What house cleaning actually costs in Toronto

The short answer

Our studio starting rates are $110 for recurring cleaning before frequency savings, $150 for deep cleaning and $170 for move-in or move-out cleaning. Larger layouts cost more, and homes with five bedrooms or more need a custom quote. These are Plum Cleaning prices, not a Toronto market average.

A number that low usually means a small condo. A number at the top usually means a full house with several bathrooms. Most homes sit in the middle, and the difference between a quote you are happy with and one that stings is almost always about what was counted, not about the hourly rate.

What moves the price

Four things do most of the work, and only one of them is square footage.

• Bathrooms. They take longer per square metre than any other room, so a two bed with two bathrooms costs more than a two bed with one.
• The state of the home. A place cleaned last month and a place cleaned last year need different visits, even at identical layouts.
• The service. A regular upkeep visit, a detailed reset and an empty-home move-out clean are three different jobs with three different prices.
• Add-ons. Oven interiors, fridge interiors and pet hair are $15 each on our card. Interior windows start at $39 for five.

Why hourly quotes are hard to compare

An hourly rate tells you almost nothing on its own, because the only number that matters is the rate multiplied by hours nobody has agreed yet. Two companies quoting $45 an hour can produce invoices that differ by a hundred dollars on the same apartment.

Our quote covers the agreed work up to the included hours. If more time is needed, we explain the remaining work and request approval before continuing at $45 an hour. Parking and applicable tax are separate.

What is not usually in the number

Parking is separate almost everywhere in the city, and in a downtown building it is a real line item. Tax is separate. Appliance interiors and interior windows are typically extras rather than defaults, whoever you book with.

Ask any company you are considering to name what is excluded before you book. A company that cannot answer that quickly is telling you something.

Recurring visits change the math

Regular cleaning is cheaper per visit for a straightforward reason: a home that was cleaned two weeks ago takes less time than one that was not. Our discounts run 15% weekly, 8% every two weeks and 3% every four, applied to the whole visit total including add-ons.

If the home has real buildup, a one-time reset first and recurring visits afterwards usually costs less over six months than paying reset prices repeatedly.