Warranty & Booking Policy

We stand behind our work, and we want every client to love their clean. This page explains our guarantee, how booking and cancellation work, and how labor hours and payment work. The short version: you buy a set number of labor hours, we work them to our standard, and nothing is added without your yes.

Satisfaction Guarantee — tell us within 24 hours

If we missed something that was within the approved scope and hours of your cleaning, tell us within 24 hours of the finish time and we will make it right at no additional charge. The 24 hours is the window for telling us; a return visit is scheduled at the next available time.

How we make it right. A missed area or room gets a return visit. A small detail that would take only a few minutes — one shelf, one fixture — is fixed on your next scheduled visit, or we credit the time. A separate trip costs two to four labor hours once travel, setup and re-cleaning are counted, so we do not send a crew back for a minutes-long touch-up.

Not covered: work outside the approved scope; areas not reached within the approved hours (these are not “missed” — larger spaces and deeper cleans need more hours, which we are glad to quote); reports made after 24 hours (we can book them as a new cleaning); pre-existing stains, damage or wear; electrical, mechanical or appliance issues, including tripped breakers, outlets or devices; the condition of the home after our team has left; results that would need restoration rather than cleaning (see Limits of cleaning below); and re-cleaning within 24 hours after an open house or similar showing, because foot traffic changes a home’s condition quickly and that is outside the original cleaning.

How to tell us. In writing, within the 24 hours: text 505-379-3154 or 505-977-9774, or email info@maidomatic1.com, naming the specific areas. Photos help us act fast. We do not process complaints by phone, so that both of us have a clear record of the date and the details.

Booking, card on file and cancellations

If you are still comparing quotes, please do not reserve a time yet. When we reserve a slot for you we hold it exclusively and turn other clients away from it, so we cannot keep one open while you decide. Ask us anything beforehand and book when you are ready.

Your appointment is confirmed once a valid credit or debit card is on file. We do not take a booking deposit. Your card details are stored securely by our payment processor and the card is charged only as this policy describes: the balance for completed service, or the late-cancellation and no-show fees below.

Cancellations or reschedules made at least 24 hours before your scheduled start time are free, and we will gladly move you to another available time. Cancellations or reschedules with less than 24 hours’ notice, no-shows and no-call/no-shows are charged a flat $100 late-cancellation fee to the card on file. The fee covers the crew time and travel we cannot recover when a reserved slot goes unused, and it is the same for every service and service area.

Please give us a correct service address and make sure the crew can get in at the scheduled time. Delays caused by a wrong address, access problems or other client-side factors do not reduce the booked time and do not earn a refund or discount.

What you are buying: labor hours, not an open-ended result

We sell cleaning time measured in labor hours — the combined time of everyone on the crew. Two technicians working 3½ hours is 7 labor hours. We assign the crew; we do not promise a particular number of technicians. Four labor hours may be two technicians for two hours or another combination that delivers the same total.

The starting rate for deep, move-out and other detailed cleanings is the price to begin. It is not a guaranteed final price, and it does not mean the job will fit inside it. The final time depends on the home’s size and condition: buildup, clutter, pet hair, the level of detail you ask for, appliances, cabinets, drawers, baseboards, windows and tracks, and any extras.

Our estimate is a good-faith estimate, built from 21 years of professional cleaning and from estimating tools that help us gauge the hours. Nobody can know the exact time until the crew is working. By booking, you are purchasing a defined number of labor hours, not an unlimited amount of work until a subjective standard is met. You may approve the estimated hours or decline and adjust the scope. Work that needs hours beyond what you approved is outside the booking and is not performed without your authorization of more time, and by approving a booking you agree not to dispute the service later on the basis that more work was expected than the approved hours could reasonably cover.

Once a home looks clean it is natural to feel the work should have gone faster. Our price is based on the hours actually worked, not on how quickly the finished home seems to have come together: a surface that takes seconds to glance at can take far longer to clean properly, and buildup, clutter and detail work are invisible in the result. If a cleaning ever feels like it took too long, we will gladly walk you through exactly what was done and where the time went. What we will not do is cut corners to make a number feel smaller.

When the home needs more time

Cleaning is performed within the labor hours you booked. If the crew finds on site that the home needs more time to reach our standard, the Team Leader tells you before continuing. You can authorize more time, billed at the same hourly rate in blocks of up to two labor hours, or ask us to stop at the booked hours. If you decline, we finish as much as possible within the approved hours; areas not reached are not “missed” and are not covered by the guarantee, and reduced or declined time means we cannot promise the same detail, results or warranty coverage.

Lists. A list helps us work in the right order; it is not a blank check. We work your booked hours in your priority order, and if the list needs more time, the Team Leader asks you before adding any — in blocks of up to two labor hours at the same rate. If you tell us in writing to complete everything on the list, that is your authorization for the time it takes, and we still let you know at each two-hour block so there are no surprises. If we cannot reach you, we stop at the hours you approved, bill the card on file for the completed time, and leave the home secured. Tell us your true priorities up front and leave enough time for them: a top priority placed last behind a long list may not be reached.

Payment

Full payment is due when the cleaning is complete. The card on file may be charged for the balance of any completed cleaning, including additional hours you authorized. Paying by credit card adds a surcharge of up to 3%, shown as its own line on your receipt; there is no surcharge for debit cards, bank transfer (ACH), checks or cash.

You are billed only for consistent cleaning time. Breaks are not billed. Up to fifteen minutes spent talking with you before the cleaning may be billed, so please keep conversations with the crew brief and let their time go to your home. Disagreeing afterwards about how long the job should have taken does not remove the obligation to pay for approved, completed time; a concern about quality goes through the 24-hour guarantee above.

How we document the job

Every job is recorded by arrival, start, break and departure times, and we may use time-stamped records, job notes and photos to verify the labor time spent. We may photograph the home before and after service as our record of the work and of the home’s condition when the crew left. Our team may also wear lapel cameras for time verification, quality control, employee safety and proof of the time spent, unless you tell us in writing before service that you do not want cameras used. Footage is used only when necessary for internal review, quality concerns, payment disputes, safety, insurance or legal matters.

Limits of cleaning

We cannot offer a 100% guarantee where the result you want would need restoration, repair, refinishing, replacement or scrubbing beyond safe cleaning standards. Some stains, buildup, discoloration, odors, hard-water damage, grease, paint overspray, construction residue, soap scum, mineral deposits, grout staining, wood damage and long-term neglect may improve with cleaning without coming back to like-new. We will not scrub, scrape or use chemicals that could damage paint, finishes, wood, grout, caulking or coatings; if a result needs that, it needs a restoration or repair professional. We provide professional cleaning, not restoration, and results are limited by the age, material, condition and history of the surfaces.

Just as you should not pay for work below professional standards, we should not go unpaid for professional cleaning time properly performed within the agreed scope. Payment is due for the completed cleaning time even when a surface cannot be fully restored because of age, damage, buildup, staining, wear or neglect.

How long cleaning really takes: five real homes

A 4-bedroom, 2½-bath home in moderate to heavy condition. Four labor hours buys surface cleaning and basic tidying, not a deep clean of every room.

A 3-bedroom, 2-bath home with heavy buildup throughout. The professional estimate was 30+ labor hours to deep clean and restore: kitchen 5–7 hours, two bathrooms 4–5, three bedrooms 6–8, living areas 4–6, floors 4–6, laundry room 2–3, plus dusting, details and extras 6–8. That covers the kitchen and both bathrooms, inside and outside of appliances, all surfaces, baseboards, doors, trim and vents, vacuuming and mopping. It does not cover interior window panes, heavy stain removal from walls or floors, moving heavy furniture, organizing personal clutter, blocked or inaccessible areas, or exterior cleaning.

An empty home is not a clean home. With no furniture, every surface still carries dirt, grease, dust and buildup: screen tracks, cabinet tops, switches, fixtures, baseboards, shelving. In 4 labor hours we can only prioritize the essentials — oven (about 1 hour), refrigerator (about 1 hour), bagging visible trash (about 1 hour) — leaving roughly an hour for a quick sweep and wipe-down. Bedrooms, bathrooms, baseboards and trim, inside cabinets and drawers, windows and tracks, organizing and laundry are not in 4 hours. A full move-out deep clean of a home this size takes 20+ labor hours.

Not every home needs a marathon. A well-kept 2-bedroom, 1-bath home with normal daily use can be cleaned, freshened and made move-in ready in about 2.5 to 4 labor hours: kitchen 0.5–0.75, bathroom 0.5–0.75, living areas 0.5–0.75, two bedrooms 0.5–1, floors 0.5–0.75, plus beds, trash and touch-ups about 0.5. That covers cleaning and sanitizing the kitchen and bathroom, dusting all surfaces and shelves, baseboards, doors and trim, vacuuming, mopping and tidying — not inside appliances, windows or tracks, heavy clutter removal, deep scrubbing, stain removal or moving furniture.

An empty move-out home with light buildup still takes real time. A 3-bedroom, 2-bath home with kitchen and laundry typically needs 8 to 9 labor hours to reach a move-out-ready standard: kitchen 2–2.5, two bathrooms 2–2.5, dusting 1–1.5, floors 1–1.5, laundry room 0.5–1, appliances (oven, fridge, dishwasher) 1–1.5 — inside and outside of appliances, all surfaces, baseboards, doors, trim and vents, vacuuming and mopping; not interior window panes, heavy stain removal, moving furniture, mold or biohazard cleaning, carpet deep cleaning or exterior work.

The right estimate always depends on the size and condition of your home. We do not cut corners or compromise our standards.