When your house cleaner reaches the kitchen, they’ll usually clean most of what’s visible. The sink, counters, and cabinets will all get washed and everything will look nice afterward.
But what about the inside of your appliances?
Your oven has a few globs of old food stuck on the bottom and it could really use a cleaning, but you’re not sure exactly what’s included in your cleaning package.
So, you’re wondering: do house cleaners clean ovens?
Oven cleaning is sometimes included as part of a move-out cleaning package, but it’s generally not part of a standard recurring cleaning service. Still, most house cleaners will clean the oven if the client requests, though you should expect an additional charge for this service.
There are several good reasons why your cleaner won’t clean the oven as part of a standard package, which we’ll disclose next.
Afterward, we’ll discuss how you can get this service added onto your current cleaning package and what that might cost, as well as how you can help make things easier for your cleaner.
Is Oven Cleaning Part of a Standard Cleaning Service?
A standard residential recurring cleaning service usually occurs on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis.
Quite a lot is included in a standard cleaning service, but oven cleaning is not one of those things. No matter where you look, you’re unlikely to find cleaning companies that include oven cleaning as part of their standard package.
Oven cleaning is a very time-consuming process. The foods stuck to the bottom of the oven are baked on, and they don’t come off easily. Cleaning your oven would greatly increase the amount of time your cleaner has to spend at your home.
Moreover, oven cleaning isn’t something that’s normally done on a weekly or even monthly basis. Ovens simply don’t need cleaning that often. So, oven cleaning is more of a specialty service than something that makes sense to include in a recurring cleaning service.
Even so, most cleaners will allow you to add on the service when you think it’s necessary. You’ll have to talk to your cleaner to make specific arrangements, of course.
Should I Pre-Clean My Oven Before House Cleaners Arrive?
If you do arrange with your cleaner to take care of the oven, setting it to the built-in cleaning feature and letting it run prior to their arrival can go a long way towards speeding up the process and keeping you on your cleaner’s good side!
Granted, not every oven has a self-cleaning feature. But if your oven does, using it can save your cleaner time, which will ultimately save you money.
The first problem is, a self-cleaning cycle can take several hours to run. This is why it’s not really feasible for most house cleaners to include oven cleaning in a standard service. It would drastically lengthen the amount of time that the cleaner has to be in the home.
In addition, the self-cleaning cycle on your oven won’t truly clean it without additional work.
Instead, it will make the oven easier to clean by burning off a lot of the food remnants that would remain stuck to the oven floor and walls. But in most cases, the inside of the oven and the window will still require cleaning when the self-cleaning cycle is finished.
Luckily, running a self-cleaning cycle is simple.
First, you have to remove everything from the inside of the oven, including oven racks if they’re shiny, but if your racks are dark enamel, they’re ok to remain inside.
Then, close the door and press the self-clean button on your stove.
The self-cleaning cycle should run for three to five hours. During that time, you shouldn’t try to open the oven door, or you might damage your appliance.
After self-cleaning, it will take an additional two hours for the oven to cool down, so you’ll want to run this cycle about eight hours before your cleaner is slated to arrive at your home.
This can definitely be a good way to help our your house cleaning team but just don’t try to do it while they’re trying to clean other areas of your house!
This process is pretty simple, and you can get a good visual of it by watching the video below or check out this post from Bob Villa to learn more about your oven’s self cleaning feature.
How Much Does Oven Cleaning Cost?
Every cleaner will charge a different amount for adding on services, but on average, you should expect to pay between $60 and $100 for oven cleaning.
There are two basic ways that your cleaning company might charge you for this service.
One way is a standalone charge. A separate fee for just the oven cleaning is added to your normal bill.
Other companies might choose to fold this service into your hourly cleaning rate. When done this way, there might be no additional charge aside from the extra time required to clean the oven, or there could be a small fee in addition to the extra time.
What Do We Do at Mop Stars?
At MOP STARS, we understand that sometimes things need to be cleaned that aren’t on the standard service list, and we’re happy to accommodate those needs.
For oven cleaning, we’ll simply fold the service into the same hourly rate you’re already paying.
So, all you’ll have to pay for is the extra time it takes your cleaner to clean the oven. No additional fees will be added on.
Oven cleaning isn’t the only additional service we offer and in some cases we can other time-saving add ons like changing the sheets or cleaning the blinds.
Just let us know how we can help!