Doing it yourself? Work top to bottom and leave the floors until last, or you will clean them twice. Set aside a full day for a two-bedroom unit and considerably more if the oven has not been touched in a while. Have the power and water still connected — you cannot finish without them.
1Kitchen
- Oven cleaned inside and out — racks, trays and door glass
- Rangehood and filters degreased
- Cooktop and knobs
- Dishwasher, including the filter
- All cupboards and drawers, inside and out
- Cupboard doors and handles
- Sink, tapware and drain
- Splashback and benchtops
- Pantry shelving wiped out
- Skirting boards and tile edges
- Under and behind the fridge space
- Floor vacuumed and mopped
The oven and the rangehood filter are where most bond deductions start. If you are doing this yourself, allow far more time for the oven than you think.
2Bathrooms & toilet
- Shower screen — soap scum and water marks
- Tiles and grout, including mould
- Shower head and tapware descaled
- Bath, inside and around the edges
- Toilet — bowl, seat, cistern, base and behind
- Vanity, drawers and cupboards wiped out
- Mirrors polished, no streaks
- Exhaust fan cover
- Towel rails and door handles
- Skirting boards
- Floor vacuumed and mopped
- Window tracks and sills
Grout and shower screens are the second most common hold-back. Mould in silicone often needs treating more than once.
3Bedrooms
- Wardrobes inside and out
- Wardrobe mirror doors and tracks
- Shelving and hanging rails
- Ceiling fan blades and fittings
- Air conditioning unit and filter
- Light fittings and covers
- Cornices and ceiling corners
- Power points and light switches
- Spot clean marks on walls
- Skirting boards
- Doors, both sides, and architraves
- Floors vacuumed, carpets vacuumed
4Living & dining
- Ceiling fans and light fittings
- Air conditioning units and filters
- Cornices and ceiling corners
- Spot clean walls
- Power points and switches
- Internal window glass
- Window tracks and sills
- Skirting boards
- Doors and architraves
- Built-in shelving and cupboards
- Blinds dusted where accessible
- Floors vacuumed and mopped
Window tracks catch people out. Agents run a finger along them.
5Laundry
- Laundry tub, including underneath
- Tapware and drain
- Cupboards and shelving
- Behind and under the washing machine space
- Dryer lint filter, if one is fitted
- Walls and splashback
- Skirting boards
- Floor vacuumed and mopped
6Balcony & outdoor
- Balcony swept and mopped
- Balcony railings and balustrades
- Cobwebs removed
- Sliding door tracks
- External glass on balcony doors
- Light fittings
Full external work — decks, driveways, gutters, security screens — sits outside a standard bond clean. Ask if you need it.
7Throughout the property
- All internal doors, both sides
- Door frames and architraves
- Tops of doors and door frames
- All light switches and power points
- All light fittings and covers
- Cornices throughout
- Skirting boards throughout
- Air vents
- Stair treads and rails
- All hard floors vacuumed and mopped
- All carpets vacuumed
- Cobwebs, inside and at entries
The tops of doors and door frames are checked more often than people expect.
What a bond clean does not include
These sit outside a standard bond clean. Some can be added by arrangement, and some we do not offer:
- Garbage and recycling bins — by arrangement
- Blinds — venetian, vertical, roller, slimline aluminium and shutters
- External decks
- External walls, stairs, gutters, fascias and downpipes
- Driveways and pathways
- Security screens
- Wasp and insect nests outside the property
Carpet steam cleaning, external windows with flyscreens and tracks, garage cleaning and pest treatments are all available as optional extras when you book.
Where bonds actually get held back
After years of end-of-lease work on the Gold Coast, the same six things come up again and again:
- The oven — by a distance the most common
- Shower screens and grout — soap scum and mould in the silicone
- Window tracks — agents run a finger along them
- Tops of doors and door frames — almost nobody thinks to check
- Rangehood filters — greasy and usually forgotten
- Inside cupboards and drawers — crumbs and marks in the corners
A word on carpets. Most Queensland leases require professional carpet steam cleaning where carpets are present, and many agents ask for the receipt. Vacuuming is not the same thing. If pets have been kept at the property, a flea treatment is often required as well — check your lease before you assume.
Should you do it yourself?
Plenty of people do, and it can work out. Be realistic about the time: a two-bedroom unit in reasonable condition is a solid day's work for one person, and a four-bedroom house is a weekend. The oven alone can take two hours.
The case for having it done is not really about effort. It is that a professional clean usually comes with a guarantee — if the agent raises something, someone comes back and fixes it. Do it yourself and a failed inspection means doing it again in the middle of a move.
Rather not do it yourself?
We clean to this exact checklist across the Gold Coast. If your agent raises anything within our scope, we come back and put it right at no charge.