Nook & Cranny answers the most common questions about pricing, scheduling, supplies, pets, and service areas below. For scheduling, cancellation, and payment policy details specifically, see our Cleaning FAQs & Policies page.
Choosing a cleaning company for your home in Newport Coast, Yorba Linda, or anywhere across OC usually comes with the same handful of questions — here’s what homeowners ask us most.
Pricing depends on your home’s size, condition, frequency, and any add-on services requested. Request a free estimate for a number specific to your home. See our full Pricing page for a breakdown of what affects cost.
Yes — there’s no obligation to book after receiving an estimate.
Larger homes take longer to clean and are priced accordingly, the same way any professional cleaning company prices by scope.
We accept all major credit and debit cards. At this time, we’re not able to take cash, checks, Zelle, Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, or any other payment method.
Two things drive your price: how big your home is (bedrooms, bathrooms) and roughly how long the job will run. Punch those details into our site, and you’ll get a quote back instantly.
Here’s the honest caveat — no online form can see your kitchen. So if our team shows up and the place needs meaningfully more work than the quote assumed (a buildup they didn’t expect, more clutter, extra detail requests), we won’t just run the clock and bill you for it. About an hour after your cleaning was supposed to wrap, we’ll call. You tell us: keep going a bit longer, or stop where we are and settle at the quoted price. Nothing beyond your original number happens without you saying yes first.
Once the cleaning wraps, we charge whatever’s left to the card you had on file when you booked — that happens automatically, the same day, and it’s the only way we collect. Nobody on your cleaning team is walking around with a card reader. The one thing to stay on top of: keep that card current. A declined charge that goes unresolved can put your next appointment at risk, including a fee worth half the job’s cost if it comes to a cancellation.
We know handing over a card number online means trusting us to handle it right, so here’s exactly how that’s protected. Every connection through our booking page runs on SSL encryption, and your information gets transmitted with 256-bit encryption on top of that — two separate layers before your card details even reach a payment processor. From there, charges are handled through Stripe, which is the same infrastructure a lot of major companies rely on for exactly this reason.
Here’s the part that matters most: we don’t actually keep your full card number on file anywhere in our system. What’s stored instead is a secure token — basically a stand-in that lets us charge your card for authorized amounts without ever holding onto the real number ourselves. So even in a worst-case scenario, there’s no full card data sitting around to expose.
Yes — 25% of your quote, due at booking, and it’s non-refundable. Think of it less as a hold and more as a down payment: whatever you put down comes straight off your final bill. On a $150 remaining balance after a $200 job, that $50 deposit is already baked in — not sitting separately on your card.
Yes. Weekly, biweekly, and monthly plans are all available, and you can adjust frequency or pause service as your needs change.
Availability varies by day and area — see our Same-Day House Cleaning page or contact us directly to check current openings.
See our Cleaning FAQs & Policies page for our cancellation and rescheduling window.
We give our cleaning professionals a 2-hour window around your scheduled appointment time rather than promising an exact minute we can’t fully control. It’s there to absorb the small stuff — traffic, parking, an appointment before yours running long — so your booking stays on track without us overpromising on timing.
A little bit of setup on your end goes a long way toward getting the most out of your appointment.
Around the house: clear loose stuff off the floors and surfaces — kids’ toys, mail, laundry, whatever’s accumulated — so our team can actually reach what needs cleaning instead of working around it. Get dishes into the sink or dishwasher rather than leaving them out, since that’s the difference between us giving your kitchen a real clean versus cleaning around a mess. And anything irreplaceable — documents, jewelry, sentimental items — is worth tucking away yourself beforehand, as good practice whenever someone new is in your space.
On the utilities side: we need the basics running to do the job right. That means water access throughout the visit, functioning lights (we’re not going to clean corners we can’t see), and either AC or heat available so our team isn’t working in an unsafe temperature. Without these, we may not be able to complete the service as scheduled.
None of this is about perfection — it’s just enough clearing and access that our time goes toward cleaning your home, not maneuvering around it.
Yes. Our team arrives fully equipped with professional-grade products and tools for every visit.
A standard clean maintains a home that’s already in good shape. A deep clean addresses buildup that routine cleaning doesn’t reach — baseboards, inside appliances, behind furniture — and is recommended for first visits or every few months. See our full comparison on the Deep Cleaning vs. Standard Cleaning blog post.
This one’s built around a simple advantage — an empty house lets us reach things a lived-in one doesn’t. Same high-and-low dusting approach as a deep clean, same ceiling-fan and light-fixture treatment (chandeliers still excluded), and interior windows get cleaned too, though we don’t remove or tilt them out of their frames. Sills get wiped down as part of that same pass.
Because the space is clear, we go further in a few places a standard visit can’t: closets get cleaned out on the inside, not just around the doorframe, and shelving throughout gets wiped down completely. Light switches are cleaned and disinfected, baseboards wiped the full length of every room, and floors finished with a full vacuum and mop pass.
The whole point of this service is timing — it exists for the window when a home is empty or close to it, which is exactly when our team can actually get into the corners a full house would normally block.
These are typically add-ons or part of a deep clean rather than a standard visit — see our Cleaning Checklist for the full room-by-room breakdown.
Inside-oven cleaning, inside-refrigerator cleaning, cabinet tops, finished basements or lower levels, and garages fall outside our standard scope and are quoted separately — see our Cleaning FAQs & Policies page for the complete list.
A few things fall outside what any visit covers — some for safety, some because they need specialized handling we’re not equipped for as a general cleaning service.
Health and safety:
Appliances and enclosed spaces:
Limits on reach and equipment:
Handled with care, not included:
If something you need falls into one of these, ask — a few can be arranged as a special request even if they’re not part of standard scope.
Think of this as the reset that catches what regular visits don’t have time for. Every room gets attention up high and down low — dust gets cleared from wherever it settles above eye level, ceiling fans get addressed wherever a 3-step stepladder can safely reach them, and light fixtures get the same treatment (chandeliers are the one exception, since those need a different approach).
Windows get a real clean on the interior side, sills and tracks included wherever they’re accessible, and every surface and piece of furniture in the room gets dusted, not just the ones in plain sight.
From there, it’s the finer detail work: mirrors and glass surfaced to a streak-free shine, light switches cleaned and disinfected, baseboards wiped down along their full length. Trash gets emptied and relined, floors get a full pass — vacuumed if they’re carpeted or rugged, mopped if they’re hard-surface.
The honest way to describe it: nothing gets skipped because it’s inconvenient to reach. That’s the difference between this and routine upkeep, and it’s why first-time clients, seasonal resets, and homes that haven’t seen a professional in a while all start here.
Absolutely. Let us know about any pets in the home and any special instructions, and we’ll plan accordingly — see our Pet-Friendly House Cleaning page.
Yes — see our Eco-Friendly Cleaning and Allergy-Friendly House Cleaning pages.
For recurring clients, we prioritize consistent team assignment whenever possible, since familiarity with your home tends to produce better, faster results over time.
Yes — priority areas, rooms to skip, product preferences, and access notes can all be left on file or updated before any individual visit.
We hold off. It’s not about doubting anyone else’s work — it’s that two crews moving through the same space at once is how people get hurt and corners get missed, and neither is a risk we’re willing to take with your home or our team. So if you’ve got movers coming, a painter finishing up, an internet install, or anyone else scheduled, that’s not the day to book us too — give each job its own window.
If our team shows up and finds another crew already working, we’re not able to start. That appointment gets treated as canceled on the spot, and the full scheduled cost still applies — which is really just us asking you to help us avoid a wasted trip by keeping cleaning day contractor-free.
Just keep them secured somewhere during the visit — not because pets are a problem, but because a stranger moving through the house with equipment isn’t a normal day for them, and it’s safer and calmer for everyone if they’re settled in one spot rather than underfoot. Same goes for kids: whatever room our team’s actively working in should stay clear until they’ve moved on to the next one. It’s a small ask that keeps the visit quick and safe for your family and our team alike.
Rare, but worth being upfront about: if our team runs into something that makes it genuinely unsafe or unworkable to continue — not just inconvenient, but a real safety concern — they’re allowed to end the appointment early rather than push through it. In that situation, the scheduled cost still applies, the same way it would with a same-day cancellation, since the appointment slot was still committed regardless of how far the work got.
Yes. Every cleaner on our team is background-checked before working in a client’s home — this isn’t optional or limited to certain clients.
Yes, which protects both your home and our team in the rare event something goes wrong during a visit.
Fair question, and one we take seriously. Every person who joins our cleaning team goes through a real, in-person interview first — not just a resume review — and has to clear a comprehensive nationwide background check before we let them anywhere near a client’s home. That’s not a box we check after the fact; it’s a requirement before day one.
Beyond the vetting, it comes down to how we actually operate: showing up when we say we will, doing the work right, and treating your space the way we’d want ours treated. Trust isn’t something we ask for — it’s something we try to earn on every visit.
We’re careful — genuinely careful — but nobody can promise accidents never happen, so here’s how we handle it when they do.
There’s a difference between something we damage and something that was already at risk.
Items that weren’t properly secured to begin with — a mirror that wasn’t mounted right, a shelf that wasn’t stable, anything with a wobbly base — aren’t something we can take responsibility for if they’re disturbed during a normal cleaning. That’s less about avoiding blame and more about being upfront: our team is moving through your home doing real work, and inherently unstable items are a risk regardless of who’s in the house. If you’ve got pieces that fall into this category — or anything with real sentimental or monetary weight, like antiques, collectibles, fine glassware, or curio pieces — the safest move is putting them away or somewhere secure before we arrive.
Now, if our team is responsible for the damage — something properly secured that we broke or mishandled — we don’t ask you to just eat the cost.
We’ll cover the replacement value or up to $100 per item, whichever number is lower, once we’ve confirmed what the item was actually worth. One thing we do ask: hold onto the damaged item rather than tossing it, since we need to take a look before we can process anything.
Passing a background check isn’t optional or reserved for some employees — it’s the final gate every single person has to clear before they’re cleared to work in a client’s home, full stop.
We run it nationwide, not just locally, and it’s built into the hiring process itself rather than something we get around to eventually.
The screening exists for a simple reason: you’re trusting someone with access to your home, and we don’t take that trust lightly. We’d rather turn down a candidate than skip a step.
Before anyone leaves your home, the job gets checked against what we consider “done right” — not just a quick glance on the way out the door. Our team walks the space and confirms everything on the visit’s scope actually got covered, not just the easy parts.
That said, it’s worth being upfront about what happens if something still isn’t right. We don’t send someone back out for a re-clean — that’s simply not part of how we operate. If you were home during the visit, that’s exactly why we’d rather you flag anything on the spot, while the team’s still there and can address it directly. If you weren’t home and something’s bothering you once you see the place, you’ve got a 24-hour window from when the service wrapped to let us know. Tell us specifically what didn’t sit right, and we’ll actually look into it — not just log a complaint. When it’s warranted, we’ll credit up to $25 toward your next visit.
It’s not a blanket guarantee, but it is a real process: we inspect before we go, and we take it seriously if something still slipped through.
We use professional-grade cleaning products that are effective, safe, and suitable for most homes. If you prefer eco-friendly, fragrance-free, or pet- and child-safe products, let us know before your appointment, and we’ll do our best to accommodate your request.
Yes — let us know if you’d prefer we use products you provide instead of our own.
Our default products are chosen with everyday household safety in mind; for households with specific sensitivities, our Eco-Friendly Cleaning and Allergy-Friendly House Cleaning services use more targeted, gentler product lines.
Nook & Cranny serves homes throughout Orange County, including Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Dana Point, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, La Habra, La Palma, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster, Yorba Linda, Coto de Caza, Ladera Ranch, Las Flores, North Tustin, Trabuco Canyon, Silverado, Santiago Canyon, and Orange Park Acres.
Not seeing your neighborhood listed? Reach out and we’ll confirm availability.
Use our online booking tool or request a free estimate, and we’ll confirm your appointment.
Yes — this is common for landlords, property managers, and vacation rental hosts. Provide access instructions and any relevant details when booking.
Life happens, and we’d rather you move your appointment than skip it entirely — but timing matters. Give us at least 48 hours’ heads-up and rescheduling costs you nothing extra; we’ll just find a new date and carry your existing booking forward. Inside that 48-hour window, though, we’re no longer able to simply shift things around — it becomes a new booking altogether, which means a fresh 25% non-refundable deposit to hold your new time slot. Bottom line: the earlier you know your schedule’s changing, the easier and cheaper it is to handle.
No — once a cleaning has been completed, we don’t issue a cash refund on it. That’s not us dodging responsibility, though: if something about the visit didn’t meet expectations, the right move is telling us directly and quickly, not asking for money back after the fact. Reach out as soon as you notice an issue, walk us through what happened, and we’ll figure out the right way to make it right — that might mean a credit toward a future visit, depending on the situation. The faster you flag it, the more we can actually do about it, so don’t sit on a concern hoping it resolves itself.
Same-day cancellations come with a cost, and it’s worth understanding why before it happens to you. Once a team is scheduled for your home, that slot in their day is essentially locked in and can’t easily be filled on short notice — so canceling the day of your appointment means a fee equal to 50% of what the service would have cost. That’s on top of the 25% deposit you already put down to reserve the booking, which stays non-refundable regardless of timing.
Put the two together and a same-day cancellation runs you 75% of the total scheduled price, even though no cleaning actually happened. The way around this is simple: the moment you know you need to cancel, let us know — don’t wait until the day of.
(For scheduling, cancellation, payment, and access policy details specifically, see: Cleaning FAQs & Policies.)
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