Cleaning Company in Singapore: 10-Point Checklist Before You Hire
Hiring cleaners for your home or small office? Check six things first: the licence, the insurance, who the crew are, what the job covers, what reviews say and how cancellation works. Updated October 2026.
Last updated: 23 October 2026 · By the Sureclean cleaning team
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Key takeaways
- Before you book any cleaning company in Singapore, ask for two things in writing: its NEA licence number and the details of its public liability insurance.
- Ask who the cleaner really works for. It could be the company’s own trained crew, a subcontractor, or a freelancer the company found on a marketplace app.
- Under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, it is an offence to hire a foreigner who does not hold a valid work pass. That includes taking on someone else’s domestic helper.
- Don’t judge a quote by its hourly rate alone. Ask each company for a written scope, published prices and clear cancellation terms, then set them side by side. Weekly home cleaning starts as low as $22/hour*.
Short answer: Run through ten checks before you hire a cleaning company in Singapore. Ask for its NEA licence number and proof of public liability insurance. Find out whether the cleaners are its own trained staff, and make sure every worker is legally employed. Get the scope in writing. Confirm who brings the equipment. Look at its published prices and recent reviews, then read the cancellation terms and ask what happens if a task gets missed. Weekly home cleaning typically starts as low as $22/hour*. Most disputes never happen when both sides sign a clear written agreement.
Sureclean at a glance
- Rated 4.9★ across 1,552 Google reviews
- NEA Class 3 licensed (NEA240120/6509C/C3/N01) and insured for S$1,000,000
- Cleaning Singapore homes since 2013 — over 50,000 homes cleaned
- Our own employed crews hold valid MOM work permits and complete 400 hours of training.
- Published rates — no platform fees, no hidden charges
- WhatsApp +65 6983 9523 for an exact quote in minutes
What is the 10-point checklist before you hire a cleaning company?
Before you pay a deposit or hand over a key, check these ten points. They hold for an HDB flat, a new BTO, a condo or a landed home. A small office can use them too. Planning cleaning every week or fortnight? Then measure each provider against what a full weekly home cleaning service should cover.
- NEA licence: ask for the licence number in writing.
- Insurance: check that the company carries public liability cover, and find out the amount.
- Who employs the cleaners: some companies hire their own staff, some use subcontractors, and marketplaces simply connect you with independent workers.
- Legal work status: no one works on your job without a valid pass for that role.
- Training: ask how new cleaners are trained and supervised.
- Written scope: rooms, tasks and exclusions agreed before the first visit.
- Equipment and products: who brings them, and whether they cost extra.
- Published prices: start from a rate you can check against others, and see exactly what pushes the total higher.
- Reviews: recent, specific and plentiful, not five testimonials on a homepage.
- Cancellation and re-clean terms: how much notice you need to give, whether any fees apply, and what we do if a task gets missed.
How do you check a cleaning company’s NEA licence and insurance?
Cleaning businesses in Singapore are licensed by the National Environment Agency (NEA). Ask a company for its licence number. A licensed firm will give it to you, and you can confirm it with NEA before you book. Some providers can’t produce a number, or tell you they don’t need one. If that happens, find another company.
Most homeowners underestimate how much insurance matters. A mirror slips off the wall, a new BTO’s timber floor gets scratched, or water seeps through into the unit below and stains the neighbour’s ceiling. Any one of these can cost more than the cleaning job. Before you book, ask what level of public liability cover the company carries. Then check that it applies to work done inside your home, not just at their own premises.
Our NEA licence is NEA240120/6509C/C3/N01, and we hold S$1,000,000 public liability insurance. Ask any cleaning company you’re thinking of hiring for both. Get the licence number and insurance details written into the quotation or booking confirmation, so you have them on paper if something goes wrong later.
Own trained crew or subcontractors: why does it matter?
Most cleaning services in Singapore run on one of three models. The first is a company that hires its own cleaners and trains them in-house. The second takes your booking, then hands the actual job to a subcontractor. The third is a marketplace. Helpling, an online booking marketplace for part-time cleaners, and Urban Company, an app-based home services marketplace, both match you with independent cleaners. Any of the three can do the job well. Where they differ is who answers for the work when something goes wrong.
When the company that quotes you uses its own crew, that same company trains the cleaner, supervises them and pays their wages. If a visit is missed or something goes wrong, you only have one party to deal with. Subcontracted work is different. Ask who will actually turn up at your HDB flat or condo, and whether the main company’s insurance still covers that person. Booking through a marketplace? Find out what the platform does when a cleaner cancels or something gets broken.
Before you book, ask three things: Who actually employs the cleaner? Will the same person or team turn up every week? And on the day itself, who do I call? With weekly cleaning, consistency counts for more than anything else. A cleaner who comes back week after week learns your home and your surfaces, and how you like things done.
Is it legal to hire a part-time helper or cleaner directly?
Most people miss this step. The Employment of Foreign Manpower Act makes it an offence to hire a foreigner who has no valid work pass. That includes tourists, overstayers and other people’s domestic helpers. If you hire one, you face a fine of $5,000 to $30,000, up to 12 months’ jail, or both. You can also be barred from hiring foreign workers.
A migrant domestic worker may work only for her own employer. She must also work only at the address stated on her Work Permit. Taking part-time or weekend jobs with other households is against the law. If she does, her employer can be fined up to $10,000 and may lose the right to hire helpers. She can also have her Work Permit revoked, be sent home and be barred from working in Singapore again.
When you book a licensed cleaning company, the legal side is theirs to handle. They must employ their staff properly and hold each worker’s work pass, so the risk is not yours to carry. For the full picture, see the Ministry of Manpower’s pages on the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act and its employment rules for domestic workers.
What should a written cleaning scope include?
Most disputes start with an unclear scope. So before the first visit, get the list in writing, and make sure it covers:
- Rooms and areas: tell us which bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, service yard and balcony need doing, and for a landed home, which floors.
- Tasks: dusting, mopping, vacuuming, scrubbing bathrooms, wiping kitchen surfaces, ironing, laundry, dishes and changing bedsheets.
- Exclusions: the jobs we leave out, for example exterior windows, high ceilings or servicing of appliances.
- Products and equipment: say who brings them, and point out any surfaces that need gentler handling, like marble or timber.
- Hours and team size: how many cleaners, for how long.
The weather here changes what a cleaning scope needs to cover. Because Singapore stays humid all year, mould creeps along bathroom grout, into window tracks and behind wardrobes. Leave the windows open and dust settles again within a short time. A well-written scope states how often each of these spots is cleaned. Scrubbing grout and clearing post-renovation dust are heavier jobs, and they are usually sold as separate services. Confirm that nobody is assuming they come with a routine visit.
How should you read reviews and cancellation terms?
Check how many reviews there are, and how much they actually say. Hundreds of Google reviews spread over several years tell you far more than a handful of testimonials on a company’s own website. Don’t stop at the five-star ones. Read the one-star and three-star reviews too, then see how the company replies. A comment about punctuality, the same cleaner coming back, or how a problem was sorted out tells you more than ‘great service’.
Then read the terms before you commit:
- Cancellation notice: the notice period we need from you, plus any charge if you change your booking late.
- Rescheduling: what happens around public holidays and Chinese New Year.
- Missed tasks: if an area falls short, ask if the team will return to re-clean it, and how quickly you need to flag the problem.
- Breakages: how to make a claim, and which insurance covers it.
- Commitment: can you pause a weekly plan or stop it altogether, and how much notice does each one need?
Every one of our 1,552+ Google reviews is public, and together they give Sureclean a 4.9-star rating. Read through them before you book.
How much does a cleaning company cost in Singapore?
What you pay depends on three things: the service, the size of your home and how often you book us. Regular weekly or fortnightly home cleaning is usually billed by the hour. One-off jobs are different. A move-out, spring or post-renovation clean is usually quoted per job, based on your flat type or size. For offices, a monthly contract is the usual arrangement.
Home cleaning starts as low as $22/hour*, which works out to $72* for a 3-hour session. Weekly and fortnightly visits cost the same hourly rate. For a bigger job, move-in and move-out cleaning starts at $370*, while spring cleaning starts at $600*. Office contracts begin at $350/month*. Every price here is before GST. The table below covers more services, and our cleaning prices page gives the full breakdown.
Before you compare quotes, find out what each one covers. Are equipment, cleaning products and travel included? Is GST added on top, and is there a minimum number of hours per visit? Watch for a low hourly rate that comes with extra charges. Once those are added, it can cost more than a higher rate that already includes everything. First-time Sureclean customers get a 10% discount.
When should you call a professional for weekly home cleaning?
If the cleaning keeps getting pushed to next weekend, a regular professional service is worth considering. The same applies when a quick weekly tidy no longer covers what your home needs. These situations come up often in Singapore:
- You both work long hours, and weekends are going on chores.
- With small children, ageing parents or pets at home, once every two weeks is not enough for your floors and bathrooms.
- Your condo is on the larger side, or you have a landed home, and one person simply cannot keep up with it.
- On top of the cleaning, you also need help with ironing, laundry and changing the bedsheets.
- Maybe you’ve thought about getting a part-time helper, but you want to do it within the law.
Our own trained crews handle every weekly home cleaning visit, and they arrive with their own equipment. A typical session lasts 3–5 hours. Prices start from $72* per 3-hour session, which covers ironing, laundry, washing the dishes and changing the bedsheets. Sign up for longer and you pay a lower rate. Some homes need a proper top-to-bottom clean before the weekly routine starts, so many households book spring cleaning first.
What do Sureclean’s cleaning services cost?
Every price listed here is a starting price and excludes GST. What you finally pay depends on your home’s size and the scope we agree on in writing.
| Service | Starting price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly / fortnightly home cleaning | As low as $22/hour* | Sessions typically 3–5 hours; from $72* per 3-hour session |
| Move-in / move-out cleaning | From $370* | Most jobs $475*–$525* |
| Spring / deep cleaning (one-time) | From $600* | Most jobs $700*–$800* |
| Post-renovation cleaning | From $350* | 4-room HDB $525*; deep floor scrub is a separate add-on |
| Office cleaning (recurring) | From $350/month* | Larger offices from $690/month* |
| Office cleaning (ad-hoc, per cleaner) | $150* weekday | $200* Saturday, $250* Sunday; 3–4 hours |
When you do not need a professional
Small homes often manage fine without a cleaning company. That usually means one person or a couple, plus an hour or two of cleaning each week. In most HDB flats, a decent vacuum, a mop and a bathroom scrub once a month will do the job. Quick tidying between cleans never needs outside help. When the place does get away from you, book a one-time clean. That costs less than weekly visits you don’t need.
Book weekly home cleaning with Sureclean
Tell us your flat type and the day that suits you on WhatsApp at +65 6983 9523. First-time customers get 10% off.
Rated 4.9★ by 1,544 Google reviewers · Licensed under NEA Class 3 · Insured up to S$1m
Or see the full Weekly Home Cleaning Singapore — from $22/hour* — pricing, coverage and what is included.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if a cleaning company in Singapore is licensed?
Before you book, get the company’s NEA licence number in writing. Then verify it with NEA yourself. A licensed firm will hand it over without hesitation. Sureclean’s number is NEA240120/6509C/C3/N01, and the company also holds S$1,000,000 public liability insurance. Weekly home cleaning starts as low as $22/hour*, so a licensed, insured provider need not cost much more than an informal arrangement.
How much does weekly home cleaning cost in Singapore?
Regular home cleaning with Sureclean starts at $22/hour* before GST, whether you book us weekly or fortnightly. Both schedules pay the same hourly rate. If you sign up for a longer commitment, the rate drops further. Most sessions last 3–5 hours, and a 3-hour session starts from $72*. Every visit covers ironing, laundry, washing the dishes and changing the bedsheets.
Is it legal to hire a part-time helper for my HDB flat?
Yes, but only when they hold a valid work pass for that particular job. Taking on a tourist, an overstayer or a domestic helper employed by another household breaks the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act. Offenders face a fine of $5,000 to $30,000, up to 12 months’ jail, or both. A licensed company like Sureclean hires its crews legally. Home cleaning starts from $72* per 3-hour session.
What should be in a cleaning company’s written quotation?
A good quotation spells everything out: the rooms, the tasks and what is left out. It also says who brings the equipment, how many hours the job takes and how big the team is. Then come the price, whether GST is added on top, and the cancellation terms. Take Sureclean as an example. A move-out clean starts from $370* and a spring clean from $600*. Every quotation lists exactly what is covered, so nothing catches you off guard on the day.
Should I book a deep clean before starting weekly cleaning?
Usually, yes. Months without a proper clean leave grime in the grout, dust in the window tracks and a film on kitchen surfaces. A one-off spring clean gets all of that back to a good standard. Weekly visits then stop it from slipping again. Sureclean’s spring cleaning starts from $600*, and most jobs come to $700*–$800*. After that, weekly home cleaning is as low as $22/hour*.
Related guides
Main service page: Weekly Home Cleaning Singapore — from $22/hour*
*Every price listed here is a “from” price, meant as a guide only. Prices may change without notice. What you finally pay depends on the size of your unit, its condition and how easy the site is to access — before we confirm any booking, we send you an exact quote in writing on WhatsApp (+65 6983 9523).
Alvin Tan
Founder & Managing Director, Sureclean
Alvin founded Sureclean in 2013 to bring reliable, professional cleaning standards to homes and businesses across Singapore. Today, Sureclean is NEA Class 3-licensed (NEA240120/6509C/C3/N01), rated 4.9★ across 1,552+ Google reviews, and has served over 50,000 homes across Singapore — backed by S$1,000,000 in public liability insurance and a 400-hour training standard for every crew member.
