Looking for a housekeeper in Toronto

November 12, 2009 9:57 AM

I'm looking for recommendations for a housekeeper/cleaner/maid in Toronto.

Having only heard horror stories from most people (including several posts on here from a few years ago) I was hoping that someone out there would have a decent recommendation for someone that could clean a moderate-sized condo in downtown Toronto on a monthly/bimonthly basis.

Price is not really an issue as much as reliability and generally hassle-freeness. Someone having at least some of their own supplies would be amazing.

I'd rather go with someone independent, but most recommendations have been to bite the bullet and go with molly maid. Anyone think differently?

Thanks.

posted by loquax to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Best answer: We use "Clean my space," and have been very happy with the job they've done. The first cleaning was a little pricey, but incredibly thorough -- I think they spent something like 7 hours (2 people for 3.5 hours each) on our 2-bedroom place, and it showed. But subsquent cleanings (every 3 weeks) have been perfectly reasonable, and still showed a lot of attention to detail.

They want you to have your own supplies, but will buy stuff for you (for a fee) if you want.
posted by chalkbored at 11:02 AM on November 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

chalkbored, could you elaborate on "a little pricey"?
posted by purephase at 11:53 AM on November 12, 2009

Response by poster: Yeah that's a good question - I don't even really know what the ballpark is for cleaning. $20/hour plus a tip?
posted by loquax at 12:03 PM on November 12, 2009

Ah, sorry. When we looked into choosing a cleaner, the cheapest quotes were ~$70 per cleaning for our (2BR, 1 bath + laundry room) place. Some places charge by the hour, others charge by the room (with a specified list of cleaning tasks), making it a little difficult to compare. Clean My Space charges us $28 an hour (after the first cleaning, which I think was a little more), and typically spends 3-4 hours each time (every 3-4 weeks), plus there's 5% GST, so it ends up being about $115 a pop. So, definitely more expensive than the cheapest out there.

When we were looking, we read a bunch of reviews at HomeStars, fwiw. CMS did well there; some other companies didn't. But it's hardly an authoritative source.
posted by chalkbored at 12:37 PM on November 12, 2009

Clean My Space

Unless there are multiple places with the same name.
posted by chunking express at 12:38 PM on November 12, 2009

... and after posting that, I note that CMS's most recent HomeStars review is actually pretty terrible (though it is one person out of many), so who knows. Like I said, we've been very happy with them (and have been using them for, I dunno, maybe 9 months?).
posted by chalkbored at 12:42 PM on November 12, 2009

For what it's worth, another other business run by the same woman, Cleanopolis, has solid, positive reviews at HomeStars. I've never hired any cleaning service, so I can't recommend anyone specific, sorry.
posted by maudlin at 12:52 PM on November 12, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks all, I'm going to give CMS a shot and see how it goes...
posted by loquax at 5:34 AM on November 13, 2009