Your home · 10 guides
Cleaning Services: problems and fixes, explained by Saida
Saida Reyes is the only cleaning services member of BNI Preston Center. These guides are written for a Dallas–Fort Worth reader who has the problem right now: what is happening, what to check, when to call, and what it costs.
- Weekly, every two weeks or monthly: choosing how often your house gets cleaned The right schedule depends less on the size of your home than on how many people, pets and meals pass through it each week. Here is how to match the frequency to the household. The short answer for most householdsWhat actually changes between the three schedulesWeekly cleaning: when it earns its costEvery two weeks: the practical middle
- Two cleaning quotes for the same house, far apart: what actually sets the price Square footage is only the starting point. The number of bathrooms, the condition of the home, how often it gets cleaned and what the quote includes move the price far more. Four things set the price, and square footage is only oneBathrooms and kitchens are where the hours goThe condition of the home todayHow often you book changes the price per visit
- The remodel is done and the dust is everywhere: clean it yourself or call a crew? A small project can be cleaned up by a careful homeowner. A larger remodel leaves fine dust in places you will be finding for months unless it is removed the right way. The honest answer depends on the size of the projectWhy construction dust is not ordinary house dustWhat the contractor's cleanup usually coversWhat you can do yourself after a small project
- The cleaners left on Tuesday: how to keep the house that way until next time A professional clean resets the house. A few small habits decide whether it still feels that way a week later, and none of them takes more than a few minutes. A few minutes a day does most of the workThe daily fiveKitchen habits that stop grease and crumbsBathroom habits that stop scale and soap scum
- Setting up office cleaning: what happens from the walk-through to the first month Good office cleaning starts with a walk-through and a written scope, not a price per square foot. Here is how the setup works and what to settle before the first night. How the setup works, in briefWhat to gather before anyone walks the spaceThe walk-through, area by areaTurning it into a written scope
- Regular cleaning is not keeping up: signs your house needs a deep clean first If the house looks tidy but never feels clean, the problem is usually buildup that regular cleaning was never meant to remove. Here is how to spot it and what fixes it. When the house is tidy but never feels cleanWhat a regular clean is designed to doSigns in the kitchenSigns in the bathrooms
- Moving out of a Texas rental: what a landlord can charge for cleaning, and what not Texas law protects tenants from paying for normal wear and tear, but your lease decides much of what you owe for cleaning. Here is how the rules work and how to leave the place so the deposit comes back. What the law says, in a few sentencesNormal wear and tear versus damageWhere cleaning fits: start with your leaseThe 30-day refund clock and your forwarding address
- More bleach, quick wipes, mixed sprays: the cleaning mistakes that undo the work Plenty of effort goes into cleaning that does not work, or that makes the air worse. Most of it comes from a handful of myths that are easy to fix once you know them. Cleaning and disinfecting are two different jobsMyth: a disinfecting spray cleans the surface tooMyth: spray, wipe, doneMyth: mixing two cleaners makes a stronger one
- Before you let a cleaning company into your home: the questions worth asking You are giving someone a key to your home. A few direct questions tell you who will show up, what they will clean, what they will use and what happens if something goes wrong. Six questions tell you most of what you needWho will be in my home, and will it be the same people each time?What exactly is on your checklist, and what is not?What products will you use in my home?
- The movers left, the keys are due Friday and the house has to pass a walk-through An empty house shows every mark the furniture was hiding. Here is what a real move-out clean includes, what to handle yourself, and how to get both homes ready on the dates that matter. The house looks different once it is emptyWhat the person doing the walk-through is looking forWhat you can do yourself in the days beforeWhen doing it yourself is fine, and when to bring in a cleaner