What Does a Move-In/Move-Out Cleaning Include?

What Does a Move-In/Move-Out Cleaning Include?

A move-in/move-out cleaning is a detailed, top-to-bottom clean designed to leave an empty home ready for the next person. It usually includes cleaning inside and outside cabinets and drawers, the oven, refrigerator and other major appliances, bathrooms, closets, baseboards, doors, interior windows, floors, and high-touch surfaces throughout the home.

The biggest difference from a standard cleaning is that a move-in/move-out clean goes deeper into areas that are normally skipped, especially inside cabinets, closets and appliances. The home should also be empty before the cleaning starts so the cleaner can reach every area properly.

Some tasks, such as carpet washing, heavy wall cleaning, garages, patios, fireplaces or moving furniture, may be separate add-ons depending on the cleaner and the property.

Move-in and move-out cleaning are the same service. The only difference is which direction the keys are going. Here is what that clean covers, room by room.

Kitchen

• Inside all cabinets and drawers, plus the cabinet doors
• Inside the oven, the stovetop and the microwave
• Inside the refrigerator and the dishwasher
• Range hood degreased
• Countertops wiped down and sanitized
• Sink scrubbed and fixtures polished
• Appliance exteriors wiped
• Floors vacuumed and steam-mopped

Bathrooms

• Toilet scrubbed and sanitized inside, outside, around the base and behind
• Shower and tub, including the walls, doors and tracks
• Soap scum and mineral deposits removed
• Mirrors cleaned
• Vanity and bathroom cabinets, inside and out
• Floors mopped

Bedrooms, Living Areas and Floors

• All surfaces dusted and wiped: shelves, tables, desks and window sills
• Closets cleaned inside: shelves, rods and floors
• Light switches, switch plates and door handles sanitized
• Interior windows, window sills and tracks cleaned
• Doors, baseboards, blinds and vents vacuum-dusted, then baseboards and doors scrubbed
• Scuffs and marks spot-cleaned from walls
• Carpets vacuumed and hard floors steam-mopped

What Is Not Included in a Move-Out Clean?

A move-out clean is a cleaning job, not a moving job and not a repair job. A few things sit outside the standard scope, and it helps to know them before the landlord walkthrough:

• Packing, moving boxes or moving furniture. Crews clean; they do not move your belongings. Anything still in the home stays where it is, and the surface under it does not get cleaned.
• Wall and ceiling washing. Spot cleaning marks is included. Washing whole walls and ceilings is a separate add-on (more on that below).
• Carpet washing. Carpets are vacuumed thoroughly. Washing or steam-extracting them is an add-on.
• Heavy buildup that is really a paint job. If a wall is marked beyond what spot cleaning can lift, it needs repainting, and no amount of scrubbing changes that.

Landlords sometimes check a few other areas that are also outside a standard move-out clean. If your lease mentions them, arrange them separately or ask your crew whether they will take the work on as its own job:

• Garage floors and walls
• Patio, balcony or detached storage
• Inside the washer and dryer
• Air vents and returns
• Inside the fireplace
• Grout scrubbing and exhaust-fan interiors beyond a normal wipe

Does the Home Need to Be Empty?

Yes. This is the one requirement that does not flex. Everything that separates a move-out clean from a regular one depends on there being nothing in the way: the inside of every cabinet and drawer, closet shelves cleared and wiped bare, the fridge and oven inside, the floor where the sofa stood. With boxes still stacked in the living room, the crew cleans around them, and whatever is underneath stays as it was. That is not the clean a landlord is inspecting for.

Common Move-In/Move-Out Cleaning Add-Ons

Two add-ons come up on almost every move-out booking, and they are worth understanding before you add either one.

Carpet washing. The base clean vacuums carpets thoroughly but does not wash or steam-extract them. Whether you need the add-on usually comes down to your lease: if it asks for professionally cleaned carpets, add carpet washing at booking and confirm the scope with your crew. If the carpet only needs to look freshly vacuumed, you are already covered.

Wall and ceiling washing. Spot cleaning is already part of the base clean, so scuffs, fingerprints and the odd mark are handled. Whole-wall washing only makes sense when the walls are dirty rather than marked. If they are marked badly enough that you are considering it, they most likely need paint, and washing them first is money spent on a wall that gets repainted anyway. Ask your crew to take a look before you add it.

One more thing worth asking about: if you are leaving furniture or household items behind, crews on SanCrew can help coordinate a donation pickup once you have booked.

When Should You Book a Move-Out Clean?

Aim for at least a week before your lease ends, and always after the movers. That leaves time for your own walkthrough and any touch-ups before the landlord inspection, and it means the crew works in an empty home. Most move-out cleans booked through SanCrew take roughly two and a half to four and a half hours depending on the size of the home, so the whole thing fits into a single afternoon once the truck is gone.

Moving in, flip it around: book the clean for the day you get the keys, before the furniture arrives.

If you are in San Francisco and ready to book, compare move-out cleaning crews in San Francisco: their prices, their reviews and their add-ons, side by side. Each crew sets their own rate, so the price you see is theirs.