Move-out cleaning and end of tenancy cleaning are largely the same job. The difference is who you are satisfying: a property manager doing a bond inspection, or a purchaser taking possession. The scope is nearly identical, and so is the price.
What it costs
Waikato ranges for an empty property, excluding GST:
| Property | Move out clean | With carpets machine-cleaned |
|---|---|---|
| 1-bedroom unit | $200–$300 | $280–$420 |
| 2-bedroom | $250–$380 | $370–$540 |
| 3-bedroom house | $350–$550 | $510–$760 |
| 4-bedroom house | $450–$700 | $650–$980 |
Empty is cheaper, and it is not marginal
Cleaning an occupied property costs more per square metre than an empty one, because a meaningful share of the time goes on moving things, cleaning around things, and putting things back. On an empty property none of that exists, and more importantly, everything is actually reachable.
This is why we would rather come the day after the truck than the day before. If you clean while you are still living there, the marks under the bed and behind the couch stay exactly where they are, and those are the ones an inspection finds.
Timing it around settlement
Settlement dates move. That is the planning problem with move-out cleaning, and it is worth being honest about.
What works:
- Book early, confirm late. Get in the calendar two to three weeks out and confirm the morning of.
- Aim for the gap, not the deadline. If keys hand over at 4pm, a morning clean has slack in it; a 2pm clean does not.
- Tell your cleaner it is a settlement job. We hold a wider window for these and schedule accordingly.
December through February is the busiest moving period in New Zealand by a wide margin. In those months, two to three weeks of notice is realistic rather than cautious.
Move-in cleans are worth more than people think
Most people clean on the way out because they have to, and skip it on the way in because the place looks fine. But an empty house you have just bought is the only time you will ever have easy access to cupboard interiors, behind appliances, the tops of wardrobes and every skirting board at once.
Once the furniture is in, those become a weekend project nobody does. A move-in clean is typically 20–30% cheaper than a vacate clean, because you are cleaning ordinary residue rather than years of accumulated build-up.
What should be included
Everything in the end of tenancy checklist applies. If a quote does not specifically list the oven interior, rangehood filter, inside cabinetry and window tracks, ask, those four are where cheap quotes make their margin by omission.
Our move in / move out cleaning includes a photo record of every room at completion, which is as useful at a property handover as it is at a bond inspection.