The spots that cost people their deposit
Landlords in Fort McMurray see the same things over and over. These are the ones that show up on inspection reports most often.
- Inside the oven and under the stove top. Baked-on grease is the number one deduction.
- Inside the fridge and freezer, including the drawers and door seals.
- Bathroom grout, the base of the toilet and the shower door track.
- Baseboards and the tops of door frames. Nobody dusts them until they move.
- Inside kitchen cabinets and drawers. Crumbs count.
- Cabinet fronts and handles. Dark cabinets show every fingerprint and grease mark, so wipe them last and buff them dry.
- Light fixtures and ceiling fans.
- Window tracks. Winter leaves a lot of grit in them.
What a move-out clean should include
A proper move-out clean goes further than a weekly tidy. Every room gets dusted and wiped top to bottom, floors are vacuumed and mopped, and the kitchen and bathrooms are scrubbed, not just wiped. The inside of the oven, fridge, cabinets and drawers are part of it, and so are the baseboards.
If you want to see the full list, our checklist page shows exactly what we do in each room.
Timing it right
Book the clean for after your furniture is out and before the inspection. An empty unit cleans faster and nothing gets missed behind a couch. If your inspection is the morning after your move, book the clean for the afternoon before.
In Fort McMurray the end and start of each month fill up fast, especially in summer when camp rotations and school terms change. Book a week ahead if you can.
Do it yourself or hire it out?
A two-bedroom apartment takes most people a full day to clean to inspection standard, plus the cost of supplies. A crew does it in a few hours with the right products. Compare that to the deduction a landlord would make, and hiring it out usually comes out ahead. Either way, take photos of every room when you are done.
