How to Prepare for House Cleaners: Getting Your Virginia Beach Home Ready

One of the most common questions before a first visit is "Do I need to clean before the cleaners come?" The short version is no. But ten or fifteen minutes of the right kind of prep does make a real difference to how the house looks when we leave.

We're a family-run house cleaning company in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake. Here's what's worth doing before cleaning day, what you can skip, and why.

1. Do I need to tidy up before the house cleaners come?

You don't need to clean. That's our job, and wiping the bathroom the night before just means you did it twice. What helps is picking up, which is a different thing.

Cleaning is wiping, scrubbing, dusting, vacuuming and mopping. Picking up is deciding where the mail goes, whose sneakers are whose, and which toys live in which bin. Only you know the answers to those, so a cleaner can't do them well, and the visit gets spent working around piles instead of cleaning under them.

So give the house a quick once-over. Clear the floors, put loose papers in one stack, and get the counters as bare as you comfortably can.

2. What should I pick up or put away so the cleaners can do their best work?

Think about the surfaces that get cleaned, and clear those first. Here's a quick list to run through the night before:

• Floors: shoes, toys, laundry baskets, dog toys and anything on the floor you'd trip over. Clear floors get vacuumed and mopped edge to edge.
• Kitchen counters: mail, small appliances you don't use daily, and the pile by the coffee maker.
• Sink: run the dishwasher or stack dishes to one side so the sink itself can be scrubbed. If you'd rather we wash them, dishes are a $25 add-on.
• Bathroom counters and tub ledges: bottles, razors and makeup. Put them in a basket so the tile and grout underneath get cleaned.
• Beach gear: shake out towels and bags outside and leave chairs and boogie boards in the garage or on the porch. Sand tucked inside a beach bag just ends up back on the clean floor.
• Valuables, cash, jewelry and medications: put them away in a drawer or closet. That's good practice with anyone working in your home, and it means nothing small gets moved or lost.

Leave the cleaning products alone. We bring all of our own products and equipment, so you don't need to set anything out.

3. How do I tell the cleaners what matters most in my home?

Write it down, and keep it short. A note on the kitchen counter or a text before the visit works better than trying to remember everything at the door.

• Your top two or three priorities. Maybe it's the shower glass, or the kitchen floor after a week of muddy paws. If we know, those get our closest attention.
• Surfaces that need special care. Natural stone like marble, unsealed wood, antiques or anything with a finish you're unsure about. Tell us what it is and what you normally use on it.
• Rooms to skip. A home office with papers everywhere, or a sleeping teenager's room. Skipping is fine, just say so.

Every visit follows our room-by-room checklist, so the basics are covered either way. Your note covers what a checklist can't know.

4. What should I do with my pets on cleaning day?

Decide ahead of time, and tell us the plan.

For a nervous dog or cat, a closed room with water, a bed and some toys is usually the calmest option. Let us know which room it is so we know to leave the door shut. Dogs that like to greet everyone are often happier in a crate or out on a walk with you. And if your cat is an escape artist, mention it, because doors get opened to take out trash and shake out mats.

Pick up the litter box area, food bowls and any accidents before we arrive. If your pets shed a lot, and many do more as the seasons change, heavy pet hair is a $30–$50 add-on. It's worth adding when the hair is woven into rugs and furniture, not just on the floor.

5. How should I handle keys, gates, alarms and parking on cleaning day?

Sort this out a day ahead, because it's the one thing that can stop a clean before it starts. You can be home, or you can leave a key or a door code. Either works.

If you won't be there, send us:

• Where the key is, or the door code, and which door to use.
• The gate code if you're in a gated neighborhood or condo building.
• Whether you have an alarm, and how to turn it off, or turn it off yourself before you leave.
• Where to park. Oceanfront condos and some Norfolk streets have tight or permit-only parking, so a guest spot or a driveway space makes a big difference.

It's worth getting right. We ask for 48 hours' notice to cancel or reschedule, and a lockout, where we arrive and can't get in, may be charged 50%. A quick test of the code or a reminder text the night before avoids that for everyone.

A simple night-before checklist

Book house cleaning in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake

Once the surfaces are clear, we take it from there. We bring every product and tool, follow a room-by-room checklist, and confirm a flat price before we start. Any extra only happens if you approve it first. Here are our one-time prices for the two cleans most people book:

Recurring Essential Cleans save 20% weekly, 15% every two weeks or 10% monthly, and every plan starts with one Deep Clean. If we miss a spot, tell us within 24 hours and we'll come back and clean it for free.

See what each clean includes and all our prices and add-ons, or visit our pages for house cleaners in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake. Booking your first Deep Clean? Read when to deep clean your house in Virginia Beach, or what to look for when hiring a house cleaning service.

Frequently asked questions