March out cleaning

ltl_2

Hi,

Just wondered if anyone had experience of hiring cleaners to do your marching out cleaning and how much they charged? I am in the Norfolk area.

superjax01

When we moved from North Yorkshire we got charged £300. This included carpets profesionally cleaned (which you have to do if you have pets), cooker, and then all round cleaning from top to bottom. Not bad if you take into consideration the amount of stress cleaning yourself can add to your move. Phone your local Hive office for a list of cleaners in your area. There are bound to be ones that spesialize in MQ cleaning

Bernie

Once you factor in the time (leave) for both of you, the cost of cleaning materials, umpteen expedient takeaway meals, rewards and snacks for the family and the pure bloody pain of trying to live and clean in the one place - £300 is a steal.

Save a week of leave (that must be worth about £300) or work somewhere to earn cash, have the partner work the extra week (another £250-ish), cost of all the above gash stuff (say another £150-ish) and save a few days of misery too! Bargain!

dippydora_2

It does sometimes depend on the size of you married quarter (ie how many bedrooms) I know a company called ACS (I think) will clean the married quarters in Lympstone for £175 and guarantee that it will pass, the guy used to work for the DHE I believe.

Ask around your area other people may know of similar companies

davilown

Bernie wrote: »

Once you factor in the time (leave) for both of you, the cost of cleaning materials, umpteen expedient takeaway meals, rewards and snacks for the family and the pure bloody pain of trying to live and clean in the one place - £300 is a steal.
and save a few days of misery too! Bargain!

NO you must be joking? Takes two days to clean a house top to bottom and that's a large 3 bed.

1. Leave - you are entitled to 5 days relocation leave.
2. Cleaning materials - £35 for aldi etc
3. Takeaways - £40
4. Snacks - £40

Total - £115 and the money leftover to buy yourself something nice for the new house!

jacand

When we moved from Marham we had a guy come round and do our 2 bed for £75 absolute bargain, he even did the cooker and was there at the march out to make sure everything was ok.
I can't remember his name, but if you ask in the hive I'm sure he's well know.

JimBear

I have almost always paid someone to do my march-out cleaning. It does take 2 full days, after the furniture has gone, to clean a quarter properly. With children 'helping', it takes even longer! Who wants to spend their leave doing that?

In my experience, the cleaners do a really rubbish job, so make sure that you get a 'guaranteed march-out' clean (and that the neighbours will tell the people who move in, that it was a company who left the house in that state, not you).

The HIVE will be able to recommend some companies, or if you know anyone who has a cleaner, they may be willing to do it (usually not, because march-out cleaning is so horrid). I think it is worth paying the extra to get the cooker done, but the carpets should not need cleaned unless you have a pet,or smoke or have spilled something (and then I usually spot clean it while the packers do their stuff.) DHE or MHS or whoever they are, should clean carpets, I think it's every 3 years, as part of the 'maintenance' of the quarter. You might have to argue with them about it - they like to tell people to clean the carpets, because, clearly, it saves them money.

Good luck with the move!

Daisydoo_2

Hi we paid £270 last month to get our three bed in Lyneham cleaned and that included cooker, walls, in and outside of windows etc. We chose to use them because we were moving to Kinloss and with the long drive and a four month old baby to contend with it just took away the extra stress! The owner of the company did the march out with our proxy and rectified any cleaning problems picked up before being paid. We were given a list of recommended cleaners on our pre-march out appt. Initially I was going to do it all myself but we had our march out booked for the morning after the packers left and it was the housing officer that suggested a cleaner would make life easier especially with the 11 hour drive straight after! We did get caught out with the garden though, because we changed the march out dates and the earliest they could do it was ten days after we moved, the grass had obviously grown and they then charged us £25 to get it done £15 of which was the 'admin' charge. Also MHS new rules dictate that if they find three things wrong with the cleaning of the house - even if they are all in the same room - they will charge you the cost of cleaning the WHOLE house!

ICATQ

The HIVE is usually the best place to pick up info on who is available in your area.

I used a firm that charged by the hour, so depending on how big and how much work was required then your bill was calculated accordingly.

They came round and did an 'assessement' which they said would take them x number of hours. Therefore would cost y £. They were also asked to do the carpets. I was given a verbal quote.

When I got the bill it had doubled. They stated that it had taken almost twice as long as previously asessed and the original quote had not included the carpet.

I obviously challenged it. They clean these houses all the time and know how long it takes. There was no cooker and the house was empty. Basically trying it on as they know we get an allowance in most cases.

Get a written quote !! They backed down and accepted what I considered to be a fair cost. It was either that or lose any further business as news travels fast.

ltl_2

Thanks alot everyone!

s30jok

watch out for the scams involved with mhs and dhe recommending cleaners - they are usually their brother or wifes friend and do such a sub standard job you will get billed again

this is a link to Arrse where this was discussed it makes for interesting reading ..... http://www.arrse.co.uk/Forums/viewtopic/t=39238.html

good luck