Move-In Cleaning in New Orleans
Before the boxes land. Inside every cabinet, inside the fridge and oven, the vent grilles, the closet shelves — all the places the last tenant never touched and the landlord called "broom clean".
⚡ Price My Move-In Clean Call (504) 315-8112★ 5.0 on Google · licensed, insured and bonded in Louisiana
Orleans Parish · Metairie · Kenner · Northshore
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"Broom clean" is a real phrase in a real lease and it means almost nothing. It means the previous tenant took their furniture and ran a broom across the middle of the floor. It does not mean anybody opened a cabinet, pulled the crisper drawer, or looked at the vent grille above the shower.
Move-in cleaning in New Orleans exists because of the gap between that phrase and what you actually want before you put your plates in a cupboard. It is a different scope from a maintenance clean, and we price it as its own job.
What a move-in clean covers
Inside every cabinet
Every kitchen and bathroom cabinet interior, every drawer, wiped and dried. This is the part people care about most and the part "broom clean" never includes.
Fridge and oven interiors
Shelves out, crisper drawers out, door seals wiped. Oven racks and interior. If the appliances are staying, they get done.
Closets and shelving
Shelves, rods, corners and floors. Closets sit closed for weeks between tenants in this climate and they show it.
Vents, grilles and fans
Bathroom extractor grilles, supply vents, ceiling fan blades. In an empty unit this is reachable in a way it never is later.
Switches, handles, frames
Light switches, door handles, door frames and the tops of doors. High-touch surfaces from somebody else’s life.
Bathrooms, properly
Tub, shower, grout worked with a brush, toilet including the base and behind, mirrors, fixtures, floor.
Book it before the movers, not after
This is the one piece of advice that saves people the most money and almost nobody takes it.
An empty unit cleans faster, cheaper and far better. Once the boxes are in, the crew is cleaning around a stack of cartons in every room and the cabinet interiors — the reason you booked — are already full of your dishes. We will still do it, and we will tell you plainly what we could not reach. But if you have any control over the sequence, put us in the day before the truck.
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What the humidity does to an empty unit
A place that has been sitting closed and un-air-conditioned for three weeks in a New Orleans summer does not smell like nothing. It smells like mildew, and the source is usually the same short list: closet corners, the rubber seal of a switched-off fridge, the bathroom extractor grille, and the inside face of exterior-wall baseboards.
That list is on our move-in checklist for exactly this reason. Surface mildew we handle. If it is coming from inside a wall or the ductwork, we will say so rather than sell you a second clean that will not fix it.
Timing, and August 1st
| When | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Late July | The realistic window if you are taking an August 1 lease. Unit is usually empty, crews are available. |
| August 1 | The busiest lease-turn day in the city. We can do it — book two to three weeks ahead or it will not happen. |
| June and early July | Easy scheduling. Most family and non-student moves land here. |
| Any month | Buying rather than renting? Book between closing and the truck. Same scope, and you finally get inside the previous owner’s cabinets. |
Where we do move-in cleans
- Uptown and the university corridor — heavy August turnover, a lot of converted doubles and upstairs units.
- Mid-City and Bayou St. John — shotguns and doubles, usually the fastest jobs.
- CBD, Warehouse District and the Marigny — condos and converted warehouse units, often with appliances staying.
- Lakeview and Gentilly — family houses, bigger scope, more closets.
- Metairie, Kenner and Harahan — slab houses with straightforward layouts and quick pricing.
What we do not do
- Carpet shampooing or steam extraction — different equipment. We vacuum thoroughly and tell you if it needs more.
- Painting, patching or touch-up. That is the landlord’s side of the handover.
- Pest treatment. We will tell you what we see, which is worth knowing before you unpack.
- Hauling away what the last tenant abandoned. We clean the space; we do not empty it.
Nearby and related
Leaving a place as well as arriving at one? That is move-out cleaning, and there is a full move-out checklist if you would rather do it yourself. For the ongoing schedule once you are settled, see recurring cleaning or your neighbourhood page — Uptown, Mid-City or Lakeview.
The six places a "broom clean" never touches
This is not a checklist we invented for the website. It is what we actually find, in order of how often it turns up.
- Inside the cabinet above the fridge — the one nobody can reach without standing on something. Nine times out of ten it still has the last tenant’s things in it.
- The crisper drawers and the fridge door seal — the seal is a rubber channel that holds everything. It is also the part you put your food next to.
- Behind and under the toilet base — not the bowl, the floor and the porcelain foot. A broom goes past it; nothing else does.
- The bathroom extractor grille — three weeks of a closed, un-air-conditioned New Orleans summer and that grille is furred. It is also why the place smells.
- Closet floors and the corner where the rod meets the wall — closets sit shut between tenants in this climate and they show it.
- Light switches and door handles — every one of them, from somebody else’s hands. Two minutes, and it is the thing people say they can actually feel.
Move-in cleaning New Orleans — what people ask
How much does move-in cleaning cost in New Orleans?
Most move-in cleans run $220 to $420 depending on the number of bathrooms and whether the kitchen appliances are staying. An empty place is faster to clean but slower to clean properly, because everything that was hidden by furniture is now visible and in scope. The estimator prices it as an empty-home job, which is its own category.
What is the difference between move-in and move-out cleaning?
Scope, mostly. A move-out clean is aimed at a landlord's inspection and a deposit. A move-in clean is aimed at you not living in somebody else's residue — inside every cabinet and drawer, inside the fridge and oven, vent grilles, light switches, door handles, the inside of the closets. Same crew, different checklist.
Should I book it before or after the movers?
Before, if you can possibly manage it. An empty unit takes a fraction of the time and we can actually get inside the cabinets and along the baseboards. If the boxes are already in, we clean around them and tell you honestly what we could not reach.
Do you clean inside kitchen cabinets and drawers?
On a move-in clean, yes — that is the whole point of the service. Every cabinet interior, every drawer, the inside of the fridge and the oven. On a standard maintenance clean those are add-ons.
Can you do it on August 1st?
We can, but book it two or three weeks out. August 1st is the single busiest lease-turn day in this city and every cleaner, mover and locksmith in Orleans Parish is spoken for. Late July is easier and the unit is usually empty by then anyway.
Get the place clean before your furniture arrives
Flat price up front, empty-home scope, insured employees. Book it for the day before the truck.
⚡ Price My Move-In CleanCall (504) 315-8112★ 5.0 on Google · licensed, insured and bonded in Louisiana