Table of Contents
The short answer: compare the visit, not the hour
The cheapest cleaning quote is the one with the lowest total for the visit your home needs, with tax, materials and every fee counted. It is rarely the one with the lowest hourly rate in the advert. An hourly figure leaves out how many hours you must buy, how many cleaners are being priced, whether VAT is inside it, who brings the vacuum cleaner, and what is added for travel, a weekend or a change of plan.
So fix the job first: the same home, the same number of cleaners, the same hours, the same day and the same answer on materials. Then put one question to each company: what is the total I pay for that visit? Compare those totals and nothing else.
This guide goes through the nine things that move a total. It uses the price list of IHR Dream Cleaning as the worked example, because every figure on it is published and you can check each one. In brief, our price list is set by the length of the visit: AED 55 for 1 hour, AED 65 for 2 hours, AED 30 an hour for 3–4 hours and AED 25 for each hour after that, for one cleaner, with VAT inside every figure. Near the end there is a sheet of questions to put to any company, with our own answers filled in.
Why an hourly rate tells you so little
Every visit carries costs that have nothing to do with its length. The cleaner travels to you, finds parking, signs in at the gate or the security desk, carries the equipment up and does the same in reverse at the end. That takes as long for a one-hour visit as for an eight-hour one. A company can recover it in two ways. It can charge a single hourly rate and insist on a minimum number of hours, or it can price each visit length separately, so that a short visit costs more per hour. Either way the short visit pays more for each hour of cleaning. The only difference is whether you can see it.
Our list takes the second route, which makes the effect easy to read. One hour costs AED 55. Two hours cost AED 65, which is AED 32.50 an hour. From there the hourly figure falls slowly, to AED 27.50 on an eight-hour visit.
| Visit, one cleaner | With your products | Works out per hour | With our materials |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hour | AED 55 | AED 55 | AED 60 |
| 2 hours | AED 65 | AED 32.50 | AED 75 |
| 3 hours | AED 90 | AED 30 | AED 105 |
| 4 hours | AED 120 | AED 30 | AED 140 |
| 6 hours | AED 170 | AED 28.33 | AED 200 |
| 8 hours | AED 220 | AED 27.50 | AED 260 |
What a 'from' rate hides
Suppose we advertised only the lowest figure in that table: AED 27.50 an hour. A reader who multiplied it by two would expect a two-hour visit to cost AED 55. The real price of that visit is AED 65, or AED 75 with our materials. Nothing in the advert would be untrue, and the reader would still be wrong about the bill.
That is the weakness of every 'from' rate. It normally describes the longest visit, on the plan with the largest discount, with the customer supplying everything. Few people book that visit. The cure is simple: never compare rates. Ask for the price of the visit you intend to book, at the length you intend to book it.
Inside the price: four things to pin down
Four parts of a quote decide what its hourly figure really buys. Get an answer on each before you look at anything else.
1. The minimum booking
A low rate with a four-hour minimum is a dear way to clean a studio. Ask for the shortest visit the company will send, and whether that minimum is counted per cleaner or for the whole team. Then find out what your home actually needs, because a visit that is too short stops halfway down the list and has to be bought again.
Our minimum is 1 hour per cleaner, at AED 55. Two hours, at AED 65, is the shortest visit that realistically suits a whole home, and it is where a new booking starts. Deep cleaning and move-in or move-out cleaning have their own floor of 2 cleaners for 3 hours each, which is AED 180 with your own products. How many hours each size of home needs, from a studio to a villa, is set out in cleaner-hours and cost by home size.
2. Per cleaner, or per team
Some quotes price one person. Others price 'a team' without saying how many people are in it. The two cannot be compared until both are turned into cleaner-hours: the number of cleaners multiplied by the hours each one works. Three hours from a team of two is six cleaner-hours of work. Three hours from one cleaner is three.
Our price is per cleaner. Each cleaner's visit is taken from the list by its length, so two cleaners for three hours each cost twice the three-hour price: AED 180. One cleaner for the same six hours costs AED 170. That is a little less, because a longer visit is cheaper per hour. Many households still choose two cleaners so that the home is finished by lunchtime. One visit can hold up to 4 cleaners for up to 8 hours each.
3. VAT inside the price, or added to it
A figure quoted before tax is not the figure you pay. Ask whether VAT is included. If it is not, add it before you set that quote beside any other. Every price we publish already includes VAT at 5%: the visit prices, the item prices for sofas, carpets, mattresses, curtains and AC work, and the fees. Nothing is added at the end, and a tax invoice showing the VAT contained in the total is available on request for any booking.
4. Who brings the products and the equipment
A rate 'without materials' means you supply everything the cleaner works with: the liquids, the cloths, a working vacuum cleaner and a mop. A rate 'with materials' means the company carries all of that in. The first is cheaper per hour, and cheaper in total only if you already own the equipment. Buying a vacuum cleaner for one visit is not a saving.
With us the difference is AED 5 for every cleaner-hour. When we bring the materials, the team arrives with this kit: cleaning liquids and sprays, vacuum cleaner, mop and bucket, broom, microfibre cloths and rags, step ladder. Tall ladders and scaffolding are not part of it. Without materials the cleaners bring nothing, and if something essential is missing on the day the booked hours still run.
Which option suits which household is covered in cleaning with or without materials and in the short guide to materials pricing, so it is not repeated here. For a comparison the rule is only this: put both quotes on the same footing, with or without, before you look at the totals.
Added to the price: four more to ask about
The next four do not appear in an hourly rate at all. They appear at checkout, on the day, or after a change of plan.
5. Travel, call-out and parking
A travel or call-out fee is a fixed sum per visit. On a long visit it disappears into the total. On a short one it is a large share of the bill. Ask whether there is such a fee, whether it applies to your area, and whether it is charged once per visit or once per cleaner.
We charge no call-out fee, and no travel fee in 18 of the areas we serve. The areas further out, Al Wathba, Al Shahama, Al Rahba and Al Samha, carry a flat AED 20 per visit. It is added once, however many cleaners or hours you book, and the booking form shows it as its own line before you confirm. A two-hour visit there comes to AED 85 and an eight-hour visit to AED 240, so the same fee weighs far more on the short visit. The guide to cleaning in the far areas explains how to plan visits around it.
Parking is the cost people forget. Our booking form asks you to arrange free parking or a visitor pass for the team. Where only paid parking is available, the parking is added at what it actually cost. Put the same question to any company, because a quote that says nothing about parking has not answered it.
6. Fridays, public holidays and same-day visits
Peak pricing is the hardest extra to spot, because it is not on a rate card. It turns up at checkout, when the day you wanted costs more than the day in the advert. Ask for the price on the actual date and time you want, and ask what a booking for today would cost.
Our price is the same on every day of the week, on public holidays and for same-day bookings. A same-day visit needs about 2 hours of notice for the team to reach you, and it depends on a team being free, not on an extra payment. We work every day, 8 AM – 8 PM, and the work has to finish by closing time, so a long job simply needs an earlier start. The timing is covered in how same-day cleaning works.
7. What happens if the job runs over, or finishes early
This is where a cheap quote most often turns expensive. If the hours quoted were too few, somebody decides on the day what happens next. Either the team leaves with the job half done, or it stays and the extra is billed at a rate you never agreed. Before you book, ask who decides whether to extend, in what steps extra time is billed, and at what rate.
Our published rule is that you pay for the hours you booked. If the team finishes the agreed work early, it stays for the remaining time and spends it on whatever else you would like done. If the home needs longer, the team leader asks you first. Extra time is billed in 30-minute steps as the difference to the longer visit on the price list, so a fourth hour added to a three-hour visit costs the difference between AED 90 and AED 120. Nothing is added without your approval.
8. Cancelling and rescheduling
Plans change, and the terms for changing them are part of the price. Find out how late you can cancel free of charge, what a late cancellation costs, and what is charged if the team arrives and cannot get in. With a prepaid package, ask what happens to the visits you do not use.
With us you can cancel or reschedule free of charge up to 6 hours before the start time. After that a cancellation costs AED 30. If the team travels to the property and cannot get in, because nobody is home or there is no key or access card, the charge is AED 60. The page on cancelling and rescheduling has the rest.
9. What a plan discount is really worth
A percentage off means nothing until you know what it is a percentage of. A large discount on a high base price can leave you paying more than no discount on a lower one. Work out the price of one visit after the discount, multiply it by the number of visits in a month, and compare that figure.
Then read the conditions. Some plans are contracts for a fixed term. Some are paid for in advance, a month or more at a time. Some give the discount only if you never move a visit. Each of those has a cost when your plans change, even though none of them appears in the price.
Our plans are repeating bookings and nothing more. Regular visits cost less: 10% off every two weeks, 15% off weekly and 20% off for two or more visits a week (5% monthly). The discount comes off every visit and is rounded down to a whole dirham. There is no contract, no membership fee and no paying ahead for future visits, and any visit can be moved or cancelled under the normal policy.
| Plan | Off every visit | One 3-hour visit | Four weeks of visits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single booking | None | AED 90 | 1 visit: AED 90 |
| Monthly | 5% | AED 85 | 1 visit: AED 85 |
| Every two weeks | 10% | AED 81 | 2 visits: AED 162 |
| Weekly | 15% | AED 76 | 4 visits: AED 304 |
| Twice a week | 20% | AED 72 | 8 visits: AED 576 |
Turn the percentage into money
On that three-hour visit the weekly plan saves AED 14 a visit against a single booking, and AED 56 over four weeks. Hold that number beside the other differences between two quotes. A travel fee on every visit, or tax added at the end, can be worth as much as a plan discount, and neither is advertised as loudly.
If you are weighing a monthly package against booking visit by visit, the sums are worked through in part-time maid monthly packages and what you pay per visit.
One visit, seven totals
Here is why two companies can quote for the same number of hours and mean different bills. Take a two-bedroom apartment. Our published guide for a regular clean of that size is 1 cleaner for 4 hours. Every row below is that same visit on our own price list.
| The same 4-hour visit | Total you pay |
|---|---|
| Single booking, you supply products and equipment | AED 120 |
| Single booking, we bring the materials | AED 140 |
| On a Friday, a public holiday or the same day | No change |
| In Al Wathba, Al Shahama, Al Rahba and Al Samha, with materials | AED 160 |
| Every two weeks on a plan, we bring the materials | AED 126 |
| Every week on a plan, we bring the materials | AED 119 |
| Two cleaners for 2 hours each, with materials | AED 150 |
What the spread tells you
The lowest row and the highest are AED 41 apart, and none of them is a trick. Each is a different answer to a question that the number of hours leaves open: who brings the equipment, where the home is, how often the team comes, and how many people share the hours.
When two quotes differ, find out first whether they are quotes for the same row. Only then does the gap between them mean anything.
A comparison sheet for any quote
Copy this table, or read it out on the phone. The middle column is our published answer, so you can see what a complete answer looks like. Write the other company's answer in the last column, and do not accept 'it depends' on a line that should have a number.
| Ask | IHR Dream Cleaning | Write down for the other quote |
|---|---|---|
| Total for my visit | Two-bedroom, 1 cleaner, 4 hours: AED 120 | Total for the same cleaners and hours |
| Is VAT inside that total? | Yes, in every price | Yes, or the amount to add |
| Shortest visit you send | 1 hour; deep clean 2 cleaners × 3 hours | Hours, and per cleaner or per team |
| Per cleaner or per team? | Per cleaner | How many cleaners are priced |
| Products and equipment | AED 5 per cleaner-hour if we bring them | Price with, and price without |
| Travel or call-out fee | None; AED 20 a visit in the far areas | Amount, per visit or per cleaner |
| Parking | Free parking or a pass arranged by you; paid parking at cost | Who pays, and how much |
| Friday, holiday or same-day extra | None | Amount or percentage |
| Extra time on the day | 30-minute steps at list price, only if you agree | Step, rate and who decides |
| Late cancellation, no access | Free until 6 hours before; then AED 30; no access AED 60 | Notice needed, and each fee |
| Plan discount and conditions | 5% to 20%; no contract, nothing paid ahead | Percentage, term, prepayment |
| Discount on a large booking | 10% from AED 500, 15% from AED 1,000; not added to a plan discount | Threshold, percentage, and whether discounts combine |
| If something is missed | Re-cleaned if reported within 24 hours | What they do, and for how long |
| How and when you pay | By card online once we confirm your booking | Method and timing |
How to read the answers
Add the lines that apply to your booking to the first row, and you have the figure to compare. If you want products brought, add materials. If you live outside the central areas, add travel. If you can only take a Friday, add the Friday price.
Two answers deserve a second look. 'We will tell you on the day' is a cost with no ceiling. And a company that will not put the total in writing is asking you to rely on the advert. A company with nothing to hide can fill in every line of that sheet from its own website, as we have done here.
What a low price can leave out
Price is the easy part to compare. Three other things decide whether the visit was worth the money, and none of them is on a rate card.
Enough time for the home
A quote that is cheap because it is two hours short is not cheap. The cleaner either rushes every room or stops before the floors, and you pay for a second visit to finish the first. Before comparing prices, compare the hours each company proposes for your home. Our price list carries a guide to the hours for each size of home, and the hours are confirmed with you before the visit.
Someone answerable
A company that holds a trade licence has an office, a legal name and a licence number that should match the invoice. Ours is CN-4175959, issued to IHR Dream General Maintenance and Cleaning L.L.C., and it is shown on the about page. Checking a licence, reading reviews and the questions to ask about insurance are the subject of how to choose a cleaning company in Abu Dhabi. Do that check before the price comparison, not after it. There is no point in finding the lowest total from a company you would not let in.
A remedy if something is missed
Ask what happens when a room is not done properly, and how long you have to say so. With us the checklist is confirmed before work begins, the work is checked with you before the team leaves, and a missed point reported within 24 hours is re-cleaned at no charge. A lower price without any of that is a lower price for a different service.
Paying less without buying a worse clean
There are honest ways to bring a cleaning bill down. Each of these lowers the total without shortening the list of what gets cleaned.
- Use your own products if you already own a good vacuum cleaner and mop. That saves AED 5 per cleaner-hour, or AED 20 on a 4-hour visit.
- Keep a large job in one booking. A booking whose work comes to AED 500 or more is 10% off, and 15% off from AED 1,000, with no code to enter. The published team for a deep clean of a four to five bedroom villa, 4 cleaners for 5 hours each with our materials, is AED 680 on the list and AED 612 after the discount. It is not added to a plan discount or to the fabric discount below: you get whichever saves more.
- Choose one cleaner for longer when nobody is waiting for the rooms. One cleaner for six hours is AED 170. Two cleaners for three hours each are AED 180.
- Book one visit of the right length, not two short ones. Two separate two-hour visits cost AED 130. One four-hour visit costs AED 120.
- Put regular visits on a plan. A weekly visit is 15% less each time, with no contract to sign.
- Tidy before the team arrives. Minutes spent clearing laundry and toys off surfaces are minutes not spent cleaning them.
- Add fabric care to a deep clean instead of booking it separately. Sofa, carpet, mattress and curtain cleaning booked with a deep or a move-in or move-out clean is 10% off, and the team comes once.
Where not to save
Do not save by booking fewer hours than the home needs. A short visit leaves the bathrooms or the floors for next time, and limescale and grease are harder to remove after another fortnight than they were today. And do not let the frequency of visits be set by the price per hour. A long visit once a month is cheaper per hour than a short one every week, but it does not keep a home clean between visits.
Common questions
Why does a one-hour visit cost almost as much as two hours?
Because most of what a short visit costs is getting there. On our list one hour is AED 55 and two hours are AED 65, so the second hour adds only AED 10. The journey, the parking and the setting up are the same for both. One hour suits a single job, such as a kitchen after a dinner or two bathrooms before guests. For a whole home, two hours is the realistic shortest visit.
Is a fixed price per apartment better than an hourly price?
It can be, if it comes with a written list of what is included. A fixed price is still made of cleaners and hours, and the company knows how many of each it has allowed. Ask for those two numbers. If a fixed price for a two-bedroom flat turns out to be one cleaner for two hours, you are comparing it with the wrong row of an hourly list. With an hourly price the risk runs the other way: the clock decides when the visit ends, so the hours have to be right.
Are sofas, carpets and AC cleaning priced by the hour too?
No. They need separate machines and are priced by the item. On our list a sofa is AED 30 per seat, a carpet AED 10 per square metre and a curtain AED 30 per standard panel, with a smallest order of AED 100 of such items on one visit. When you compare quotes for these, compare the unit and the minimum order, not only the unit price. The list is explained line by line in sofa, carpet, mattress and curtain cleaning prices.
Can the total change after I have booked?
For an hourly clean in an area on our list, the total shown when you confirm is the total you pay. It changes only if you change the booking, or if you approve extra time on the day. Jobs that have to be seen first, such as fabric care priced from photos or a repair, are confirmed in price before the visit and paid online from My bookings on this website once you have that price.
Ask every company the same thing in plain words: under what circumstances will I be charged more than this figure, and who has to agree to it?
How do I compare quotes for a deep clean?
Ask for the team and the hours first, because a deep clean is priced on both. Ours is never fewer than 2 cleaners for 3 hours each: AED 180 with your own products and AED 210 with ours. Then ask what is on the list. The insides of cupboards and appliances, the balcony and the windows are where one company's deep clean differs from another's. What ours covers is on the deep cleaning page.
Where our prices are, and how to book
Every figure in this guide comes from the price list. The same page has a calculator: choose the property, the service and the materials, and it shows the total before you give any contact details. Use it to fill in our column of the sheet for your own home.
When the total suits you, book online or in the IHR Dream app. You choose the cleaners, the hours and the day, the price is shown before you confirm, and payment is by card online once we confirm your booking. We work every day, 8 AM – 8 PM. What each step of the form asks for is described in booking a cleaner online.
