Getting a Home Ready for Listing Photos and the Post-Remodel Clean

Two moments in a home's life ask for a different kind of clean from the weekly one. One is the day before the photographer arrives for a listing. The other is the day after the last contractor leaves. They look different, but they have the same core idea: you're cleaning for a standard higher than daily living, and you're cleaning with a sequence, not at random.

Clean for the camera, not just the eye

Listing photos are taken at wide angles with good light, and a camera records everything the eye has learned to ignore. Smudges on stainless steel, streaks on glass, fingerprints around light switches, water spots on a faucet, dust on baseboards and along the top of the television. Photos also get enlarged on screens, so what looks fine in person can show up as a visible mark on a listing page.

Start with surfaces that catch light. Kitchen counters, sinks, faucets and appliances, bathroom mirrors and chrome, and every window and glass door. In the Coachella Valley, strong sun through the glass makes streaks very visible, so windows facing the sun deserve a second pass.

Declutter first, then clean

A cleaner's work gets undone by clutter. Before a listing clean, clear the counters, put away personal items, remove the magnets and papers from the refrigerator door, and tidy closets that photographers might open. Your agent or a stager can tell you what to keep out. The cleaning should happen after that, so every surface can actually be reached and wiped.

Work top to bottom, and dry before wet

Order matters more than effort. Dust falls, so the ceiling fans, light fixtures, vents and tops of cabinets come first. Then the walls and door frames, then counters and fixtures, and the floors last. If the floors are done first, the next hour of work rains dust back onto them.

Dry work comes before wet work. Dusting and vacuuming are done before any mopping, wiping or window cleaning, because wet cloths turn loose dust into a film. It sounds basic, but skipping it is a common reason a home looks worse once the cleaner has gone.

The details buyers look at

• Inside cabinets, drawers and the oven, since buyers open them.
• Baseboards, door frames and the edges of stairs.
• Grout lines, shower glass and the area around the toilet base.
• Garage floors and entry areas, which set the first impression.
• Sliding door tracks, which collect dust and sand in the desert.
• Light switch plates and door handles, which photographers get close to.

The post-remodel clean is a different animal

After sanding, drywall work, tile cutting or demolition, fine dust ends up everywhere, including the places the contractors never touched. It settles on the tops of door frames, inside cabinets, in vents, in window tracks, on light fixtures and in the grooves of new flooring. A broom and a damp cloth just smear it into a film.

The sequence is the same, top to bottom and dry before wet, but it takes more passes. High surfaces get dusted and vacuumed first. Then comes everything inside the cabinets and closets, then windows and tracks, then fixtures, and then floors, usually more than once, since dust keeps falling from places you've already cleaned.

Stickers, film and new surfaces

New fixtures, appliances and windows often arrive with protective film, labels and stickers. These need to come off, carefully, before the final clean. New surfaces also have their own care needs, so ask your contractor or the manufacturer what's safe on the countertop, the new tile and the new floor before anyone starts scrubbing. Using the wrong approach on a new stone countertop is an expensive mistake.

Timing matters too. The clean should happen after the trades are finished and the punch list is done, not while a painter is still touching up. If you clean too early, the dust comes back. If you're selling, schedule the clean before the photographer, and keep the home reasonably untouched afterward. A home that's been walked through by three vendors the day before photos will need a quick touch-up before the camera arrives.

Do a walk-through with a checklist afterward, in daylight, and look at the home from the doorway of each room. Anything that catches your eye there will catch a buyer's too.

Sun Care Cleaning Solutions lists Housekeeping for real estate, home cleaning and remodeling among its services across Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, and has been cleaning in the valley since 2000. For a listing clean or a post-remodel clean, call (760) 813-7160 or toll free (888) 597-1228.