Questions people ask us
These are the questions our office gets on the phone, answered the way LaShae answers them. If yours isn’t here, call (301) 698-9204, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm, or send it to us.
Before the first visit
For a one-time clean, a deep clean or a move-out, yes: we ask a few questions and quote by the hour, the same day, Monday to Friday, and the next business day on weekends and holidays. For weekly, every-other-week or monthly service we’d rather come see the home first; it takes a few minutes and you get a real per-visit price.
How many people live in the home. Whether there are pets, and what kind; a husky makes more work than a toy poodle. What the clean is for, since a clean for guests or for selling the house is held to a higher standard than a clean for yourself. And what extras you want, since inside the oven, the fridge or the freezer each add time.
No. Most customers are, weekly, every other week or monthly, and that’s where the regular team and the per-visit price come from. If you’d rather call us when you want a visit, that’s our on-call service: some on-call customers call every month, some twice a year, and we fit you in each time.
Almost every home needs one the first time, even a home that’s kept up, because the first visit is where the built-up work is. After that, the regular visits keep the house at that level.
Everything: fresh towels, a high duster, brushes, sponges, scrapers, the cleaning chemistry, fresh mops, the vacuum with its attachments, buckets and a two-step ladder. If you’d rather we use a product of your own, it has to be safe for the team and in a labeled bottle. No bleach, and nothing mixed at home. We’d suggest trying ours first, since they’re included in the rate; if you still prefer your own after that, let us know and we’ll do our best.
Yes, every one. Never contractors. Bonded and insured, covered by workers’ compensation, background-checked when hired, in uniform, in a company car.
Normally two. Sometimes three, when teams combine.
Most of our teams are bilingual in English and Spanish. Some have limited English and use a translation app when they need to; the office staff is bilingual and a call away. If you have a preference, tell us and we note it on your account.
On the day
Between 8 am and 4 pm. We text the day before with a closer window. We can usually honor a morning or afternoon request, but not an exact time.
No. About half our customers give us a key. Keys are number-coded, locked in the office at night, checked out by the team in the morning and returned in the afternoon, and carry nothing that identifies your address. Many customers use a garage or door code instead.
Give us a code of our own, or turn it off when our arrival text comes.
No. We love to do the cleaning, but tidying takes a lot of extra time, and time is what you pay for. If you can pick up clothes, toys and personal items from the floors and counters, the team cleans more thoroughly in less time and the price stays down. If you’d like help with the tidying or organizing, say so; we do that too, especially for homes with young children, a new baby, or two busy careers. Put away anything valuable, delicate or irreplaceable, or tell us not to touch it.
Don’t clean that room. If a door is closed for another reason, tell the office.
Most of our customers have a dog or a cat and we’re used to them. A separate room, a crate or daycare is up to you. Tell us about the pet when you book, and we’ll let you know if it seems stressed while we’re there.
Tell us when you book. Parking fees and restrictions are the customer’s. If the team arrives and has no place to park, that counts as a lock-out.
Whatever you like. We only ask that you check each area after the team finishes it instead of following them around, and tell the supervisor if anything needs more work. The supervisor can handle any issue or touch-up before the team leaves.
What’s included
A set list, room by room. Bathrooms: tile walls and the tub or shower scrubbed and polished, glass doors inside and out, sink, mirror, cabinet fronts, light fixture and fan dusted, toilet cleaned and disinfected, floor washed. Kitchen: stove top, microwave inside and out, the outsides of the oven, fridge and dishwasher, cabinet fronts, backsplash, counters and the small appliances on them, sink scrubbed and polished, trash, floor washed. Every other room: high dusting, baseboards, furniture and knick-knacks hand-dusted with items lifted, vacuuming under furniture as far as the vacuum reaches, upholstery and all floors vacuumed, bare floors mopped with a damp microfiber mop. The full list.
Inside cupboards, drawers and closets; dishes and laundry; walls, ceilings, blinds and windows. Any of them can be added for extra time. We leave small or fragile collectibles and irreplaceable items alone. We can’t move heavy furniture or lift anything over 25 pounds, and we can’t be responsible for blinds, windows or screens that are already worn, fragile or broken.
Yes. Inside the oven, the fridge or the freezer, windows, sills, curtains, the porch or patio, the garage, cabinets inside, closets, walls. Tell the office before the day and we add the time.
Two cleaners, a degreaser and a hypochlorous acid disinfectant, made in our office from salt, water and electricity. The chemistry is Green Seal certified and the disinfectant is registered with the EPA. No perfume, no bleach, no caustic chemicals, acids or alkalis. More.
We plan a regular team for each customer and generally hold to it, especially when asked. We can’t promise it every single time, because our staff are people with families and days off. If the same team matters more to you than the day, tell us and we’ll call to reschedule instead of sending a substitute; if the day matters more, you’ll get a different team on your day. Tell us which.
Changing and canceling
Call or text the office with two business days’ notice and there’s no charge. Less notice than that and there’s a late-cancellation fee.
If the team arrives and can’t get in, including no place to park, there’s a $50 lock-out fee.
Standard service is Monday to Friday. We can sometimes do a Saturday for a special circumstance; ask when you book.
We’re closed New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Paying
A card on file holds the appointment and is charged the next business day, after the office reconciles the day. Cash or a check to Maid Brigade, handed to the team supervisor on the day, works too; exact amount, collected before the team leaves. On hourly jobs, confirm the final total with the team or the office first.
Larger jobs, estimated at five or more hours for a team of two or $700 or more, may require a deposit that isn’t refundable.
Yes. Any amount from $140, as a printed certificate or by email, good for any service and with no expiration in most cases. Call the office to buy one; we handle it personally. Online gift cards are only through the corporate Maid Brigade site.
If something’s wrong
Mistakes happen, and we make them right. Call the office within 24 hours and we come back within one business day to re-clean it at no charge.
Call the office right away. Every technician is bonded and insured. We’ll look at what happened and work out whether we can fix it, replace it or reimburse you; we always try to fix it first.
Where and who
180 Thomas Johnson Drive, Suite 200, Frederick, MD 21702, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. All the towns we clean in.
LaShae Lawton runs the Frederick office and answers the phone, the texts and the email. The phones ring in both our offices, so some days it’s Rachel or Mercy who picks up; any of them can help. (301) 698-9204, office@maidbrigademd.com.
We clean in Frederick, Urbana, New Market, Middletown, Walkersville, Mount Airy, Thurmont and Brunswick, and every other town in Frederick County.
Everything on this site is real: the people, the photos, the reviews. We use software to help us organize and check our work, and a person at our Frederick office wrote and approved every page.