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Standard or Deep Clean? A 60-Second Quiz

Eight questions. No email. An honest answer — including when a standard clean is enough.

How do I know if I need a standard clean or a deep clean?

The difference comes down to build-up in specific spots a standard clean is not designed to reach: grease inside the oven and range hood, soap scum and grout discolouration in the bathroom, dust inside vents and behind furniture, and grime under small kitchen appliances. If none of that has gone untouched for more than a few months, a standard clean is enough. If several of those areas have gone six months or more without attention — or you are moving in or out of a home — a deep clean or move-in/out clean is the right call.

This quiz asks about those specific areas instead of guessing. Eight questions, scored the same way we use internally, no email required, and an honest "standard is fine" when that is the truthful answer — roughly half of the households who take it get exactly that outcome.

Question 1 of 80%
Q1. When was your home last cleaned professionally?

Select one answer. You can go back and change it.

How the scoring works

Each answer carries a weight based on how much it typically affects cleaning time and difficulty — kitchen grease and bathroom grout carry more weight than baseboard dust, because they take longer to correct. The eight answers add up to a score out of 30.

  • 0–7 → a standard clean
  • 8–16 → a standard clean now, with a deep clean recommended within a few months
  • 17–30 → a deep clean

Two answers override the score entirely. Saying yes to a move-in, move-out, or rental turnover always returns a move-in/out clean recommendation. Reporting recent renovation, smoke, flood, mould, or a vacancy over a year always returns a recommendation to get an assessment first, rather than book either service.

The five possible outcomes

  • Standard clean — your home is maintained well; paying for deep-clean work you do not need yet does not make sense.
  • Standard now, deep clean soon — a standard clean works today, but build-up is starting in specific areas.
  • Deep clean — accumulated build-up needs grout scrubbing, appliance interiors, and vents that a standard clean skips.
  • Move-in / move-out clean — an empty home is cleaned differently, and reachable in ways an occupied one is not.
  • Specialty assessment — renovation dust, smoke, flood, or mould damage is not a cleaning problem a standard or deep clean solves; it needs an assessment first.

Common questions

Straight answers about standard vs deep cleaning — independent of your quiz result.

Most homes on a regular standard schedule benefit from one deep clean a year. Homes with pets, high traffic, or hard water often need one every six months.

It is if there is build-up a standard clean cannot reach — grout, inside appliances, vents, behind furniture. If your home was deep cleaned recently, it is not.

Typically 1.5 to 2 times a standard clean for the same home.

Many companies allow it — a kitchen or bathroom deep clean with standard cleaning elsewhere. Ask.

This is the most common source of disappointment in residential cleaning. A good company will flag it on arrival rather than proceeding and leaving you unhappy. Ask what happens in that situation before you book.

Prefer a side-by-side checklist? See standard cleaning vs deep cleaning.

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