Table of Contents
The short answer
If what you need is a clean home, book a cleaner by the hour. If what you need is a person in the household every day, for children, cooking and laundry as well as cleaning, that is a full-time domestic worker. Employing one makes you an employer under UAE law, with a contract to sign and a wage, accommodation, meals, medical cover, leave and a ticket home to provide. It is easy to price the second when what you need is the first.
The hourly side is easy to put a figure on. With IHR Dream Cleaning, one cleaner for three hours every week comes to AED 304 over four weeks on the weekly plan, using your own products. Two three-hour visits a week come to AED 576. There is no contract, and you can stop or change the hours whenever you like. How the service works is on the hourly cleaning page.
The full-time side cannot be reduced to one figure here, and it would be wrong to try. Recruitment fees and wages are set by the recruitment centre and the contract, and they change. This guide gives you the official list of what an employer must provide, a worksheet of the costs to collect, and a way to compare the total with the hourly figure for the hours you actually need.
What each arrangement actually is
The two are often compared as if they were the same thing at different prices. They are different kinds of arrangement.
A full-time domestic worker
A full-time maid is a person employed by your household. She works for you, usually lives in your home, and her role is whatever the employment contract says: housemaid, cook, nanny or another of the occupations the law lists. You are her employer. You direct the work, you are responsible for her welfare, and the legal duties described in the next section fall on you.
A cleaner booked by the hour
An hourly cleaner is an employee of a cleaning company. You are not hiring a person; you are buying a visit. You choose the number of cleaners and the hours, from 1 hour to 8 hours per cleaner, and the company sends its staff, pays them and answers for the work. Our published services are visits of this kind. A live-in or full-time placement is not among them.
Where 'part-time maid' and 'maid service' fit
These are names for the second arrangement, not a third one. A part-time maid from a company is an hourly cleaner on a regular schedule, and a monthly package is a set of hourly visits sold together. What such packages cost per visit, and which offers apply, is worked through in part-time maid monthly packages in Abu Dhabi.
What the law asks of you as an employer
Everything in this section comes from the UAE Government's official page on domestic workers, as published in October 2026. That page names the law: Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 concerning domestic workers, as amended in 2023, with its executive regulations in Cabinet Resolution No. 106 of 2022. The ministry responsible is the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE). Rules change, so read the page itself before you act on anything below.
The page lists nineteen occupations covered by the law, among them housemaid, housekeeper, cook, nanny or babysitter, gardener and family driver. It says the employment contract must follow the ministry's approved form, with a copy given to the worker. And it sets out what the employer must provide.
- Appropriate accommodation.
- Appropriate meals and clothing.
- The wage, paid in line with the contract. The worker is entitled to receive it within ten days of the date it falls due.
- Medical care or health insurance.
- Compensation for work injuries and occupational diseases.
- The cost of returning the worker to their home country, as the law and its regulations provide.
- Respect and safety, and the worker's right to keep their own passport and identity documents.
- No payments collected from the worker, directly or indirectly, beyond what the law or the approved contract expressly allows.
What the worker is entitled to
The same page lists the worker's entitlements under the law. They shape the household's week and year as much as the worker's.
- One paid rest day every week.
- Twelve hours of rest each day, at least eight of them consecutive.
- Paid annual leave of no less than thirty days.
- A round-trip ticket home every two years.
- Sick leave of up to thirty days a year.
What that means in an ordinary household
A live-in worker is not on call around the clock. With twelve hours of daily rest and a weekly day off, there are evenings and one full day each week when the household looks after itself. For about a month of every year she is on leave, and the home needs another plan for that month. None of this is a drawback of a particular person. It is the shape of employing anyone properly.
It also means a room. Accommodation is the employer's duty, and many apartments in the city have no separate maid's room. If yours has none, settle that question before any other.
Recruiting through an approved centre
The page points employers to recruitment centres approved by MoHRE and links to the ministry's list of them. A contract is signed between the recruitment office and the employer. It covers what you require of the worker, the costs of bringing the worker from their home country, the office's service fee and the time the recruitment will take. If the office does not keep to those conditions, the page says the employer may refuse to employ the worker and the office must provide a replacement or refund the recruitment fees.
Two things you will want to know are not on that page: who qualifies to sponsor a domestic worker, and what the fees are. We have not stated either here. Ask MoHRE or an approved centre for the current conditions and get every figure in writing before you commit.
A caution about informal arrangements
Among the employer's obligations, the same page lists not employing any worker without a valid work permit issued under the law, and among the worker's obligations, not undertaking work without a permit from the ministry. An informal arrangement with a helper who is under someone else's sponsorship, paid by the hour to clean your home, is something to check with MoHRE before you agree to it, however common a neighbour says it is.
A cleaner sent by a licensed cleaning company is on a different footing: that company's own employee, working on the company's booking, with the company as the party you deal with.
The cost: what each side is made of
The hourly side is a price list. The full-time side is a set of commitments, some monthly, some yearly and some that fall due only at the start or the end. Comparing them fairly means building both totals for the same period.
The hourly side, from our price list
Our prices are set by the length of the visit: AED 55 for 1 hour, AED 65 for 2 hours, AED 30 an hour for 3–4 hours and AED 25 for each hour after that, for one cleaner using your products. Regular visits cost less: 10% off every two weeks, 15% off weekly and 20% off for two or more visits a week (5% monthly). The table applies those discounts to six patterns of help over four weeks. All figures are for one cleaner with your own products, which is the fair comparison, because a household with a full-time worker buys its own products too. If we bring the products and equipment, add AED 5 for each cleaner-hour.
| Pattern of help | Hours in four weeks | Plan discount | Cost for four weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| One 3-hour visit a week | 12 | 15% | AED 304 |
| One 4-hour visit a week | 16 | 15% | AED 408 |
| Two 3-hour visits a week | 24 | 20% | AED 576 |
| Three 4-hour visits a week | 48 | 20% | AED 1,152 |
| Six 4-hour visits a week | 96 | 20% | AED 2,304 |
| Six 8-hour days a week | 192 | 20% | AED 4,224 |
How to read those figures
The cost rises in step with the hours. At one or two visits a week the monthly figure is small. At six full days a week it is large, because you are buying close to a full-time job at an hourly price. Longer visits do cost less per hour (AED 32.50 an hour for a two-hour visit against AED 27.50 for an eight-hour one), but that does not change the direction of the line.
Every price already includes VAT, and nothing is added for Fridays, weekends or public holidays. There is no recruitment fee, no accommodation, no ticket and no cost in the weeks you are away, because you simply do not book.
The full-time side: a worksheet
We do not publish figures for this side, for the reason given at the start. Collect each of these lines in writing from an approved centre, then add them up. The headings follow the obligations on the official page.
- At the start: the recruitment office's service fee, the cost of bringing the worker from her home country, and any official fees the centre or MoHRE lists for the contract, the permit and the residence.
- Every month: the wage in the contract and her meals. A home that is occupied all day also uses more water, electricity and cooling, which is not on the official list but belongs in your sum.
- Every year: medical care or health insurance, clothing, and a month of paid leave during which the wage continues and the work has to be covered some other way.
- Every two years: a round-trip ticket home.
- At the end: the cost of returning her to her home country.
- Not money, but real: a suitable room in your home.
Putting the two side by side
Work out the hours of help you really need each week. Find the nearest row in the table. Then take the full-time worksheet, spread the start-up and two-yearly lines over the length of the contract, add a year's monthly and yearly lines, and divide by twelve. Set the two monthly figures next to each other.
The result usually turns on one thing: how many hours a day you need someone. A full-time worker costs much the same whether she has six hours of work or ten. Hourly help costs exactly what you use. Below a certain number of hours a week the hourly route is plainly cheaper, and above it the full-time route is. Where that point falls for you depends on the quote you are given, which is why the worksheet matters more than anyone's rule of thumb.
What each one does in the home
Cost is only half the comparison. The two arrangements do different work, and that difference often settles the question before the money does.
| Task | Full-time worker | Hourly cleaner |
|---|---|---|
| Routine cleaning | Daily, as you direct | Each visit, to an agreed checklist |
| Deep clean of kitchen and bathrooms | One person, over several days | A team, in one visit |
| Laundry and ironing | Daily | Ironing or folding in the booked hours, if you ask |
| Cooking | If that is her role in the contract | Not offered |
| Care of children or an elderly parent | If that is her role in the contract | Not offered |
| Washing sofas, carpets and mattresses | Not with household tools | A separate, priced service |
| Cover for illness and leave | You arrange it | The company arranges it |
The role is what the contract says
The official page lists, among the employer's obligations, not employing the worker in a profession different from the nature of her work without her consent. In plain terms, a housemaid is not automatically also a cook and a nanny. If you need childcare or cooking, that has to be the job you recruit for, and it should be written into the contract.
What an hourly visit covers, and what it does not
A regular visit covers dusting, the kitchen, the bathrooms, bedrooms and living areas, and the floors. The cleaner can iron or fold within the hours you booked if you ask on the day. Jobs that need a team or special equipment are separate bookings: a deep clean is at least 2 cleaners for 3 hours each (AED 180 with your own products), and sofa washing is priced by the seat at AED 30. What a standard visit includes is listed on the home cleaning page.
Our visits are cleaning visits. Childcare, cooking and the care of an elderly relative are not on our service list, and a cleaner should not be asked to take them on between tasks.
Flexibility, privacy and continuity
Flexibility
Hourly help bends to your month. You can add a visit before guests, drop one in a quiet week and stop altogether while you travel. With us there is no contract and no payment ahead for future visits. A visit can be moved or cancelled free of charge up to 6 hours before it starts, booked up to 30 days ahead, or booked for the same day with about 2 hours' notice when a slot is free. How late in the day that works is explained in same-day cleaning in Abu Dhabi.
A full-time worker is a fixed commitment. Her wage, room and meals continue through the summer you spend abroad and the weeks when there is little to do. In return, the help is there every morning without anyone having to book it.
Privacy and space
With a live-in worker, another adult lives in your home. Some families find that natural and some never settle into it, and it is better to be honest with yourself about which you are before you sign. With hourly help, someone is in the home for a few hours a week, and you can be there or not as you prefer.
Continuity
This is the full-time worker's real advantage. One person learns how your household runs, where everything goes and what each child will and will not eat. No schedule of visits fully matches that.
Hourly help gets closer than people expect when it is set up well. On a regular plan our customers keep the same cleaners wherever the schedule allows, on a slot held for them each week, and a standing checklist means a different cleaner can pick up the work on the weeks when yours is away.
Who manages the work
With a full-time worker, you do. You train her in how you want things done, check the work, and deal with any disagreement yourself. With an hourly cleaner the company does: it trains and supervises its staff, and if something on the agreed list was missed you tell the company. With us, a missed point reported within 24 hours is re-cleaned free of charge. Who our cleaners are and how a visit is supervised is covered in who comes to your home.
Which households suit which
A full-time domestic worker is the right answer when most of these are true.
- You need help every day, not a few times a week.
- The help you need is more than cleaning: young children, cooking for a large family, daily laundry or an elderly parent at home.
- Both adults work long or irregular hours and someone must be at home when the children return.
- You have a suitable room.
- You are ready to be an employer, with the contract, the costs and the responsibility that come with it.
When hourly cleaning is the right answer
An hourly cleaner fits when most of these are true instead.
- What you need is a clean home, and the household manages its own cooking and childcare.
- You are a single person, a couple or a small family in an apartment.
- You have no spare room, or you prefer not to have someone living in.
- You travel often, or your needs change from month to month.
- You want no recruitment process, no sponsorship and no long commitment.
Using both
The two are not rivals in every home. A household with a helper of its own can still book a team for the jobs one person cannot reasonably do alone: a deep clean before Ramadan or Eid, the first clean after a renovation, or extra hands before a family gathering. A team works through in one visit what one person would have to fit around her daily duties over many days.
Hiring a maid for a day
If the need is one long day of help, before guests arrive, after a party or on moving day, you do not need an arrangement of any kind. Book a single visit. One cleaner can be booked for up to 8 hours, which is AED 220 with your own products or AED 260 with ours. That is the lowest hourly figure on the price list, at AED 27.50 an hour.
- Two cleaners for four hours each give the same eight cleaner-hours in half the time, for AED 240. Choose that when the home has to be ready by lunchtime.
- Our working hours are 8 AM – 8 PM, every day, and the work has to finish by closing time, so an eight-hour visit needs a start by midday.
- The price is the same on a Friday or a public holiday.
- Write the list in order of importance before the cleaner arrives. Eight hours is a long visit, and it goes furthest when nobody has to stop and ask what comes next.
- Up to 4 cleaners can be booked on one visit if the day calls for a team.
Trying the hourly route before you decide
If you are unsure which you need, four weeks of hourly help will tell you, at a cost you know in advance and with nothing to undo afterwards.
- Book one visit a week of three or four hours, on the same day each week, for four weeks. If you are not sure weekly is the right rhythm, how often a home in Abu Dhabi should be cleaned sets out who needs what.
- Keep a note on the fridge of everything that still went undone between visits.
- After four weeks, read the note. If the list is cleaning, such as bathrooms slipping by the fifth day or floors that need a midweek pass, add hours or a second visit and test again.
- If the list is not cleaning at all, such as school runs, meals and daily laundry, more cleaning hours will not solve it. That is the need a full-time worker meets.
- Compare what the four weeks cost with the monthly figure from your full-time worksheet.
Why test in this order
The hourly route can be stopped the same week. A recruitment cannot be undone so easily: there is a contract with the centre, a person who has travelled to work for you, and duties that begin on the day she arrives. Trying the reversible option first costs you a month and tells you which decision you are really making.
Common questions
Does IHR supply full-time or live-in maids?
No such service is on our list. What we publish is cleaning by the visit: 1 to 8 hours per cleaner, within our working hours of 8 AM – 8 PM, as a one-off or on a regular plan. For a full-time domestic worker, the route is a recruitment centre approved by MoHRE.
Can the same cleaner come several days a week?
You can book as many visits a week as you need. The plan for two or more visits a week takes 20% off every visit, so a three-hour visit is AED 72. We keep the same cleaners on a regular plan wherever the schedule allows. It remains a series of visits by a company's employee, not a member of staff of your own.
Is an hourly cleaner cheaper than a full-time maid?
For a home that needs one or two visits a week the hourly total is small, as the first rows of the table show, and it carries none of the start-up, yearly or end-of-contract lines on the worksheet. For a household that needs someone most of the day, six days a week, the hourly total climbs well past what a single visit suggests, as the last rows show. The only way to know for your own home is to set your row of the table beside a written quote from an approved centre.
Do I sign anything for hourly cleaning?
No. A regular plan with us is a repeating booking. There is no contract, no membership fee and no payment in advance for future visits. Each visit is paid by card online when it is booked, and the price shown before you confirm already includes VAT.
What happens if my usual cleaner is ill or on leave?
The booking is with the company, not with one person. On a regular plan another cleaner works from your standing checklist, and if a visit cannot be covered at all, our cancellation policy says we contact you as early as possible and offer the earliest alternative slot. That is the practical difference from employing someone yourself, where a month of annual leave or a week of illness is yours to cover.
Can an hourly cleaner mind the children while cleaning?
No. The cleaner is there to clean, and cannot do that properly or safely while responsible for a child. If someone must be in charge of the children, an adult from the household needs to be at home during the visit.
Where do I check the current rules on sponsoring a domestic worker?
On the UAE Government's domestic workers page linked in the section on employer duties, and with MoHRE directly. That page links to the ministry's list of approved centres and to its channel for queries and complaints. Use those, not a forum or a figure quoted by a friend, because conditions and fees are updated.
Booking hourly help
If the answer for your home is cleaning by the hour, the next step is small. Decide the hours from the size of the home, using the table in how many cleaner-hours a home needs, choose whether to use your products or ours, and pick a day you can keep to each week. The price list shows every visit length and each plan discount.
The hourly cleaning page explains what a visit includes and how a regular slot is set up. When you are ready, book a visit online: the price is shown before you confirm, payment is by card, and there is nothing to cancel if you decide after a month that your household needs a different kind of help.
