Deep clean or regular clean? How to tell which one you need
The practical difference between a deep clean and a regular clean, what each covers, and how to decide which your home actually needs right now.
A regular clean maintains a home that is already at a reasonable standard. A deep clean resets one that has slipped, by reaching everything a regular clean does not have the time for. People often book the wrong one. They ask for a regular clean when the property needs a reset, then feel let down that a few hours did not transform a kitchen that has not been touched in two years.
What is the difference between a deep clean and a regular clean?
A regular clean maintains a standard. It assumes the property is already at a reasonable baseline and keeps it there: surfaces, floors, bathrooms, kitchen fronts, dusting and bins.
A deep clean sets that standard. It goes after everything a regular clean cannot reach in the time available: inside appliances and cupboards, behind furniture, grout, limescale, radiators, extractor filters, skirting and window tracks.
A deep clean usually takes considerably longer than a regular one on the same property, because those jobs are slow. The exact difference depends on the condition of the home.
What does each one cover?
A regular clean
- Kitchen worktops, sink, hob and appliance fronts
- Bathrooms cleaned and sanitised
- All accessible surfaces dusted
- Floors vacuumed and mopped
- Beds made, bins emptied
- Mirrors and glass polished
- High-touch points sanitised
A deep clean adds
- Oven interior, racks and door glass (or book oven cleaning on its own)
- Extractor hood and filters
- Behind and under the fridge, freezer and washing machine
- Inside every cupboard and drawer, plus cupboard tops
- Grout and silicone seals scrubbed
- Full descale of screens, taps and shower heads
- Radiators front, back and between the fins
- Skirting boards, door frames and doors washed
- Light fittings and lampshades
- Window frames, sills and runners
- Behind and under moveable furniture
How do you tell which one you need?
Ask yourself one question: when was the inside of the oven last cleaned?
It is a useful rule of thumb rather than a measurement. If the answer is "within the last few months", your home is probably being maintained and a regular clean will keep it there. If the answer is "I do not know" or "never", there is likely a backlog, and a regular clean will spend its whole visit on the backlog and never reach the maintenance.
Other signs you need a deep clean rather than a regular one:
- You have just moved in, and someone else's standards are underneath yours
- Building work has finished in the last few months
- The bathroom has visible limescale or discoloured grout
- You are about to start regular cleaning for the first time
- It is your annual spring or pre-Christmas reset
What is the usual sequence?
For most households the sensible pattern is one deep clean to establish the baseline, then regular fortnightly visits to hold it, then a deep clean once a year to catch what regular visits never reach.
Trying to reach a deep clean standard through repeated regular visits does not really work. A maintenance visit rarely has the spare hours to get inside the kitchen cupboards and behind the appliances, so those jobs simply never happen. To see how much a short visit can realistically cover, read what a cleaner can do in 2 or 3 hours.
Limescale is one of the biggest differences between the two. In a hard water area it needs dwell time, which a regular visit does not have. See our guide to removing limescale.
What about cleaning after building work?
This is a separate job, not a deep clean with more hours. Fine plaster and brick dust settles into everything and can keep resettling after you clean, so it usually needs more than one pass and suitable equipment. For guidance on dust from building work, the Health and Safety Executive publishes information on construction dust.
If you have had building work done, say so when you enquire. It is a different specification and it is priced differently.
What does it cost?
Deep cleans are priced by the condition of the home more than its size, which is why we ask for photos. Our guide to what cleaning costs in Brighton explains what moves the price.
Not sure which you need?
Send us a few photos of your kitchen and bathroom. We will tell you which service fits, including when the answer is the cheaper one. Our deep cleaning page sets out exactly what is covered, and house cleaning explains how ongoing visits work. Or get a free quote.