Ask a cleaning company what a house cleaning includes and you get a checklist. Ask what it doesn't include and you learn something. A crew that says yes to the roof, the black patch behind the vanity, the ants in the pantry, and the sleeper sofa either hasn't read Florida law or has decided it doesn't apply to them. Prolush publishes a short list of exclusions: no exterior or high-ladder work, no mold remediation, no pest control, no moving heavy furniture. Each one has a reason, and for most of them the reason is a Florida statute that hands the job to a different trade. Here they are one at a time, with who to call instead.
What the checklist covers before it says no
The yes list first, so the no list has a shape. On a recurring visit our checklist covers kitchen counters, backsplash, stovetop, and appliance exteriors; toilets, showers, tubs, mirrors, and fixtures disinfected; every floor vacuumed and mopped, edges and corners included; dusting of surfaces, shelves, sills, and reachable fixtures; beds made, trash out, and a final walkthrough together. A deep cleaning takes each of those further: grout, tile, and shower glass scrubbed and de-scaled, baseboards and switch plates hand-wiped, inside the oven, inside the fridge, behind reachable appliances, vents and blinds and light fixtures wiped.
Notice the word that keeps appearing: reachable. Everything on the list happens inside four walls, at arm's length or from a step stool, with products meant for surfaces. The exclusions are the places where that stops being true.
Exterior and high-ladder work: gravity and the storm drain
Two problems hide inside this one exclusion. The first is the ladder. NIOSH says extension ladders should be set at about a 75-degree angle and lists carrying objects while going up or down as improper use, and it counted 161 workplace fatalities from ladders in 2020, according to the CDC's ladder safety page. A cleaner climbing to a second-floor window with a bucket in one hand breaks that guidance by definition, which is why the windows on our move-out list are interior.
The second problem is where the water goes. Wash a stucco wall or a driveway and the runoff heads for the nearest drain, and the City of Coral Gables explains that stormwater may flow into a storm sewer system or directly into a lake, canal, or coastal water, per the city's Sewers and Stormwater page. Miami-Dade County's 2026 Biscayne Bay Report Card, released May 19, points at stormwater and sediment runoff carrying nutrients and contaminants into storm drains and says the Bay's health remains at risk, according to the county's release. And once the job climbs to the roof, Florida defines a roofing contractor as the trade that installs, maintains, repairs, and alters roofing, waterproofing, and coating, under section 489.105 of the Florida Statutes.
Who to call: a pressure-washing company that captures or diverts its wash water, a window-cleaning outfit with the right lifts and anchors for upper floors, and a state-certified roofing contractor for anything on the roof itself.
Mold: the ten-square-foot line in Florida law
Mold is a humidity problem before it's a cleaning problem. UF/IFAS Extension notes that most molds grow most readily above 60 percent relative humidity, which is why they turn up in bathrooms and kitchens, and it recommends hiring a professional if you still see or smell mold after cleaning or the growth is greater than 10 square feet, per its Mold Management in the Home guide. A Miami bathroom with a tired exhaust fan crosses that 60 percent line every summer evening.
The 10-square-foot figure isn't a suggestion here. Florida defines mold remediation as the removal, cleaning, sanitizing, demolition, or other treatment of mold or mold-contaminated matter of greater than 10 square feet, in section 468.8411. A person may not perform or offer to perform mold remediation unless they've complied with that licensing part, under section 468.8419. The same section bars an assessor from remediating a structure they assessed within the last 12 months, so the person who diagnoses it and the person who removes it are supposed to be different people. The one exemption that matters to a homeowner: a residential property owner may do assessment or remediation on their own property, per section 468.841.
So a cleaning crew scrubbing mildew off shower grout is doing exactly what a deep clean covers. A cleaning crew "treating" a patch of drywall larger than 10 square feet is doing regulated remediation without a license. Our position, which some will disagree with: we won't touch a patch of any size on drywall or ceiling board, even under 10 square feet, because the cause matters more than the patch and wiping it hides the evidence an assessor needs. Who to call: a state-licensed mold assessor first, then a separate licensed remediator with the assessor's report in hand.
Pest control: Chapter 482 and why a spray bottle doesn't count
Cleaning is most of pest prevention: crumbs, grease film behind the range, and standing water under the sink are what ants and roaches come for. Applying a pesticide for hire is another matter. FDACS states that each business location providing structural pest control to homes or other structures must be licensed under Chapter 482 and employ a full-time certified operator, with certification in categories such as general household pest and rodent control and termite and other wood-destroying organisms, and it publishes a searchable database of licensed businesses, per the FDACS Pest Control Licensing and Certification page. A cleaner spraying bait or barrier product for money is doing regulated work without the certificate. Who to call: an FDACS-licensed pest control business, and for anything in wood, one certified in the termite category.
Heavy furniture: your floor and your back
This one is half physics, half law. A sectional dragged across terrazzo or porcelain tile leaves marks no mop removes, and a crew built for cleaning isn't staffed to lift a sleeper sofa safely. We clean around and under what one person can lift, which is why a move-out cleaning is booked for after the movers leave. If the piece is leaving the house, use a registered mover: FDACS registers intrastate moving companies under Chapter 507, which covers loading, transporting and unloading household goods.fdacs.gov/Consumer-Resources/Consumer-Rights-and-Responsibilities/Moving-Within-Florida">the Moving Within Florida consumer page. Who to call: a registered mover if the piece is leaving the house. Inside the house it is two people and a floor protector, not a cleaning job.
How to read a cleaner's refusal list
Ask for the exclusions before you ask for the price. A shorter checklist with a clear no beats a long one with a hidden maybe, because every maybe above is a job Florida has already assigned to someone else. In Coral Gables, where our crews start each morning, the older stucco homes, terrazzo floors, and mature trees mean these questions come up more, not less.
| We don't do | The right trade | Who regulates it in Florida |
|---|---|---|
| Exterior washing, roofs, high ladders | Pressure washing, window cleaning, roofing contractor | Roofing under Chapter 489; runoff under county and city stormwater rules |
| Mold over 10 square feet | Mold assessor, then a separate remediator | Chapter 468, Part XVI |
| Pesticide application | Pest control business with a certified operator | FDACS, Chapter 482 |
| Lifting heavy furniture | Registered intrastate mover | A registered mover if it leaves the house; otherwise two people and a floor protector |
Inside our own lane the policy is simple: anything missed, tell us within 24 hours and the same crew comes back, and our FAQ covers the rest of what is and isn't included.
Send a photo of the job on WhatsApp to 305-338-8001, and if it belongs to one of the trades above we'll say so before you spend two minutes on a quote.