Move-In Cleaning Singapore: What to Do Before You Unpack

Bottom line up front: clean the home before your furniture arrives, not after. An empty unit is the only time a crew can reach inside every cabinet and wardrobe, along every window track, and behind the sanitaryware in one pass. Do it after you have unpacked and you are cleaning around your own boxes, missing exactly the interiors you will store food and clothes in. This guide is the room-by-room checklist for a proper move-in clean, plus what it typically costs.

TL;DR

• Clean before you unpack — an empty home lets every surface, track and cabinet interior be reached the first time.
• Focus on the interiors: cabinets, wardrobes and drawers you will store food and clothes in.
• A move-in clean is priced like a deep clean: HDB S$250–S$600, condo S$350–S$800, landed S$600–S$1,500+ (market ranges, not a quote).
• If the unit is post-renovation, you need the heavier post-reno dust-removal scope on top.
• Book the clean for the window between handover and your movers' arrival.

Why cleaning before you unpack matters

A new home usually looks clean at handover. It rarely is, in the places that matter. Dust settles inside kitchen cabinets and wardrobes, sits in window and sliding-door tracks, and collects behind toilets and under sinks — left by the previous occupant, the handover process, or renovation work.

Those are the surfaces you are about to fill with food, plates and clothes. The one moment you can clean them properly is while the home is empty. Once the movers have been and the boxes are in, the crew has to work around your belongings, and the cabinet interiors — the whole point — are already full.

So the timing is simple: book the clean for the window between getting your keys and your movers arriving.

The move-in cleaning checklist, room by room

Kitchen

• Interiors and shelves of all cabinets and drawers
• Cabinet exteriors, handles and toe-kicks
• Hood, hob and stove exterior; sink and countertop
• Wall tiles and backsplash
• Interior of the oven and fridge if left behind (confirm as add-on)

Bedrooms and wardrobes

• Interiors, shelves and hanging rails of all wardrobes
• Drawer interiors
• Window tracks, grilles and glass
• Skirting, doors, switches and light fittings

Bathrooms

• Toilet bowls, cisterns, sinks and vanity interiors
• Wall and floor tiles, including scale on glass and chrome
• Shower screens and mirrors
• Exhaust fan grilles and floor traps

Living areas and throughout

• All window tracks, grilles and interior glass
• Ceiling fans, light fittings and cobweb removal
• Doors, frames, switches and skirting
• Vacuum and mop every floor last, working out of each room

What a move-in clean costs

Move-in cleaning is priced like a deep clean, on floor area and condition. The table below gives typical Singapore market ranges so you can sanity-check a quote. These are general market figures across providers and are not OCD's prices.

Home type and size	Move-in deep clean (typical market range)
HDB 2- to 3-room	S$200 – S$400
HDB 4- to 5-room	S$300 – S$600
Condo (1 – 2 bedroom)	S$300 – S$550
Condo (3+ bedroom)	S$450 – S$800
Landed property	S$600 – S$1,500+

Ranges reflect the broad Singapore market as a guide only. They are not a quote from OCD, and actual pricing varies by floor area, condition and scope. A post-renovation unit sits higher because it needs cement-dust removal. The accurate figure for your home is the one quoted on your specific details.

Move-in clean vs post-renovation clean

These two overlap, so it is worth knowing which you need before you book.

A move-in clean prepares an empty home for you to live in — interiors, tracks, bathrooms and floors. It suits an unrenovated resale or a new unit you are not renovating.

A post-renovation clean adds the removal of fine cement and construction dust from vents, tracks and cabinet interiors, which is heavier work. If you renovated before moving in, this is the scope you need. See our post-renovation cleaning cost guide for that pricing, and the move-out cleaning checklist if you are also handing back an old place.

How to get an accurate price for your home

The ranges above tell you what is normal. The only figure that matters is the one quoted on your actual home. To get an accurate fixed price, share three things:

• Home type and size — HDB, condo, or landed, with square footage or room count.
• Whether the unit is post-renovation or unrenovated.
• Any specific areas or add-ons you need.

With those details, OCD quotes a fixed price up front, typically within a couple of hours on weekdays, with equipment and chemicals included and no add-on charges on the day. See the full scope on our move-in / move-out cleaning page.

Get my fixed price — tell us your home size and whether it is post-renovation, and we'll send the quote back in writing.

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This guide is for general information about move-in cleaning in Singapore. The price ranges shown are typical market figures across providers and are not a quote. For an exact price, request a free fixed quote on your home's details.