What’s Included in a Professional House Cleaning?
If you’ve never hired a professional cleaning service before, you may be wondering what is included in a house cleaning and what does a house cleaner actually do. Exactly what’s included depends on the type of cleaning service you choose. A routine clean is meant to maintain a baseline level of cleanliness, covering the surfaces and floors that need regular attention. A deep clean goes further into appliances, cabinets, and the spots that build up over months or years. A move-in or move-out clean is a thorough top-to-bottom reset of an empty home. Each has a specific purpose, and knowing the difference will help you choose the right one.
This guide breaks down exactly what Keepsake includes in each service, what isn’t included and why, and what to expect from a professional cleaning visit.
Professional cleaning services generally clean your home’s surfaces, floors, and fixtures. They generally don’t clean your belongings, which means no laundry, no dishes, and no organizing. It does mean thoroughly cleaned kitchens, bathrooms, and floors, along with the kind of grime removal in hard-to-clean areas that most homeowners can’t replicate on their own.
What’s Included in Every Keepsake Cleaning Service
Regardless of which service you book, every Keepsake visit includes:
- Vacuum and mop all floors
- Dust all reachable surfaces
- Spot clean all doors, jambs, and thresholds
- Spot clean interior reachable windows
- Spot clean walls
- Shake out rugs
- Empty garbage
These are the baseline tasks that keep every room consistently clean. Everything beyond this depends on which service you’ve selected and what your priorities are.
What’s Included in a Routine Cleaning Service
Routine cleaning is Keepsake’s recurring service — weekly, biweekly, or monthly visits that keep your home consistently clean between professional visits. It’s designed for homes that are already in reasonably good shape and need regular maintenance. It covers the surfaces and fixtures that accumulate dust, grime, and buildup between visits.
Kitchen
- Wipe down and sanitize the outside of the refrigerator, oven and stovetop, microwave, dishwasher, and cupboards
- Degrease the hood vent and clean the exhaust filter
- Wipe down countertops and backsplashes
Bathrooms
- Clean and sanitize tubs and showers, toilet inside and out, sink and countertops, mirrors, and light fixtures
Everywhere
- All the baseline tasks listed above.
What routine cleaning typically doesn’t include: The inside of appliances, cabinet interiors, and deep-cleaning tasks like scrubbing grout or removing significant buildup. If your home hasn’t had a professional clean recently, a deep clean first is worth it. It establishes a thorough baseline that every routine visit builds on.
What’s Included in a Deep Cleaning Service
A deep clean goes significantly further than routine maintenance. It covers everything in the routine service, plus the areas that accumulate grime over time and require real effort to address: the inside of your oven, the back of your refrigerator, bathroom grout, and more.
Kitchen
- Clean and sanitize the inside and outside of the refrigerator, oven and stove, microwave, dishwasher, and cupboards
- Degrease the hood vent and clean the exhaust filter
- Wipe down countertops and backsplashes
Bathrooms
- Clean and sanitize tubs and showers, toilet inside and out, sink and countertops, mirrors, and light fixtures
- Clean inside and outside of vanity drawers and cabinets
Laundry Room
- Clean inside and outside of the washer and dryer
- Empty the dryer lint basket
- Dust shelves
- Clean out cupboards
Everywhere
- All the baseline tasks listed above
One thing that consistently surprises first-time customers: the difference a deep clean makes on areas that have built up over months or years. Discolored grout, a grimy oven interior, a refrigerator that hasn’t been cleaned since you moved in. In my experience working in Twin Cities homes, these are the areas where professional cleaning makes the most visible difference. The combination of professional-grade products, the right techniques, and the time to focus specifically on these spots produces results that are genuinely difficult to replicate at home. The results tend to be noticeably different from anything a homeowner would do themselves.
What’s Included in a Move-In/Move-Out Cleaning Service
A move-in or move-out clean is essentially a deep clean of an empty home. The checklist is the same as a deep clean, applied to every room, and it’s designed to satisfy landlord inspection requirements for renters or to give buyers a truly fresh start in a new home.
Kitchen
- Clean and sanitize the inside and outside of the refrigerator, oven and stove, microwave, dishwasher, and cupboards
- Degrease the hood vent and clean the exhaust filter
- Wipe down countertops and backsplashes
Bathrooms
- Clean and sanitize tubs and showers, toilet inside and out, sink and countertops, mirrors, and light fixtures
- Clean inside and outside of vanity drawers and cabinets
Laundry Room
- Clean inside and outside of the washer and dryer
- Empty the dryer lint basket
- Dust shelves
- Clean out cupboards
Everywhere
- All the baseline tasks listed above
For move-out cleans in particular, if your landlord has a specific checklist of requirements, share it when you book. Keepsake will make sure everything on it is covered.
What Professional Cleaners Don’t Do (and Why)
This is the question that trips most first-time customers up. A useful way to think about it: professional cleaners clean your home, not your belongings. It’s one of the things I find myself explaining most often to new customers.
Dishes: Keepsake does not wash dishes. Dishes in the sink should be cleared before your visit so cleaners can focus on the sink and surrounding surfaces.
Laundry: Keepsake does not do laundry. This is standard across professional cleaning companies.
Organizing: Keepsake does not organize items as part of a cleaning service. Cleaners clean surfaces and fixtures where they are. They don’t sort, arrange, or declutter. If you have organization needs, Keepsake offers a separate organizing service.
Interior windows beyond spot cleaning: Keepsake spot cleans interior windows in reachable areas but does not clean all interior windows as a standard service, and does not use ladders.
In practice, the more clutter-free your home is before a visit, the more your cleaners can focus on actually cleaning. You don’t need to pre-clean (that’s the whole point), but clearing surfaces and putting belongings away helps the team work more efficiently.
What Keepsake Cleaners Bring to Every Visit
Keepsake crews arrive fully equipped. You don’t need to supply a single product or piece of equipment. A full service cart includes:
Equipment: Vacuum with all components, steam cleaner with pads, high-reach duster, floor duster, broom and dustpan, lint roller, and razor scraper for stubborn residue.
Cleaning products: Multi-purpose cleaner, degreaser, tub and tile cleaner, calcium and rust remover, oven cleaner, dish soap, adhesive remover, glass cleaner, powdered cleanser, and toilet wand refills.
Eco-friendly options: Keepsake can use eco-friendly and non-toxic products on request. Worth noting: they generally aren’t as effective on heavy buildup as conventional products. For a routine clean on a well-maintained home, they work fine. For a deep clean tackling significant grime, conventional products tend to produce better results. Just let us know your preference when you book.
How to Get the Most Out of a Cleaning Service
A few things that make a meaningful difference:
Tidy before the cleaners arrive. Don’t pre-clean, just tidy. Put belongings away, clear surfaces, and pick up loose items from the floor. This lets your cleaners spend their time cleaning rather than working around clutter.
Point out priorities. Every home is different. If there’s a room that needs extra attention, a fixture that’s been neglected, or a specific area you’re most concerned about, let Keepsake know when you book. Cleaners can dedicate extra time to particular areas when a customer has a specific need.
Do the dishes. Since Keepsake doesn’t wash dishes, having a sink full of dishes means the sink itself gets less attention. Clear them out before the visit.
If you’re booking a deep clean before starting a recurring service, clearing out extra clutter beforehand helps cleaners establish a more thorough baseline on that first visit.
FAQs About What’s Included in a Professional Cleaning Service
What's the difference between a routine clean and a deep clean?
A routine clean maintains a home that’s already in good shape, covering surfaces, floors, and fixtures on a recurring schedule. A deep clean goes further into appliance interiors, cabinet interiors, grout, and areas that accumulate over time. If you haven’t had a professional clean recently, a deep clean first is worth it. See our full guide to deep cleaning vs. standard cleaning.
Do professional cleaners do dishes or laundry?
No. This surprises many first-time customers, but it’s standard across professional cleaning companies. Cleaners clean your home (surfaces, floors, appliances, and fixtures), not your belongings. Dishes should be cleared from the sink before a visit if possible.
Do I need to clean before the cleaners arrive?
No, you don’t need to pre-clean. Tidying helps: putting belongings away and clearing surfaces allows cleaners to focus on actually cleaning rather than working around clutter. But scrubbing, vacuuming, or wiping down surfaces ahead of time isn’t necessary.
What if I want extra attention on a specific area?
Just let Keepsake know when you book. Cleaners can dedicate additional time to specific areas based on your needs, such as discolored grout, a heavily used bathroom, a kitchen that hasn’t had a deep clean in a while. There’s no additional charge for focusing on specific areas; it’s part of the service.
Do Keepsake cleaners bring their own supplies?
Yes, always. Keepsake arrives fully equipped with everything needed: products, equipment, and supplies. You don’t need to provide anything.
What if my home has hazardous conditions?
Keepsake cleaners work in a wide range of homes and don’t mind tackling a mess. That’s the job. However, Keepsake reserves the right to terminate a service if conditions are deemed unsafe or hazardous, including excessive bodily fluids, severe air quality issues, unsecured animals posing a threat, or physical obstructions that create unsafe working conditions. If you have any concerns about conditions in your home, mention them when you book.
Ready to Book?
Whether you need a one-time deep clean, a recurring routine service, or move-in and move-out cleaning across the Twin Cities, Keepsake is ready to help. Get a quote and we’ll be in touch quickly with pricing for your home.
Not sure which service is right for you? See our guide to deep cleaning vs. standard cleaning or our pricing breakdown by home size.
About the Author
Claire Hensley
Cleaning Specialist
Claire Hensley is a cleaning specialist at Keepsake PCO with hands-on experience helping Twin Cities homeowners maintain cleaner, more comfortable homes. Claire writes about cleaning tips, home maintenance, and what professional cleaning actually looks like from the inside.
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