The Ugly Truth About Move-In Move-Out Cleans

Wanna know the ugly truth about move-in, and move-out cleans? Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru, shares the ugly truth on today's show.

Many new house cleaners think working with realtors will give them leverage when bidding a cleaning job. They assume since the homeowner is moving, they HAVE to have a cleaning service.
The challenge with move-in move-out cleaning is determining who pays. And bidding on a cleaning job means constantly selling your services.
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Ask a House Cleaner is a daily show where you get to ask your house cleaning questions, and we provide answers. Learn how to clean. How to start a cleaning business. Marketing and Advertising tips for your cleaning service. How to find top quality house cleaners, housekeepers, and maids. Employee motivation tactics. Strategies to boost your cleaning clientele. Cleaning company expansion help. Time-saving Hacks for DIY cleaners and more. Hosted by Angela Brown, 25-year house cleaning expert and founder of Savvy Cleaner Training for House Cleaners and Maids.

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[AskAngelaBrown]

Take a look at this playlist of similar videos we made on move in/move out. More great info.

[RominaJones]

I did a move out clean once and ended up buying the house.

[fearfullywoven]

all i do is move-out cleans: i work with local realtors and apartment complexes... great source of income, and i work alone. I can do 1500 sqft in 5 hours. Anything over 1500 sq I reserve two days, and I always tell that to my customers, No issues up this point. And my name business is quickly spreading around my area. Pursue your passion, with wisdom of course: do it with integrity and character, and you'll always have work

[MiddlemistOne]

I have a brand new cleaning company and recently came home from my very first move out clean.

It is a 7 room house, 1400 sqft, 2 bedroom/1 bathroom, a hallway that is basically a bedroom, utility room, kitchen, livingroom.

I expected it to take about 8 hours but on the 10th hour I was still cleaning the kitchen, which was the last room to go.

I already knew the house was dirty from the walk through but getting in there, I didn't understand just how dirty it was.

This house has been in this family for 100 years. It was last occupied by an elderly disabled lady.

The neglect has been for years and I don't know how long it's been vacant but every room had strong cigarette smell, discoloring and piles of sticky dirt on the walls, (fortunately they painted some of the walls and I didn't have to touch those) floors, baseboards, doors, and shelves. It was a lot of work that I split into 2 days.

On day 2, this day, I thought I would be done but was not able to finish the job in 10 hours.

The client who hired me told me to be done with it because it is a tear down anyways. The client is a realtor and needed the house to look decent enough for someone to buy it for a higher price. I made sure to communicate to her along the way, to minimalize any surprises.

I'm feeling a little discouraged but I know I will continue with this business.

Angela is right, wait until you have a little bit of skin in the game before you take on a move out/in cleaning because some of these cleanings can be very tough and time consuming and may discourage you from continuing.

Until you have some experience you don't know all that is there and therefor, how long and how much work something going to take.

I know if every clean was like this one then I would not be in the cleaning business.

But all you cleaners and business owners out there, keep going, it does get easier once you begin to manage it better.

[mortizya]

This is what I do for living 🧼
I start with 2 apartments/townhouse complex now I work for 7 different complexes! Money is flowing like never seen in my life! Is hard work but I like it! Sometimes I wish I could just have more energy to keep
Cleaning! And basically they gave me a list of things that I need to check so I know what they expectations. I come after the painters so baseboards trims and doors are new painted! Sometimes the complexes change the carpet brand new and the ppl that do that vacuum all the floors so is even better! 😁 I just focus in kitchens and bathrooms some ppl are very neglected but mostly is normal it took me max 3 hours and with help 1.5 🤩🤩🤩🤩 is been my best training I don’t regretted at all! 🧼

[scullyfox]

In my area there's so many rentals and property management companies that I was swamped with repeat work and always got paid.
The problem is that move outs are the hardest kind of cleaning to do (physically & mentally). You always run into some kind of trouble that delays and frustrates you. If you take too long they complain if you rush through they complain. Its far less rewarding than a simple house cleaning job.
The perks are that it's very lucrative and the place is empty so you're free to play music and not get interrupted by pesky customers lol.

[LIK]

I agree with you Angela, my experience after 32 yrs in the business, they want a sparkling clean house in 4 hrs and don't want to pay, but it ends up like you said, move outs take 10-12 hrs and that's if it's a decent place, but most are disgusting bc of years of neglect, the person is "shocked" at the price, they think oh it not gonna take that long, they don't realize the gunk a person has to clean up their mess.

[Taureanfitness]

You made a video w/ my question! Thank you SO MUCH!!! You're 100% right! I did 1 real estate clean & lost my butt! I worked so hard physically + job was so big I had to hire & pay 2 other people so I barely made anything. You also made good points about no water. Omg it was the worst. Never again. Plus it was only 1 job & then nothing. I've been doing fine starting small. You're the BEST!

[bobbyrock]

I disagree I Go after the realtors they keep me busy and the move in and outs are a lot of hours in one day and there is no people in the house no furniture to move no clutter. I make the relationships with the realtors and property managers always check make sure who is the contact and how they will pay I always make sure utilities are on.
this is why I charge per hour and not per job. I make a list as I go of damage found.

[VividiVavidi_V]

My older sister and I have been trying to do move-in move-out cleans because she thought they'd be easier. We got work from one apartment complex but they let us go quickly because honestly, we didn't have experience although I thought we did an ok job. I'm trying to load up on knowledge before my next clean next week from another apartment complex.

[headlessbeatz]

ive had the most success with move in out cleans. They usually take me about 4 hours. Some people are insane with expectations. I had to create a detailed pdf explaining
the extent of cleaning, and what to expect if the home is literally trashed. I tell them it's upfront and there is no refunds if the house is very dirty. The sheet explains to them exactly
what "extremely dirty" is. Even with this effort I still get some people that start going off on me about small things, when I had to empty my vacuum 6 times full of dog hair,
pee all over the bathroom. I mean I could just go on and on. I can't recover that back to perfect, atleast not in a four hour cleaning. But these people usually wait till the last minute to book and they don't think in their head it's gonna take 2-3 cleanings, and then want to curse me out cause I can't turn a complete catastrophe into a brand new looking home in four hours. they demand I come back and scrub harder (like in the same day). This does rarely happen, but it's why i make people with very dirty homes pay up front, and then if they go bananas on me i just block their number. Tough and mean but true, and really the only option. I want to make the 250 so, I deal with it.

[garlicgirl]

This video was not what I thought but man I learned a lot and I don't even have a cleaning business! WOW!

[joannebutzerin]

I think this applies only to move-out cleans. If I am trying to move in and the house is dirty, I need a move-in clean, and I will be looking for bi-weekly cleaning help as well.

[marthaoschwald]

This lady is so smart! I don't work as a cleaner but can't stop watching these videos. I am a small business owner and agree with Angela's strategy that the most important thing at the beginning is to get regular clients and master the basics so that you can experiment with related jobs, projects or markets in the future.

[DONNAASAURR]

Just when I was thinking about doing move in and move out as a start for my business lol.

[dqymnnk]

I have a roster of regulars and get occasional vacate cleans from one trusted local real estate. The vacate cleans sure are physical, it generally takes me between 6-12hours as a solo cleaner to do a house (I live in a country area without mcmansions) and I would recommend if you are just starting out to charge by hourly rate including travel to pick up housekeys from the office. I have in the past taken on two or three back to back vacate cleans over a couple of weeks (as well as my regular jobs) and have spent my entire weekends sleeping/crying from physical exhaustion...so now I've worked out what my limit is and will say no.
The extra money is really good and the thing I love the most is no-one is home and houses are empty! But you do need to learn to draw the line and make sure you don't ruin your life, and your husbands life too from hearing you complain lol

[sevenblessed]

I live in Hawaii in a neighborhood with lots of military families constanly coming anf going. Its been great and i love that i get to clean empty houses. I dont like cleaning with other peoples clutter.

[billyb]

I used to have a small time cleaning business, basically just me- and I wouldn't touch move out cleans. I made that mistake once where the guy was like "it should just take 2 hours". No way bro.

IMO, move outs should have their own specialty company.

[rochellee.pigman]

What kind of person would blame the cleaner for not remodeling while they are there?

[lindatijsma]

Min 5 hours just for the kitchen alone...90 an hour and move outs have to pay up front 1000 is normal