A fresh start, literally
Move In Cleaning in Gresham, Oregon
Unpack into a home that's already clean instead of scrubbing around a maze of boxes. Our woman-owned, licensed, and insured team has been readying Gresham homes for new owners and renters since 2015.
- Licensed & Insured
- Woman-Owned Since 2015
- No Bleach, Ever
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Tell us a little about your home. We reply within one business day.
Why clean a house before moving in?
Move in cleaning is a whole-home cleaning done after you get the keys and before your boxes arrive. It removes the previous occupants' traces, wiping inside cabinets and drawers, sanitizing bathrooms, degreasing the kitchen, and detailing floors, closets, and fixtures, so the first things you unpack land on surfaces cleaned for you rather than for a listing photo.
Because the last people lived there, and even careful people leave a layer behind: cooking film on the cabinet tops, someone else's hair in the vanity drawers, dust where their bed used to be. A move-in clean is professional house cleaning timed for the one week the home is completely empty and every surface is reachable. That week never comes again.
Sellers' "professionally cleaned" often means a fast wipe for photos, and a landlord's turnover clean answers to their checklist, not yours. Ours answers to the person about to put dishes in those cabinets. We're a licensed and insured Gresham LLC, we clean with health-conscious bleach-free products, and we'll quote your new place before you even have the keys in hand.
What gets cleaned before the boxes arrive?
Everything you're about to touch, fill, and live in. An empty house lets us clean in the order you'll actually use it: storage first, so unpacking can start the moment we're done, then every room the movers will march through. Nothing gets skipped because a couch was in front of it, because for one rare week, nothing is.
Kitchen, before your dishes go in
- Inside all cabinets, drawers, and pantry shelves, wiped and dried
- Counters and backsplash degreased of the last cook's residue
- Sink, faucet, and disposal rim descaled and sanitized
- Appliance exteriors detailed, handles and control panels included
- Light fixtures and switch plates cleaned
- Floor scrubbed into the corners no fridge will hide yet
Bathrooms, yours from day one
- Toilet, tub, and shower fully sanitized before first use
- Vanity drawers, cabinet interiors, and medicine cabinet wiped out
- Chrome and glass descaled of the previous household's water spots
- Exhaust fan cover and vents dusted
- Grout and caulk lines wiped down
- Floors hand-detailed, behind the door and around the toilet base
Bedrooms & closets
- Closet shelves, rods, and floors wiped, ready for your clothes
- Window sills, tracks, and blinds cleaned
- Doors, frames, and knobs hand-wiped
- Baseboards dusted and washed through every room
- Carpet vacuumed wall to wall while nothing sits on it
- Ceiling fixtures and fan blades dusted
Whole-home first pass
- Cobwebs cleared from ceiling corners, stairwells, and utility spaces
- Switch plates, handrails, and door handles disinfected
- Heat registers and return vents dusted
- Entry, hallway, and laundry-area floors washed
- Interior glass on doors and built-ins polished
What we'll point you to instead
If the previous owners' pets live on in the carpet, surface cleaning won't fix it; that's carpet cleaning with real extraction. A refrigerator that arrived with the house deserves its own appointment: refrigerator cleaning. And if you've already unpacked and are reading this too late, don't worry, a deep clean does the same reset around your furniture. Ask about any of these on the quote form and we'll build one visit.
Move-in clean first, or clean after you unpack?
You can always clean a home after you've moved in. The question is what that actually looks like: emptying cabinets you just filled, mopping around beds, and living with someone else's dust in the meantime. Side by side, the order matters more than people expect.
| Clean after unpacking | Move-in clean first | |
|---|---|---|
| Access to surfaces | Blocked by furniture and box towers | Every cabinet, closet, and floor wide open |
| Inside cabinets and drawers | Emptied again later to clean | Wiped once, before anything goes in |
| Previous occupants' traces | You live with them for weeks | Gone before your first night |
| Bathrooms | Used first, sanitized eventually | Sanitized before first use |
| Floors | Cleaned around rugs and bed frames | Detailed wall to wall while rooms are empty |
| Your first week | Split between scrubbing and unpacking | Spent making the place yours |
| What it takes from you | Evenings and a sore back | A key handoff and a free quote |
Is a move-in clean worth it for your new place?
A move-in clean earns its keep any time you're about to live on surfaces someone else used last: a purchase, a new rental, or a home that sat empty on the market collecting dust while the listing photos stayed frozen in time.
- The listing said "professionally cleaned" but the vanity drawers say otherwise
- The previous owners had pets, and someone in your family has allergies
- Your rental was handed over with a landlord's quick turnover wipe, not a real clean
- The house sat vacant through a wet Oregon fall, gathering dust, spiders, and that closed-up smell
- You're moving in with a baby or a crawler who will find every floor first
- There's a gap day between getting keys and the truck arriving, perfect for cleaners
How we get your new home ready
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Quote it before closing day
Send the address, size, and your keys-to-truck window through the quote form, or call 503-666-2255. The quote is free and customized, and you can lock a date before you even own the place.
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Pick the gap day
The sweet spot is between key handoff and moving day. You don't need to be there: an agent, a lockbox, or a code works fine, and we clean Monday through Friday, 8am to 8pm.
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We erase the previous chapter
Top to bottom with the professional bleach-free supplies we bring. If you can drop off a working vacuum and a toilet brush for each bathroom ahead of time, they'll be the first of your things to live there.
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Walk in and just unpack
You'll find a written list of everything we cleaned waiting on the counter. Plenty of clients keep the momentum going and set up recurring service for the new place before the boxes are even flat.
How much does move-in cleaning cost in Gresham?
We quote every move-in clean individually, because a one-bedroom rental that turned over last week and a four-bedroom house that sat empty through escrow are different animals. Your customized quote rests on three things:
The size of your new home
Bedrooms, bathrooms, and overall square footage decide how much surface, storage, and floor we'll be detailing.
How the last occupants left it
Broom-clean and truly clean are different conditions, and we price what's actually there, not a worst case.
What you add on
Refrigerator interior, oven interior, or interior window detailing can ride along in the same visit, priced up front.
Quotes are free and carry no obligation, and moving weeks are chaotic enough without pricing suspense. Send the form with your closing or lease date, or call 503-666-2255, and we'll hold a spot in the gap.
Why start your Gresham chapter with us
Bleach-free from day one
Your new home should smell like clean, not chemicals. Our health-conscious products matter most on move-in day, when kids and pets explore every floor.
Licensed, insured, established
A real Gresham LLC cleaning Eastside homes since February 2015, with the insurance certificates your property manager or agent may ask about.
We work around a move
Closings slip and trucks run late. We schedule inside your keys-to-boxes window and adjust with you when the window moves.
You'll know what was done
Every move-in clean ends with a written list on the counter, so your first walkthrough of your own home starts with good news.
From households that started fresh with us
★★★★★
"Wonderful cleaning crew. Sweet kind polite. Very through."Lisa C. Thumbtack review
★★★★★
"Excellent work, very friendly, super convenient, I would definitely use The Tidy Sister again!"Jamie D. Thumbtack review
Move-in cleaning near your new address
We ready new homes across Gresham and the Portland Eastside, including:
Pairs well with
New-home cleaning questions
Can you clean before the moving truck arrives?
That's exactly when we want to. The ideal slot is after you get keys and before the truck shows up, while every room is empty and every surface is reachable. Tell us your closing or lease-start date on the quote form and we'll schedule inside that window, even if it's a single day. If the truck beats us there, we can still clean; it just means working around whatever's already landed.
How do you deal with the previous owners' dirt and smells?
We physically remove what they left: degreasing kitchen surfaces, sanitizing bathrooms, wiping storage interiors, washing floors, and dusting vents, which is where most lingering odor actually lives. What we won't do is mask anything with heavy fragrance. If an odor is soaked into carpet or upholstery, we'll say so honestly and point you to the right add-on service.
Do you clean inside the kitchen cabinets and drawers?
Yes, that's a signature part of a move-in clean. Every cabinet, drawer, and pantry shelf gets wiped and dried before your dishes, food, and utensils ever touch them. It's the step people skip when cleaning around boxes and regret for the next year every time they open a drawer.
I haven't moved to Gresham yet. Can you get in without me?
Yes. Long-distance moves are common here, and we regularly coordinate access through real estate agents, property managers, lockboxes, and door codes. Book by phone at 503-666-2255 or through the quote form, tell us who holds the keys, and we'll handle the rest and send word when the home is ready.
The seller says the home was already cleaned. Should I still book?
Ask what their clean included. Listing cleans are usually cosmetic: floors, counters, and glass for photos. They rarely touch cabinet interiors, closet shelving, vents, or behind appliances, which is where a previous household actually lingers. If the seller's clean was genuinely thorough, we'll scope yours smaller, and the customized quote will reflect that.
What should I leave at the house for your team?
Just two things: a working vacuum and a toilet brush for each bathroom. Keeping those in your home instead of hauling them house to house is an illness-prevention policy we apply everywhere. We bring everything else, including all professional bleach-free products, cloths, and equipment for the visit.
Take back your day, The Tidy Sister way!
Ready for a lighter home?
Free customized quotes, built around your home and what you actually need. No pressure, no forms longer than a grocery list.