Getting your Vancouver home guest-ready for the holidays: what to clean first
Holiday hosting in Vancouver looks different from home to home. In a Yaletown or Coal Harbour one-bedroom, everyone ends up on the sofa because it’s the only seating. In a Kitsilano or Dunbar character house, the dining room table gets its leaves put in and the hallway runner takes every wet boot. In a Kerrisdale family house or a Vancouver Special in Killarney, there’s a guest room to get ready too. You probably can’t clean everything before the first party, so here’s what guests actually see and use, in the order worth doing it, with what each part costs.
1. The sofa comes first
Guests sit where you sit. The arms, the seat fronts and the headrest line on a sofa show wear long before a carpet does, and they’re right at eye level. If you only clean one thing, make it the couch.
Upholstery is $90 a seat, before the current promo, plus GST. A three-seat sofa is $270, and an armchair is another $90. We pre-treat the arms and headrests, then clean with hot water extraction, and we check the fabric tag first, because some fabrics need a gentler method.
2. The entry, the hallway and the living room
The path from the front door to the living room is the one every guest walks, and in Vancouver’s wet months it’s the one with the grey traffic lane. Cleaning the entry, the hall and the living room is three areas, which is the $210 minimum. Add the stairs or a bedroom and it’s $90 an area from there.
Carpet cleaned with our truck-mounted hot water extraction is usually dry in 3 to 6 hours. In West End and Yaletown towers where the truck can’t reach the unit, we bring a high-powered portable unit instead.
3. Dining chairs, before the big dinner
Fabric dining chairs collect gravy, wine and toddler fingers, and they’re easy to forget. They’re $30 each for seat and back, or $20 for a seat only. Eight seat-and-back chairs are $240.
4. The guest room
If someone’s staying over, the guest bed matters more than the guest room carpet. Mattress cleaning is $150 for a queen, $200 for a king and $100 for a single or full. A bedroom rug about 10×8 or bigger is $90, and a smaller one is $65. Wool or Persian? See rug cleaning in Vancouver first, because those are priced from a photo.
What a holiday clean usually costs
Worked examples from the price list, before the promo and GST:
| Home | What’s cleaned | List price |
|---|---|---|
| Yaletown one-bedroom condo | 3-seat sofa and a 10×8 living room rug | $360 |
| Kitsilano character house | 3-seat sofa, armchair, hallway, living room, 6 dining chairs | $720 |
| Kerrisdale family house | Entry, hallway, stairs, living room, 2 bedrooms, queen guest mattress | $690 |
The promo comes off jobs above the $210 minimum, so doing the sofa, carpet and chairs in one visit usually works out better than splitting them up. Our holiday hosting special runs from November 15 to December 31. You see the exact total in the booking form before you confirm.
When to book it
- Give yourself a cushion. Book the clean a few days before you host, not the morning of, so carpet and furniture are fully dry and the house is back in order.
- Weekend party? Clean on a weekday. We work Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 4, so a Saturday dinner pairs well with a Thursday or Friday clean.
- Pick your date early. If you’re hosting in mid-December, book as soon as you know the date, so you get the weekday you want.
- After the holidays counts too. If the house will be full of family and dogs for two weeks, it can make more sense to clean the sofa now and the carpet once everyone has gone home.
Spills during the party
Red wine, cranberry sauce and coffee are the big three. Blot, don’t rub, with a clean white cloth and a little cold water, working from the outside in. Test anything stronger on a hidden spot first, and never use solvents or bleach on wool. If the stain is still there the next morning, an emergency spot clean is $125 for up to 5 spots in one 60 sq ft area.
Ultra Protection, our fabric protector, helps spills sit on the surface long enough to blot. It’s $30 a seat or area, and $10 a dining chair, added to a clean.
Booking it
Pick what needs cleaning, from the sofa and chairs to the hallway and guest room, and book carpet and upholstery cleaning in Vancouver online. The total updates as you go, and you choose a weekday time that fits before your first guests arrive. Our cleaning solutions are plant-based and pet-safe, and if something isn’t right at the walkthrough, we fix it, or you get your money back.
Common questions
How long before guests can sit on the sofa? Upholstery is usually dry in 3 to 6 hours, like carpet, and a fan or a window open a crack helps. If you’re hosting that evening, book an early slot.
Can you do the sofa and the carpets in one visit? Yes. Add both to the same booking, and the total shows before you confirm.
Do you work weekends? No. We clean Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 4.
Is GST included? No. Prices are plus GST, and the promo comes off before tax.
Ready to book? See carpet and upholstery cleaning in Vancouver, or call (604) 802-8500.