Private Housekeeping in Bayswater and Paddington

Where we work in W2

Our round covers the garden squares (Cleveland, Gloucester, Norfolk, Talbot and Sussex) and the long terraces at Westbourne Terrace, Lancaster Gate and Leinster Gardens.

We work the Hyde Park Estate streets around Connaught Square and Connaught Village, which are more intact than the rest and feel closer to Marylebone than to Bayswater. Porchester Terrace, Queensway and the Westbourne Grove end form the western edge, and the Paddington Basin apartments the eastern one, where the stock is new rather than converted.

What we are cleaning

W2 is the most converted part of our patch, and the conversions are the whole story.

The stucco terraces around the garden squares were built as single houses in the 1840s and 50s, on a scale close to Belgravia's. Very few are still one dwelling. Most now hold between three and eight flats, which means a communal hall and stair that belong to everybody and therefore to nobody, original features surviving unevenly from floor to floor, and a managing agent who has views about contractors. We establish at the outset what is ours to clean and what is the building's.

The Hyde Park Estate around Connaught Square is the exception, more intact, more single houses, and a round that runs much like our Marylebone one.

At the eastern end, the Paddington Basin buildings are modern: lateral apartments, concierge, a loading bay, and specified stone and glass throughout. Straightforward to clean, and tightly governed about when you may arrive.

Access, parking and keys

Bayswater and Paddington sit outside the Congestion Charge zone. The boundary runs along Edgware Road, which forms the eastern edge of this round, and the charging zone lies on the far side of it, so a property on the west side of Edgware Road is outside, and one a few hundred metres east of it is inside. For addresses close to that line we confirm the position before quoting rather than assume it. The whole area is inside the ULEZ.

Westminster's controlled parking applies Monday to Saturday, 8:30am to 6:30pm, with no visitor permit scheme.

In converted buildings the practical constraint is rarely parking. It is the hall. Equipment stays inside the flat rather than on the communal stair, and we agree with the managing agent in advance what may be brought through and when. It is the commonest source of friction in W2, and it is entirely avoidable.

Services in Bayswater & Paddington

• Private housekeeping. Retained, weekly through daily, with a named housekeeper and a named deputy.
• Move-in and move-out. Worked against the check-in report, because that is the document a dispute is decided on.
• Deep cleaning. Seasonal, and before a house is returned to. Descaling is most of the work in London.
• After-builders cleaning. Three stages, worked to your contractor's programme. One clean at the end always fails.
• Textile and upholstery care. Silk, wool and antique, tested before treated, and referred on where it should be.