There is a moment in the booking form that decides how the first cleaning goes.
It is the notes field. The one most people scroll past, or fill with a single line, or leave empty because nothing seems important enough to mention and they do not want to seem particular.
That empty box is the reason first visits go sideways. Not because anyone did anything wrong, but because a team walked into a house carrying no information about it and had to make forty small decisions that the homeowner already had answers to.
The cleaner who knows your home performs better than the cleaner who does not. That is obvious after a year of visits. What almost nobody realizes is how much of that knowledge you can simply hand over before the first one.
Here is what to say, and why each piece of it matters.
How to Get In
This is the one that stops the appointment entirely, so it comes first.
A team standing outside a locked door is not cleaning. At Maid It New, if access is not available at the scheduled start time, the team waits up to thirty minutes. If it is not resolved within that window, the appointment may be treated as a no-access appointment and the full service price may be charged, because the labor, travel, and time slot were reserved and cannot be filled on short notice.
That policy sounds severe until you are the cleaner who drove across three towns to stand in a driveway.
So be specific about entry. “I will leave it unlocked” fails the moment somebody in the household locks up on the way out. Give them a door code, a lockbox with the combination, a key left in a stated location, or a person who will be home. If your building has a concierge, a front desk, a gate, or a visitor parking process, say so, because those add fifteen minutes and a phone call when they are a surprise.
Then tell the office if any of it changes. A code that was rotated last week and not communicated produces exactly the same outcome as no code at all.
Your Alarm
If the home has a security system, provide clear disarm instructions and any codes before arrival.
Maid It New is not responsible for false alarms or dispatch fees caused by missing or incorrect instructions, and a police dispatch charge is an expensive way to discover that the code changed when you switched providers in March.
Include what to do on the way out as well. Homeowners often give the disarm code and forget that the team has no idea whether to re-arm, or how.
What Matters Most to You
Every home has one or two things that determine whether the homeowner feels the cleaning was good.
For one person it is the kitchen counters. For another it is the shower glass. For someone else it is floors, or the entryway, or the guest bathroom because visitors use it. These priorities are invisible from the outside and completely obvious to the person who lives there.
A professional team cleans the whole home to a standard. But when time has to be allocated, knowing where your attention lands changes where their attention lands. Say it directly: “The kitchen and the primary bathroom matter most to me. The guest room is barely used.”
That single sentence is worth more than any other note you can leave.
Your Surfaces
This one prevents damage rather than disappointment.
Marble, granite, quartz, sealed hardwood, unsealed stone, specialty tile, and painted cabinetry all react differently to cleaning products. The wrong product on the wrong surface causes damage that often does not appear for months, when a finish that used to be bright has gone dull and nobody can say exactly when it happened.
Professional cleaners carry products chosen for residential surfaces and they will use a specific one on request. But they can only do that for surfaces they know about, and not every stone announces itself.
If a surface in your home has a rule, give them the rule. If your installer told you something specific, pass it along. And if you have products you want used, say so in advance rather than leaving them on the counter and hoping someone infers the intent.
Your Pets
Pets change the appointment more than most owners expect, and mentioning them is not flagging a problem.
Say what animals live there, roughly how many, and anything behavioral worth knowing. A dog who becomes anxious around vacuums. A cat who will find any open door within nine seconds. A pet who is friendly but jumps. A crate they are comfortable in.
Also worth knowing: Maid It New’s cleaners do not provide pet care. Secure the animals before the visit, or tell the team exactly where they will be and what to do about the door.
Product sensitivities and veterinary recommendations belong in the notes too. Most companies will accommodate a specific product request when they know about it in advance and cannot when they find out afterward.
What Is Fragile, Unstable, or Already Damaged
Three separate things, all of which prevent a bad conversation later.
Fragile and irreplaceable. Put these away yourself before the visit. Anything whose loss would genuinely upset you should not be on an open surface while people are working around it.
Unstable. The shelf that is not properly anchored. The pictures hung on pins. The drawer that has to be lifted rather than pulled. The pendant light that swings. Damage tied to improper installation falls outside what Maid It New covers, which means a frame that comes down off a thumbtack is a loss nobody wanted and nobody is going to replace. Saying it in advance is how you avoid that entirely.
Already damaged. Point out the existing chip, scratch, or stain. This costs you nothing and it removes the item from any future disagreement. It also protects the cleaner, who should not be blamed for something that predates them.
What Is Not Included
The most common first-visit disappointment is not poor cleaning. It is a scope mismatch that nobody caught before the appointment.
Organizing is not cleaning. It is never included in standard, first-time, or recurring service, and it is a separate service rather than something a cleaner does while they are there. If your kitchen counters are covered in mail, papers, and belongings, the team cleans around them. They do not decide where your things live.
Interior oven, interior refrigerator, interior windows, and similar work are typically add-ons rather than defaults. Add them when you book, not at the door.
Cleaners also do not work above two ladder rungs or move items over twenty pounds, and they do not perform specialty work such as restoration, grout restoration, or mold remediation.
Read what your service tier includes before the first visit. Two minutes there prevents the most common version of a disappointing appointment, which is a home that was cleaned exactly as booked and not at all as imagined.
Clear the Path, Do Not Pre-Clean
Homeowners routinely clean before the cleaners arrive, which is wasted effort, and then leave surfaces covered, which is the thing that actually causes problems.
You do not need to clean. You need to clear.
Surfaces with items on them get cleaned around. Floors with belongings on them get vacuumed around. Every object a team has to move, set down somewhere, and remember to replace is time removed from cleaning and added to handling your possessions. Excessive clutter genuinely limits the result, and on a flat-rate job it means more time spent on a visit that was priced for the home in its ordinary state.
The full picture of what actually helps before an appointment is mostly this one idea repeated. Clear the surfaces and floors in the areas you want cleaned. Leave the cleaning to the people you hired.
Whether You Will Be Home
Either answer is fine. The team just needs to know which one.
If you will be out, confirm the entry method and say whether anyone else might be there. Contractors, family, a dog walker.
If you will be home, decide in advance how you want to handle it. The most effective version is to be available at the start for a brief walkthrough, then step out of the way and let the process run. Following a team room to room slows the work and produces a worse result than leaving them to it.
What the first professional cleaning actually looks like from arrival to finish is worth reading before the day, because knowing the shape of the visit makes it much easier to stay out of its way.
If you want a walkthrough at the end, say so at booking and be ready when the team is ready. Waiting time beyond ten minutes may be billable, up to an hour, after which the team may leave.
How to Reach You, and Who to Tell
One detail people get wrong constantly.
Notice to an individual cleaner is never valid. Cancellations, reschedules, access changes, billing questions, scope changes, and complaints all go to the office and need to be confirmed in writing. Telling the cleaner standing in your kitchen that you would like to move next week’s appointment is not a reschedule. It is a conversation that will not survive the drive home.
Cleaners are also not authorized to change service type, scope, or pricing on site. Any change goes through the office first. This protects you as much as it protects them, because it means what you were quoted is what you are charged.
Give the office a phone number that will be answered during the appointment window. Most first visits produce one question, and a team that cannot reach anyone has to guess.
The Five-Minute Version
If you do nothing else, put these in the notes field.
How to get in, including codes, lockbox, or building process.
Alarm instructions, including whether to re-arm.
The two or three areas that matter most to you.
Any special surfaces and how they should be treated.
Pets, how many, and where they will be.
Anything fragile, unstable, or already damaged.
Whether you will be home.
The best number to reach during the visit.
Eight lines. It takes five minutes, and it is the difference between a team arriving informed and a team arriving hopeful.
Final Thoughts
The relationship people describe after a year, where the cleaner knows the home and nothing needs to be explained, does not begin at month twelve. It begins in the notes field before the first visit.
Everything you say up front is time the team does not spend guessing, and every guess is a chance to get something wrong that you already had the answer to. Homeowners who front-load the information get better first cleanings. Not because they are more demanding, but because they are easier to serve well.
Tell them how to get in, what matters, what is delicate, and how to reach you. Then let them work.
Book your First Time Clean and use the notes field. The more we know before we arrive, the better the first visit goes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I tell my house cleaner before the first visit?
Entry instructions, alarm codes, the two or three areas that matter most to you, any special surfaces and how to treat them, pets and where they will be, anything fragile or unstable, whether you will be home, and the best number to reach during the appointment. Eight lines in the notes field covers nearly everything.
Do I need to be home for the first cleaning?
No, though many homeowners choose to be there at the start for a brief walkthrough. What matters is that the team can get in reliably. If you are home, the most effective approach is to be available at the beginning and then let the work run without supervision.
What happens if the cleaners cannot get in?
At Maid It New the team waits up to thirty minutes. If access is not resolved in that window, the appointment may be treated as a no-access appointment and the full service price may be charged, since the labor, travel, and time slot were reserved and cannot be rebooked on short notice.
Should I clean before the cleaners come?
No. Clear rather than clean. Surfaces and floors with items on them get worked around rather than cleaned properly, and every object the team handles is time taken from the actual job. Clearing the areas you want cleaned is the single most useful preparation.
Is organizing included in a house cleaning?
No. Organizing and cleaning are separate services. Organizing is never included in standard, first-time, or recurring cleaning. A team will clean around belongings on surfaces rather than deciding where your things belong.
Do I need to tell them about my pets?
Yes, always. Include the type of animal, roughly how many, any behavioral considerations, and where they will be during the visit. Cleaners do not provide pet care, so animals should be secured or their location clearly communicated. Product sensitivities belong in the notes as well.
What should I say about special surfaces?
Name them. Marble, granite, quartz, sealed and unsealed stone, specialty tile, and painted cabinetry each behave differently with cleaning products, and the wrong choice can cause damage that only becomes visible months later. If a surface has a rule, give the rule in advance.
Who do I contact to change or cancel an appointment?
The office, always, and get it confirmed in writing. Notice given to an individual cleaner is not valid. Cleaners are also not authorized to change service type, scope, or pricing on site, so any change needs to go through the office before work proceeds.
Maid It New serves Princeton, West Windsor, Plainsboro, Pennington, Montgomery, Lawrenceville, and Hopewell, NJ. Every cleaner is background-checked, trained, and reviewed after every visit. Call or text: 609-372-5291.