A security deposit is basically a bet, and the house is holding your money. The landlord walks the empty place with a clipboard looking for reasons to keep some of it, and “not cleaned to move-out standard” is the easiest reason there is. So the real question isn’t “how much does a move-out clean cost.” It’s “how much of my deposit is a move-out clean protecting.”
Let’s do both numbers honestly, because almost nobody in this industry will.
What a move-out clean actually costs in the Triangle
At NACC, move-out cleans start at $246. That’s a starting point, not a mystery. The reason move-out and move-in cleans are priced differently from a regular clean is that they’re done on an empty home and taken to a much higher standard: inside every cabinet, inside the appliances, baseboards, the works. Nothing’s skipped, because the whole point is passing an inspection.
Your exact number depends on your home, so we don’t play the fake-average game. Run it through our pricing calculator and you’ll see your real price on the page, no quote form and no sales call. (If you’re looking for regular recurring cleaning prices instead, that’s a different animal, and we broke those down in how much house cleaning costs in the Triangle.)
What’s baked in (and the one thing that isn’t)
Here’s the part most people expect to get nickel-and-dimed on, and don’t: the deep-detail work is already in the price. Inside the oven, inside the fridge, inside every cabinet, all of it is baked in, not tacked on at the end like a lot of companies do. The only optional add-on is blinds detailing. No mystery line items at the door.
The deposit math (this is the part that matters)
Here’s why people book this even when money’s tight from moving. In North Carolina, deposits commonly run one to two months of rent. On a typical Triangle rental, that’s easily $1,200 to $3,000 sitting in your landlord’s account.
A move-out clean is a couple hundred dollars. If it’s the difference between getting your full deposit back and losing a chunk to “cleaning fees” (which landlords often bill at a premium anyway), the return on that spend isn’t close. You’re risking a small, known cost to protect a large one.
What’s included in a move-out clean
A proper move-out clean covers the stuff a landlord actually checks, and yes, all of this is included in that starting price:
- Inside all cabinets, drawers, and closets
- Inside the oven, fridge, and freezer
- All appliance exteriors and the gaps beside and behind them
- Every bathroom, top to bottom, including grout and fixtures
- Baseboards, window sills, tracks, and switch plates
- Full floors, vacuumed and mopped, edges included
The one thing that’s a separate add-on is blinds detailing, if your place needs it. Want the full task-by-task rundown before you decide? It’s all in our move-out cleaning checklist.
Do it yourself, or book it?
If you’ve got the time and the place is in decent shape, you can absolutely do it yourself with that checklist. The honest case for booking it: you’re already drowning in a move, an empty-home clean is genuinely a full day of work, and a documented professional clean is a strong answer if a landlord tries to nickel-and-dime your deposit.
Get your move-out number in 60 seconds
We do move-out cleans across Raleigh, Cary, and Durham. See your exact price on our pricing calculator, and first-time clients get 10% off the clean.
Book your move-out clean here and get your deposit back without the fight.