Edgwarebury is the HA8 fringe north of the town, where the streets run out into the Green Belt and the houses get considerably bigger. Edgwarebury Lane is the spine of it, with large detached properties set well back on long plots, and Edgwarebury Park at the top end. The clean here is a different size of job from a semi off the main road, and the pricing follows the property rather than the postcode. A four bedroom move out clean is £425 and a team deep clean runs from £186 to £498.
Big houses want a team, not a cleaner
One person in a five bedroom detached house for three hours achieves very little, and we would rather say that than take the booking. So most of what we do up here is the one off deep clean, priced as team time: £186 for two cleaners over three hours, £264 for three over three, £342 for three over four, and £498 for three across six hours, which is the largest booking we take. Most houses on the lanes land on one of the last two. For anyone moving out, a four bedroom handover clean is £425 fixed, the top of our scale, and it covers the whole property however long the day turns into.
Range cookers and second kitchens
Range cookers are standard here in a way they are not further south. A 90cm range is £114 and needs the best part of three hours, because there are two cavities and a lot of heavy metalwork going through the dip tank. A two oven AGA is £143 and takes most of a day, switched off the night before so it is cold when we arrive. Several of the larger houses also keep a second oven in a utility room, and that is charged as its own appliance at £77 or £110 depending on type. The oven service works the same way whatever the size: removable parts into the heated tank in the van, cavity and glass by hand in the kitchen.
Long gravel drives and the hose problem
Long gravel drives are lovely to look at and a nuisance to work off. Dragging an extraction line across loose stone pushes it into ruts, and every stone that comes indoors on a boot ends up in a carpet somebody is paying us to clean. So we park close, run lines along the edge of the drive, and lay mats at whichever door is in use. On the block paved ones it is the sand in the joints that travels instead. The hose reaches about 25 metres from the van, which on a long plot is worth checking before the morning, and where it will not stretch a portable unit comes up to the house instead.
Original floors under long-standing carpet
Several of the older houses on the lanes have original parquet under fitted carpet, sometimes undisturbed since it went down. If a carpet is being lifted anyway, say so before we book the extraction work, because there is no sense cleaning something bound for a skip and the floor underneath may want a joiner rather than a cleaner. Where the carpet is staying, the machine runs at a lower moisture setting with extra dry passes. Bedroom carpets are £36 and a through lounge £61, while rugs bill at £35 under 2m² and £51 over it. More large rugs turn up here than anywhere else on the round.
Getting a slot
Edgwarebury is a few minutes from the town centre, so access is easy, and the Green Belt end is quiet enough that parking has never once been a problem. Bigger jobs want more notice, simply because putting three cleaners on one house for a day means moving other work. A week is usually enough. Spring is the exception, when the fortnight before Passover fills the whole diary and short notice does not work at all. We also reach Mill Hill across the brook on the same rates. The contact page lists what is worth having to hand before you dial 020 8077 1591.
Questions we get asked
How much is a deep clean for a large detached house?
Three cleaners for four hours is £342, which covers most five bedroom houses on the lanes, and three across six hours is £498 for a whole house in a day. Two cleaners for four hours is £238 and suits something smaller.
Do you clean range cookers and AGAs?
Yes. £114 covers a 90cm range, around three hours of work, since both cavities get hand attention and the metalwork goes through the heated tank on the van. A two oven AGA is £143, and a second oven elsewhere in the house bills at £77 or £110.
How much notice do you need for a big job?
About a week for a three cleaner booking, because it means rearranging other work to free a team for the day. Smaller jobs often fit in sooner. The fortnight before Passover in spring is booked out months ahead.
Will your hose reach up a long drive?
It runs to about 25 metres from the van. Where a plot is longer than that we bring a portable extraction unit up to the house instead, which takes a little longer and costs nothing extra. Mention the drive length when you book.
Is there parquet under most of these carpets?
Under a fair few of the older houses, yes, sometimes undisturbed since it was laid. We run the extraction drier over it. If the carpet is coming up anyway, tell us and we will save you the cost of cleaning it.
Rather talk? Ring 020 8077 1591, seven days.