What a maid service visit covers, room by room
A regular visit runs in roughly the same order each time. Dusting goes top down and floors come last, so what falls from a high shelf lands where we have not touched yet rather than on a counter we already wiped.
The order of a maid service visit
High spots first and floors last, so nothing gets cleaned twice.
High to low
Dusting from the floor, nothing climbed.
The kitchen
Counters, the sink, the stovetop and the fronts.
Bathrooms
Tub or shower, toilet, sink and mirror.
Floors last
Vacuumed, then a damp mop on hard floors.
The bins
What we collect goes into your blue, green and black bins.
Source: San Francisco Environment Department, Recycling and composting in San Francisco: FAQs.
1. A walk-through on the first visit
We walk the home with the list from your call: the rooms, the parts that bother you most, what to leave alone, how we get in. Nothing personal is sorted, moved or opened unless you asked for it. Later visits do not need this step; the first one sets it up.
2. Dusting from high to low, with nothing climbed
High dusting runs from the floor, nothing climbed: ceiling fans, light fixtures, the tops of door frames and cabinets, the outer grilles on vents. If a spot is out of reach that way, it stays where it is. We do not use ladders, step stools, chairs, tub edges or counters to reach a high place.
3. The kitchen
Counters cleared and wiped, the sink down to the faucet and the rim, the stovetop with the grates lifted and set back. The fronts of the fridge, the oven, the dishwasher and the microwave, including each handle and the top of each one. The cabinet fronts get a pass where cooking has caught on them. Inside the oven and inside the fridge come on request, as extras.
4. Bathrooms
The tub or shower cleaned from the floor with no leaning in, and shower glass gets its own pass when the bathroom has it. The toilet inside and out, including the base, then the vanity, sink and taps, and the mirror. The light fixture is dusted from the floor. The bathroom floor comes last, with the mop reaching behind the toilet as far as it fits.
5. Bedrooms and living areas
Surfaces dusted and wiped: dressers, nightstands, side tables, headboards, bookshelves, mirrors and glass. Beds made when you ask, with linens you have left out, or linens changed when you ask. We do not sort, open drawers or move personal items into them. If something is on the floor and we are not sure what you want done with it, we leave it where it is.
6. Floors last
Hard floors vacuumed and then damp mopped. Rugs and carpet vacuumed. Along baseboards and into corners. We stop short of anything that needs a wet extraction, which is a different trade.
7. Trash, recycling and compost into the home's own bins
What we collect at the end goes into your blue, green and black bins the way your household sorts them. The 2009 ordinance requires every resident to separate recyclables, compostables and trash. In the home, those three streams go into blue, green and black bins. We are not answering for a household's compliance; we follow the sort you keep.
| Room | Every visit | Ask for it as an extra |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen | Counters, sink, stovetop, fronts of appliances | Inside the oven, inside the fridge, cabinet shelves |
| Bathroom | Tub or shower, toilet, vanity, mirror, floor | Grout lines, behind the toilet, the fan grille |
| Bedrooms | Surfaces, bed made on request, floor | Under the bed, closet shelves, window sills |
| Living areas | Surfaces, mirrors, glass, floor | Baseboards, door frames, switch plates |
| Entry and halls | Surfaces, floor | Baseboards and the tracks under a sliding door |
| Floors | Vacuum, then damp mop on hard floors | Hand attention to a wood or tile pattern that needs it |
When a maid service fits and when another service fits better
When this is the right page
Your place is in fair shape and you want it kept that way. The kitchen and bathrooms carry the parts that bother you most. You want a rhythm your household can share. You already had a thorough visit this year.
When another service fits
A long stretch since the last top-to-bottom clean points at a deep clean first, so the regular visits that follow can keep up rather than chase. An empty unit at a move is move-out cleaning. A home that only needs it once is a one time cleaning. Dust after a remodel is post construction cleaning. For how often to have someone come, the rhythm page walks through weekly, every other week and monthly.
We talk the choice through on the call. When a maid service visit covers what the home needs, we say so and skip the bigger job.
What the visit covers
A maid service visit covers the rooms you tell us to cover, in the order above. We go over products and supplies when you call, so no one is guessing at what goes on your counters or around a pet; the household can hand us bottles from under the sink and we can use your own products if you want.
What moves the price is rooms, bathrooms, the shape the home is in, and anything extra on this visit. What sets the price has the full list.