Last Updated: August 3, 2026
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Every checklist for new homeowners tells you to change the locks and test the smoke alarms. Fine advice, and you will find it on twenty sites. What almost none of them tell you is that you are standing in a window that will not come back.
For a couple of weeks between closing and the moving truck, you own an empty house. Some jobs are dramatically cheaper and faster in that state, and turn expensive and disruptive the moment there is a sofa in the room. Knowing which is which is worth real money, and the sequencing is worth almost as much — plenty of people pay for a deep clean and then have someone sand a floor two days later.
Why the empty house is worth money
The reason is simple: for most household work, a large share of what you pay for is not the work itself. It is the handling around it.
- Painting. In an empty room the job is rolling walls. In a furnished room it is moving everything to the middle, sheeting it, masking, painting, unmasking, and putting the room back. Same square footage, considerably more labor.
- Flooring. Refinishing hardwood in a lived-in house means moving out for several days while the finish cures. In an empty house it means booking a week you were not going to be there anyway.
- Carpet cleaning. Priced and timed around moving furniture. Without furniture it is simply cleaning carpet.
- Anything in a wall or ceiling. Adding an outlet, moving a light, chasing a suspect pipe. All of it means dust and drop cloths, which is a different proposition when there is nothing to protect.
None of this requires an empty house. It just costs more, takes longer and disrupts your life more once you are living there. That is the whole argument.
The order matters more than the list
One rule covers most of it: work dirty to clean, and top to bottom. Every trade that creates dust, drips or debris goes before the clean, never after. The most common and most annoying mistake is booking the deep clean first because it feels like the natural starting point, then following it with painters.
- Locks, keys and alarms
- Pest treatment
- Anything that opens a wall or ceiling — electrical, plumbing, drywall repair
- Paint: ceilings, then walls, then trim
- Floors: refinishing, carpet replacement or carpet cleaning
- Deep clean, top to bottom, inside every cupboard
- Window coverings and shelving
- Appliance install and an HVAC service
- Photograph every room and every meter
The nine jobs worth doing now
1. Change the locks and codes
You have no idea how many keys exist. Previous owners, cleaners, a contractor, the neighbor who fed the cat. Rekeying is inexpensive and takes under an hour. Do the garage keypad, any smart-lock codes and the alarm code at the same time.
2. Treat for pests before anything goes in cupboards
An empty house is the only easy time to treat baseboards, cupboard interiors and the garage. It is also the only time you can see the evidence, before your own boxes cover it. If the inspection flagged anything, this is the moment.
3. Get the in-wall work done
Every outlet you wish were somewhere else, the light that needs moving, the sink shutoff that does not turn. These jobs generate dust and take up rooms, so they belong before paint and long before the clean.
4. Paint
The highest-value job on the list and the one people most often postpone into a year of weekends. An empty house paints in days. Ceilings first, then walls, then trim, so drips fall onto surfaces not yet finished.
5. Sort the floors
Refinishing, replacing or a deep carpet clean — all three are far simpler now. Refinishing in particular has a curing period, and an empty house is the only version of this job that does not involve you living somewhere else.
6. Deep clean, after the trades and not before
Inside cupboards and drawers, appliance interiors, extractor filters, light fittings, window tracks, baseboards. It is a different job from a regular clean and it is much faster with no furniture. Book it for after the dust-makers have finished.
7. Window coverings and shelving
Drilling, dust, ladders and a clear floor to work from. Doing this before the boxes arrive also means your first night has curtains, which matters more than people expect.
8. Appliance install and an HVAC service
Get the washer, dryer and any new appliances placed and connected while the routes are clear. Book a service on the heating and cooling system now, both because you want to know its condition before you depend on it and because you will get an honest read with nothing in the way.
9. Photograph everything
Every room empty, every meter reading, the water heater and furnace labels, the breaker panel with the door open. Ten minutes now, and you will use those photos for insurance, for arguments about condition, and every time someone asks what model something is.
Book the window before it closes
Post the jobs with your new address and locals nearby reply with their price, so you can line up paint, floors and the deep clean in the right order. Free to post, no commission.
Post Your Move-In JobsNo fees or commissions · Real profiles and reviews · You pay the person directly
What to book before closing
The constraint is rarely money. It is that everyone wants these jobs done in the same two-week window and good locals are booked out. A few practical points:
- Line the work up in advance, start it after closing. Get quotes and provisional dates early, but do not have anyone working in a house you do not yet own.
- Two weeks is comfortable; four is better if floors are involved. Refinishing takes days plus curing time.
- Check the utilities are on in your name before anyone turns up. No power means no work, and you will still lose the slot.
- Sort access. A lockbox or an agreed key handover saves you driving over three times in a week.
- Stack the dusty trades on consecutive days and put the clean at the end. It is the difference between one deep clean and two.
- If you only have a weekend, do locks, pests and the deep clean. Everything else can be done room by room later.
If you want a sense of what any of these should cost before you start collecting quotes, our real cost guides are built from prices on actual posted jobs rather than national averages.
What can wait, and should
The pull toward doing everything at once is strong, and mostly worth resisting. Kitchens, bathrooms, extensions and landscaping can all wait.
Live in the house for a season first. You will learn which room gets the afternoon sun, where the drafts come from, which door everyone actually uses, and which of the things you were sure you would change turn out to be fine. Almost everyone who renovates a kitchen in month one describes the layout they would choose instead by month eight.
The jobs worth rushing are only the ones that get harder with furniture in the room. That is the whole test, and it is a short list.
The short version
- The empty house is a window, not a state — some jobs double in cost once it closes
- Dirty to clean, top to bottom; the deep clean goes last
- Paint and floors are the two with the biggest empty-house discount
- Book early, start after closing, and check the power is on
- Kitchens and landscaping can wait until you know the house
Frequently asked questions
What should you do before moving into a new house?
In an empty house the highest-value jobs are: change the locks, treat for pests, complete any work that opens walls or ceilings, paint, refinish or replace flooring, deep clean, fit window coverings, service the HVAC system, and photograph every room and meter before furniture arrives. All of these are cheaper, faster and less disruptive with nothing in the way, and several of them become genuinely expensive once you are living there.
Should you paint before or after moving in?
Before, almost without exception. Painting an empty room is quicker because there is no masking, no moving furniture to the middle and back, and no working around a room you still have to live in. The same job costs more once the house is full, because a large share of the labor becomes protecting and shifting your belongings rather than painting.
What order should you do jobs in before moving in?
Work from dirty to clean and from top to bottom. Locks and pest treatment first, then anything that opens walls or ceilings, then paint, then floors, and only then the deep clean. Cleaning before the dusty trades finish means paying for it twice. Window coverings and appliance installation come after the clean, and photographs of every room and meter are the last thing you do before the truck arrives.
How long should you allow between closing and moving in?
Two weeks is comfortable for cleaning, paint and small repairs. Four weeks is better if floors are being refinished, since the work itself takes several days and the finish needs curing time before furniture goes back down. If your dates leave you only a weekend, prioritize locks, pest treatment and the deep clean, and plan the rest room by room later.
What can wait until after you move in?
Kitchens, bathrooms, extensions and landscaping can all wait, and usually should. Living in a house for a season teaches you things no walkthrough will: which room gets the afternoon sun, where the drafts are, which door you actually use. The jobs worth rushing are the ones that get harder with furniture in the room. Everything else benefits from you knowing the house first.