Cleaners in Clapton

Clapton is the top corner of the patch and it is really two places with a pond in the middle. E5, north-east of Dalston towards the Lea marshes. Lower Clapton sits below the pond in the older streets and Upper Clapton runs up towards the river, and both are mostly large Victorian houses cut into flats, a good many of them let by the room. Move-out work is priced exactly as it is in Dalston, from £156 for a studio.

E5 gets done in a block

This is the furthest part of the round, so Clapton jobs go on the same day where we can rather than sending a van up and back three times. Tuesdays and Thursdays, mostly. Being flexible about the day gets you an earlier slot. Where a check-out is pinned to another day we still come, it simply means the van is making the trip for one job and an afternoon is more likely than a morning. Nothing is added for the distance either way.

Half landings, every time

The standard Clapton job is a first or second floor conversion behind a shared front door, up a staircase that turns halfway. Carpets go by the room at £36 a bedroom, and stairs inside your own flat are £41 a flight. Anything communal in a converted house sits with the freeholder rather than in your tenancy, so it stays off your bill unless you specifically ask for it. Whole houses that were never split are the exception up here, and those are the ones that want a weekly cleaner at £22 an hour more than they want a move-out.

When the tenancy is one room

Plenty of E5 flats are let one room at a time, so the check-out we get asked for is a single bedroom plus whatever share of the kitchen and bathroom the agreement makes you responsible for. That job is quoted on the call against the £67 one off minimum, because the banded prices assume the whole property is going back empty. Tell us which rooms are in the scope. A flat with two kitchens and two bathrooms in use has more to scope than a one bedroom flat, and that is the only thing that moves the number. You will also get an honest answer about whether the communal areas will pass an inspection without the other tenants doing their part, because often they will not and it is better said in advance.

The pond end and the marsh end

Around Clapton Pond the streets are tight and busy and the van rarely gets close to a door. Further up towards the marshes there is more room, more garden, and a great deal more mud walked through a hallway between October and March. An extra mat goes down and the hall is cleaned last, once everything else is finished. Small thing. It saves doing the room twice, which is the whole reason anybody bothers.

What it costs up here

Studio £156, one bedroom £207, two bedrooms £243, three £339, four £425, cooker inside at ordinary grease. A single oven booked alone is £77, a double £110, a 90cm range £114 and a two oven AGA £143, with hobs £23 and extractors £28. Carpets £36, £43 and £61 by room with flights at £41 and rugs at £35 or £51. Housework £22 weekly and £24 fortnightly per cleaner per hour, ironing £12. Deep cleans £186 to £498. Coming back the other way the van passes through Stoke Newington and Hackney Central, so a late job on the way home is often easier to fit than an early one. Everything is set out on the prices page.

Questions we get asked

Do you charge extra to come out to Clapton?

No, the list is the same as Dalston. E5 is the furthest part of the round, so we group Clapton jobs onto the same day where we can. Being flexible about the day usually gets you an earlier slot.

Can you clean one room in a house share?

Yes, and it is common in E5. The banded prices are for a whole property, so a room plus its share of the kitchen and bathroom is quoted on the call against the £67 one off floor. Tell us which rooms are in the scope.

How much are the stairs in a converted house?

£41 a flight with its landing, and that covers the stairs inside your own flat. The communal flight in a converted house sits with the freeholder, which normally keeps it outside both your tenancy and your bill.

What do you do about muddy hallways in winter?

Put a mat down and clean the hall last, once every other room is finished. Anybody living between Upper Clapton and the marshes knows why. It is the one floor that gets undone in ten seconds.