Table of Contents
The short answer
A monthly package for a part-time maid is a number of visits in a month multiplied by a price per visit. Everything else is packaging. So the useful figure is not the package price. It is what one visit costs after the discount, how many visits your month really contains, and what is added on top.
At IHR Dream Cleaning there is no package to buy. You set up a repeating visit, each visit is priced from the published list by its length, and a regular plan takes between 5% and 20% off every one of them. There is no contract, no membership fee and nothing paid ahead for future visits.
Take one pattern as the example: one cleaner for three hours, once a week. That visit is AED 90 as a single booking and AED 76 on the weekly plan, so a month of four visits comes to AED 304 with your own products, or AED 356 if we bring ours. A two-hour weekly visit makes AED 220 a month and a four-hour one AED 408. Every price includes VAT.
The service behind these figures is our hourly cleaning, where you choose the hours and the frequency yourself, and every number in this guide is worked out from the price list. Three discounts can lower the bill: the plan discount, a discount on larger bookings (10% off a booking of AED 500 or more, and 15% off from AED 1,000), and 10% off sofa, carpet, mattress and curtain cleaning booked with a deep clean. They do not add up, and each is explained below with the booking it applies to.
What a monthly package is, and what we do instead
When a cleaning company advertises a monthly maid package, it is usually selling a block of visits: four, eight or twelve in the month, at a set length, for one figure. Often the block is paid for at the start of the month, and sometimes it comes with a minimum term. The headline looks tidy, but three things decide whether it is good value: what one visit works out at, what happens to a visit you cannot use, and how a month with five of your cleaning day is billed.
The words need a note as well. A part-time maid, as the phrase is used in searches here, is a cleaner sent by a cleaning company for a few hours at a time, who comes for the hours you booked and leaves. If what you need is someone in the home all day, every day, that is a different arrangement with different costs and duties, and the two are compared in full-time maid or hourly cleaner.
Our version of a monthly package is a regular plan. You choose the day, the time, the hours and how often: once a month, every two weeks, weekly, or twice a week and more. The booking then repeats. The plan's discount comes off each visit, and each visit stands on its own. Under our published terms any visit can be paused, moved or cancelled under the normal cancellation policy.
Because nothing is bought in a block, there is nothing to lose. A week you are away is a visit you do not have and do not pay for. A month with five Thursdays is five visits at the plan price. Payment is by card, online, and a plan never asks for future visits to be paid ahead. The monthly cost is simply the visits made multiplied by the price of each, and the rest of this guide works that out.
What one visit costs, with and without a plan
Hourly cleaning is priced by the length of the visit, not by one flat hourly rate: 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. That is for one cleaner when you provide the products and equipment. Two cleaners cost twice the visit price. Our materials add AED 5 for each cleaner-hour, and VAT at 5% is already inside every figure.
A regular plan then takes a percentage off the whole visit: 5% for a monthly visit, 10% for every two weeks, 15% for weekly and 20% for two or more visits a week. The table shows what that does to a two-, three- and four-hour visit, for one cleaner with your own products.
| Plan | 2 hours | 3 hours | 4 hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single booking | AED 65 | AED 90 | AED 120 |
| Once a month | AED 61 | AED 85 | AED 114 |
| Every two weeks | AED 58 | AED 81 | AED 108 |
| Weekly | AED 55 | AED 76 | AED 102 |
| Twice a week or more | AED 52 | AED 72 | AED 96 |
The same visits with our materials
With materials, the team brings cleaning liquids and sprays, vacuum cleaner, mop and bucket, broom, microfibre cloths and rags, step ladder. The plan percentage comes off the visit and the materials together, so the materials cost a little less on a plan as well.
| Plan | 2 hours | 3 hours | 4 hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single booking | AED 75 | AED 105 | AED 140 |
| Once a month | AED 71 | AED 99 | AED 133 |
| Every two weeks | AED 67 | AED 94 | AED 126 |
| Weekly | AED 63 | AED 89 | AED 119 |
| Twice a week or more | AED 60 | AED 84 | AED 112 |
How the discount is rounded
The discounted price is rounded down to a whole dirham, never up. Where the percentage leaves a fraction, the fraction is dropped: a three-hour visit is AED 90, and on the weekly plan it is AED 76. It is a small thing, but it means the figure on the booking screen is never higher than the percentage promises.
What a month comes to: worked totals
A package price is only as honest as the month it assumes. Start with the simplest case, a month of exactly four weeks: four weekly visits, eight on a twice-weekly plan, two on a fortnightly one. In the table, the single visit and the first monthly total are with your own products.
| Pattern | One visit | Month | Month, our materials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly, 2 hours | AED 55 | AED 220 | AED 252 |
| Weekly, 3 hours | AED 76 | AED 304 | AED 356 |
| Weekly, 4 hours | AED 102 | AED 408 | AED 476 |
| Twice a week, 2 hours | AED 52 | AED 416 | AED 480 |
| Every two weeks, 4 hours | AED 108 | AED 216 | AED 252 |
| Once a month, 5 hours | AED 137 | AED 137 | AED 161 |
Months with five visits
A weekday falls fifty-two times in a year, and twelve months of four make only forty-eight. So in an ordinary year four months contain five of your cleaning day, and now and then a fifth month does. A fixed monthly package has to deal with that somehow: by charging the same and skipping a visit, by charging extra, or by quietly averaging it into the price. A per-visit plan charges for the visits made and nothing else.
| Weekly visit | Four-visit month | Five-visit month |
|---|---|---|
| 2 hours | AED 220 | AED 275 |
| 3 hours | AED 304 | AED 380 |
| 4 hours | AED 408 | AED 510 |
The yearly figure and the monthly average
For a household budget the yearly figure is the steadier one. Fifty-two weekly three-hour visits at AED 76 come to AED 3,952 a year, which averages out at about AED 329 a month. That average is higher than the four-visit month in the table, and it is the number to hold against any flat monthly package you are offered.
Few households take all fifty-two. Weeks away over the summer, or a visit cancelled in good time before a trip, are not charged, because nothing was paid ahead. A family that travels for six weeks pays for forty-six visits, which is AED 3,496 in this example.
What the plan saves against single bookings
Booked one at a time, four three-hour visits would cost AED 360. On the weekly plan the same four cost AED 304, a difference of AED 56 a month. On the twice-weekly plan, eight two-hour visits cost AED 416 against AED 520 as single bookings.
The saving is real, but it is not the main reason to choose a plan. A home cleaned on a steady rhythm takes about the same time at every visit. A home cleaned now and then is always catching up, and a catching-up visit needs more hours than a maintaining one.
What you really pay per hour
People compare maid services by the hourly rate, so it is worth seeing what ours works out at. The list falls as the visit gets longer, because the travel and the setting up are the same whatever the length of the visit. As a single booking a two-hour visit works out at AED 32.50 an hour, a four-hour visit at AED 30 and an eight-hour day at AED 27.50. A plan lowers each of those again.
| Visit | Single booking, per hour | Weekly plan, per hour |
|---|---|---|
| 2 hours | AED 32.50 | AED 27.50 |
| 3 hours | AED 30 | AED 25.33 |
| 4 hours | AED 30 | AED 25.50 |
| 6 hours | AED 28.33 | AED 24 |
| 8 hours | AED 27.50 | AED 23.38 |
Four hours a week: one visit or two
Take a home that needs four hours of cleaning a week. As one weekly visit that is AED 102, or AED 408 over four weeks. As two two-hour visits a week it moves onto the twice-weekly plan: AED 52 a visit and AED 416 over the same four weeks. The short visits cost more per hour, but the larger plan discount almost cancels that out, and the gap is AED 8 a month.
So the choice can be made on what the home needs, not on price. Two short visits keep the kitchen, bathrooms and floors in hand in a household with small children, pets or daily cooking, because nothing sits for a whole week. One long visit suits a quieter home and leaves time for the slower jobs: the inside of the fridge, the balcony, the skirting boards.
One cleaner or two
The price is per cleaner. Two cleaners for two hours each is AED 130 as a single booking, where one cleaner for four hours is AED 120. On the weekly plan those become AED 110 and AED 102. The same cleaner-hours cost a little more split between two people, because each of them is on the shorter, dearer visit.
What the difference buys is time: the home is finished in half the morning. For a large flat or a villa two cleaners are often the practical choice anyway, and you can book up to 4 on one visit, each for up to 8 hours.
Our materials or yours: the difference over a month
Materials add AED 5 per cleaner-hour before any discount. For the weekly three-hour visit the two plan prices are AED 76 and AED 89, so having us bring everything costs AED 13 a visit and AED 52 over a four-visit month.
Set that against what the without-materials option asks of you. The cleaner arrives with nothing, so the home must have its own products for the kitchen, the bathrooms and the floors, a vacuum cleaner that works, a mop and bucket and a supply of clean cloths. If something essential is missing on the day it cannot be replaced, and the booked hours still run.
A simple rule covers most homes. If you already own a good vacuum and like to choose your own products, or you have stone or wood that needs a particular cleaner, book without materials and keep the cupboard stocked. If you are furnishing a new flat, have no storage to spare or do not want to think about supplies at all, the monthly figure above is what that convenience costs. The two options are compared in detail in cleaning with or without materials.
Which offers apply, and to what
We publish three discounts and no others. None of them needs a code. They apply to different bookings, which is where the confusion usually starts, and they are not added to one another.
| Offer | Applies to | Worth |
|---|---|---|
| Regular plan | Hourly cleaning booked to repeat | 5% to 20% off every visit |
| Booking size | Any one booking whose work comes to AED 500 or more | 10% off, or 15% off from AED 1,000 |
| Fabric bundle | Fabric care booked with a deep or move-in/out clean | 10% off those items |
The plan discount
The plan discount is for hourly cleaning. It comes off every visit for as long as the visits repeat, at the rate of the frequency you are on. It does not reduce priced items such as a sofa or carpet clean added to a visit, and it does not reduce the travel fee in the four outer areas.
Larger bookings: the booking-size discount
A booking whose work comes to AED 500 or more is 10% off, and from AED 1,000 it is 15% off. The work is the visit, the materials and any priced items, before any discount and without the travel fee. The percentage comes off by itself, rounded to a whole dirham, and there is no code to enter.
It is worked out on each booking by itself. A month of weekly visits is four bookings, and their prices are not added together to reach the first step, so the regular visits in this guide are well below it: one cleaner for three hours with our materials is AED 105. A large visit reaches it. A team of 4 cleaners for 5 hours each, with our materials, comes to AED 680, so 10% comes off and that visit costs AED 612.
Discounts do not add up. The booking form compares the booking-size discount with the plan discount and gives you the larger saving, never both. Put that same large visit on a weekly plan and the plan's 15% saves more, so the price is AED 578 and no booking-size discount is shown. On a monthly plan, at 5%, the booking-size discount is the larger of the two, and the visit costs AED 612.
Fabric care booked with a deep clean
The third offer is not for regular visits, but it matters at the start of a plan. A home that has not had a thorough clean for some months is better begun with a deep clean, so the regular visits have a standard to maintain. A deep clean is booked with at least 2 cleaners for 3 hours each, which is AED 180 with your products. Sofa, carpet, mattress and curtain cleaning booked with it, or with a move-in or move-out clean, is 10% off.
For example, a four-seat sofa at AED 30 a seat and four curtain panels at AED 30 each come to AED 240 on their own and AED 216 with the bundle. The discount applies to the fabric items only, not to the deep clean itself. If the clean and the fabric items together come to AED 500 or more, the booking-size discount comes off the whole booking instead, because that saves more. Priced items carry a minimum order of AED 100 a visit whichever way they are booked.
What costs nothing extra
Some things other price lists treat as extras are not charged at all. Same-day visits, Fridays, weekends and public holidays are all at the standard price. There is no call-out fee, no membership fee and no VAT added at the end.
What can move the monthly bill up or down
Five things can change what a month costs. All of them are published, and none is added without you knowing first.
- Where you live. Al Wathba, Al Shahama, Al Rahba and Al Samha carry a flat AED 20 per visit, added once however many cleaners or hours are booked. On a weekly plan that is AED 80 in a four-visit month. The other areas on our list have no travel fee. The detail is in cleaning in the four outer areas.
- Extra time on the day. If the home needs longer than you booked, the team leader asks you first. Extra time is added in 30-minute steps and charged as the difference to the longer visit on the price list. Nothing goes on the bill without your approval.
- Late changes. A visit can be moved or cancelled free of charge up to 6 hours before it starts. After that the charge is AED 30, or AED 60 if the team travels to the home and cannot get in. The full terms are in the cancellation policy.
- A visit that finishes early. You pay for the hours you booked, and the team stays for the remaining time and uses it on whatever else you ask for. If that happens visit after visit, shorten the booking.
- Changing the plan. The hours, the day or the frequency of a repeating booking can be changed before the next visit, and there is no penalty for changing the hours. The discount follows the frequency you are on.
Choosing the hours and the frequency
Set the frequency by how the home is lived in, then the hours by its size. Frequency is covered in full in how often a home in Abu Dhabi should be cleaned, so only the money side is given here.
Our published hours guide gives a starting point for a regular clean by size of home. The table prices each one on the weekly plan, with your own products.
| Home | Hours guide | Weekly visit | Four-visit month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 1 cleaner, 2 hours | AED 55 | AED 220 |
| 1-bedroom apartment | 1 cleaner, 3 hours | AED 76 | AED 304 |
| 2-bedroom apartment | 1 cleaner, 4 hours | AED 102 | AED 408 |
| 3-bedroom apartment | 1 cleaner, 5 hours | AED 123 | AED 492 |
| 4–5 bedroom villa | 2 cleaners, 4 hours each | AED 204 | AED 816 |
Treat the first month as a trial of the hours
The guide is a starting point, not a measurement of your home. A flat with three bathrooms, a kitchen that cooks every day or a long gap since the last proper clean will need more. If you are unsure, start with the shorter booking, give the cleaner a clear list of priorities, see how far the list gets and adjust the following week.
A plan that is half an hour short every week is worse value than one that costs a little more and finishes the list, because the unfinished part is the same part each time. How the hours are arrived at for each size of home is explained in how many cleaner-hours a home needs.
Questions to ask about any monthly package
Whoever you book with, these questions turn a headline price into a real one. Ask them before paying for a month in advance.
- How long is each visit, and is the price for one cleaner or for the team?
- Is VAT inside the figure or added at the end?
- Who supplies the products and the vacuum, and is that inside the price?
- Is the month paid in advance, and if so what happens to a visit you cannot use: is it refunded, moved or lost?
- Is there a minimum term or a notice period to stop?
- How is a month with five of your cleaning day billed?
- Do Fridays, public holidays or short-notice visits cost more?
- How late can a visit be cancelled without a charge, and what is the charge after that?
- Will the same cleaner come each time, and who do you call if something is missed?
How to compare the answers
Put every offer into the same unit: the price of one visit of the length you need, for one cleaner, VAT included, with the materials arrangement you would really use. Then multiply by the visits in an average month, not a four-week one. A package that looks cheaper per month can cost more per visit once a missed week is forfeited. The method is set out step by step in how to compare cleaning quotes.
Common questions
Is there a contract or a minimum number of months?
No. A plan with us is a repeating booking. There is no contract to sign, no minimum term and no membership fee, and the discount comes off every visit, the first one included. You can stop when you like, and the only timing rule is the ordinary cancellation window for the next visit.
Do I pay for the whole month at the start?
No. Nothing is paid ahead for future visits. Payment is by card, online, on a secure payment page, and we never see your card details. A tax invoice showing the VAT contained in the total is available on request for any booking.
What happens to the plan when I travel?
Pause it. Visits you do not take are not charged, and a visit can be moved or cancelled free of charge up to 6 hours before its start. Tell us the dates before you go, so the slot is not kept waiting for you. It is worth keeping one visit just before you leave and booking one for the first days after you return, since a closed home gathers dust whether anyone is in it or not.
Will the same cleaner come every time?
Wherever the schedule allows, yes. Regular customers keep the same cleaners where possible, and the slot is held each week. A cleaner who knows the home does not need the list explained again, which saves a few minutes of every visit you pay for. It cannot be promised for every single visit, because people take leave and fall ill like anyone else.
Is a once-a-month plan worth having?
On price alone the gain is small: the monthly plan takes 5% off, so a five-hour visit is AED 137 in place of AED 145. The value of a monthly visit lies in what it is used for. It suits a home where someone does the weekly cleaning in between and the visit is given the slower jobs. It does not suit a home that is left untouched for four weeks, because the visit then spends its hours undoing a month of dust and scale.
What if something is missed on one of the visits?
Tell us within 24 hours of the visit and a team comes back to re-clean the booked areas free of charge. Photos help us brief the cleaners but are not a condition. On a plan it is also worth raising it with the cleaner at the next visit, so the standing list is corrected and the same point is not missed again.
Setting up your plan
A plan takes a few minutes to set up on the hourly cleaning page or in the IHR Dream app. These are the choices to have ready.
- Decide the frequency and the hours, using the hours table above as a start.
- Choose who supplies the materials: your own products, or ours for AED 5 per cleaner-hour.
- Pick the day and the time. Our hours are 8 AM – 8 PM, every day of the week, and visits can be booked up to 30 days ahead.
- Give the access details: the tower name and its visitor process, or the villa number and any gate instructions.
- Read the price on the screen before you confirm. It is the price of one visit, with the plan discount already taken off.
- On the first visit, agree a standing list with the cleaner. After two or three visits, review whether the hours are right.
Booking the first visit
If you would like to see the work before committing to a rhythm, book one visit on its own and turn it into a plan afterwards. Either way the first step is the same: book a visit online, choose the hours and the frequency, and check the price of the visit before you pay.
