Written by MaidEX Cleaning Services Editorial Team · Reviewed by Milad Hoseini, Founder & CEO · Published September 4, 2026 · 6 min read
The short version: residential cleaning services are professional cleaning for your home — houses, condos and apartments — covering everything from recurring upkeep to deep, move-out, post-reno and Airbnb cleans. A good service is insured, checklist-based, and upfront on price. In BC's Lower Mainland, MaidEX shows a flat-rate price in about 60 seconds — 5% GST included, no PST, backed by a 24-hour re-clean guarantee. Get your instant price →
If you're comparing residential cleaning services, you want to know exactly what they do, what they cost, and how to tell a trustworthy one from the rest. This guide covers all of it — what's included, how residential cleaning differs from commercial, the different types of home cleans, realistic pricing, how often to book, and a checklist for choosing.
What are residential cleaning services?
Residential cleaning services are companies that professionally clean private homes — houses, condos and apartments — rather than offices or commercial spaces. They range from regular maintenance cleans on a schedule to one-off jobs like deep cleaning, move-out cleaning, post-renovation cleaning, and short-term-rental turnovers.
It's a large, competitive category — Canada counted 35,305 cleaning & janitorial businesses in 2024, up 7.4% year over year (IBISWorld Canada). That means plenty of choice — and a real need to know how to tell a professional, insured service from an uninsured solo operator.
What's included in a residential cleaning service?
A standard residential clean covers your kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms and living areas — dusting, vacuuming, mopping, wiping surfaces, and cleaning and sanitizing the kitchen and bathrooms. Deeper cleans add the detail work regular cleaning skips. Here's the scope by clean type:
| Task | Standard | Deep / move-out |
|---|---|---|
| Dusting, vacuuming, mopping | ✅ | ✅ |
| Kitchen & bathroom surfaces cleaned + sanitized | ✅ | ✅ |
| Emptying bins, tidying, making beds (on request) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Baseboards, door frames & trim | — | ✅ |
| Grout & tile scrubbing | — | ✅ |
| Behind & under furniture | — | ✅ |
| Inside oven / fridge / cabinets (add-on; included on move-out) | — | ✅ |
For the full room-by-room breakdown, see what's included in a house cleaning.
Residential vs commercial cleaning — what's the difference?
Residential cleaning is for private homes; commercial cleaning is for offices and business premises. They differ in what's cleaned, how they're priced, and when they happen:
| Residential | Commercial | |
|---|---|---|
| Space | Homes, condos, apartments | Offices, retail, strata common areas |
| Focus | Kitchens, bathrooms, living spaces | Workstations, floors, washrooms, high-traffic areas |
| Pricing | Flat-rate by home size / clean type | Often per square foot |
| Timing | Daytime, around your schedule | Often after hours |
MaidEX does both — this guide is about the residential side. If you need workplace cleaning, see office cleaning or strata cleaning.
What types of residential cleaning can you book?
Residential cleaning isn't one thing — it's a handful of services for different needs. The main ones:
Recurring house cleaning
Weekly, bi-weekly or monthly upkeep — the discount kicks in from your 2nd clean (up to 15%).
Deep cleaning
A top-to-bottom reset — inside appliances, baseboards, grout, behind furniture.
Move-in / move-out cleaning
The most detailed clean, for an empty home cleaned to the standard landlords inspect.
Post-renovation cleaning
Fine construction dust cleared from every surface after a reno.
Airbnb / short-term rental turnover
Fast, five-star resets between guests so every check-in looks spotless.
How much do residential cleaning services cost?
The price depends on your home's size, the type of clean, and any extras. The problem with most companies is you don't learn the number until someone visits or the job is done. MaidEX prices every residential clean by the size of your home and the service you pick, and shows the exact flat-rate total — 5% GST included, no PST — before you enter any payment details.
Two things keep MaidEX pricing honest and lower: in British Columbia, residential cleaning is PST-exempt, so you pay only the 5% GST — never the extra 7% provincial tax (why cleaning is PST-exempt in BC). And recurring plans lower the price from your second clean onward — 5% monthly, 10% bi-weekly, up to 15% weekly. See how it's built on the prices page, or read how much house cleaning costs in Vancouver.
How often should you use a residential cleaning service?
Most homes do well with a recurring clean every one to four weeks, plus a one-off deep clean a few times a year. Weekly suits busy or larger households; bi-weekly is the most popular balance; monthly keeps a tidy home on top of things. Homes with pets, kids, or allergies sit at the more-frequent end.
There's a health reason to keep on top of it, too. Health Canada notes that Canadians spend about 90% of their time indoors — roughly 70% of it at home — so indoor air quality has a real effect on health (Health Canada). Regular cleaning keeps dust, dander and allergens down in the spaces you actually live in.
How do you choose a residential cleaning service?
Choose a residential cleaning service that is insured, checklist-based, transparent on price, and backed by a guarantee. Run any company through this before you book:
- Upfront, flat-rate pricing — you should see the price before the clean, not after.
- Insured & background-checked cleaners — protects your home and gives you recourse (MaidEX is fully insured and background-checked).
- A published checklist — a real service follows a defined room-by-room scope.
- A satisfaction guarantee — the best services re-clean anything that isn't right, free.
- Genuine local reviews — recent, specific reviews from real customers near you.
- Easy online booking — you shouldn't need three phone calls to get a price.
For the deeper version of this, see how to choose a house cleaning service.
Where does MaidEX offer residential cleaning services?
MaidEX provides residential cleaning across Metro Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, including Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, Coquitlam, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, New Westminster, Langley, and surrounding cities. Because we're local, you get cleaners who know the area and a price that already includes BC's 5% GST with no PST added.
Residential cleaning services — FAQ
What is a residential cleaning service?
A residential cleaning service is a professional company that cleans private homes — houses, condos and apartments — rather than offices or commercial spaces. It covers recurring maintenance cleans plus one-off jobs like deep cleaning, move-in/move-out cleaning, post-renovation cleaning, and Airbnb turnovers.
What's included in a residential cleaning service?
A standard residential clean covers the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms and living areas — dusting, vacuuming, mopping, wiping surfaces, and cleaning and sanitizing the kitchen and bathrooms. Deep and move-out cleans add detail work like inside appliances, baseboards, grout and behind furniture. On a move-out clean, inside the oven, fridge and cabinets are included as standard; on a standard or deep clean those can be added when you book. Interior window cleaning (reachable glass, sills and vacuumed tracks) is a paid add-on on every clean — standard, deep and move-out alike — and exterior window cleaning isn't offered.
How much do residential cleaning services cost?
It depends on your home's size, the type of clean, and any extras. With MaidEX you see an exact flat-rate price online before you book — 5% GST included, no PST, because residential cleaning is PST-exempt in BC. Recurring plans lower the price further, from your second clean onward.
How often should I use a residential cleaning service?
Most homes do well with a recurring clean every one to four weeks (weekly, bi-weekly or monthly), with a one-off deep clean a few times a year. Homes with pets, kids or allergies tend toward more frequent visits.
What's the difference between residential and commercial cleaning?
Residential cleaning is for private homes and focuses on living spaces, kitchens and bathrooms, usually during the day. Commercial cleaning is for offices and business premises, is often priced per square foot, and is frequently done after hours. Many companies specialize in one; MaidEX does both.
Are residential cleaners insured, and do I need to be home?
Reputable residential cleaning services are insured and their cleaners are background-checked — MaidEX cleaners are fully insured and background-checked. You don't need to be home; many customers leave access instructions, and any issue is re-cleaned within 24 hours under our satisfaction guarantee.
See your exact residential cleaning price — GST included, no PST — in about 60 seconds.
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- IBISWorld — Janitorial & Cleaning Services in Canada, Number of Businesses (2024) — ibisworld.com/canada
- Health Canada — Ventilation and the indoor environment (Canadians spend ~90% of time indoors) — canada.ca
About the author
Milad Hoseini
Founder & CEO, MaidEX Cleaning Services
Written by the MaidEX Cleaning Services Editorial Team and reviewed by Milad Hoseini, who founded MaidEX in Vancouver. MaidEX provides insured, background-checked cleaning across Metro Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. More about MaidEX →
How this guide was made
This guide draws on MaidEX's hands-on cleaning experience across Metro Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, along with publicly available sources. It was drafted with the help of AI tools, then reviewed and fact-checked by our editorial team and approved by Milad Hoseini, Founder & CEO, before publishing.