Pricing Guide · Durham Region
How much does house cleaning cost in the Durham Region?
What cleaning actually costs across Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering and the rest of the Durham Region, and what makes one quote different from another.
Published August 28, 2026 · Written by the Palace Cleaning team in Whitby, ON
If you are weighing up a clean, the number is usually the first thing you want. Here it is, drawn from published rates across the Durham Region in 2026.
These are market figures rather than one company’s price list, which makes them a useful yardstick for any quote you receive, including ours.
What Durham Region homes actually pay
Two things drive the ranges below: the size of the home, and how often someone cleans it. Frequency matters more than most people expect, because less builds up between visits.
| Home size | Weekly | Bi-weekly | Monthly or one-time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 bedrooms | $110 to $150 | $130 to $170 | $170 to $220 |
| 3 bedrooms | $140 to $190 | $160 to $240 | $210 to $280 |
| 4+ bedrooms | $180 to $250 | $200 to $280 | $260 to $350 |
A one-time deep clean sits well above those numbers, usually $260 to $550 depending on size and condition, because it covers ground a maintenance clean never touches. A move-out clean lands in similar territory and sometimes higher, since an empty home means every surface is reachable and expected to be spotless.
If you want a single number to carry around: a three bedroom Durham home on a bi-weekly schedule is the most common job in the region, and it usually lands somewhere around the low $200s.
How Durham compares to the rest of the GTA
Cleaning is priced largely by time, and time is affected by geography. Durham runs cheaper than the city core for the same house.
| Area | 3 bedroom, bi-weekly |
|---|---|
| Downtown Toronto | $200 to $320 |
| Scarborough and Markham | $180 to $280 |
| Durham Region | $160 to $240 |
The gap is roughly 10 to 15 percent. Shorter drives between jobs, lower overheads, and a competitive local market all push the same direction.
The five things that actually move a quote
1. Bathrooms, more than square footage
This is the one that surprises people. A four bedroom home with two bathrooms often prices below a three bedroom with three and a half.
Bathrooms carry the most fixed detail work of any room. Every one of them needs the same glass, grout, fixtures and floor attention regardless of how big the house is. Bedrooms scale gently. Bathrooms do not.
When you compare quotes, check that everyone counted the same number, and that half baths were counted.
2. The condition at the first visit
A home that has been cleaned regularly is quicker than one coming off a long gap, and honest companies price that difference rather than absorbing it.
This is why most homes start with a one-time deep clean and then move to a lower recurring rate. Expect the first visit and the ones after it to be priced differently, because they are genuinely different jobs.
3. How often the team comes
Weekly costs the least per visit. Bi-weekly sits in the middle. Monthly and one-time visits carry the highest per-visit rate, because a month of living has to be undone each time.
The saving is real but it is not enormous. Choose the frequency that fits your household rather than the one that looks cheapest per visit, because a schedule you resent is a schedule you cancel.
4. Pets
Hair and dander add genuine time to floors, upholstery and vents. Two dogs in a three bedroom home is a real difference in scope, not a penalty for having animals.
Say so at quote time. A company that finds out on arrival will either rush the job or revise the price, and neither is a good start.
5. Anything outside a standard clean
Inside the oven, inside the fridge, interior windows, finished basements and laundry usually sit outside a standard visit. Adding them turns a package into a custom clean, priced by time rather than by tier.
None of that is unreasonable. It just needs saying out loud before the first visit rather than discovering it on an invoice.
What a quote should tell you
A quote worth trusting answers all of these without being asked:
- What is included, room by room
- What is not included, said plainly
- Whether the price is per visit or per hour, and what happens if the job runs long
- Whether the first visit is priced differently
- Whether the same team returns each time
- What happens if something is missed
Every cleaning company has exclusions. Having them in writing is what makes two quotes easy to compare.
What to weigh alongside price
Price is a fair thing to compare, and worth comparing. Three other things tend to decide how happy you are six months in.
Insurance and bonding. Insurance covers injury and damage, bonding covers theft. Ask to see proof of both, and expect it to arrive the same day.
Team consistency. A team that returns learns your home and gets faster and more thorough over time. That is where the real value in a recurring schedule comes from.
A guarantee you can point at. Look for one with a time window and a specific remedy written into it. That is the difference between a promise and a policy.
Our own approach
We quote every home individually rather than publishing a fixed package price, because the five factors above genuinely change the work.
What we will do is give you a range on the phone in about two minutes, before anyone visits and before you commit to anything. Call (905) 259-8119 or ask for a quote online and you will have an answer the same day during office hours.
We serve the whole Durham Region, including Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering and Bowmanville.
Common questions
Answered before you call
What is the average cost of house cleaning in the Durham Region?
Most Durham Region homes fall between $150 and $300 for a recurring clean, and between $260 and $550 for a one-time deep clean. A three bedroom home on a bi-weekly schedule is the most common job in the region and typically lands in the $160 to $240 range. The figure moves with bathroom count, condition and how often the team visits.
Is cleaning cheaper in Durham than in Toronto?
Yes, generally by 10 to 15 percent for the same size of home. Travel distances are shorter, overheads are lower, and there are more companies competing per household. A three bedroom bi-weekly clean that runs $200 to $320 in downtown Toronto commonly runs $160 to $240 across Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax and Pickering.
Should I pay hourly or a flat rate?
Flat rate is better for a standard clean of a home someone has seen, because the price cannot drift if the visit runs long. Hourly is fairer for work nobody can scope in advance: post-renovation cleaning, a home coming off a very long gap, or anything unusual. An hourly quote is easiest to judge when it comes with an estimated range attached, so you know where it should land.
Why is the first clean more expensive than the ones after it?
The first visit is a reset rather than a maintenance clean. It clears buildup that a regular visit is not scoped for, which takes longer. Once the baseline is set, every later visit is priced at the lower recurring rate because the home is being maintained rather than recovered.
Do I tip a house cleaner in Ontario?
Tipping is not expected and is never built into a quote. Many clients recognise a good clean around the holidays, and plenty never tip at all. Either way, the standard of work should be the same.
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