Everything west of the High Road climbs. That is Alexandra Park, the greener half of N22, on the slope running up towards the palace, and the houses are noticeably larger than anything down on the level ground. A move-out clean here starts at £156 for a studio and reaches £425 for a four bedroom house. The rest of the list is identical to the rest of the round.
The hill sets the timings
The W3 grinds up to Alexandra Palace and so do we, with a van full of kit. The work does not change, though anything above the park gates is offered the first slot of the day where we can arrange it. Alexandra Palace station on the Great Northern side is handy for our cleaners coming down from the north, which is one reason this corner is easy for us to staff on a Saturday.
Big terraces with small original details
Four and five bedroom Victorian terraces on this side, plenty of them still with the tiled path, deep skirtings, picture rails and a cornice painted over about eight times. Dust settles on all of it. A three bedroom house here is a £339 move-out clean and it honestly takes longer than a three bedroom flat down on the level, which is exactly why the price sits on the property rather than on an hourly guess that always turns out short. The three cleaner deep clean tiers get more use up here than anywhere else: £264 over three hours, £342 over four and £498 over six.
Wool carpets over bare boards
A lot of these houses kept a decent wool carpet, sometimes laid straight onto boards with no underlay beneath it. We work it drier. Wool takes less water and a slower pass than the polypropylene in a rented flat, and it browns badly if it is soaked and then left, so it gets more dry passes and longer to sit. Rates hold: £36 a bedroom and £43 a living room, stairs £41 a flight, rugs £35 or £51 either side of 3m².
Event days at the palace
The roads at the top fill up when something is on at the Victorian theatre or the ice rink, and the streets nearest the gates are the ones that suffer for it. We work around the calendar. Where there is an event and you are within a few streets of the entrance, we will usually offer a morning and be gone before the crowd arrives.
Bigger kitchens, taller windows
Family houses mean double ovens at £110, a fair few 90cm ranges at £143 and the occasional two oven AGA at the same £143, which has to be switched off the night before because cast iron holds its heat for hours. Taller windows mean long drop curtains at £42 rather than short at £35, cleaned hanging so nothing pulls up short. Upholstery goes at £57 for a two seater, £35 a mattress, £33 an armchair and £13 a dining chair. Head downhill towards the High Road and the pattern flips to flats and short lets, with the check-outs bunching at the end of every month. The prices page carries all of it.
Questions we get asked
Do you cover the streets right up by the palace?
Yes, all the way to the park gates and round to the boundary, with early slots kept for the steepest roads.
What does a four bedroom handover cost up here?
A flat £425, settled before we start, taking in the whole house. The oven and floors are added: the oven, often a double up here, is £31, three carpeted bedrooms and a lounge done on the same visit put £123 on it, and a pair of stair flights another £70.
Can you clean a wool carpet without shrinking it?
Yes, with less water, a slower pass and proper extraction so it is damp rather than wet when we leave. Wool browns if it is soaked and left, which is what goes wrong with a hire machine, so we allow more drying time on these houses.
Prefer the phone? 020 8077 9085, 8am to 7pm.