THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT HOUSE CLEANING SERVICES
House cleaning and maid services have always existed throughout our history. Maybe as humans, we’ve just never liked cleaning, or are too busy to do it. In present day Ottawa, there are a number of house cleaning services that exist as well. Whether you want to use these services or not, here’s an interesting overview about cleaning services.
In Great Britain
In English, the word maid currently defines a female house cleaner, derived from the word maiden. However, the older meaning of maid simply meant a young, unmarried girl. Back in the day, female women were in charge of the domestic cleaning, which is how maid became associated as a home cleaner.
Other than females, a servant class often acted as house cleaners too. Interestingly enough, Britain’s architecture mirrors this culture, where a floor was designed specifically for servants and maids to operate and to sleep on.
Ottawa’s the First!
Although maid service has been around for ages, the first structured residential cleaning service didn’t develop in Ottawa until the late 1970’s. This is when the first organized services began appearing. One interesting fact is that Ottawa was the first city in Canada that began organized cleaning services.
She’s my…maid? Home cleaner?
Many cleaning services today sometimes use the word maid to define themselves. Nowadays, the term maid is not politically correct. It’s not appropriate to give the term maid to professional cleaners that are well trained and experienced. Other terms that may be used to describe maid are housekeeper, domestic worker, or simply, home cleaner.
Regular vs. One-Time
The two most common house cleaning services in Ottawa are regular cleaning and one-time cleaning services. Regular cleaning services have one cleaner matched to your home that will clean your house to a schedule. You determine the schedule, so that way it will accommodate your lifestyle.
In contrast, one-time service is only used once, for general spring-cleaning, post renovation cleaning, or any occasional instance you can think of. Quotes are posted on company websites for both services, making it simple for you to find the price.
Picking a Cleaner
To protect your security and privacy, it’s best to choose house-cleaning companies that have an established reputation in the Ottawa region. After all, you want someone who respects your privacy if they have access to your house. Good companies also provide training to their cleaners, to ensure skilled and experienced cleaning of your house!
