Thorough Cleaning of Empty Apartment outside of Boston

May 27, 2022 11:41 AM

I want to pay a cleaning service or person to restore an empty 1250-sq-ft apartment to "shiny and clean." I've never used a cleaning service before, and this would be a one-time job. Given my location and square footage (see inside), how much should I expect to be paying for a service like this?

I'm moving out of this apartment sometime this summer. It's about 1250 sq. ft.—five rooms, a bathroom, and a hallway, with two entryway spaces. When I remove all my belongings, and it's completely empty, I want to pay a cleaning service or person to restore it to its cleanest state possible—top-to-bottom—light fixtures, tops of window- and door-frames, inside closets and cabinets, behind the fridge, inside the oven, the grout in the bathroom and behind the sink and toilet, etc.

I'd say the base level of grime is medium—nothing horrific, but there are a few neglected areas, I'm sure. When I moved in, I found a very grotty landscape—there was a thick patina of doghair and grease on the stove hood, among other yuckiness, which I spent a lot of time and effort cleaning up.

By the time I've vacated, I'd like the landlord and future tenants to think, "what a nice clean empty nice-smelling apartment" when the service is complete. I also don't want my landlord instead to charge me for a cleaning service which he would choose (and which I am sure would cost much more than a cleaning service directly). I also do not have the time or mental energy to spend on this myself.

I've used a cleaning service before, once seven years ago, and under similar circumstances, but it was a very cheap job and I got cheap results. This would also be a one-time job, but I'd like more thorough results. Given my location and square footage, how much should I expect to be paying for a service like this? (Feel free to MeFiMail me any recommendations, if you got'em.)

Thanks!

posted by not_on_display to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

I live outside of Boston and I have house cleaners. Based on what I pay them for every-two-weeks cleaning of my (slightly larger than your apartment) house, I would expect a cleaning of the kind you describe to cost maybe $300? On the one hand, you're asking them to clean more than a typical cleaning; on the other hand, none of your junk is in the way so they can just go to town. I don't know if getting them to clean the oven is realistic - that takes a few hours.

But FWIW in Boston/its suburbs, I have found that unless you leave an apartment uninhabitably gross, it's extremely unlikely that a landlord will charge you for cleaning - the convention is just to turn over the dirty apartment to the next tenant. So if you want to do it for the new tenant, great, but your landlord probably doesn't give a shit unless you're leaving your possessions or smearing things on the walls. (The landlord at my last apartment *did* take a bullshit cleaning fee out of my security deposit, and it was $70 - almost as though she knew exactly how much she could charge me before I would bother asserting my rights.)

Basically you might be better off keeping your money to pay for cleaners at your new place.
posted by mskyle at 11:53 AM on May 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

This is often called a "move out clean" or a "deep clean" and often is 20-50% more than a "normal" cleaning of an apartment the same square footage. I think we paid $400-500 for a similar size apartment in NYC . You're probably only legally required to leave your apartment "broom clean" which I've typically interpreted as cleaning all the bathrooms, wiping the counters, making sure the fridge/microwave don't have visible gross, and sweeping the floors.

Even if you pay someone to do it, there's a chance you still end up in a dispute with your landlord if they miss something - one time I hired people but they forgot to clean around an in unit washer/dryer that was covered in dust and it turned into a security deposit dispute.
posted by A Blue Moon at 1:05 PM on May 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Based on my experiences in Cambridge and Metro West, I'd say that mskyle's estimate of $300 feels about right.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 1:33 PM on May 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: When I was a renter I *always* did this, and made sure to tell the landlord I’d had it professionally cleaned. I always got all of my deposit back. YMMV
posted by dbmcd at 9:49 PM on May 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

I might know someone - I know a few folks who do various pick-up jobs including cleaning. Roughly where outside of Boston is it and is it at all T-accessible? I can ask around.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:07 AM on June 2, 2022