Domestic Cleaning in Stirchley

A back door into the kitchen, and flats that run with condensation

In the terraces almost all the dirt has one entry point. The back door opens from the yard into the kitchen, so the kitchen floor is the doormat whether anybody intended it to be or not, and in a small house that one room sets the tone for the rest of it. There is no hall to absorb anything on the way in. A number of these streets back onto the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, and the rear elevations on that side stay damp, which is an outdoor problem that people often assume is an indoor one. In the newer flats the issue is different and seasonal: extract only ventilation and a lot of glass mean condensation gathers on reveals and frames from November, and if it is wiped every visit it stays a nuisance and never becomes a mould problem.

• Two up two downs where a short, frequent visit does more than a long, occasional one
• A back door opening from the yard straight into the kitchen, which is where nearly all the dirt arrives
• New build flats with hard floors throughout and extract only ventilation, so reveals and frames mark up over winter
• Small bathrooms and shower cubicles, which take a real share of a short visit whatever their size
• Households renting and moving reasonably often, who want the place held decently while they are in it
• Canal side rear walls that stay damp, where condensation and mould inside the back room need managing

A tight written order that makes a short visit count

A short visit has to be planned tightly or it turns into a light pass at everything. In a terrace that means the kitchen and the bathroom every time, then the stairs and the floors, and the front room to whatever is left, agreed in advance, not decided on the day. In a flat over the winter it means the reveals and frames get wiped as a standing item. Access is a key or a code, plus a fob for the car park where there is one. Anything we notice that a clean cannot fix, a failing extractor or perished sealant, comes back to you as a message, so it is not quietly worked around visit after visit.

• A tight written order for short visits: kitchen and bathroom first, then floors, then whatever the time allows
• Window reveals and frames wiped as a standing winter item in the newer flats
• Key or code access, plus a car park fob where the block needs one
• Anything a clean will not cure reported to you, not repeatedly cleaned around
• Terraces and flats scoped separately, since a hard floor flat and a carpeted terrace are not the same job

More detail on the equipment and the order of work: domestic cleaning across Birmingham.

Seven minutes, which is the whole point

We cover the terraced streets off the Pershore Road and down towards Hazelwell, plus the newer blocks and houses on the redeveloped plots between the high street and Bournville station. Parking splits neatly: the terraces are on street and tight, so mid morning beats the school run, while the newer developments have a car park and need a fob, not a space. Everything is within a couple of minutes of everything else, so a short visit fits neatly into the day. A first slot within the week is usually possible.

Staircases in the terraces, hard floors in the new flats

Visits are priced on the real length of the job and held at that figure. A Stirchley terrace usually sits at the modest end, simply because there is not much of it, though the staircase is a fixed cost in time whatever the floor area. In the newer flats the lever is hard flooring: a full hard floor takes longer to do properly than the equivalent area of carpet, and doing it badly is immediately visible in a room with a lot of light. Frequency is the other factor, since more frequent visits are shorter and cost less individually. Ironing and laundry are quoted as time, not absorbed.

Get a free, no-obligation quote

Weekly short visits, or a shorter gap for a damp winter flat

Weekly works well in a small property, because a short visit every week keeps the kitchen and the bathroom genuinely on top, not nearly on top. Fortnightly is the common choice and suits most terraces. Monthly is enough for a flat that is kept tidy and lightly used. Over the winter, a flat with condensation problems does better on a shorter, more frequent visit than on a long monthly one, because the regular wiping does the work, whatever the length of any single clean.