What a weekly domestic clean actually looks like — a Newton Hall walkthrough

One of the most common questions we get from new customers in Durham — particularly in family-heavy areas like Newton Hall, Belmont and Framwellgate Moor — is: "I've never had a regular cleaner before. What actually happens?"

It's a fair question, and one of the most important to answer honestly. So here's the proper walkthrough of what a weekly domestic clean with us looks like in a typical Durham family home. Not the marketing version. The real one.

Before the first visit

Once you've got in touch and we've talked through what you need, we'll arrange a quick visit — either an in-person walkthrough or a video call, whichever suits. The point is so your regular cleaner can see the property and understand exactly what you want:

• Which rooms are in scope and which aren't (a lot of customers don't want their home office or a particular bedroom touched).
• Any surfaces needing special care — wooden floors, marble worktops, period furniture.
• Whether to use our cleaning products or yours.
• Allergies, pets, small children — this affects which cleaning products we use.
• Where the hoover, mop, bin bags and cleaning supplies live (if using yours).
• How we get in if you're not home — keys, key safe, smart lock.

What we bring

Unless you specifically ask us to use your own kit, we turn up with everything we need for a domestic clean. That includes:

• A full caddy of professional cleaning products — multi-surface, kitchen degreaser, bathroom cleaner with descaler, glass spray, toilet cleaner, polish.
• Eco-friendly cleaning products — plant-based, kid-and-pet-safe versions of all the above. We use these as default on every domestic clean unless told otherwise.
• Colour-coded microfibre cloths — blue for kitchens, red for bathrooms, yellow for general surfaces, green for toilets. Never the same cloth used in two areas.
• A commercial-grade vacuum cleaner with HEPA filter — better for asthma and allergies than most domestic hoovers.
• Mop, bucket, dustpan, brushes, polish, the lot.

The clean itself — room by room

A standard weekly domestic clean covers the whole property and takes about 2.5–3 hours for an average Durham 3-bed semi. Here's what gets done.

Kitchen

• All worktops, splashbacks and surfaces cleaned and sanitised
• Hob wiped down (full hob deep clean is a separate service)
• Outside of all appliances — oven, fridge, microwave, dishwasher
• Sink scrubbed and taps polished
• Floor swept and mopped
• Bin emptied and relined

Bathrooms

• Toilet cleaned and sanitised — bowl, seat, base, behind
• Bath, shower, basin scrubbed
• Tiles wiped down, glass screen polished
• Mirror polished, taps and chrome shone
• Floor mopped, bin emptied

Living areas and bedrooms

• Surfaces dusted — shelves, side tables, windowsills, picture frames
• Mirrors and glass polished
• Light switches and door handles wiped
• Floors hoovered (carpets) or mopped (hard floors)
• Beds made if linens are out, or changed if fresh linens are left

Everywhere

• Skirting boards wiped (rotating which rooms get extra detail per visit)
• Cobwebs cleared from corners
• Stairs hoovered
• Hallway floor cleaned

What we don't touch unless you ask

This is the bit that sets honest expectations. A weekly domestic clean is a maintenance clean — it keeps an already-decent home looking lovely every week. It's not a deep clean. So these are not included in a standard weekly visit unless you ask:

• Inside ovens, fridges, freezers (separate services)
• Inside cupboards and wardrobes
• Windows from the inside (can be added)
• Carpets steam-cleaned (separate service)
• Ironing (available as an add-on)
• Anything fragile you've asked us not to touch

If you want any of that included, just tell us. We can either roll it into the weekly visit (adds about 30 minutes), or schedule a one-off deep clean every six months on top of your regular cleaning service. Lots of our Newton Hall and Belmont customers do exactly that.

How long it actually takes

Real numbers for a Durham home, based on hundreds of cleans:

• 2-bed flat — 2 hours
• 3-bed semi (typical Newton Hall house) — 2.5 to 3 hours
• 4-bed family home — 3 to 3.5 hours
• 5-bed or detached — 3.5 to 4.5 hours

We're not trying to be in and out as fast as possible — we're trying to do it properly. But we don't drag it out either. You're paying for the work, not the clock.

Same cleaner, every visit

This is the bit that matters most. Wherever possible, you'll have the same cleaner every week. They learn your home — your quirks, your preferences, the way you like the toilet roll folded, whether you want the curtains open or closed when they leave. After a few visits they clean more efficiently because they know the layout, and the whole thing starts to feel less like a stranger going through the motions and more like having someone who genuinely cares about the place.

If your regular cleaner is off sick or on holiday, we'll let you know in advance and either reschedule or send a backup cleaner with detailed notes on your house. We'd never just send someone you don't know without telling you first.

A weekly domestic clean isn't a deep clean. It's how you stop ever needing a deep clean again.

What it costs in Durham

Our weekly domestic cleaning rates in Durham start at £18/hour with a 2-hour minimum, so a typical Durham 3-bed semi works out around £50–£55 per visit. Most customers prefer fortnightly at the same per-visit rate, which works out around £100 a month.

No contracts, no minimum terms, no cancellation fees. You can pause, increase or stop your service whenever you want.