Table of Contents
The short answer
Count back four weeks from the expected first day of Ramadan. Use the first week to clear out and to book what needs booking. Two to three weeks ahead, deal with the jobs that drop dust: chandeliers, ceiling lights, AC grilles and the tops of things. Have the deep clean in the last week or two, with the kitchen as its main job and the sofas and carpets washed on the same visit. Keep it up with a nightly kitchen reset and short visits during the month, and give the guest areas a refresh two or three days before Eid.
If you want the heavy part done for you, IHR Dream Cleaning's deep cleaning service covers grease, limescale, tiles and grout, cabinet fronts and the corners a weekly clean skips. It is booked with at least 2 cleaners for 3 hours each, which is AED 180 with your own products or AED 210 with ours. Larger homes are worked out further down.
The timeline, counted back from the first day
Ramadan moves earlier every year and its first day is confirmed close to the time, so work from this year's expected date and leave a few days of margin.
| When | What to do | Why then |
|---|---|---|
| Four weeks before | Clear out the freezer, pantry and stores; wash stored serving ware; book the visits | Nothing cleans well around clutter, and the days you want are still open |
| Two to three weeks before | Chandeliers, ceiling lights, AC grilles and filters, wardrobe and cabinet tops | Dust from high fittings falls onto everything below |
| One to two weeks before | The deep clean, kitchen first; sofas, carpets and curtains on the same visit | Close enough to last into the month, early enough for fabrics to dry |
| The last two days | Guest washroom, entrance, dining area, floors, fresh linen | These show dust and use within days |
| During the month | A nightly kitchen reset and a short weekly visit | Daily cooking puts grease back faster than usual |
| Two or three days before Eid | Guest areas, bathrooms, glass and floors; the kitchen degreased again | The home is at its fullest on the first morning of Eid |
Why the heavy work goes before the month
Three things change once the month begins. The kitchen cooks more, and at fixed hours, so it cannot be out of use for half a day. The household keeps different hours, with quiet mornings and full evenings, which leaves fewer windows for a team moving furniture. And the people at home are fasting, which is a poor time to be emptying cupboards and scrubbing a hood.
Work done beforehand is also work done once. A hood degreased before a month of frying starts that month with a clear filter. One left until afterwards spends the month letting the film settle on the cabinets around it.
Four weeks before: clear out and book
None of this is cleaning. It is what makes the cleaning quick, and it is the part only the household can do, because only you know what to keep.
- Empty the freezer of what will not be eaten, and defrost it if ice has built up. Bulk shopping for the month needs the space.
- Go through the pantry and the spice shelf. Discard what has expired, wipe the shelves and note what needs buying.
- Bring the serving dishes, tea and coffee sets, large pots and glassware out of storage and wash them now, not on the first afternoon.
- Sort the guest linen, towels, tablecloths and prayer mats, and wash what has been stored.
- Decide what leaves the home: clothes, toys and kitchenware nobody uses. Fewer things on shelves means less to dust around.
- Book the deep clean, the fabric cleaning and any chandelier or AC work while every day is still available.
Two to three weeks before: the jobs that drop dust
Anything above head height is done first. If it is left until after the deep clean, the dust it sheds lands on a clean table and a washed carpet.
Chandeliers and ceiling lights
Dust on a chandelier dulls the light, and it falls when the fitting is touched. A light you can reach from a step ladder, switched off and cool, can be dusted at home with a dry microfibre cloth. A crystal chandelier is slower work, crystal by crystal, and a dropped arm or a fall costs far more than the cleaning.
Our chandelier cleaning service is quoted from the fitting's size, height and crystal count, and covers only fittings confirmed as safely reachable. Send a photo and the ceiling height when you book. If you plan to do it yourself, read how to clean a crystal chandelier safely first.
AC units and the tops of things
Rooms full of guests and a kitchen running for hours ask more of the AC than an ordinary evening. Wipe the grilles, and rinse the washable filters of split units as the maker's instructions describe. If a unit smells musty or has gone a long time without attention, a split-unit clean is AED 99 per unit and a full service is AED 129 per unit.
Then the surfaces nobody sees from the floor: wardrobe tops, the tops of kitchen wall cabinets, door frames, curtain rails and ceiling fan blades. Vacuum or dry-dust them. A damp cloth on thick dust only makes a paste.
One to two weeks before: the deep clean, room by room
This is the main visit. The lists below are what to ask for and what to check, in the order a team works: from the top of each room to the floor, with the kitchen and the bathrooms given the most time. What a deep clean covers in general is set out in the complete guide to deep cleaning, so these lists keep to what matters before Ramadan.
Kitchen
The kitchen gets the most hours because it is about to do the most work. If it is the only room that needs attention, kitchen cleaning can be booked on its own. Our page puts a typical apartment kitchen at three hours, which is AED 105 with our materials. The method for old, sticky grease is in how to degrease a hood, hob and cabinets.
- Hood and its metal filters degreased, so that a month of frying starts with a clear filter.
- Hob, pan supports and the wall behind the cooker.
- Cabinet fronts and handles, and the tops of wall cabinets where grease and dust settle together.
- Fridge and freezer shelves and door seals, emptied by you beforehand.
- The insides of the cupboards you have cleared, if you ask for it. On our deep cleaning page this is not included automatically.
- Sink, tap and drainer descaled, and the bins washed inside.
- The inside of the oven is cleaned on request and is confirmed separately, so ask when you book.
The guest's route: entrance, majlis, dining room, washroom
Walk the path a guest takes from the front door and look at it as they will. The scale on the taps and glass of a guest washroom is the detail most often missed, and the method for it is in bathroom deep cleaning: limescale, grout and mould.
- Entrance door, handle, bell and the shoe area, with the mat washed or replaced.
- Majlis or living room: skirting boards, switches and sockets, side tables, the television wall, under the seating.
- Dining area: chair seats and legs, the edge and underside of the table, the sideboard and its glass.
- Guest washroom: taps and basin free of scale, mirror, toilet, floor corners, a working extractor.
- Door frames and the tops of doors along the way, which collect a visible line of dust.
Sofas, floor seating, carpets and curtains
A room that will seat guests every evening should start the month with clean upholstery. Have it washed on the deep-clean visit, after the dusting and before the floors, and not later than a few days before the first guests: a sofa needs some hours to dry and a carpet with a deep pile can need most of a day. Sofas are AED 30 a seat, carpets AED 10 a square metre and curtains AED 30 a panel, steamed in place. Booked together with a deep clean, fabric items are 10% off.
Our sofa cleaning page explains how the method is chosen for each fabric. Floor seating, wall-to-wall majlis carpets and the residue that bukhoor leaves on fabrics and walls have a guide of their own: cleaning a majlis before guests arrive.
Prayer space, bedrooms and guest rooms
- The room or corner used for prayer: carpet vacuumed slowly in both directions, prayer mats washed or aired as their labels allow, shelves and book stands dusted with a clean dry cloth.
- Guest bedroom: mattress vacuumed, fresh linen, and the wardrobe emptied and wiped so that guests have somewhere to hang clothes.
- Family bedrooms: under the beds, bedside tables, the insides of the windows and the sills.
- Children's rooms: toys sorted before the visit so that the floor can be reached.
Balcony, courtyard and entrance
On a balcony or in a courtyard used for evening gatherings, sweep dry first, then wash the floor, wipe the furniture and clear the sliding-door tracks. A villa's gate, steps and entrance are the first things a guest sees, and sand collects there after every windy day. Leave them until the end of the visit so that the dust is not walked through clean rooms.
During Ramadan: keeping it up
A deep clean lasts as long as the routine that follows it. The kitchen is where the standard is won or lost, and ten minutes after the last meal of the night does most of the work.
- Soak pots and frying pans as soon as the food is served, so that they wash easily later.
- Wipe the hob and the wall behind it while they are warm, not hot. Warm grease wipes off. Cold grease smears.
- Let the oil in the fryer cool, then empty it into a container for the bin and wipe the fryer's outside. Never pour used oil down the sink.
- Take the food waste out every night. There is more of it than usual, and it does not keep in this climate.
- Sweep the kitchen and dining floors after the last meal, and mop every second or third night.
- Wash the hood's metal filters halfway through the month if you fry most days.
Visits during the month
A short regular visit holds the standard everywhere else: bathrooms, guest areas, dusting and floors. A weekly plan takes 15% off every visit, so a three-hour visit is AED 76 with your own products, and there is no contract to keep once Eid has passed.
Our published working hours are 8 AM – 8 PM every day, and the work has to finish by closing time. A morning visit, when the home is quiet, usually suits the month better than the hours before iftar, when the kitchen is in full use. Choose from the times shown when you book.
The days before Eid
Eid needs a refresh, not a second deep clean, provided the first one was done and the month was kept up. Two or three days before, give the time to what guests see and use.
- Dust the guest areas from the top down, and vacuum the cushions and floor seating.
- Degrease the kitchen again: the hob, the wall behind it, the hood filters and the cabinet fronts near the cooker carry a month of frying.
- Clean the bathrooms: taps, glass, toilet, mirror and floor, with fresh towels and soap put out.
- Clean the glass that catches the light: the entrance door, mirrors, the dining table, the insides of the main windows.
- Change the bed linen in every room that will be used.
- Vacuum and wash the floors last.
The kitchen after the holiday, and Eid al-Adha
Our kitchen cleaning page names the weeks after Ramadan and Eid among the times families most often book a kitchen-only visit, and the reason is the month of cooking just described. If the kitchen was not degreased before Eid, do it straight after, before the film hardens.
The same checklist works before Eid al-Adha, counted back from its expected date. Clear and wipe the freezer a week ahead, since it usually has more to hold than at any other time of year.
Hours and cost
Cleaning is priced by the length of the visit, per cleaner, and every price includes VAT. Our published hours guide gives the team for a deep clean by size of home. Treat it as a starting point: a kitchen that has not been degreased for a year, or a villa with a separate majlis, needs more, and the hours are confirmed against what you describe when you book.
| Home | Deep clean in the hours guide | Your products | Our products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio or one bedroom | 2 cleaners, 3 hours each | AED 180 | AED 210 |
| Two bedrooms | 2 cleaners, 4 hours each | AED 240 | AED 280 |
| Three bedrooms | 2 cleaners, 5 hours each | AED 290 | AED 340 |
| Villa, four or five bedrooms | 4 cleaners, 5 hours each | AED 580 | AED 680 |
Adding fabric care
Before the 10% bundle discount, a five-seat sofa is AED 150, a carpet of twelve square metres is AED 120 and six curtain panels are AED 180. The smallest order of priced items on one visit is AED 100. Fabric jobs are confirmed from photos, so send pictures of the pieces and of any stains after you book.
What is quoted separately
Chandelier cleaning, the inside of the oven, pressure washing and anything that needs a tall ladder are not on the hourly price list. They are quoted from photos or a free inspection before any work starts, and paid online from My bookings on this website once the price is confirmed. Hourly visits are paid by card online once we confirm your booking. Every visit length is on the price list, and the reasoning behind the hours for each size of home is in how many cleaner-hours a home needs.
Booking the visits and preparing for them
Hourly visits can be booked up to 30 days ahead, which covers the whole of this timeline. The weeks before Eid are among the times households here book deep cleans most, so choosing the day as soon as it falls inside that window gives the widest choice of times. In Al Manaseer and Al Rawdah, where many homes hold large and extended families, deep cleans before Ramadan and Eid are a regular part of our work, and so are deep cleans before Eid in the villas of Khalifa City and Mohammed Bin Zayed City.
- Say how large the home is, and whether there is a majlis, a second kitchen or a maid's room.
- Say which rooms come first if time runs short. Before Ramadan that is normally the kitchen, then the guest areas.
- Say whether you want the insides of the cupboards, the fridge or the oven done.
- Mention stone counters, marble floors and any special finishes.
- List the fabric items, with seat counts and carpet sizes.
- Describe any chandelier, with a photo and the ceiling height.
On the day
Clear the counters, empty the cupboards you want cleaned inside, and put away valuables and papers. The team leader walks through with you and confirms the checklist and the priority rooms before work begins. Before the team leaves, the leader goes through the checklist with you again. Look at the hood filter, the wall behind the cooker, the cabinet tops and the guest washroom taps while the team is still there. If you notice a missed point afterwards, report it within 24 hours and it is re-cleaned without charge.
A visit can be moved or cancelled free of charge up to 6 hours before it starts, which matters in a month when plans change at short notice.
Mistakes that cost time or money
Each of these is easy to make in a busy month, and each has a simple way round it.
- Deep cleaning a month early. Dust and daily cooking put most of it back before the first iftar.
- Washing the sofa or the carpet the day before guests. Damp upholstery marks easily and smells until it is dry.
- Cleaning the floors first. Dust from fans, lights and wardrobe tops then lands on a clean floor.
- Using an oven cleaner on the afternoon you need the oven. Follow the label, ventilate the kitchen and leave time for the smell to clear before you cook.
- Mixing products to finish faster. Bleach with a descaler, or with an ammonia-based cleaner, gives off toxic gas. Use one product at a time and rinse it off before the next.
- Using a descaler or vinegar on marble. Acid etches stone and leaves dull marks that cleaning cannot remove.
- Leaving floors slippery with polish or a wet mop before a house fills with guests, some of them elderly.
- Standing on a chair or a table to reach a chandelier.
Common questions
How many days before Ramadan should the deep clean be?
Between one and two weeks. Closer than a week leaves no margin if a visit has to move or something needs a second look. Earlier than two weeks, and the dust and the kitchen have a head start. If sofas or carpets are being washed, keep at least a few days between the visit and the first guests.
Is one deep clean enough for both Ramadan and Eid?
Yes, if it is done in the fortnight before Ramadan and followed by weekly visits or a careful household routine. What Eid then needs is a longer regular visit with the kitchen degreased again. If no cleaning was done during the month, or the home hosted most evenings, treat the days before Eid as a second deep clean of the kitchen and the guest areas only.
Do prices go up before Eid or on the holiday itself?
No. Our published prices are the same on Fridays, weekends and public holidays, with no charge for short notice and no call-out fee. The only thing an early booking changes is the choice of times.
Can a team come in the evening, after iftar?
Our working day is 8 AM – 8 PM and the work has to finish by closing time, so in practice the answer is no for anything longer than a short visit. A long job needs an early start. For a deep clean, book a morning.
Can the sofas and carpets be cleaned on the same visit as the deep clean?
Yes, and that is how the 10% discount on fabric items applies. Give the seat count, the carpet sizes and the number of curtain panels when you book, so that the equipment and the time are planned. Keep the AC or a fan running afterwards, and keep children and pets off the damp fabric until it is dry.
Is the oven included?
The oven's door, handle and front are part of the kitchen work. The inside is cleaned on request, takes extra time and is confirmed separately when you book. Say so in advance, and empty the oven of trays and racks you do not want cleaned.
Booking your pre-Ramadan clean
Find this year's expected date, count back four weeks and put the first job in the diary today. The clearing out costs nothing and decides how much the rest will take.
The deep cleaning page sets out what the visit includes and how the hours are confirmed. Choose the day, the team and whether we bring the materials, and the price is shown before you confirm. Payment is by card online once we confirm your booking, and you can book a visit up to 30 days ahead.
