Cleaning tips, tested in the field

What you'll find here

These guides come straight out of the questions people ask us on the phone. How to read a cleaning quote and what pushes it up or down, what a landlord actually inspects at the end of a tenancy, how to run a changeover between two guests without losing your Saturday, what it takes to rescue an oven left alone for years, and in what order to tackle a spring clean so you never do the same job twice.

They are written for people who live here and people who own property here: families who would like regular weekly help, tenants with a handover coming up, short-let hosts between Aosta, Courmayeur and Cervinia, and second-home owners who open and close a flat twice a year. Where it matters, we take account of life in this valley: the road salt that walks into the house all winter, the hard water that marks taps and shower screens, the rhythm of the ski season.

None of these pages is trying to sell you anything. They are the steps we take ourselves, in the same order, with products and tools you can buy in any supermarket: if you have the time and the inclination, you can do them yourself. And when the job is too big or the time too short, you already know what to ask for and what to expect from whoever does it for you.