House Cleaning With Pets: What Cleaners Charge Extra

Pet friendly cleaning service: what heavy pet hair costs, where the dog goes during a visit, products, litter and bowls. Text for a written price.

By Yuri and Tatiana, owners of Shining Cleanse LLC, a family cleaning company based in Everett, WA and licensed in 10 cities across Snohomish and King County.

A pet friendly cleaning service asks about your animals when you book, keeps them clear of the vacuum, and tells you up front what pet hair costs. With us, heavy pet hair is a $42 add-on to a house cleaning, and urine odor in carpet is a separate $52-per-area treatment. Nothing is added without your yes.

“Pet friendly” is on a lot of cleaning websites, and on its own it tells you nothing. Below is what it means in practice for us, two owners who clean every home ourselves, and the questions worth asking any company before you hand over the door code.

Do house cleaners charge extra for pet hair?

Many do, and it is fair when it is said up front. Heavy shedding adds time to every floor and every piece of upholstered furniture: the vacuum fills faster, hair wraps the brush roll, and corners and stair edges need a second pass.

Ours works like this. A standard house cleaning starts at $240 for a studio or 1 bedroom (4 work hours at $60). If your photos show a lot of hair, say a husky in October or two long-haired cats, we add heavy pet hair at $42 and say so in the written quote. If the hair is ordinary, there is no add-on. We do not decide this on your doorstep.

Prices are on our pricing page, and they are the same in Lake Stevens and our nine other licensed cities.

What should you do with your dog during a cleaning?

Give the dog a room of its own while the vacuum runs. A closed bedroom with water, a bed and a chew works for most dogs. A crate works for crate-trained dogs. Some owners take the dog for a walk or to daycare on cleaning day, which is the calmest option of all.

Tell us three things when you book: how the dog reacts to strangers, how it reacts to the vacuum, and whether it is an escape artist. We text 30 minutes before arrival, we keep outside doors closed while we work, and we will not let a dog out into the yard unless you have told us it is fine. If your dog guards the house, please be home for the first visit so it can meet us with you there.

Cats mostly vanish under a bed and reappear when we leave. Just tell us which room they hide in, so we do not shut a door on them.

Before

After

Are cleaning products safe for pets?

We do not promise that any product is “safe for pets”, and we would be careful with a company that does. A label like “pet-safe” or “eco” is an adjective, not an ingredient list. Ask for product names instead, so you or your vet can look them up.

Here is what we bring: dry steam from our steam cleaner for bathrooms, grout and the stovetop; plant-based cleaners and EPA Safer Choice products; fragrance-free versions on request; no bleach unless you ask. Touchpoints like door handles get an EPA-registered disinfectant used per its label.

Two habits matter more than the product. Keep pets off freshly mopped floors until they are dry, and off cleaned carpet until it is fully dry, usually 4 to 8 hours. If a pet does get into a cleaning product, at our hands or anyone’s, contact your vet or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center; its page says a consultation fee may apply.

How often should you clean with a shedding dog?

Every week or every two weeks, with vacuuming in between. Dog hair does not wait for the calendar. With a heavy shedder, a monthly visit means four weeks of hair worked into rugs and corners, and the first hour of every visit goes to catching up.

A rhythm that works for many pet homes:

• vacuum the pet’s favorite spots every day or two yourself,
• a recurring cleaning every one or two weeks for floors, bathrooms and kitchen,
• carpet extraction every 6 to 12 months, sooner with accidents or a puppy.

Our guide to carpet cleaning schedules with kids and pets has the carpet side in detail. Weekly visits start at $270 and every two weeks at $290 for a studio or 1 bedroom; heavy pet hair is added to a visit only when it is needed.

Do cleaners clean litter boxes or pet bowls?

Companies handle these differently, so settle them in your first message, in writing, before the visit. Tell us where the box and the bowls are and what you would like, and we answer for your home in our quote.

Our suggestion is to scoop the box yourself right before we come. It is your routine, your cat knows it, and the room smells normal while we work. Water and food bowls are easiest left on a towel in their usual spot, so the floor around them can be cleaned without moving the cat’s dinner across the kitchen.

What about pet odor and stains?

Ordinary cleaning removes hair and the everyday “dog smell” that lives in floors and soft surfaces. It does not fix urine that soaked into carpet. That needs a separate pet odor treatment: you tell us where the accidents happened, we check those areas for stains and smell, treat them with an enzyme or oxidizing product for the full dwell time, then rinse and extract. Urine that reached the pad may still smell afterward, and we say so before we start, because surface treatment cannot fully fix that. Our article on pet urine carpet treatment explains the limits.

For the couch the dog sleeps on, keeping a fabric couch clean with pets covers the habits that make professional cleanings last longer.

We do not use odor-masking sprays. If something smells, we would rather find it than cover it.

Our job

FAQ

Can you clean while my pets are home alone?

Yes, if they are comfortable with strangers or settled in a closed room. Leave us a note on feeding, doors and which rooms they can use. We text 30 minutes before we arrive and send photos when we finish.

Do you use air fresheners for pet smell?

No. Fragrance covers a smell for a day and then mixes with it. We clean the surfaces that hold the smell, and when urine is the source we treat it with an enzyme or oxidizing product.

Is heavy pet hair charged on every recurring visit?

Only on visits that need it. Regular weekly or biweekly visits keep hair from building up, so many pet homes need the add-on for the first clean and seldom after. We tell you in writing either way.

Will the vacuum scare my dog?

Some dogs ignore it, some hate it. If yours hates it, a closed room on the far side of the house or a walk during the visit is kinder than a dog barking at us for two hours.

Get a written price

Text 2–4 photos to (425) 539-5492 or request a written quote, and tell us about your pets. We reply with a written price the same business day (Mon–Fri 9am–7pm, Sat 9am–5pm).

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