleaning in a home with many coupled windows can be half a day by itself.

How many people come

Two cleaners don't quite halve the time, but nearly. If you need to be finished inside a fixed window – between handover and the removal van, say – staffing is the thing to adjust, not the scope.

Fixed price or hourly

With a fixed price the company has done its own sums on the time and carries the risk if it runs long – but then they need to know the condition in advance, or the adjustment comes on the day. With an hourly rate you pay for actual time, which is fair in homes where nobody can predict how much is still there. In both cases, ask for a cap or an estimate in hours, in writing.

How to get an estimate that holds

Send: square metres, number of rooms, number of bathrooms, whether the home is furnished, when it was last deep cleaned, and anything in particularly poor condition. Photos of the kitchen, the shower and the oven say more than a description. A company given that answers with a time that holds; a company without it is guessing.

See companies and prices for deep cleaning, and read about what a deep clean includes.