House cleaning services include the kitchen, the bathrooms, the bedrooms and the living areas: surfaces dusted, counters and sinks cleaned, mirrors and glass done, floors vacuumed and mopped, trash out with fresh liners in. Laundry, dishes, organizing and appliance interiors are normally arranged separately, in advance.
What do house cleaning services include, room by room?
A standard recurring visit holds the whole house at a set level. The table below shows what is normally inside that visit and what is normally agreed on its own.
| Room | Inside a standard visit | Normally arranged separately |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen | Counters, sink and faucet, cooktop, appliance fronts, inside the microwave, cabinet fronts and handles, trash out with a fresh liner, floor | Inside cabinets and the pantry, inside the refrigerator, inside the oven, a sink full of dishes |
| Bathrooms | Toilet, sink, tub and shower, mirror and glass, fixtures dried and polished, towels folded, floor | Grout restoration, heavy mineral descaling that needs repeat treatments |
| Bedrooms | Surfaces dusted, bed made, mirrors, baseboards, floor vacuumed | Changing linens, closet organization, laundry |
| Living and dining | Dusting, glass tables, cushions straightened, floors vacuumed and mopped | Carpet and upholstery cleaning, wall washing |
| Entry, halls, stairs | Handrails, switch plates, door frames, stair corners, floors | Garage, unfinished basement, exterior steps |
| Whole house | High-touch surfaces, interior glass within reach, baseboards, fresh bin liners | Full window washing, anything that needs a ladder |
Two points are worth knowing about that list. The CDC recommends cleaning high-touch surfaces such as light switches, doorknobs and countertops regularly and after you have visitors, and more often if someone in the household is more likely to get sick, such as young children or a person with a weakened immune system. That is why high-touch surfaces appear in every visit rather than only in a thorough one.
The second is dust. The EPA describes indoor dust as settled particulate matter that "can be easily kicked up into the air by cleaning, vacuuming, and other activities like walking and crawling," and advises dusting often with a damp cloth, because dampening the cloth keeps settled dust from going back into the air, and vacuuming carpets and furniture every week or more often. A dry feather duster moves dust; a damp cloth removes it.
A first visit is usually wider than the recurring ones. The edges, interiors and build-up a weekly pass never reaches belong to a deep clean, which is where most new clients start.
Does house cleaning include laundry?
Usually not as a default. Laundry depends on your machines, your settings and a cycle that runs on its own schedule, so it rarely fits inside a fixed visit without pushing a room off the list.
What is commonly included is the linen side of the work rather than the washing: towels folded the same way, the bathroom set straightened, a bed made. If you want washing, drying or folding added, it is agreed before the visit and the time is built into the quote.
Will cleaning services do dishes?
A short pass is common. Loading or emptying a dishwasher and washing what is in the sink can be agreed as part of the visit, and some of it has to happen anyway, since a full sink blocks the faucet and half the counter.
A full load is a different matter. Twenty minutes at the sink is twenty minutes not spent on a bathroom, so it belongs in the quote. Between visits, the CDC advises washing utensils, cutting boards and countertops with hot, soapy water after preparing each food item, and washing your hands after handling uncooked meat, poultry, seafood, flour or eggs. That is daily kitchen hygiene, not a cleaning service task.
Do cleaning services organize or declutter?
No, and the distinction matters. Cleaning removes dirt from surfaces. Organizing decides where your belongings live, which is your call and nobody else's.
In practice a cleaner works around what is there, lifts items to clean under them and puts them back in their exact place. Emptying a cabinet, sorting a pantry or rehoming what is on a counter is separate work, arranged with you for an extra fee. At Andemora, inside cabinets and pantry organization are exactly that: agreed separately, never assumed.
Do cleaning services move furniture?
Light pieces, yes, and only to clean behind them. A nightstand, a dining chair, a laundry basket or a small side table gets moved, the floor underneath is done, and the piece goes back exactly where it was.
Heavy furniture stays put. Sofas, beds, bookcases, appliances and anything with a risk of scratching a floor or straining a back are cleaned around and under where the tool reaches. Nothing should ever be moved and left out of place, and nothing should be dragged across a wood floor.
Does house cleaning include windows?
Interior glass within reach is normally included: mirrors, glass doors, interior panes, sills and tracks. Mirrors and glass are checked under side light, which is the angle where streaks actually show.
Full window washing is separate. Exterior glass, upper floors, storm windows and screens need ladders or equipment, and that work is quoted on its own or handled by a specialist. If a quote says "windows," ask which side of the glass it means before the visit, not after.
Who supplies the products, and are they safe for kids and pets?
Ask before the first visit. Some providers bring everything; others expect to use what is under your sink. Andemora brings its own supplies, included in the service, and uses products that are safe for kids and pets.
If you want a way to judge a product label on your own shelf, the EPA runs the Safer Choice program: when a product carries the Safer Choice label, EPA scientists have reviewed every ingredient against the program's criteria, with no exceptions, and the agency describes certified products as safer for families, pets, workplaces, neighborhoods and the environment. It is a screen, not a guarantee about every claim on a bottle.
Two surfaces decide more than product choice: natural stone and wood. Abrasive products and acids belong nowhere near either. If your home has marble, granite or unsealed wood, say so during the estimate so the right products come with the team.
What is never included, and what is an add-on?
There is a useful difference between the two. An add-on is cleaning work that is priced on its own. Work that is never included is a different trade altogether.
- Other trades, not cleaning: floor refinishing or polishing, painting, repairs, duct and dryer-vent work, junk removal, pest control.
- Specialist cleaning, booked on its own: carpet and upholstery extraction, exterior house or deck washing, chimney work, larger mold remediation.
- Add-ons, quoted by condition: the inside of the refrigerator and the inside of the oven.
- Arranged separately for an extra fee: inside cabinets and pantry organization.
- Agree in writing either way: laundry, dishes, changing linens, interior window detail, garages and unfinished spaces.
Ask for the checklist in writing before the first visit. Every argument about scope happens because somebody assumed, and a list ends the assuming. If you also want to know what moves the number on the quote, that is covered in what drives house cleaning cost.
What changes in a New England home
A few local things change what belongs in a routine visit here. From December into March, salt and sand ride in on boots and settle at the entries, along baseboards and in stair corners, so those edges need attention weekly rather than seasonally. Mud season does the same with grit and water.
Spring pollen lands on sills, tracks and blinds, which is why interior glass sits inside a standard visit in Southern New Hampshire and the Merrimack Valley rather than waiting for a yearly pass. Humid summers move the attention to bathrooms, where the fan cover, the shower track and the silicone lines matter more than the tile.
How the checklist works at Andemora
Rayane Moura has been cleaning homes in Southern New Hampshire and the Merrimack Valley since 2020, and every visit follows the four steps of the Triple-A Standard: arrival on time and uniformed, with our own supplies and a message on the way; execution top to bottom, back of the house to the front door, with personal items returned to their exact place; a walkthrough where every room is re-checked against the checklist under room light and natural light; and lock-up, with lights off, doors locked and a message that the home is ready.
The scope is stated before the first visit, not after. Inside the microwave is part of every cleaning. Inside cabinets and pantry organization are arranged separately for an extra fee. The refrigerator and oven interiors are add-ons, quoted by the condition of the appliance. No rag or bucket left behind, no furniture moved and not put back, no abrasive products on stone or wood, and nothing about your keys, codes or routine discussed with anyone. You can ask for an estimate and have the written list for your home in advance.
Frequently asked questions
Do cleaning services clean inside the microwave, the refrigerator and the oven?
At Andemora the inside of the microwave is part of every cleaning, Standard and Deep. The inside of the refrigerator and the inside of the oven are add-ons, quoted by the condition of the appliance, so they are decided before the visit rather than during it.
Will a cleaning service change the bed sheets?
Making a bed is commonly part of a visit. Stripping and changing linens is usually agreed in advance, with the clean set left out on the bed so nobody has to guess which one you wanted.
Is cleaning the same as disinfecting?
No. The CDC describes cleaning as removing germs, dirt and impurities with soap or detergent, and disinfecting as killing most germs on a surface. Cleaning regularly is enough in most homes, and you clean first anyway, because dirt keeps a disinfectant from reaching the germs.
Do I need to be home while the house is cleaned?
Either works. What matters is agreeing access in advance and knowing when the team is coming and when they have left, which is why a message on the way and a message at lock-up are part of every visit.
What should I do before the cleaner arrives?
Clear the counters, nightstands and floors enough to reach what is underneath, and put away anything you would rather nobody handled. A covered surface is a surface that cannot be cleaned.
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