A professional whole-house clean follows one route through the property, works top-down and dry-before-wet in every room, and never re-enters a finished space. Almost all of the speed comes from not backtracking.
The route through the house
The route is decided before anything is picked up. It starts furthest from the exit and works back, so the last floor cleaned is the one by the door.
Room by room
| Room | Order of work |
|---|---|
| Kitchen | Product on sink and stovetop → high surfaces → cupboard fronts → benches → appliance fronts → sink and stovetop finished → floor |
| Bathroom | Ventilate → product on shower, basin, toilet → mirror and glass → shower and basin → toilet last → floor, dried |
| Bedrooms | Linen → high surfaces → touch points → bed remade → floor |
| Living areas | High surfaces → soft furnishings vacuumed → surfaces → floor |
| Hallways | Handrails and switches → skirtings on rotation → floor last |
| Laundry | Bench and sink → machine exteriors → floor |
Batching beats finishing rooms
Doing all the dusting across the house, then all the surfaces, then all the vacuuming, is faster than completing rooms one at a time. Each tool gets picked up once.
The rules that make it work
- Top to bottom, always — gravity does the sorting
- Dry work before wet work in every room
- Product on early, so dwell time costs nothing
- One caddy carried with you; no trips back to the cupboard
- Colour-coded cloths so no decision is needed
- Floors last, mopped toward the exit
- Never re-enter a finished room
Where a first clean differs
A first clean of a home that has not been done properly in a while is a different job. The route is the same, but the time is not, and there is usually a decision to make about whether it should be a deep clean instead. We say so up front rather than running out of time on the day.
We clean across Melbourne's eastern suburbs from our base in Croydon. Tell us what you need and we will come back with a clear answer, usually the same day.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a whole house take?
Two to five hours for a maintenance clean, depending on size and what is included. A first clean takes considerably longer.
Why do cleaners do the floors last?
Because everything else sends dust and splash downward. Doing floors first means doing them twice.
Should I be home?
Not unless you want to be. Most regular clients arrange access and go about their day.
3 Piglets Cleaning
We are a Croydon-based cleaning company serving Melbourne's eastern and south-eastern suburbs. Our technicians are police-checked and fully insured, and those working with NDIS participants and older clients hold NDIS Worker Screening Clearances. More about us.
