For tens of thousands of domestic cleaners London is where they call home. But what do they do there? Up early and off to work yes, but where, how and how much? Most people wouldn’t give much of a thought to the habits of contract maids or carpet cleaning London professionals, but they can live a difficult and downright strange life doing what they do. Contract cleaners can have as many as five appointments a day and, like old-time doctors and dentists, they still make house calls. The volume of customers to be serviced and, for big jobs at least, the likelihood that it will be a new customer means that those in the cleaning profession have a very good idea of what London homes and homeowners look like. Do the sums and you would find that for some cleaners London is just a series of households, looked at and cleaned up at the astonishing rate of more than 1000 per year.

So what is a typical day like for a London cleaner? Most companies start their first daily appointments between 7.30 and 8.00am. Appointments often require a commute, and it can be a long one. Most major contract cleaners serve all London areas within the M25 so, in the unlucky instance that you live in Putney and your first job is in Ilford, you may be up as early as 4.30 in order to pick up materials and make it to the customer on time.

Once there, the cleaner is invited into the home of a complete stranger and, after they’re introduced, the cleaner deals with the person’s mess while they head off to work or prepare for the school run. Also, house cleaning, where one-off contract cleaners are concerned, entails just about everything: kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, wardrobes, carpet and upholstery cleaning, and all this while the client just goes about their day-to-day business.

Needless to say, going in to so many homes on such a regular basis, London cleaners seem some very bizarre, shocking behaviour and some unfortunately very unclean situations. What’s more, it’s their responsibility to clean up these messy situations... Five times a day. Funnily enough, many former cleaners now head up interior design firms and building companies. So the next time you have someone in to do your upholstery cleaning, it might be worth asking them what they think of your home decor, and whether they have any hot tips for you.