A weekly home care plan for a Summertown family house

01

The house and what the family asked for

Four bedrooms over two floors, one family bathroom, one en-suite and a downstairs cloakroom. A kitchen-diner extension with a quartz worktop and a wood floor, a sitting room with a wool carpet, oak floors through the hall and landing, and original tiles in the porch. The family wanted the kitchen and bathrooms properly done every week, the floors kept on top of because of the dog, and the children's rooms tidied rather than organised.

02

Every visit, in order

The visit runs top to bottom so dust and debris move down and out. A single cleaner takes about three hours; for a larger house we would send two people for a shorter time.

• Bathrooms and cloakroom first: WC, basin, bath, shower screen and tray, tiles wiped, chrome dried, mirrors, floors washed; towels changed if left out
• Bedrooms: beds made or linen changed on the agreed week, surfaces dusted, floors vacuumed including under beds where they can be reached, bins emptied
• Hall, stairs and landing: skirting and banister dusted, oak floors vacuumed then damp-mopped with a wood-safe cleaner, never a wet mop
• Sitting room: surfaces, picture frames and switches dusted, cushions straightened, wool carpet vacuumed with the brush bar off
• Kitchen last: worktops cleared and cleaned with a stone-safe product, hob and splashback degreased, sink and taps descaled and dried, appliance fronts wiped, floor vacuumed and washed, bins out

03

The monthly rotation

Some tasks do not need doing every week, so the plan rotates them. Over a month the whole house is reached without stretching any single visit.

• Week 1: inside of the oven door glass, microwave interior, fridge shelves wiped
• Week 2: skirting boards throughout, internal doors and handles, light switches
• Week 3: inside windows on the ground floor, window sills, radiator tops
• Week 4: kitchen cupboard fronts, extractor filter wiped, cobwebs at ceiling height

04

Products, access and the small details

The plan names the products: a pH-neutral cleaner for the quartz and the oak, a bathroom descaler kept away from the natural stone in the en-suite, and microfibre cloths colour-coded by room. The family leaves a key in a coded key safe; the cleaner texts when arriving and leaving. The dog stays in the garden room during the visit, which the plan records so there is no confusion.

Anything that cannot be finished in the time, or anything noticed such as a leaking tap or a loose tile, goes in a two-line note left on the kitchen side and sent by message the same day.

05

The fee and how it is reviewed

Regular home care starts at £95 per visit. A house of this size and specification, cleaned weekly for three hours, sits above the starting fee, and the exact figure is fixed in writing before the first visit so there is never an hourly meter running. After the first two visits we review the plan with the family and adjust the rotation or the time if either needs it.