Table of Contents
The short answer
You can book a clean for today as long as two things are true: the start is at least 2 hours away, and the visit can finish by 8 PM, when our working day ends. So the latest you can book depends on how long the visit is. A two-hour visit can be booked until 4 PM for a 6 PM start, a four-hour visit needs booking by 2 PM, and a full eight-hour day by 10 AM.
A same-day visit costs the same as any other. There is no short-notice surcharge, no call-out fee and nothing extra for Fridays or public holidays. A two-hour visit by one cleaner is AED 65 with your own products and AED 75 with ours.
What nobody can promise is that a team is free. Same-day slots are often available but never guaranteed on any given day, because it depends on which teams are already committed and where they are. The earlier in the day you book, the more start times are still open.
This guide explains how the timing rules work, what suits a same-day visit and what does not, and how to use the 2 hours before the team arrives. For what a routine visit covers, room by room, see our home cleaning service.
The two rules that decide how late you can book
We work every day of the week, 8 AM – 8 PM. Two published rules apply to a booking for today.
Rule one: enough notice for the team to reach you
A same-day booking needs at least 2 hours between the moment you book and the start of the visit. In that time a team has to be assigned and has to travel to you. A shorter notice would mean promising a start that depends on the traffic.
Online booking is open at any hour, so the rule works from early morning. A booking made at 6 AM can ask for a start at 8 AM, when the day begins. A booking made at 8 AM can start from 10 AM. If you would rather talk to someone, the office answers the phone on +971 52 723 5299 from 8 AM to 8 PM.
Rule two: the work has to finish by closing time
The visit has to end by 8 PM. So the longer the visit, the earlier its latest start. This is the rule that catches people out in the afternoon: at 3 PM there is still room for a two-hour visit and none for a six-hour one.
| Visit length | Latest start | Book by, for today | One cleaner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hour | 7 PM | 5 PM | AED 55 |
| 2 hours | 6 PM | 4 PM | AED 65 |
| 3 hours | 5 PM | 3 PM | AED 90 |
| 4 hours | 4 PM | 2 PM | AED 120 |
| 5 hours | 3 PM | 1 PM | AED 145 |
| 6 hours | 2 PM | 12 noon | AED 170 |
| 8 hours | 12 noon | 10 AM | AED 220 |
How to read the table
The 'book by' column is the limit set by the two rules together. It is not a promise that a team is free at that time. The price is for one cleaner with your own products, and two cleaners cost twice the figure.
You do not need to do the sums yourself. When you pick today's date on the booking form, the start times offered already allow for both rules. If no times are shown for today, the day has closed for a visit of that length, and the next section explains what to try.
When time is short, add cleaners, not hours
The closing-time rule limits the length of the visit, not the amount of work. The price list is per cleaner, and up to 4 cleaners can come on one visit. So a job that needs eight cleaner-hours does not need an eight-hour day.
Say it is 2 PM and the home needs about eight hours of work. One cleaner for eight hours can no longer finish today. Two cleaners for four hours each can start at 4 PM and be done by 8 PM. The price is AED 240 against AED 220 for the single long visit, with your own products. It costs a little more because each cleaner is on a shorter visit, and shorter visits cost more per hour.
Two cleaners also change how the work is done. One takes the kitchen while the other does the bathrooms, and the floors are finished together at the end. For a home that has to be ready by the evening, that matters more than the difference in price.
The same thinking works in reverse. If only the kitchen and the bathrooms need rescuing before guests come, book the time those rooms take and no more. A visit can be as short as 1 hour, at AED 55, though 2 hours is the shortest that suits a whole home.
What decides whether a team is free
The rules above say when a same-day visit is allowed. Whether one is available on a given day depends on things that change by the hour, which is why it cannot be promised.
- The time you book. By the morning much of the day's work is already fixed. A request made early has the whole day to fit into. A request made in mid-afternoon has to fit a gap that already exists.
- The size of the job. Two hours for one cleaner fits into far more gaps than four hours for a team of three. Same-day booking is more often possible for smaller homes. For villas and large apartments that need several hours or a team, the next day or the day after is more reliable.
- Where you are. A team finishing a visit near you can reach you quickly, and a team on the far side of the city cannot. The longer the drive, the harder a short-notice start is to meet.
- The time of year. The days before Eid, the weeks before Ramadan and the end of summer, when families return from travel, are when many homes want a clean at the same moment. At those times book days ahead, not hours. Hourly visits can be booked up to 30 days in advance.
How to give yourself the best chance
Book as early in the day as you can. Our own advice to customers is that early morning gives the best chance of a same-day team in your area. Be flexible about the start as well. Choosing from the times that are offered works better than holding out for one particular hour.
Keep the visit as short as the job allows, and split a larger job between two cleaners. And if the day matters less to you than the time of day, book the evening before for the next morning. That is not a same-day booking, and it gives you the widest choice of times.
What happens after you book
You receive a booking reference and the team's arrival window. If anything about the address or the access is unclear, we call you before the team sets off, so keep your phone within reach.
In rare cases we may have to move a confirmed booking ourselves, for example because a team is unavailable or a vehicle has broken down. If that happens we contact you as early as possible and offer the earliest alternative slot.
What a same-day visit costs
Exactly what the same visit costs on any other day. Our published terms are plain about it: same-day bookings, Fridays, weekends and public holidays are all charged at the standard price, with no call-out fee and no peak pricing.
The price comes from the visit price list: 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, per cleaner, VAT included. Our materials add AED 5 per cleaner-hour. The whole list, with the discounts for regular visits, is on the pricing page. Payment is by card online once we confirm your booking, and the price is shown before you confirm.
| Same-day visit | Your products | Our materials |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cleaner, 2 hours | AED 65 | AED 75 |
| 1 cleaner, 3 hours | AED 90 | AED 105 |
| 1 cleaner, 4 hours | AED 120 | AED 140 |
| 2 cleaners, 3 hours each | AED 180 | AED 210 |
| 2 cleaners, 4 hours each | AED 240 | AED 280 |
Materials at short notice
On a planned visit you have time to check the cupboard. At short notice you may not. If you book without materials the cleaner arrives with nothing, and a missing mop or a vacuum that will not start cannot be replaced on the day, while the booked hours still run.
So unless you are sure of your supplies, book a same-day visit with materials. The team then brings everything on our materials list: cleaning liquids and sprays, vacuum cleaner, mop and bucket, broom, microfibre cloths and rags, step ladder.
The one fee that depends on 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. It is the same for a same-day booking as for any other. The other areas on our list have no travel fee.
What suits a same-day visit, and what does not
A same-day visit works when the job is short, the scope is clear and nothing has to be seen or priced first. The table sorts the usual requests.
| Job | Same day? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Routine clean of an apartment | The easiest to fit | One cleaner, two to four hours |
| Kitchen and bathrooms before guests | Yes, if a slot is free | Short visit, clear priorities |
| Clearing up after a gathering | Yes, if a slot is free | Book in the morning for the afternoon |
| Holiday-home turnover | If a slot is free between guests | Fixed check-out and check-in times |
| Deep clean of a large home | Better a day or two ahead | Needs a team for most of a day |
| Sofa, carpet, mattress, curtains | Plan ahead | Priced per item, confirmed from photos |
| After-builders clean | Plan ahead | Needs photos or site details first |
Why a deep clean is rarely a same-day job
A deep clean is booked with at least 2 cleaners for 3 hours each, and a large flat or a villa needs a bigger team for longer. Finding that many free cleaner-hours at short notice is much less likely than finding one cleaner for two hours. The work also gains from an early start, because degreasers and descalers need time to act before they are wiped off.
For a small apartment it can sometimes be done on the day. For anything larger, tomorrow morning will give a better result than this evening. If you are not sure which of the two your home needs, see regular cleaning compared with deep cleaning.
Why sofas and carpets are not a same-day job
Two things stand in the way. Fabric cleaning is priced per item and the method is confirmed from photos first, which takes a little time. And a washed sofa or carpet has to dry: a sofa needs some hours of airflow before it is sat on, and a carpet can take from several hours to a day. A sofa washed this afternoon will not be ready for guests tonight. Before a gathering, vacuum the seating today and book the wash for another week.
Urgent jobs that are not cleaning
A leak, a lockout, a blocked drain or an AC that has stopped cooling goes to a different team with different tools. Several of those can often be attended on the day as well. They are listed with the services we can usually reach the same day, and each is priced on its own terms, not from the cleaning price list.
How to book a same-day visit
Every booking goes through the same four stages, set out in how booking works. On a same-day booking they are simply closer together. Have the details below ready and the form takes a couple of minutes.
- Open the booking page on the website or in the IHR Dream app and choose the service. For a routine clean that is home cleaning. If you only want to set the hours yourself, hourly cleaning uses the same price list.
- Choose the number of cleaners and the hours. The timing table above shows what still fits today.
- Choose with or without materials.
- Pick today's date and one of the start times offered.
- Enter the area and the full address: the tower name and flat number, or the villa number, the street and the nearest landmark.
- Add the access details now, not when the team is at the gate: the visitor process at your building, the parking arrangement, a gate code, or who will open the door.
- Write down your priorities, in order, ready to give the cleaner at the door.
- Pay by card online to confirm, and keep your phone on.
Getting ready in the time before the team arrives
The notice period is enough to make a short visit count, if you spend it on the right things. None of this is cleaning. It is clearing the way, so that the booked time goes on the work.
- Tell building security first. If your tower registers visitors or needs the resident's approval, do it as soon as the booking is confirmed. A cleaner held at the desk is time lost from a visit that cannot run late. The usual processes are explained in booking a cleaner in an Abu Dhabi tower.
- Sort out the gate and the parking. In a compound, tell the guard a team is coming. Know where a visitor may park.
- Write the list. Three or four priorities, in order, do more for a short visit than anything else you can prepare.
- Clear the surfaces. Kitchen counters, bathroom shelves, tables and the bedroom floors. Put away laundry, toys and papers.
- Deal with the dishes. A sink full of plates takes a real share of a two-hour visit.
- Put away valuables, documents and anything fragile that you would rather nobody moved.
- If you booked without materials, lay everything out and check the vacuum works and is empty.
- Settle pets in a room that is not on the list.
- If you will be out, leave a key with the concierge or arrange for someone to open the door, and tell us which.
If guests are coming tonight
Order the rooms by what a guest will see: the entrance, the guest bathroom, the living room or majlis, then the kitchen. Bedrooms come last, or not at all. Tell the cleaner what time people arrive and ask for the guest areas to be finished first, so they are done even if time runs short.
Leave half an hour between the end of the visit and the first guest, so that mopped floors are dry and the home has been aired.
What happens during the visit
The visit itself runs like any other of ours. It starts with a short walk-through, in which the cleaner confirms which rooms matter most, anything fragile and what to leave alone. On a short booking the kitchen and the bathrooms are done first, because they take the most time, then the bedrooms and living areas, with the floors vacuumed and mopped last so nothing is walked over again. Before leaving, the cleaner walks the home with you against the list.
If the job 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, and nothing is added without your approval. On a same-day visit that began late in the afternoon there may be no room to extend at all, because the work still has to finish by 8 PM. That is one more reason to agree the priorities at the start.
If the team finishes early
You pay for the hours you booked. The team stays for the time that remains and uses it on whatever else you ask for: the windows, the balcony, the inside of the fridge.
If something was missed
Say so during the final walk-through, while the cleaner is still there. If you notice it later, tell us within 24 hours of the visit and we send a team back to re-clean the booked areas free of charge.
Changing or cancelling a same-day booking
Our standard terms allow a booking to be moved or cancelled free of charge up to 6 hours before the start. A same-day booking is usually made closer to the start than that, so in most cases the free window has already passed at the moment you book. A cancellation after that point costs AED 30, which covers a slot the team can no longer fill. If the team travels to the home and cannot get in, because nobody is there or security will not admit them, the charge is AED 60.
Our cancellation policy adds that late changes to same-day bookings are looked at case by case, and asks you to tell us as soon as your plans change. The practical advice follows from that. Book a same-day visit when you are sure you want it, stay reachable, and call at once if something comes up.
Common questions
Can I book late at night for first thing tomorrow?
Yes. Online booking is open at any hour, and a booking made today for tomorrow can take the first start of the day, 8 AM. For a visit on the same calendar day the notice rule is strict: a start at 8 AM has to be booked by 6 AM.
Is same-day cleaning available on Fridays and public holidays?
We work every day of the week at the same hours and the same prices, so the rules in this guide apply on a Friday or a holiday exactly as on a Tuesday. Whether a slot is free on a particular day depends on that day's bookings. We do not publish a figure for how often one is, because any figure would be a promise we could not keep.
Should I book for today or wait until tomorrow morning?
If something fixed happens tonight, such as guests, a viewing or a handover, book today and keep the visit short and focused on the rooms that will be seen. If nothing is fixed, tomorrow morning is usually the better booking: you can choose the start, the visit can be as long as the home needs, and there is time to tell security and clear the surfaces properly.
What if no start times are left for today?
Then the two rules have closed the day for a visit of that length. Try a shorter visit, or the same work shared between two cleaners for fewer hours each. If that does not fit either, take the first start tomorrow. Do not book a visit that is too short for the job in the hope that it will stretch, because late in the day it cannot.
Do I have to be at home?
No, but somebody or something has to let the team in: a key with the concierge, a family member, or access arranged with building security. Tell us the arrangement when you book. At short notice this is the detail most worth getting right, because if the team arrives and cannot get in, the no-entry charge described above applies.
Can a holiday home be cleaned between check-out and check-in on the same day?
Yes, when a slot is free inside that window. Give us the check-out and check-in times when you book, so the team is sized to finish between them, and in busy seasons book as early as you can. What a turnover has to cover is listed in the turnover checklist for hosts.
Does living further from the centre rule out a same-day visit?
No. The same rules apply in every one of the areas we serve. Distance only makes the timing tighter, since the team has further to drive inside the notice period. Al Reef is a fair example: it is part of our regular coverage and same-day slots are often available there, but booking the day before gives the widest choice of times.
Booking for today
If today is the day, check the timing table, choose the shortest visit that covers what matters and book it now. The choice of start times only narrows as the day goes on.
What a routine visit includes is set out on the home cleaning page, and you can book online at any hour. The price you see before paying is the price of the visit, today or on any other day.
