Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Does a House Cleaning Service Cost?

Every house is unique, and every house cleaning fee is individually based. Things that will affect your house cleaning estimate include the size of your home, number of residents, number of pets, number of bathrooms, number of hardwood or tile floors, how often you want our maids to clean, etc. We have a standardized formula for calculating each individual cleaning estimate in a uniform way. If you would like to see what information is necessary to accurately estimate your maid service cost please complete the request an estimate form on this website.

Will All House Cleaning Visits Cost the Same Amount?

The first house cleaning visit usually costs more than subsequent visits. Generally, it takes additional cleaning tasks for our maids to get the home up to Maid Brigade standards. The first house cleaning visit is performed on an hourly basis. Your estimate for this house cleaning service visit will be expressed as a cost range. We will contact you for authorization for more time in the event your maid services team considers it necessary.

Once this initial visit has occurred, your home’s cleanliness can be easily maintained with our regular visit cleaning tasks. Regular house cleaning visits are charged as a flat fee based upon the frequency you select. You will receive an estimate for both the initial cleaning and the regular house cleaning visits up front. Once the initial house cleaning has been completed, we will confirm your regular house cleaning price.

Do I Have To Be Home When Maid Brigade Maids Clean?

This is your option. You may give us a key to be safely stored – always with “double-blind” security. Only the local owner and/or office manager can access the client key safe. Maids are given the keys for each house cleaning appointment before they leave the office each day, and must turn these back in to management before they are allowed to leave the office each evening. These keys are returned to the key safe until your next house cleaning service visit.

Do You Guarantee a Day and Time for My House Cleaning Appointment?

Maid Brigade ordinarily guarantees a specific day for your house cleaning but not a specific time. Due to our flexible and ever-changing schedule, we are unable to commit to a specific time of day for our maids to arrive. However, if you contact us after 8:30am on the day of your maid service, we will be glad to estimate the time our maids will arrive. If you need a specific time guarantee, feel free to discuss this with our office staff. Within reason, we will do our best to reach a mutually agreeable solution.

What If I Need to Reschedule a House Cleaning?

Simply call our office prior to your cleaning day. We ask that you provide us with a minimum of 48-hours notice for any changes to your schedule. This means that we need to hear from you by noon two business days before your scheduled cleaning. If you are scheduled for a Monday we need to hear from you by noon on Thursday. If we are not given adequate notice to cancel or reschedule a scheduled cleaning, or are unable to gain access to your home, you will be charged a “lock-out” fee equal to your regular cleaning fee. Unlike the airlines, we do not overbook our schedule. So, if you need to reschedule a cleaning without proper notice, we will not have enough opportunity to fill the schedule with another maid services client. This decreases the maids’ pay. Without consistent wages, we cannot retain the best maids to clean for you. Thus, respecting our procedure for reschedules helps ensure you will get the best house cleaning service possible.

What If I Accidentally Lock the Maids Out on My Cleaning Day?

Just as with rescheduling fees, if you lock the maids out on house cleaning day, you will likely be assessed a lock-out fee equal to your regular cleaning fee. Most of our clients either provide us a key or hide one on the premises on house cleaning day.

What Should I Do About My Security/Alarm System on House Cleaning Day?

If you have a security system, please make necessary arrangements to give your maid team access to your home on your scheduled day. Some clients establish a guest or temporary code for Maid Brigade.

What Should I Do With My Pets During the House Cleaning?

Please advise us if you have pets and provide any information regarding your pets that would be helpful for us to know. Though not a requirement, we prefer pets to be restricted from the areas we clean, so our maids can clean your home better and more efficiently.

Are My Valuables Safe with Maid Brigade?

If you have any special valuables, heirlooms or irreplaceable items, please put them away or instruct us not to touch them. A closed door or drawer is your signal to us that you do not want our maids to clean that area. Maid Brigade carries all the necessary insurances in the event that any damage occurs.

How Shall I Pay for My House Cleaning?

You may pay by cash, check or credit card. Payment is due at time of service. If you do not intend to be at home at the time of your maid service visit you may choose to either leave cash or a check on the kitchen counter the morning of your house cleaning. If you choose to pay by credit card, we will keep your credit card information on file at the office and charge your card once each house cleaning is completed. A fee will be assessed for all returned checks.

How Do I Know I Can Trust Your Maids?

We pride ourselves on attracting the best maids available. Combining hourly wages and bonus programs we offer some of the best pay in the industry – to ensure we have the finest maids. We screen our maids carefully, we train meticulously, we inspect relentlessly and we insure adequately. We do all this so that you can have the highest confidence to trust our maids with the care of your home.

Do I Need to Provide House Cleaning Products or Equipment?

We provide all house cleaning products and state-of-the-art equipment, so you never need to worry about replenishing your supply for our maids. If you have special house cleaning products you want the maids to use, please be sure to discuss this with our local maid service office owner or manager in advance, so that we can properly instruct the maids. You will be responsible for leaving out that product as well as the cloth or mop to use with it as we do not allow our microfiber cloths to be used with any products not provided by us. Please note that we do not allow our staff to use any cleaners that are bleach based under any circumstances. This is for their health and safety.

What Is Mildew and How Can I Get Rid of It?

Mildew is a parasitic fungus. It requires moisture, warmth and a food source to exist. It reproduces itself by growing microscopic spores in enormous quantities. These spores are always present in the air and spread via normal air currents. A spore lies dormant until favorable moisture and temperature conditions occur for it to germinate. Mildew thrives in warm moist areas that have poor air circulation. In the average household, mildew is typically found in the bathrooms. The corners, cracks and crevices of the tub, shower, sink and toilet are the most common areas affected. It ranges in color from a pinkish-orange to black.

Your Maid Brigade house cleaning service team will be able to impede the growth of mildew by removing the built up food sources that it lives on, such as soap, skin, hair, etc. However, as long as moisture and warmth are present, the spores will immediately germinate and mildew will again grow on the host area.

To stop the growth of mildew, the area must be kept dry or it must be chemically treated to make it an undesirable environment for the spore to germinate. Although not part of a green cleaning program, chlorine bleach is a very good sanitizer to use on an infected area.

We recommend that the bleach can be diluted up to 50% with water to reduce the pungent odor. The most practical application method would be to lightly spray the area, although it can be wiped or sponged on. It is not necessary to saturate the area or to treat uninfected areas. Leave the bleach in contact with the surface area for at least an hour. Rinse any area that you will touch in later use. Repeat the application on a bi-weekly basis or when mildew reappears.

Insurance restrictions do not permit Maid Brigade maids to use chlorine bleach. Further, bleach is not part of our Green Clean Certified® program because of the toxic nature of this substance. As a Maid Brigade customer, you may choose to use bleach independently to help control mildew growth between our cleaning service visits. If you choose to do so, please do not use bleach for two days preceding a scheduled house cleaning by Maid Brigade because a chlorine residue could combine with the other cleaning solutions our maids use and cause the formation of a toxic gas. Also, please ventilate the treated area well to clear away harmful vapors quickly.

We hope the above discussion explains why mildew is such an on-going maintenance challenge. Working together, however, it can be controlled.