Whether you’re moving homes or your tenants are leaving your short-term rental, you probably have a lot on your mind. Between worrying about that new job you’re starting in a new city or looking for new guests to rent your apartment, you need to check a few practical things off your list. Among those tasks is cleaning the place to a high standard before the next person can move in.
Your apartment might need a deep clean after living there for years, or it may need scrubbing up between bookings on a regular basis. Either way, cleaning it yourself can be a hassle. To save time on making the apartment spotless for the next tenant, you might want to outsource this headache to professional cleaners.
So, you decide to hire professionals to clean your apartment, but you’re unsure whether you should book move-out cleaning or turnover cleaning. They both happen when someone moves out, so which one do you need?
In this article, we’ll explore the similarities and differences between move-out cleaning and turnover cleaning, so you can choose the right service for you.
Move-out Cleaning and Turnover Cleaning: What Are They?
Move out cleaning
When you book a move-out clean, you no longer live there. All your furniture is gone, leaving a blank canvas for cleaners to get stuck into. Move-out cleans involve a thorough clean to ensure your landlord’s high standards are met. This reduces the risk of your security deposit being withheld and gives the next occupants a nice clean welcome to their new home.
Move-out cleaning will include things like vacuuming, heavy-duty scrubbing, mopping floors and much more. Those cobwebs will be removed, your cabinets cleaned, and the laundry appliances wiped.
Turnover cleaning
Turnover cleaning involves a professional clean that takes place between your tenant moving out and the next one moving in. This is likely a furnished property you rent out, but don’t live in, that you need to clean before the next guest shows up.
A turnover cleaning checklist may look similar to move-out cleaning in a residential setting.
Move-Out Cleaning vs Turnover Cleaning: Similarities and Differences
Similarities
1. Same objective
Move-out cleaning and turnover cleaning have the same objective: to make the place sparkle before the next tenant arrives. In both scenarios, the person who was living there has moved out. They are more intense than a ‘regular’ clean, and the new occupant will arrive at an immaculately cleaned apartment.
2. You can DIY (if you feel up to it!)
For move-out cleans and turnover cleans, you can choose to do it yourself if you’re up for the challenge. However, cleaning effectively takes a lot of time and effort. If you’re moving homes, hiring a move-out cleaning company means you don’t have to balance so many plates. For a landlord, it may be difficult to manage several cleans per month in a short-term rental with an already busy schedule.
3. Similar cleaning checklist
The cleaning checklist can also look similar for both, and with a professional cleaning provider, you can expect the highest standards and outstanding customer service for both move-out cleaning and turnover cleaning. With us, you’ll also get a 100% money-back guarantee for either service.
4. Short turnarounds
Whatever choose, you can also benefit from having the service done in a timely manner. You may have a short window to get everything done before moving out, even without including cleaning your previous home from top to bottom. If you rent out the apartment, you’ll want to get new tenants as quickly as possible, so a timely cleaning is key to commercial success.
It’s unlikely that you’ll do as good a job as professionals who provide their service day in, and day out. So whether you book move-out cleaning or turnover cleaning, you’ll enjoy the benefits.
No matter whether you (or your guests) have been in the apartment for days or years, the result of move-out cleaning and turnover cleaning is the same: a fresh, deeply clean home for people to stay in.
Differences
1. Who’s in charge/Frequency of service
Move-out cleaning is often down to you if you were living in the apartment, while you’re in charge of turnover cleaning if you rent it out regularly. You could arrange a move-out clean after living somewhere for years, or you might book turnover cleaning when you have a higher frequency of occupants, such as students or guests in a holiday let, who may have stayed for months or even a few days.
For example, we offer turnover cleaning services for student halls. Once students have vacated the dormitories, the accommodation needs to be cleaned and made ready for the new cohort. Because turnover cleaning is associated with shorter-term rentals, you may require this service more often, even up to several times per month.
2. Furnishing status
The other difference is that the apartment would be empty for a move-out clean, while you’d likely still have furniture for a turnover clean. That means the turnover cleaning checklist could differ. For example, in a furnished apartment, we’d dust the furniture and decorations, vacuum the couch and chairs and make the beds. We neatly fold, hang the towels, and run and fill the dishwasher. In a vacant apartment, we’d clean the oven and fridge instead.
Find Out More About Our Washington DC
Move-Out and Turnover Cleaning Services
If you’re curious about what a professional clean might include, take a look at our turnover cleaning checklist for resident halls or our checklist for our residential packages.
Whether you’re moving out or renting it out, contact Clean Moves for professional cleaning services tailored to your specific requirements.
We’re the move-out cleaners Washington DC loves to have in their neighborhood. If you’re not in the capital, try Googling ‘move out cleaning near me’ or ‘turnover cleaning near me’ to find professional cleaning services closer to home.