Final cleaning of the holiday home: do not spend your last holiday on cleaning

The holiday is nearly over, the sun is out, and the last day in the holiday home should be spent on the beach or on the terrace. Yet many people end up spending those last hours washing floors, doing dishes and dusting, because the house has to be handed back clean. It does not have to be that way.

What is final cleaning?

Final cleaning is the clean that has to be done when you leave a rented holiday home. Most owners and agencies require the house to be handed back cleaned, either by doing it yourself or by paying for it to be done.

The requirements are in the rental contract or the house folder, and they vary from house to house. In some places final cleaning is included in the rent, in others you have to arrange it or buy it as an extra. It is worth reading when you book, not on departure day.

What does a final clean cover?

A typical final clean means handing the house back the way you would like to meet it on arrival: floors washed, kitchen and appliances clean, dishes away, bathroom cleaned, waste out, and beds and furniture put back.

• The kitchen with oven, hob, extractor, inside the fridge and the worktops.
• The bathroom with toilet, shower, basin, mirror and floor, including the drain.
• All floors, including under the table and in the hallway where the sand sits.
• Surfaces: tables, shelves, window sills, handles and switches.
• Waste out and bins emptied, including the one in the bathroom.
• Furniture and beds back in place, and cushions in if that is the arrangement.

Oven, fridge and extractor are often included, and many agencies have a checklist to follow. If the cleaning is not approved the owner can deduct a fee, so it pays to have it done properly.

What guests most often get charged for

There is a short list of things that recur when a final clean is not approved, and it is rarely the floors.

• The oven. It needs time and a product that has to work, and it gets skipped at the last minute.
• The barbecue. Used all week, cleaned never.
• The fridge, where half a bottle and a spill in the bottom get left behind.
• Sand and hair in the bathroom drain.
• Crumbs in drawers and in the toaster.
• The terrace, which does not feel like part of the house but is often in the contract.

What doing it yourself costs

The arithmetic is worth doing, because it rarely comes out the way people expect. A final clean of an ordinary holiday home takes three to four hours if you do it properly and do not know the house. That is half a holiday day for two adults.

On top of that, you do not have the right things with you. Most holidays are packed with swimwear, not with oven cleaner, a proper floor mop and a squeegee. So it takes longer than it would at home, and the result is typically no better.

Then there is the risk. If the cleaning is not approved you pay to have it done anyway, on top of the hours you already spent. That combination is why many people simply buy it from the start.

What you have to do yourself regardless

Even when we do the final clean, a few things stay with the guest, because they are about your own belongings rather than about cleaning.

• Take all your own things out of the house, including from cupboards, the fridge and the bathroom.
• Empty the fridge of your food. We wipe it out, but we do not throw your things away without being asked.
• Collect bottles and deposits if they are not to be left behind.
• Leave the key as agreed with the owner.

We take the rest.

Does the guest have to arrange the final clean?

Yes, in many cases it is the guest's responsibility. If your rental requires you to arrange the final cleaning, we can do it for you. We work to the standard and the checklist the owner expects, so the house is approved and you avoid a deduction or an unpleasant message after the holiday.

It is also worth knowing this is not the same job as a changeover clean. A changeover prepares the house for the next guest and is paid by the owner. A final clean hands the house back and is paid by you. The cleaning looks similar, but they are two different arrangements.

How it works with us

It is simple: give us the address, the departure day and the check-out time, and tell us what the owner requires. Then we come and do the final clean after you have left, or while you are packing the last things.

You hand back a clean house without lifting a finger, and you spend the last day on what a holiday is actually for. We photograph the house when we finish, so you have a record of how it was handed over.

Book in good time

Departure days are the same for everybody. The great majority of holiday homes change over on a Saturday, which means every final clean in an area has to happen the same morning. So this is not something you ring about on Friday evening.

Get in touch, ideally before or at the start of the stay, so we can schedule it. Then it is arranged and you need not think about it again.

We cover the whole coast

We are a local cleaning company based in Bork, and we do final cleaning in holiday homes in Bork Havn, Hemmet, Hvide Sande, Søndervig, Nymindegab, Henne Strand, Blåvand, Skjern, Tarm and Ringkøbing. A fixed price agreed in advance, so you know the cost before we arrive.

See also: our holiday home cleaning in Blåvand and Oksbøl.