Top 10 Finishing Touches of a Professional Cleaner

When a professional cleaner isn’t in the field working wonders, what are they doing?

They’re probably sharing tips and talking about their work on web forums and cleaning industry groups. As a member of these groups, I am privy to a whole host of helpful cleaning hints from professional cleaners; and I have been collecting them. Here are my top 10 Finishing Touches of a Professional Cleaner that will help cleaning contractors to improve their customer’s experience.

1. Folded Toilet Paper

I distinctly remember running straight to the bathroom of our hotel rooms when I was a kid. I was excited to check out the amenities and the folded toilet paper. Maybe I was a weird kid; maybe that’s why I am a professional cleaner now. One thing is for sure, nothing says ‘hotel’ like folded toilet paper. We think your customer’s home should feel like a hotel when you’re finished cleaning, and that’s why folded toilet paper is number one on our list.

Professional cleaner Lauren Torres, from Island Cleaning Services in South Carolina, folds the toilet paper into a heart for her clients that have young girls in the house to give it that ‘girly’ finishing touch. We like this idea for Valentine’s day cleans. The most outstanding toilet paper tip comes from Ava Sari, who uses a slightly damp bees wax stamp to imprint her toilet paper triangle. You can also use a pocket-sized toilet paper embosser as we did in the image below. These embossers will be for sale on our website soon.

2. Hard Candies & Chocolates

Ava Sari uses a mini backpack for her keys, phone & chocolates to leave as gifts on the bedside table. In warmer weather, you can use hard candies instead. It may be safer to leave them on the kitchen counter than in the bedroom.

3.Hang Towels & Hand Towels Neatly on Rails

For clean dry towels, in half longways and in half widthways, ensuring that you place tags on the inside and designer brand labels like the ‘Sheridan’ on the front. Then, grab all of the corners in one hand, take the other corner (on the short edge) in your other hand and shake. This will make all of the corners neatly aligned. You can then hang the towel with the loose edges facing away from the door. For damp towels, it’s better not to fold them too much, trapping moisture inside. Hang towels as per the image above, paying attention to aligning the corners, putting labels out and tags in.

Hand Roll Towels

In holiday lets, roll towels on the end of the beds. to do this, fold them in half longways and widthways, then roll from the open end towards the closed then. Point the messy edges away from the door. Back when I cleaned mine sites the girls used to make towel animals and other arrangements on the beds. It put a smile on the worker’s faces after a 12-hour shift. However, as with the toilet paper, I don’t like to spend too much time on this. Finishing touches should take a couple of minutes out of the entire clean and take the finished look from 90% to 100%.

4. Fresh Flowers

Professional cleaner Cassidy Hawkins sources tiny vases from op shops, garage sales & dollar shops so that she can leave fresh flowers at every home. You could reuse small jars and decorate them with some simple items such as paint, twine, and buttons. Just like the ones pictured above from Thistle Down Domestic Creations. Our client gave this review when her cleaner left flowers, so we know for sure that it makes a difference!

5. Line Up the Sink Mixers

Centre the spout over the drain hole, and centre the mixer handle over the spout.
Hot tip: When you are cleaning the sink, turn the tap on so that the mixer handle is lifted up and clean under the mixer lip.

6. Leave a Note

If there are a pen and paper or notepad handy, clients love it when you leave a note to let them know about any extras that you have completed during the clean. Check out #9 for some extras you can clean.

7.Puffing Pillows and Putting them Zipper-Side Down

I do this every night at home, something I got from my mother. I see cleaners miss this a lot. It really doesn’t have a WOW factor when you walk into a home and the couch wasn’t touched. Likewise, with beds, if you aren’t required to make them, you should definitely still straighten up the covers and pillows.

8.Be Obsessive About Orderliness

Straighten up and tidy anything that isn’t orderly
Place cup handles in the same direction
Place the labels of products in the same direction

9. Clean & Tidy an Area Not Normally Included

This is something I do on every clean with a few minutes to spare. Clean one extra thing like the inside of a drawer, behind some furniture, a window and flyscreen, sliding door tracks or under the sink. Cleaner Paulina J. says: “I do some extra jobs like I clean the range hood screens and leave them out to dry so they can get home and see I did this (you can also put them in the dishwasher on pots and pans mode). I folded the sheets that my client left the other day. Any 5-minute job, not each time but once in a while usually makes my clients happy and most of the time they text to thank me”.

10. Holiday Themed Surprises

Some real-life examples from professional cleaners around the world include ⭐ A bag of Hershey’s Kisses on Valentine’s day or a bottle of wine (the $4 Aldi variety) – Carols Majia. ⭐Homemade dog treats – Raquel Dalpee. ⭐Christmas Cards ⭐Candles ⭐Mini Easter eggs for Easter ⭐Soothing, individually wrapped tea bags ⭐Minature homemade soaps Bonus Tip: Angela Brown, founder at Savvy Cleaner Training says:

“Provide excellent work consistently. Show up on time. Own your mistakes. Communicate with the intent to understand and be understood”.

We think this is ace, Angela! Little extra’s are great, but consistent excellent work speaks for itself. What did you think of these tips? If you have an idea, please share it with us ❤ Want to find out how much a professional cleaner from Beyond Cleaning Group will cost? Visit our booking page, enter your suburb and details of your home and you will receive a price instantly.