Deep Cleaning vs. Regular Cleaning: What’s the Difference?

A question we get almost every day is what’s the actual difference between a deep clean and a regular clean. I usually just shrug and say – who knows?

Just kidding! After running NW Maids since 2013 and cleaning 40,000+ homes across five Pacific Northwest cities, here’s exactly how I explain it to our own clients.

What a deep clean and a regular clean actually are

The way I put it: a regular clean is for maintenance, a deep clean is for resetting the home to our rigorous standards. A recurring cleaning is meant to keep your home clean, so we do all the routine maintenance stuff like getting the surfaces wiped, floors vacuumed and mopped, kitchen and bathrooms cleaned, beds made, and trash out.

A deep clean is for when your home hasn’t been professionally cleaned in the last 30 days or more. It gets your home back up to our standards. We clean baseboards, door frames and trim, blinds and sills, inside the oven and fridge, grout, soap scum and hard-water scale, cabinet fronts, and vents. I tell new clients to think of the deep clean as the foundation, and the recurring clean as keeping that up on an ongoing basis.

How much more a deep clean costs

It’s a flat-rate increase, and it’s based on the size of the home. Our prices are flat rates based on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and a deep clean is a flat add-on on top of that standard rate.

For example, a 1-bed/1-bath one-time standard clean runs about $169, the same home as a deep clean is about $246, and a move-out clean is about $370. That’s because a first deep clean of a home that’s never had one takes the longest. Once it’s done, recurring visits are cheaper because we’re maintaining what we’ve already cleaned.

How often you should schedule a deep clean

We require a one-time deep clean if the home hasn’t been professionally cleaned in the last 30 days or more, then a deep clean once or twice a year in addition to the recurring service. If a home isn’t on any recurring plan and only gets cleaned now and then, it usually needs a deep clean more often. Spring is the classic time, because the windows are open and the pollen is blowing everywhere.

When a deep clean is non-negotiable before regular service

If the home hasn’t been professionally cleaned in 30 days or more, it’s required.

Post-renovation is another one, because construction dust gets into everything and a regular clean just smears it around. And if someone’s been sick in the house, we’ll deep clean first because we need to reset and disinfect everything.

The biggest misconception about a regular clean

A maintenance clean isn’t going to fully degrease an oven or scrub years of soap scum off the glass in the shower. When someone’s disappointed, it’s almost always because they were really picturing a deep clean but booked a regular one. That’s exactly why we require a deep clean on the first visit (it’s the most important one as far as the customer’s first impression goes.)

Not sure which one your home needs? Tell us the real state of the place and we’ll point you to the right one. See what’s included in our deep cleaning service →