A Move-Out Cleaning Checklist for Columbus Renters
The cleaning is the straightforward part of a move-out. Getting the house empty enough, and early enough, for anyone to clean it is where most of them come apart.
Book it for the gap, not for moving day
A move-out clean works on an empty house. That is not a preference, it is the whole reason the service can reach inside every cabinet and closet instead of around a stack of boxes.
So the date you want is the gap: after the truck has gone and before you hand over the keys or meet an agent at the door. In practice that is usually the afternoon of your last loading day, or the following morning. If your lease ends on the 31st and the truck comes on the 30th, the 30th at 3pm and the 31st at 9am both work. Noon on the 30th, with half the living room still in it, does not.
Two scheduling facts worth planning around. The first and last week of a month fill up before anything else, because that is when leases turn over across the whole metro. And a move-in or move-out clean runs four to eight hours on most homes, so it wants a real block of the day rather than a slot squeezed between the truck and the walkthrough.
The room-by-room list
This is what an empty-house clean actually covers. It is longer than a standard visit’s list because an empty house has nothing left to work around.
Kitchen
- Inside every cabinet and drawer, top shelf to bottom
- Inside the oven and inside the fridge, included on this service at no extra cost
- Behind and under the fridge and the stove
- Dishwasher interior and the rubber seals
- Cabinet fronts degreased, including the handles and the strip above the range
- Sink, counters, backsplash, and the floor last
Bathrooms
- Inside vanities, drawers, and medicine cabinets
- Tub, shower, tile, and grout scrubbed
- Toilets cleaned inside, outside, and behind the base
- Mirrors, fixtures, and exhaust fan covers
- Floors scrubbed along the edges and behind the toilet, not just the open middle
Every other room
- Inside all closets, shelves and rods included
- Baseboards, door frames, doors, and trim wiped
- Light fixtures and ceiling fan blades
- Window sills, tracks, and interior glass
- Vents and registers dusted
- Floors vacuumed and mopped on the way out, so nobody walks back across them
What “empty” has to mean
The house does not have to be swept and staged. It has to be clear enough that shelves, rods, and cabinet interiors are reachable.
A short list of things worth doing before we arrive:
- Take everything out of cabinets, closets, and the medicine cabinet. Anything left inside is something we clean around instead of under.
- Pull the shower curtain and liner. They are yours, and a wet liner in the tub stops the tub from being scrubbed.
- Empty the fridge and unplug it only if you are leaving it propped open. A fridge that ran until this morning cleans fine; one that has been closed and off for two days is a different problem.
- Bag your own trash and get it to the curb or the dumpster. Hauling is not part of the visit.
- Leave the utilities on. Cleaning takes hot water and lights, and a power shut-off is the one thing nobody thinks to tell us about.
- Sort out access: door code, lockbox, or a key left somewhere we have been told about in writing.
If a few things genuinely cannot leave before we come, tell us when you book and we will work around them. That is a very different conversation from finding a full garage on the day.
What is not part of a move-out clean
Said here rather than discovered on the day:
- Removing belongings or trash left behind. The home has to be empty.
- Carpet shampooing or steam cleaning. We vacuum thoroughly, including edges, but that is vacuuming.
- Patching nail holes, painting, or any repair work.
- Post-construction debris and drywall dust, which needs a different trade.
- Exterior windows, garages, and outdoor spaces.
- Appliance repair, and moving appliances that are plumbed in.
If your lease or contract lists requirements
Plenty of leases and purchase contracts spell out what “clean” means for that property, and the lists vary. Send us yours before you book and we will tell you plainly which items we cover and which we do not.
What we will not do is tell you what your lease means or what you are owed at the end of it. We clean houses. Whether a deposit comes back is between you and whoever holds it, and anyone in this trade who promises you otherwise is selling something they cannot deliver.
What it costs, and what happens next
A move-out clean of a three-bedroom, two-bath home is $359. A two-bedroom is $299 and a one-bedroom is $249. Inside the oven and the fridge are add-ons on every other service and are already in that number here. Every size sits on the rate card, and you can price your own place on the quote form in about a minute.
If you are on the other side of this and the house you are cleaning is the one you are moving into, that is a different job with a different order of operations. We wrote it up separately: move-in cleaning, before you unpack.
Written by The owners of PH Cleaning Co. We publish our rates in full on the pricing page, and every figure in this article is generated from that same rate card when the page is built — so it cannot quietly go stale.
Read next
Move-In Cleaning: Book It Before You Unpack
How to fit a move-in clean between getting the keys and the furniture arriving, which empty surfaces to prioritize, and what to tell the movers so the timing holds.
An Apartment Cleaning Checklist for Smaller Homes
Where the time actually goes in an occupied apartment or condo, the full room list, the extras worth adding, and how to sort out access before the visit.
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