Call the specialists to clear out more than clutter this spring

METRO DETROIT — When crews arrive at homes for spring cleanouts, they often find more than just clutter.

Sometimes they’re met with rooms filled with years of belongings left behind. John Roselli, who owns Demo Doctors in Birmingham, said his crews handle cleanups of any type, from homes being prepared for a sale to hoarder situations.

“I’ve actually determined it’s an illness that sometimes these people have experienced trauma in their lifetime, or the loss of a loved one or the loss of something special, and then they just kind of decide to hold on to everything,” he said.

Roselli said one of the biggest challenges people face when hiring his company for a cleanup of any scale is parting with their personal belongings.

“It’s sad. They might be married 30, 40, 50 years, and they’ve lost the spouse, and they’ve got to clean up the house now and get rid of their clothing and some of their personal properties, and it can be challenging,” he said.

He added that his team has learned what kind of personal property to look for to set aside for the homeowners or the estate to look through, either for sentimental or monetary value.

Other items, he said, they try to donate.

Whether they’re hired by a realtor, homeowner or landlord, Roselli said his company always offers a “white glove service.”

“I tell them all they have to do is smile and say, ‘John, take this. John, take that.’ We get it out of there, and then we clean up the area that we were working in like we were never even there,” he said.

The next step toward downsizing is having someone come in and professionally clean the space — someone like Dave Boni, who owns Squeaky’s Cleaning.

“People call it a maid service … We’re the ones that go in after the junk removal companies come out, and we do the deep cleaning of the home,” he said. “Cleaning bathrooms, cleaning the kitchen, vacuuming, dusting, mopping, all that sort of stuff.”

Boni said his company specializes in both regular, or maintenance cleanings, as well as deep cleaning. He said throughout the year his company mostly does maintenance cleanings, but around certain times of the year — during the spring in particular — they see more deep cleanings come on the schedule.

Maintenance cleanings are cleanings that happen on a regular basis, but deep cleanings involve more complex cleanings, like inside cabinets and other spaces that have been emptied.

“If someone’s going to move, or if they get construction done, usually just the work required is a lot more,” he said.

Boni said people often underestimate how long a cleaning might take. A maintenance cleaning is one that can take a few hours, he said, while a deep clean can take over a day.

He added that people often don’t realize how clean their home can get until a professional cleaning company comes in.

“So people might say, well, I cleaned my house in only a couple hours, and it’s like, sure, but are you cleaning it as good as we are?” he said.

While many people consider a cleaning service to be a luxury, Boni added that it’s also a necessary service to some.

“There are a lot of people who can’t clean their homes. We have a lot of elderly clients … The most rewarding part, I would say, is when people call us or tell us, like, ‘Hey, thank you guys so much. I could never have done this. This is amazing.’ The feedback we get is definitely the most rewarding part,” he said.