Chicago house cleaning questions, answered

Picking up loose clothes, moving a child's toys off the dining table and clearing the counters all help us get to surfaces, so a quick tidy is welcome. Running the vacuum ahead of us is not: it undoes the visit before it starts. More in getting ready for a cleaning.

You do not have to be. Whether anyone will be there, and how we get in if nobody is, are gone over on the call: a buzzer and a code, a key, a lockbox, a doorman with a visitor sheet, a service elevator. The plan is set before the day; getting ready for the first visit covers the rest.

We ask on the call. If there is a buzzer and a code, we need the code. If there is a doorman and a visitor policy, we need the name on the sheet. If a key or a code is left with the building, we need to know where. Some buildings require advance notice for service visits, and we work with that. See cleaning in an apartment building for the longer version.

Shedding dogs leave more hair for the floors. Cats often want a quiet room while a cleaning happens, and a nervous dog can be behind a closed bedroom door with water and a bed. We go over the arrangement on the call, and the maid service page has more on a visit with pets at home.

Four rooms shape it. Kitchens cover counters, the sink, the stovetop and the outside of appliances. Bathrooms cover the tub or shower, the toilet, the vanity and the mirror. Bedrooms and living areas cover surfaces, with beds made if you ask. Dusting runs top to bottom; floors are last. What a standard cleaning covers has the full room-by-room list.

A regular clean resets the surfaces you touch every day. A deep clean reaches what builds up out of sight: baseboards, cabinet fronts, grout, radiators, inside appliances, the tops of light fixtures. The first visit after a long gap is often a deep clean so the rest can be regular visits. In an older Chicago apartment with cast-iron radiators and original tile, the first visit is almost always the deep one. Deep cleaning or regular cleaning is the full answer.

If you ask, yes. Inside appliances is extra work on top of a standard visit, so it belongs on the call rather than as a surprise on the day. The deep cleaning page covers inside appliances on request.

The inside of windows, yes, as part of a deep clean or on request. The outside of a window above the ground floor is a different trade: a window-washing company that works from the outside of the building.

We clean small surface spots on tile and grout. Anything larger goes to a mold professional. We do not test for mold or make health claims about it. The deep cleaning page describes what we do with surface spots.

Carpet shampooing and upholstery extraction, outside windows above the ground floor, duct cleaning, mold removal, hazardous materials, biohazard, hoarding and crime-scene work, offices and commercial spaces. We also do not move heavy furniture or appliances, scrape or sand paint, or dispose of chemicals from your home. The services hub lays out the full list under what we leave to other trades.

A price is set by what the cleaning actually is: how many rooms and bathrooms, how long since the place had a thorough cleaning, pets, how we get in and out of the building, whether this is a one-time visit or part of a schedule, and anything extra like the inside of the oven. The driver that moves it most is usually how long it has been since a thorough clean. How a cleaning is priced spells out each driver.

We set one price for the visit after the call, based on the cleaning the apartment needs. The cost guide spells out what moves the number.

A deep clean is more work than a standard visit, so yes, it is priced on its own rather than added onto a maid service visit. The baseboards, grout, radiators and inside of appliances all come into the job. See deep cleaning and the cost guide.

A move-out is a cleaning in an empty unit. Inside the cabinets, inside the appliances, the bathroom, the sills, the closets, the floors. It is a deep clean in rooms where nothing is in the way, so every surface is reachable without working around furniture. The move-out cleaning page has the full list and the order the rooms are worked through.

We cannot promise anything about a deposit. The City's Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance lists security deposits and prepaid rent among the rights and obligations it covers, and the landlord attaches a summary of the ordinance to each written lease and renewal. Questions about deposits for your unit go to that summary and to the City's page. The move-out checklist covers the cleaning side.

A turnover resets the kitchen, the bath and the surfaces a guest touched. Anything left behind is noticed and flagged for you. See rental turnovers for the shape of the visit.

The City's licensing office says a Chicago business license is required to conduct, engage in, maintain, operate or manage any business in the city, and that business activities regulated by the State of Illinois may be exempt from City licensing. The City's code adds that a business shall obtain a limited business license from the department unless it falls under a specific category the code names.

The City's code says all employers of domestic workers shall provide a written contract to the domestic worker, setting forth the wage and the work schedule, in the worker's primary language on request. The domestic worker contract rule walks through what goes in it and who the rule binds.

The City runs a Household Chemicals and Computer Recycling Facility that accepts household chemicals such as bleach, harsh cleaning materials and drain cleaners. The facility takes materials from Chicagoans only, and businesses must use a private disposal company, so a cleaning crew cannot drop off chemicals for you. Full details, and the rule that bleach is never combined with ammonia or other cleaners, are in the guide on old cleaning products.

We ask about the place: rooms, bathrooms, pets, when it was last thoroughly cleaned, how we get in. From there we match it to a kind of cleaning. The price for the visit is agreed before any cleaning starts. See how a call with us goes.

The address and the unit number, the number of rooms and bathrooms, the number of pets and what kind, how we get into the building and the apartment, when the place was last thoroughly cleaned, and anything you want left alone. If you have a product preference or a sensitivity, say so. The hiring guide is a good read before any first call.

The callback form below the phone number takes a name, a number and a short note, and we come back to you. See the number to call for both.