House Cleaning FAQs

In Durham Region, we provide service in Ajax, Bowmanville, Brooklin, Courtice, Oshawa. Pickering, Port Perry, Uxbridge and Whitby.

Our Downtown Toronto office is located in East York and serves East York, The Danforth, Leslieville, Riverdale, The Beach, West Scarborough, Don Mills, Leaside, North York and the Downtown Toronto condominium district, among others.

In West Toronto, Hire A Maid serves The Junction, High Park, Roncesvalles, Bloor West Village, Little Italy and Etobicoke, among others.

In York Region, we serve Markham, Richmond Hill and Vaughan.

If you don’t see your neighbourhood listed here, please contact us at our location near you.

Letting a stranger into your home is a big deal! To help you choose a cleaning service provider that will protect your home and deliver the service you want, we recommend that you ask the following questions:

• what measures does the company take to screen its employees?Hire A Maid employs people who management would trust to clean our own homes! All candidates complete a criminal record check, pass employment reference checks, and are asked questions during our interview process to ensure their trustworthiness.
• does the company use employees or sub-contractors? Hire A Maid’s staff are employees who have a vested interest in keeping our clients happy cleaning after cleaning, year after year.
• what kind of training does the company provide its cleaners?
  Hire A Maid provides comprehensive training on our detailed cleaning methods, efficient cleaning procedures and special precautions for carefully cleaning the delicate surfaces in your home to prevent damage. 
• how are the cleaners paid compared with the industry?
  Hire A Maid pays industry-leading hourly wages (not commission), bonus incentives for excellent performance, and medical and dental insurance coverage. This allows us to attract and retain the best of the best to clean your home, and results in happy employees who feel cared for and, in turn, go the extra mile to make our customers happy!

Our pricing is based on the Service Plan and Add-on Services selected, square footage, the number of bathrooms and pets (if any) in your home, and whether your home has average cleaning requirements.

To book your cleaning, we complete a detailed phone questionnaire. This helps us confirm your home cleaning needs, the current build-up levels and estimated pricing. Because we clean your home sight-unseen, this extra step helps us provide you the excellent service you want.

On our first visit, Hire A Maid performs a comprehensive deep cleaning to tackle surface build-up and prepare your home for regular maintenance visits. These deep cleanings are priced differently than our routine Maintenance Plan, and are designed to help us keep your home sparkling clean with regular maintenance visits.

A credit card is required to book initial service. A hold (not a charge) will be placed on your credit card 48 hours before your scheduled cleaning, and will be released once payment is received.

We offer payment by Email Money Transfer (our preferred method, which is free of service charges with many financial institutions), or credit card.

If payment by email money transfer is not received within 48 hours of your cleaning, the credit card on file will be charged.

No. We make your home cleaning experience as easy as possible for you. (Although many of our clients enjoy being at home to greet their regular cleaning staff.) We just ask that our staff have access to all areas to be cleaned, since waiting for access to clean a room takes time away from your home cleaning.

The easiest way to provide us access to your home is to install a lock-box on your property. We’ll retrieve and return the key on cleaning day. Keypad lock and garage door codes are other favourite methods for our clients.

Some clients do leave us a key in their mailbox, under a mat or planter. However, for security reasons, we don’t recommend this method.

If we’re unable to gain access to clean your home, you’ll be charged a lock-out fee equal to $80 on the intial visit (excluding post-renovation cleanings) or 50% of your regular cleaning fee will apply.

For post-renovation cleanings, Hire A Maid may commit 1-2 teams to your cleaning; in the event that we are unable to enter your home to carry out the cleaning as planned, a charge equal to 50% of the quoted fee will apply.

COVID 19: Please see our FAQ for COVID precautions if you will be home during our cleaning.

If you have a home alarm, please ensure our cleaning staff has access to your home on your scheduled cleaning day. You can either provide us a guest alarm code or leave the alarm off that day. If you provide us a guest alarm code and the code changes, please be sure to inform our office of the new code before your next cleaning appointment in order to avoid being charged a lock-out fee.

We do guarantee the day of your cleaning appointment. Due to our evolving daily schedules and unpredictable weather and traffic conditions, we cannot provide a specific time for our arrival. We recommend that access to your home via a lockbox, door keypad or garage code to provided to ensure access and to prevent a lock-out fee from being incurred.

Absolutely! This helps our cleaning staff become familiar with your home and cleaning preferences, so we always provide you with exceptional, high-quality service.

In the event that your regular cleaner is ill or on vacation, Hire A Maid will provide a replacement maid when possible, so that your cleaning will be performed as expected.

We understand that life happens. If you need to change your cleaning appointment, simply inform our office at least 48 business hours before your scheduled cleaning. If we receive less than 48 business hours notice, a late cancellation fee equal to $80 on the first visit (except for post-renovation cleanings) or 50% of your regular cleaning fee will apply.

For post-renovation cleanings, Hire A Maid commits 1-2 teams for up to 2 days of work (depending on the extent of the cleaning required). If you need to change or cancel a post-renovation cleaning, please inform our office at least 5 business days before your scheduled cleaning. If we receive less than 5 business days notice, a late cancellation fee equal to 50% of the estimated fee will apply

With the increased popularity of Uber and other ride share services, we have seen a big decline in the number of cleaning job applicants who have a car to support team cleaning; as a result, Hire A Maid has moved to primarily solo cleaning – that is, having one experienced cleaner assigned to clean your home. Feedback from our clients is that they love having a dedicated solo cleaner who gets to know the ins and outs of the home, and their unique preferences.

For the initial deep cleaning, a team or solo cleaner may be provided, depending on the size of the cleaning, and our office will inform you of which applies at the time of confirming your booking. As our solo cleaners are often travelling by public transit, they would need to use your equipment and supplies — please see “What do I have to provide?” below for more details.

For move-in/out, post-renovation and other one-time or occasional cleaning services, Hire A Maid provides all cleaning supplies and equipment.

For recurring service, our solo cleaning staff often travel by public transit, so we ask that you please supply: a well-functioning vacuum, mop & bucket, toilet brush, microfibre cleaning cloths, regular cleaning solutions and any heavy-duty or specialty cleaners that you require for mold & mildew or grease build-up removal, and stainless steel appliance polishing.

When you book regular service, we’ll provide you a list of recommended equipment and supplies to ensure your maid has the tools they need to provide you an awesome cleaning!

To give you the greatest value possible, we recommend that you please take a few minutes before our visit to put away clothing, toys, and other household or personal items.

Be sure to put away valuables, collectibles, heirlooms and other precious items before our visit to eliminate any potential for accidents. If an item can’t be put away for cleaning day, please let our office know in advance so our cleaning staff know to exclude it from service.

Hire A Maid is not responsible for accidental breakage of precious items that the office was not informed in advance to exclude, or which was not put away during the cleaning.

We’re always happy to help you with your additional cleaning needs, such as cleaning inside the fridge, stove or other areas not included in your regular Service Plan. Simply contact us 48 hours before your next appointment so we can schedule additional time for your maid to complete the extra tasks during your home cleaning. Additional charges will apply.

If during the cleaning, our staff identify the need for extra services not included in your Plan in order to meet your standards, our office will be in touch with you to discuss options; additional charges will apply.

Yes! Our maids are bonded and insured and our company also holds a $2,000,000 general liability insurance policy.

Your satisfaction and peace of mind are our top priority. All of our maids are Hire A Maid employees and are covered by Workers’ Compensation Insurance. This protects them and you if an injury occurs in your home.

We treat your home as if it were our own. In the rare event of a mishap, your maid will leave you a note and our office will promptly contact you to discuss the incident. Hire A Maid takes responsibility for damage caused by us. We either repair, replace or reimburse you for the damaged item. If appropriate, insurance claims are filed.

To eliminate any potential for accidents, we request that valuables, collectibles, heirlooms and other precious items be put away before our visit. If there are precious items in your home that can’t be put away or potential perils (e.g., a picture frame that is loosely hanging from the wall), please be sure to bring it to the attention of our office before cleaning day, and it will be excluded from service.

Hire A Maid can’t take responsibility for accidents resulting from perils that we weren’t advised of before your cleaning appointment, or household parts or fixtures that break during our routine cleaning due to normal wear and tear.

Tipping is never expected, but always appreciated. Please tip your maid directly should you wish to.

We want you to be amazed with every Hire A Maid home cleaning. If you’re not completely satisfied with the services included in your chosen Service Plan, just let us know within 24 hours of our cleaning and we’ll return to make it right – at no additional charge. That’s our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.

We also want you to receive the cleaning that fits your needs. If your concern is about a service that isn’t included in your purchased Plan (for instance, if you have selected the monthly Basic Maintenance Plan and would also like us to clean baseboards every visit), you can switch your Plan or include Add-on services. The applicable Service Plan or Add-on pricing will apply.

We love pets! However, for the safety of our maids, aggressive pets need to be secured during our cleaning. To ensure your pet’s peace of mind, we also recommend you be present for our initial cleaning, so your pet can meet us under comfortable circumstances.

Your peace of mind is our top priority. That’s why we set such high standards for the people we employ. (Only 1 out of approximately 200 job applicants are hired by us!) We excel at hiring people who take pride in their work and go above and beyond to provide you exceptional, friendly customer service and amazing home cleanings. Your home is always cleaned by Hire A Maid employees who genuinely care about keeping you happy. With Hire A Maid, your home is cleaned by the very best!