What a maid service visit covers
A visit here is a room-by-room sweep built on one rule: dry work first and above, wet work last and below. Dusting a light shade after the floor is mopped would mean mopping twice, so the sweep starts high.
1. A look at the rooms against what you told us
The visit begins with the notes from the phone call: the two rooms that matter most, the spots in them that have bothered you, where the cat has been sleeping, what on the floor should stay exactly where it sits. Drawers stay shut and personal items stay in place. If anything about the home has shifted since you called, the walk is when it comes up.
The figure shows the order of the seven steps.
How a maid service visit moves through a home
High to low, floors last.
Dust high first
High dusting runs from the floor; anything out of reach that way stays put.
Kitchen surfaces
Counters, the sink, the stovetop and the fronts of each appliance.
Bathrooms
Shower or tub, toilet, vanity, taps and mirror, with the light shade dusted from the floor.
Floors last
Vacuumed, then mopped.
2. Dusting from high to low, from the floor
High dusting runs from the floor; anything a cleaner cannot reach that way stays put. Then the midline (shelves, picture frames, trim at eye height), then the surfaces people set things on. Dust loosened above a shelf should land on the shelf below, so the mop at the end only passes the floor once.
3. The kitchen: counters, the sink, the stovetop and appliance fronts
Counters get wiped end to end on the parts you have cleared. The sink gets the taps, the rim, the bowl and the back wall, with the drying rack moved aside and set back. On the stovetop, the grates lift off, the burner wells are wiped, and the grates return once the surface is dry. The appliance fronts come next: the fridge door and handle, the oven face, the dishwasher front, the microwave door, and the dust that collects along the top of each. The inside of the oven or the fridge is scheduled on request.
4. Bathrooms, with the water spots on glass and chrome
Same floor-up logic in the bath. The shower or tub gets scrubbed without anyone reaching across the rim. The shower glass gets wiped. The toilet gets the inside, the outside, the base and the trim behind the fixture, as far as the plumbing lets us reach. The vanity, taps and mirror come next. The light shade over the sink is dusted from the floor. USGS calls the spots and film hard water leaves on glassware unsightly but not dangerous.
5. Bedrooms and living rooms
Hard surfaces across each room: side tables, dressers, nightstands, bookshelves, the top of a headboard, the arm of a couch where dust lands. Mirrors and framed glass get wiped. The bed gets made where you have asked for that, from the linens you have set out. Items on the floor stay put unless you have told us to move them; if the yes-or-no is not obvious, the item stays.
6. Floors last, vacuumed and mopped
The floors catch everything the sweep above has shaken loose. Hard floors get vacuumed and then mopped, edges and corners included. Rugs are vacuumed where they lie; smaller ones are turned where the backing lifts cleanly. City code bars discharging anything but stormwater to the storm drain system, which includes streets and gutters, unless a permit or listed exemption allows it.
7. A last look with you, if you are home
Where you are around when the visit ends, a last walk through the rooms is possible before the cleaners close out. Where you are not, the home is set the way the call described.
| Room | What a standard visit covers | What moves it to a deep clean |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen | Counters, sink, stovetop, outside of appliances | Inside the oven, inside the fridge, cabinet fronts |
| Bathroom | Shower or tub, toilet, vanity, mirror, floor | Grout lines, water film on glass, behind the toilet |
| Living room | Surfaces, mirrors, glass, floors | Baseboards, door frames, switch plates |
| Bedroom | Surfaces, bed made on request, floors | Under the bed, closet shelves, window sills |
| Entry and hall | Surfaces, floors | Baseboards and door frames top to bottom |
Where more than one or two rows look like your place, a deep clean first is the better starting line, with a maid rhythm picking up after.
When a maid service fits, and when it does not
When a maid service fits
The place is already in decent shape and the goal is keeping it there. The rooms you keep looking at are the kitchen and the bath. The chores are the reason your weekend keeps getting booked, and you would like someone else to carry them. The last top-to-bottom pass was recent enough that the surfaces have not drifted far.
When another service fits better
Where the home has been coasting for a long while, start with a deep clean, and the maid rhythm picks up from the baseline it leaves. An empty unit with keys heading back to a landlord is move-out cleaning instead. For a single pass with nothing on the calendar after, see a single visit with no schedule. Access questions in a condo or multi-unit building belong on the apartment or condo cleaning page. A household that wants fewer bottles on the visit can read fewer products, or your own and tell us on the call.
What the visit covers
Each cleaning covers the rooms on the list from your call, in the order the sweep runs. Products are agreed on the same call, ours or yours.
What moves a cleaning price covers the levers, and what a standard cleaning includes covers the full room-by-room list.
From the first call to the finished rooms
- You phone us and run through the place: the room and bath count, how we come through the door, where to leave the car, pets, and the two or three spots that bother you most.
- We settle the scope together, products included, and anything that should go untouched.
- A price comes back and the decision is yours.
- The cleaning runs the home, and a last walk through the rooms is possible at the end if you are around.
Maid service in a Los Angeles home
Households in the city average 2.61 people. About 32 percent of them are one person on their own, and about half of renter households live in a studio or a one-bedroom; for many of those homes the kitchen and the single bath carry most of the work. The bathroom work covers the shower, the toilet, the vanity and the mirror. USGS calls the spots and film hard water leaves on glassware unsightly but not dangerous.
