Buyer's Guide · Durham Region
How to choose a cleaning company in the Durham Region
You are handing someone keys to your home. Here are the questions that actually separate one cleaning company from another, and the answers you should expect to hear.
Published August 28, 2026 · Written by the Palace Cleaning team in Whitby, ON
Choosing a cleaning company is unlike most purchases, because you are not really buying a clean house. You are handing a stranger a key to the place where you keep everything you own, and then leaving.
That reframes which questions matter. Price is worth comparing and it is easy to compare, which is exactly why it tends to crowd out the questions that matter more.
Here is what to ask, and what a good answer sounds like.
The five questions
1. Are you insured and bonded?
These are two different things and a company can have one without the other.
Insurance covers injury and damage. If someone falls on your stairs or a heavy mirror goes over, insurance is what stands between that and your household policy.
Bonding covers theft.
Ask to see the certificates. Any established company can produce them within a day, and most are glad to be asked.
2. Are your cleaners employees or subcontractors?
This one sounds like paperwork and is not.
Employees are covered by the company’s insurance, are trained by them, and are the company’s responsibility. Subcontractors may carry their own cover, or may carry none, and the answer varies person to person.
Both models work. What matters is knowing which one is coming into your home, and a good company will tell you plainly.
3. Are they background-checked?
Ask what the check covers and when it was last run. A clear answer sounds like “a criminal record check before their first shift”.
4. Will the same team come every time?
This is the question people forget, and it turns out to be the one that determines whether recurring cleaning is any good.
A team that returns learns your home: which floors take what, where the good glassware lives, which door sticks. They get faster and more thorough over months. A rotating cast starts over every visit, and you will notice it in the details.
Perfect consistency is not realistic, since people take holidays and get ill. What you want is a company that works in stable teams and tells you when it changes.
5. What happens if something is missed?
This is the question people forget to ask, and the answer tells you the most.
Look for a written guarantee with a time window and a specific remedy in it. Something like “tell us within 24 hours and we return to re-clean that area at no cost” is a commitment you can hold someone to, and it shows the company has thought the situation through.
Reading reviews properly
Star ratings are the least useful part of a review page. Three things tell you more.
Read the three-star reviews. Five-star reviews tell you the service works. Middling ones tell you how the company communicates and follows up, which is what you live with day to day.
Check the timeline. A steady stream over a couple of years is the sign of a business people keep coming back to.
Look at the responses. How a company replies in public is a fair preview of how it will talk to you in private.
What a quote should tell you
A good quote answers these without being chased:
- 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, and why
- What the cancellation policy is, including the notice period and any fee
- Whether supplies and equipment are brought or expected
The exclusions matter most. Every company has them, typically carpet steam cleaning, exterior windows, anything above safe arm’s reach and moving heavy furniture. A company that volunteers that list up front is making it easy to compare.
For what the numbers should look like, see our Durham Region cleaning cost guide.
Local questions worth asking in Durham
Do you serve my community? “The Durham Region” covers a lot of ground, from Pickering in the west to Newcastle in the east and north to Uxbridge. Ask about your street and you will get a straight answer.
How do you handle winter? Salt, slush and grit change floor care from December to March, and a company that works here year-round will have an answer ready.
What is your month-end availability? If you are moving, the last days of the month are the hardest slots in the calendar across the whole region.
A fair way to decide
Get three quotes and ask all five questions. Then go with whoever answered fastest and most plainly, because responsiveness before you are a customer is the best predictor of responsiveness after.
If you would like to put those questions to us, call (905) 259-8119 or ask for a quote. Our team is background-checked, bonded and insured, we work in consistent teams, and if we miss something you have 24 hours to tell us and we will come back and re-clean that area at no cost.
You can also read more about who we are or check where we clean.
Common questions
Answered before you call
What should I ask a cleaning company before hiring them?
Ask five things: are you insured and bonded, are your cleaners employees or subcontractors, are they background-checked, will the same team come each visit, and what happens if something is missed. Ask for proof of insurance rather than a reassurance. A company that answers all five without hesitation has answered them before.
Should cleaners be insured and bonded, and what is the difference?
Insurance covers injury and damage that happens in your home. Bonding covers theft. They are separate things and a company can have one without the other. Without insurance, an injury in your home can become your liability, so ask for a certificate rather than taking it on trust.
Is it better to hire a company or an individual cleaner?
An individual is often cheaper and can be excellent, but there is no cover when they are ill, on holiday or leave, and insurance and bonding are usually yours to arrange. A company costs more and absorbs those risks. Neither is wrong; the trade is price against continuity.
How many reviews should a cleaning company have?
Volume matters less than pattern. Look for a steady stream over time rather than a cluster from one month, read the middling reviews rather than the best ones, and check whether the company responds to criticism. Fifty genuine reviews across two years tells you more than two hundred that arrived in a fortnight.
Do I need to be home during the clean?
Almost never, and most regular clients are not. You can leave a key, a lockbox code or a smart-lock code. What matters is that the company treats access details as confidential and tells you who will be in your home. Ask how access information is stored and who can see it.
Where to go next