Bond Cleaning
Runaway Bay

Runaway Bay is a house suburb, not a unit suburb

Runaway Bay sits about seven kilometres north of Southport on the Broadwater, and it was built in two distinct phases — Anglers Paradise in the south before 1967, and the planned canal estates north of it from 1972 onwards. The result is a settled, low-rise suburb of detached homes, waterfront blocks with pontoons, and villa and townhouse complexes, rather than the towers you get further south.

The demographics follow from that. The median age is over 60 and around seven in ten homes are owner-occupied, so there are fewer rentals here than in Southport — but the bond cleans that do come up are larger, and the tenancies behind them are longer. A Runaway Bay lease ending after three or four years is ordinary. A Southport one ending after twelve months is ordinary too, and the difference shows up in the oven, the grout, the exhaust fans and the window tracks.

In practice, here is what changes on the day:

• Carpet, nearly always. Most of the brick-and-tile stock here has carpet through the bedrooms and living areas. Queensland leases generally require a professional steam clean where carpet is present, and your agent will ask for the receipt.
• Salt on the glass. Canal-front and Broadwater-facing homes pick up a film on the windows and grit in the sliding door tracks that ordinary cleaning doesn't shift.
• Floor area. A four-bedroom canal home is roughly twice the size of a one-bedroom unit in Southport. Plan for the day, not the morning.
• Double garages. Standard on most of the canal blocks, and a common addition to the clean.
• Pets and yards. Houses with yards mean pets, and agents here regularly put a flea treatment on the exit report.
• Parking is easy. A driveway or the street, no lift booking and no loading dock — so unlike the high-rise suburbs, there's no access fee on a Runaway Bay job.

What a Runaway Bay bond clean costs

These are our actual prices, not a starting point that changes when we arrive. All include GST.

Most Runaway Bay homes are single storey, and single storey carries no surcharge. Double storey, townhouse and duplex properties add $150, and a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home is $1,250. Smaller villa units start at $600. The full price list is here, including every optional extra.

• Carpet steam cleaning, where needed from $120
• External windows, flyscreens and tracks $175
• Garage clean, double $130
• Garage clean, single $90
• Flea treatment, where pets have been kept $200

What we clean

The same room-by-room standard your property manager inspects against — oven, rangehood and filters, bathrooms sanitised, wardrobes inside and out, window tracks, skirting boards, light fittings, ceiling fans and air conditioning filters, doors and architraves, and every hard floor vacuumed and mopped.

You can read the full checklist here, or print it if you would rather attempt it yourself. We would rather you had it either way.

What isn't included outside — worth knowing here

Runaway Bay homes have a lot of outside. Decks, pontoons, pool surrounds, long driveways. A bond clean covers the inside of the property, plus the garage if you add it. These sit outside it:

• External decks, and anything past them
• Driveways and pathways
• External walls, stairs, gutters, fascias and downpipes
• Security screens
• Blinds of any kind — venetian, vertical, roller, slimline and shutters
• Wasp and insect nests outside the property

If your lease specifically calls for the deck or driveway to be pressure cleaned, tell us when you book so it doesn't come as a surprise on your exit report. The full list is in our terms and conditions.

Where bonds get held back in Runaway Bay houses

After years of end-of-lease work the same items come up again and again, and in a longer tenancy a few of them are worse:

• The oven. Three or four years of roasting builds up a layer that a standard oven clean won't move. Where it has been left, an additional fee applies — and we will always tell you before we start.
• Shower grout and glass. Hard water leaves a film on screens that has to be dissolved, not wiped.
• Sliding door and window tracks. The single most common item written up on a waterfront property.
• Rangehood filters. Routinely missed, and easy for an agent to check.
• Ceiling fans and air conditioning filters. Used most of the year here, and inspected.
• Skirting boards and architraves in carpeted rooms, where dust settles against the edge.

Common questions

How much does a bond clean cost in Runaway Bay?

A three-bedroom, one-bathroom house is $750 and a three-bedroom, two-bathroom is $850. Four bedrooms with two bathrooms is $1,100. Most Runaway Bay homes are single storey, which carries no surcharge; double storey, townhouse and duplex properties add $150. All prices include GST.

Do I need carpet cleaning for a Runaway Bay rental?

Usually yes. Most of the brick-and-tile housing stock in Runaway Bay has carpet through the bedrooms and living areas, and Queensland leases generally require professional steam cleaning where carpet is present. Your agent will normally ask for the receipt. Carpet steam cleaning starts at $120 and can be added when you book.

Do you clean the deck, pontoon or driveway?

No. A bond clean covers the inside of the property, and the garage if you add it. External decks, driveways, pathways, external walls, gutters and security screens sit outside a standard bond clean. If your lease specifically requires any of those, tell us when you book so it doesn't come as a surprise on your exit report.

How long does a bond clean take in a Runaway Bay house?

About six hours for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home and around seven and a half for a four-bedroom with two bathrooms. Canal homes are larger than the units further south, so plan for the day rather than the morning.

We also clean right across the northern Gold Coast — Pimpama, Biggera Waters, Hollywell, Paradise Point, Coombabah, Labrador and Southport. If your suburb isn't listed, call us; we almost certainly cover it.