Preparing for a House Cleaner: Access, Pets and Priorities

You do not need to clean your home before a cleaner arrives. Useful preparation means providing access, protecting personal items and making the agreed priorities clear. This guide helps Canberra households prepare for a first or recurring Dustate visit.

Re-read the scope before the first visit

Check which rooms and tasks are included and which detailed extras have been agreed. If the quote covers floors and accessible surfaces, do not assume it also covers full cupboard interiors, laundry sorting or appliance cleaning.

Dustate’s house-cleaning service provides a written quote for the requested work. Tell us if the condition, room use or task list has changed since quoting. A spare room that is now full of moving boxes cannot be approached as though it is still empty.

Tidy only to make the work accessible

Put away small personal belongings where practical so surfaces and floors can be reached. Secure valuables, confidential paperwork and fragile items in a place outside the work area. You do not need to make the home spotless; the purpose is to allow the booked cleaning to happen.

Decide what should stay exactly where it is. If a desk has a careful arrangement or a shelf contains delicate objects, say so. Avoid leaving the cleaner to guess which piles are rubbish and which belong to an unfinished project.

Agree access and a backup contact

Confirm who opens the door, whether you will remain at home and how the cleaner should announce arrival. Explain gates, parking, lifts and any building access hours. Provide alarm instructions only through a private authorised channel.

If you will be on a work call, tell the cleaner which room must be left until later. An agreed room order can reduce interruptions, but it needs to fit the booking and access conditions.

Make a comfortable plan for pets

Tell Dustate about pets before the visit. Agree where they will stay and how doors should be handled so the cleaner does not have to improvise around an escape risk. Keep food bowls, bedding and pet belongings out of the immediate work area where practical.

Do not assume a cleaner will move, feed or supervise an animal. Those are different responsibilities. If a pet cannot comfortably be separated from the work area, discuss the situation before confirming the visit.

Describe products, surfaces and existing damage

Mention known product sensitivities, surfaces needing a particular care method and anything that is already loose or damaged. If you have manufacturer care instructions for a special finish, make them available. Product suitability should be resolved before work, rather than through trial on the visible surface.

Leave heavy furniture and awkward access for prior discussion. For windows, the window-cleaning guide explains why glass, tracks and elevated access should be identified separately. A normal house clean should not become an unplanned high-window job.

Keep a short priority list

Choose the areas that matter most, then check they are within the quote. A recurring list might include kitchen surfaces, bathrooms and floors, with periodic detail requested separately. If you add a task, ask whether it changes the agreed scope or total before work starts.

After the first visit, give specific feedback: name the room, surface and expected task. Keep changes in writing so the next visit has a clear reference rather than relying on different informal instructions from different household members.

If you are still choosing the scope, the house-cleaning cost guide explains how rooms, bathrooms and extra tasks affect the quote.

Prepare one clear booking note

Send Dustate the access plan, pet arrangement, surface concerns and priority list. Request or confirm the written house-cleaning scope before the first visit so everyone works from the same instructions.