East Putney is one stop north of us on the District line, in SW15, and most of what we clean there sits along Upper Richmond Road in the Edwardian mansion blocks. Same red brick, same heavy communal front door, same wide stairs with a tiled half landing. Good flats to clean. Awkward flats to reach.
Which floor are you on
The older blocks along that road tend not to have a lift, so we ask the floor before we hand out a time. Nothing about the price moves. What moves is how the kit arrives: hose run from the van at the kerb for a first or second floor carpet job, the portable extractor carried up for anything above that. Loading outside on Upper Richmond Road is a two minute affair at best, so we unload into the communal hall and then take the van round into a side street.
What gets booked here
Tenancies here are short. Sharers move in and out of these flats constantly, so the fixed price move-out clean is the bread and butter, £207 for a one bedroom and £243 for two, with the oven inside that. A fair number of the kitchens are galley shaped with the oven at floor level, which is a knees-down job, and a single oven costs £77 with the racks dipped in the van while we work.
Weekly work in the blocks
The flats that are owned rather than let take regular housework at £22 per cleaner per hour weekly, usually two or three hours, and porters or neighbours in the block will often recommend whoever they already see on the stairs. Word gets round. Key safes are less common here than on our own streets, so most of these are visits with somebody at home or a key left with us.
What we will not do in a block
Communal stairs, the entrance hall and the bin store belong to the freeholder and are usually already covered by a managing agent’s contract, so we clean from your own front door inwards. That is not our job. If you are moving out, paying us to do the landing will not help your deposit. Balcony windows above ground level need somebody with a pole and the insurance to match, which is not us either. And we cannot prop a fire door open with a hose through it for two hours, so on the upper floors the extractor comes in with us.
Prices and the border
Everything is charged exactly as it is at home in Southfields. Nothing is added for crossing into SW15. The round often takes in both ends of the postcode before lunch, since Putney proper is ten minutes further on and the traffic along Upper Richmond Road is worse in the middle of the day than it is at eight in the morning. The full list is on the Southfields home page.
Questions we get asked
How much is an end of tenancy clean in East Putney?
£156 for a studio, £207 for one bedroom and £243 for two, fixed before we start and with one oven included. Carpet extraction is charged per room on top, at £36 a bedroom.
Can you get a carpet machine up to a third floor flat?
Yes. Where a mansion block has no lift we carry the portable extractor up rather than running hose from the van, which is slower but works to the same standard. The price per room does not change for the floor you are on.
Do you cover the rest of SW15?
Putney and the streets between the two stations, yes, and we are along Upper Richmond Road most days of the week. Nothing is added to the price for the drive.
Rather talk? Ring 020 8077 8130, seven days.