These are the questions most commonly asked by our customers and prospective customers. If you do not find the answer to your question, please feel free to call or email us.

How Much Will It Cost To Clean My House?
Every house is unique, and every cleaning fee is individually based. Things that will affect the amount of your house cleaning estimate include the size of your home, number of residents, number of pets, number of bathrooms, how often you want us 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 kinds of information is gathered to estimate your house cleaning fees, simply click on 

“On-line Estimate” from the home page.

Will All Visits Cost the Same Amount?
The first visit usually costs more than subsequent visits. Generally, it takes additional cleaning tasks to get the home up to The Cleaning Girls's standards. This visit is performed on an hourly basis. Your estimate for this visit will be expressed as a cost range. We will contact you for authorization for more time in the event your 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 visits are generally charged at a flat rate, however inconsistent visits or special project requests will be best suited with an hourly rate. You will receive a time estimate for both the initial cleaning and the regular cleanings.

Do I Have To Be Home When The Cleaning Girls Clean?
This is your option. You may give us a key to be safely stored – always with “double-blind” security. Only the owner and/or manager can access the client key safe. The ladies are given the keys for each cleaning appointment daily and must turn these back in to management before they are allowed to leave for the evening. These keys are returned to the key safe until the next cleaning appointment.

Do You Guarantee a Day and Time for My Cleaning Appointment?
The Cleaning Girls ordinarily guarantees a specific day for your cleaning and an approximate time. Due to our flexible and ever-changing schedule, we can generally give close time frames for our arrival. If you need a specific time guarantee, feel free to discuss with the owner or management. Within reason, we will do our best to reach a mutually agreeable solution.

What If I Need to Reschedule a Cleaning?
Simply call our office prior to your cleaning day. A minimum of 24 hours notice to reschedule your cleaning is requested.

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 client. This decreases the maids’ pay. Without consistent wages, we cannot retain the best talent to clean for you. Thus, respecting our procedure for reschedules helps insure you will get the best service possible.

We will assess a cancellation fee if necessary, although we want to help you avoid incurring these fees!

What If I Accidentally Lock the Cleaning Girls Out on My Cleaning Day?
Just as with Rescheduling fees, if you lock the team out on cleaning day, you will likely be assessed a lock-out fee. Most of our clients either provide us a key or hide one on the premises on cleaning day.

What Should I Do About My Security/Alarm System on Cleaning Day?
If you have a security system, please make necessary arrangements to give your team access to your home on your scheduled day. Some clients establish a guest or temporary code for us.

What Should I Do With My Pets During the 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, to allow us to clean your home better and more efficiently.

Are My Valuables Safe with The Cleaning Girls?
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 that area to be cleaned. Maid Brigade carries all the necessary insurances in the event that any damage occurs.

How Shall I Pay for My 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 time of service you may choose to either leave cash or a check on the kitchen counter the morning of your 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 cleaning is completed. A fee will be assessed for all returned checks.

How Do I Know I Can Trust Your Staff?
We pride ourselves on attracting the best talent available. Combining hourly wages and bonus programs we offer some of the best pay in the industry – to insure 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 us with the care of your home.

Do I Need to Provide House Cleaning Equipment or Supplies?
We provide all cleaning solutions and state-of-the-art equipment, so you never need to worry about replenishing your supply for our maids. If you have special cleaning products you want the maids to use, please be sure to discuss this with the owner or manager in advance, so that we can properly instruct the team.

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 infected. It ranges in color from a pinkish-orange to black.

Your Maid Brigade house cleaning 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 and etc. However, as long as moisture and warmth are present, the spores will immediately germinate and mildew will again be growing 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. Chlorine bleach is a very good sanitizer to use on an infected area.

To reduce the pungent odor, the bleach can be diluted up to 50% with water. 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 us to use bleach. Also, please do not use bleach for two days preceding a scheduled cleaning by The Cleaning Girls because a chlorine residue could combine with the other cleaning chemicals and cause the formation of a toxic gas.

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