How is a deep clean different from a standard clean?

A standard clean maintains a home that is already reasonably clean — kitchens, bathrooms, floors and daily-use surfaces. A deep clean goes after everything that builds up between those visits: baseboards wiped by hand, vent covers taken off the wall, window tracks cleared, grout scrubbed, shower glass descaled, the range hood filter degreased, and the fridge pulled out so the floor and wall behind it get done. It is a different list, not a slower version of the same one.

How long does a deep clean take?

Plan on most of the day for a full house. The exact time depends on the size of the property, how many rooms need the full treatment, and whether you are adding the oven. Because the timing varies that much, every deep clean is quoted to the actual space rather than sold as a fixed-length slot.

Do I need to be home during a deep clean?

No. Plenty of clients are out for the day and let us in beforehand or arrange access. What matters more than your presence is telling us up front about anything specific — a surface that needs a particular product, a room to leave alone, a pet that should stay shut in. That goes on your file so it is not dependent on one person remembering it.

How often should I book a deep clean?

Most homes on a regular cleaning schedule need one once or twice a year, with standard visits in between holding the level. Homes that have just had building work, have not been cleaned professionally before, or are being prepared for sale usually want one as a one-off reset. If you are unsure, describe the property in the request form and the owner will tell you straight whether it is worth it.

Do you bring your own supplies for a deep clean?

Yes — we bring everything to every job, including the dedicated products a deep clean needs for descaling and degreasing. You do not need to leave anything out or restock between visits.

July 14, 20266 min read

What a deep clean actually includes

The phrase gets used loosely. Here is the checklist we work from, so you know exactly what you're paying for.

Illustration of a kitchen mid deep-clean: the range hood filter lifted out, the fridge pulled away from the wall, a cabinet standing open and a cloth wiping a baseboard

“Deep clean” is the least standardised term in this industry. Two cleaning companies in Columbus can quote you the same job and mean genuinely different work — one means the standard visit done slowly, the other means the fridge comes out from the wall.

This is the checklist Mendoza Cleaning works from on a deep clean, room by room, so you can compare it against anyone else's quote and see what you are actually buying.

What a standard clean covers, and where it stops

A standard clean keeps a maintained home maintained. Kitchens, bathrooms, floors, and the surfaces you touch every day: counters wiped, sinks and taps cleaned, toilets and showers done, floors vacuumed and mopped, bins emptied, beds made if you want them made.

It is deliberately a maintenance visit. It assumes the house was clean fairly recently and needs holding at that level. What it does not do is go after build-up — the grease film that collects above a stove over months, grout that has gone grey a shade at a time, or the grit in a window track.

That build-up is the entire point of a deep clean. If a standard clean is the weekly tidy, a deep clean is the reset that makes the weekly tidy worth doing again.

The kitchen: what gets added

The kitchen is where most of the extra time goes, because it is where most of the build-up is.

Cabinet fronts get washed rather than wiped — handles and the strip around them collect more than people expect. The range hood filter comes out and gets degreased. The inside of the microwave is done, not just the door. The top of the fridge, which nobody can see and everybody has, gets cleared and cleaned.

And the fridge gets pulled out so we can clean the floor and the wall behind it. That one spot usually justifies the visit on its own. The same goes for the oven if you add it — an oven clean is a job with its own timeline, so tell us up front and it gets quoted in rather than squeezed in.

Bathrooms: grout, glass and the extractor

Grout lines get scrubbed rather than mopped over. Shower glass gets descaled — hard water in central Ohio leaves a film that a general-purpose spray will not shift, and it needs a dedicated product and some time.

The exhaust fan cover comes off the ceiling and gets washed. It is the single most-skipped item in a bathroom and it is visible from the bath, which is exactly where people notice it.

Chrome gets polished dry rather than left to air-dry, because air-drying is what leaves the spotting that makes a clean bathroom look uncleaned.

The parts people forget: baseboards, vents and tracks

Baseboards get wiped by hand along their length, not dusted with a duster on a pole. There is a real difference and you can see it under a raking light.

Vent covers come off the wall and get washed. Window tracks get cleared of the grit that collects in the corners and stops a window seating properly.

Door frames and light switch plates get done too. None of these are dramatic on their own. Together they are the difference between a room that is clean and a room that reads as clean.

How long it takes, and how to keep the cost sensible

Plan on us being there most of the day for a full house. A deep clean is not a longer standard clean; it is a different job with a longer list, and rushing it defeats the purpose.

If a room does not need the full treatment — a guest room nobody uses, a finished basement that stays shut — say so when you send the request. The owner reads every request personally and will quote the visit to match what your home actually needs rather than charging you for rooms that do not need the work.

That is also why we do not publish a deep-clean price. A four-bedroom house after a renovation and a two-bedroom condo on a monthly rotation are not the same job, and pretending they are is how people end up with surprise charges on the day.

Common questions

How is a deep clean different from a standard clean?: A standard clean maintains a home that is already reasonably clean — kitchens, bathrooms, floors and daily-use surfaces. A deep clean goes after everything that builds up between those visits: baseboards wiped by hand, vent covers taken off the wall, window tracks cleared, grout scrubbed, shower glass descaled, the range hood filter degreased, and the fridge pulled out so the floor and wall behind it get done. It is a different list, not a slower version of the same one.
How long does a deep clean take?: Plan on most of the day for a full house. The exact time depends on the size of the property, how many rooms need the full treatment, and whether you are adding the oven. Because the timing varies that much, every deep clean is quoted to the actual space rather than sold as a fixed-length slot.
Do I need to be home during a deep clean?: No. Plenty of clients are out for the day and let us in beforehand or arrange access. What matters more than your presence is telling us up front about anything specific — a surface that needs a particular product, a room to leave alone, a pet that should stay shut in. That goes on your file so it is not dependent on one person remembering it.
How often should I book a deep clean?: Most homes on a regular cleaning schedule need one once or twice a year, with standard visits in between holding the level. Homes that have just had building work, have not been cleaned professionally before, or are being prepared for sale usually want one as a one-off reset. If you are unsure, describe the property in the request form and the owner will tell you straight whether it is worth it.
Do you bring your own supplies for a deep clean?: Yes — we bring everything to every job, including the dedicated products a deep clean needs for descaling and degreasing. You do not need to leave anything out or restock between visits.