Recurring house cleaning

A recurring clean is bought once and delivered fifty times, so the thing that decides whether it works is the scope document rather than the first visit. Almost every complaint about a regular cleaner traces back to a task one side assumed was included and the other never quoted.

What a standard visit covers. Kitchens: counters, sink, cooktop, exterior of appliances, floor. Bathrooms: toilet, tub or shower, sink, mirror, floor. Living areas and bedrooms: dusting reachable surfaces, vacuuming, mopping hard floors, beds made if asked, bins emptied. That is the baseline across the trade in Ottawa, roughly two to three hours in a typical three-bedroom home for one cleaner.

What is normally excluded and should be named in writing. Inside the oven, inside the fridge, interior windows, blinds beyond a quick dust, walls and baseboards beyond spot cleaning, laundry, dishes, tidying possessions, high dusting above reach, garages, unfinished basements, and anything involving pet mess or biological cleanup. None of those are unreasonable to ask for. All of them cost time, and a cleaner who silently absorbs them will either rush the rest of the house or quietly raise the price.

Step one: the walk-through. A serious company quotes after seeing the home, not from a bedroom count over the telephone. What they are measuring is floor area, the number of bathrooms, the amount of surface clutter, pets, and how much of the floor is hard versus carpeted. A house with three cats and open shelving is a different job from an identical house without them.

Step two: the checklist and the rotation. The better arrangement is a fixed weekly list plus a rotating extra: interior windows one month, baseboards the next, inside the fridge the month after. That keeps the visit length predictable while still getting to the jobs that otherwise never happen.

Step three: products, keys and access. Decide who supplies products and equipment. A company bringing its own gear is more consistent and avoids carrying soil between homes, while using your supplies is cheaper and lets you control what goes on your surfaces. Access needs a written arrangement: a key under a signed agreement, a lockbox, or a door code changed when staff change.

Timing and frequency. Weekly suits households with children, pets or shift work. Fortnightly is the most common choice in Ottawa, though each visit is longer and dearer than a weekly one. Monthly slides toward a small deep clean each time, because four weeks of soap film does not come off at maintenance pace.

What it costs in Ottawa in 2026. These are indicative ranges, not quotes. An insured company commonly charges $45 to $70 per cleaner-hour. A flat rate on a standard three-bedroom, two-bathroom house is often $150 to $250 a visit fortnightly, and $120 to $200 weekly. A one or two bedroom condo is often $100 to $170. Labour is essentially the whole cost, so the general minimum wage rising from $17.60 to $17.95 on 1 October 2026 (Hicks Morley) feeds into 2027 pricing. A rate far below these ranges usually means no WSIB, no insurance or cash work, and the saving belongs to whoever carries that risk.

What makes Ottawa homes different. Winter is the whole story. Five months of road salt and sand tracked through an entrance hall means a visit in February is doing a job that does not exist in July, and salt residue on hardwood and tile needs a neutral cleaner rather than more water. Entrance mats and a boot tray reduce the work more than any product. The other local factor is water chemistry: Ottawa's treated water leaves the Britannia plant with pH adjusted to 9.2 to 9.4 to limit corrosion in the distribution system (City of Ottawa), and alkaline water plus soap is what leaves the film on glass shower doors that no amount of scrubbing with a general cleaner removes. An acidic bathroom product, used properly and rinsed, is the answer.

Licences, and the plain answer. No licence exists to be a house cleaner in Ontario. Cleaning is not one of the 23 compulsory trades, the group that includes plumber and electrician where certification is legally required (Skilled Trades Ontario). Anybody who tells you they are a licensed cleaner is describing something that does not exist. What can be checked: commercial general liability insurance, a WSIB clearance number, which is valid for up to 90 days (WSIB), a bond if theft coverage matters to you, and whether staff entering your home have had a police record check with their consent (Ontario).

One point homeowners miss. If you hire a cleaner directly as your own worker rather than engaging a company, you may become an employer. WSIB lists homeowners or residents who hire domestic workers such as housekeepers among those required to register (WSIB). Engaging an incorporated company that carries its own coverage avoids the question entirely, which is the practical reason to ask for a clearance number rather than pay cash.

What to ask before you hire. Can I see the written task list. What is excluded. Is it the same person every visit. How long is the visit. Who supplies products, and can I request specific ones. Do you carry liability insurance and WSIB, and can I have the clearance number. Are your staff employees or subcontractors. Have they had a police record check. What is the policy if something is broken. What notice to cancel, and is there a fee. Get the task list and exclusions in writing, because those two documents prevent nearly every dispute here.