How to Choose a Cleaning Company in Abu Dhabi: Licence, Insurance, Reviews and Questions to Ask

What a licence tells you, and what it does not

A valid licence tells you four things. The business legally exists. It has a legal name, which is the name that should appear on your invoice. It is licensed for the activities printed on the licence. And there is an entity you can name if you ever need to make a formal complaint.

It tells you nothing about how well the company cleans, who it employs or whether it is insured. Treat it as the entry condition, not as a mark of quality. The reason to insist on it anyway is practical: every other protection you have depends on being able to say exactly who you dealt with.

Look at the activities as well as the number. A company that offers cleaning and also maintenance work, such as AC servicing or plumbing, should hold a licence that covers both kinds of activity. If you are booking a trade job, ask which activity on the licence it falls under.

What to ask the company for

A company with nothing to hide gives these without hesitation.

• The licence number.
• The legal name exactly as it is written on the licence.
• The authority that issued it.
• A copy or photo of the licence showing the expiry date, so you can see it is current.
• Its chamber of commerce membership number, if it has one.

How to check it yourself

The steps below were checked on the official pages in October 2026. Online services change, so follow what the page asks for on the day you use it.

1. 1Compare the names. The legal name on the licence should match the name on the invoice, the payment page and the terms and conditions. A shorter trading name on the website and the uniform is normal. A different legal name on the invoice is a question to ask before you pay.
2. 2Use the official enquiry. As published in October 2026, TAMM, the Abu Dhabi Government's services platform, lists a service called Verify Economic Licence under its business services, provided by the Department of Economic Development. It opens as 'Economic Licence Enquiry – TAHAQAQ' and asks you to sign in with UAE PASS before you search.
3. 3Have the licence number ready. We have not described the screens after the sign-in, because they sit behind a personal login and may change. Enter the details the service asks for and compare the result with what the company told you.
4. 4Check the date. A licence that has expired is not a licence. If the result or the copy you were sent shows a date that has passed, ask the company for the renewed one.
5. 5If the company says it is licensed by a different authority, the check is made with that authority, not on this service. Ask which one, and ask for the copy.

What the official service is

The Abu Dhabi Media Office describes TAHAQAQ, on its page as read in October 2026, as a verification feature for consumers enquiring about commercial licences registered in the emirate, set up by the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development in 2020 to help people confirm that a business is operating legally. In other words it was built for exactly this purpose: a member of the public checking a company before dealing with it.

Our own details, as the worked example

These are the details we publish, and they are what you would compare against an invoice from us. They are also on our About page.

What a complete answer looks like

Here is our own, as the example. 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, per cleaner, VAT included. Our materials add AED 5 an hour. There is no extra charge for same-day visits, Fridays, weekends or public holidays, and no call-out fee. Four outlying areas (Al Wathba, Al Shahama, Al Rahba, Al Samha) carry a flat AED 20 per visit. If a job needs longer on the day, the time is extended in 30-minute steps and only with your approval. Cancelling or moving a visit is free up to 6 hours before the start; after that the charge is AED 30. All of it is on the price list.

You do not have to like a company's prices. You do have to be able to find the answer to each question above without phoning for it. If you cannot, expect the missing answer to appear on the bill.

Work that cannot be priced by the hour, such as repairs, AC work or a heavily stained sofa, should be quoted in writing before anyone starts, from photos or after an inspection. A figure given only at the door, after the team has travelled, puts you in a weak position to say no.

Comparing two quotes fairly

Two quotes are only comparable when they cover the same hours, the same number of cleaners, the same materials and the same tax treatment. A lower hourly rate with VAT added, a transport charge and a three-hour minimum can cost more than a higher rate with none of those. The method for putting quotes side by side is in how to compare cleaning quotes in Abu Dhabi.

The two kinds of cover that matter to a customer

The first is cover for damage to your property, or injury to someone in your home, caused by the company's work. Insurers usually call it public liability. It is what stands behind a cracked hob, a scratched floor or a flooded bathroom.

The second is cover for the company's own staff if one of them is hurt while working in your home. It matters to you because a cleaner who slips on your wet stairs should be looked after by the employer's arrangements, and you should not be left in the middle of that conversation.

What to ask, in writing

Ask by email, so the answer is on record.

• Do you hold insurance that covers accidental damage in a customer's home, and is it current?
• Is there a limit per claim? Is there an amount below which you settle things yourselves?
• What is excluded? Ask about high-value items, damage that was already there, and delicate surfaces such as marble, antique wood and gilded finishes.
• How do I report damage, and by when?
• Who decides between repair, replacement and compensation, and how long does that usually take?
• Are your cleaners covered if they are injured while working in my home?

What to do yourself, whatever the answer

Insurance is the last line, not the first. Put away jewellery, documents, watches and anything irreplaceable before the visit; our own terms ask customers to do this. Tell the team about fragile items and special surfaces during the walk-through at the start, because a surface nobody mentioned is the usual subject of an argument later. If something is damaged, photograph it and report it the same day, while it is clear when it happened.

If you hold home contents insurance, ask your own insurer whether it covers accidental damage by visiting tradespeople, so that you know before you need it.

What we publish on this

Our founder, Imran Husein, oversees operations, team training and service quality. On team visits the team leader walks through the property with you on arrival to confirm the priorities, and checks the finished work before the team leaves. Regular customers keep the same cleaners wherever the schedule allows. The longer account, including what our site does not yet publish about recruitment, is in who comes to your home.

Our own ratings, read the same way

We are rated 4.7 on Google from 32 reviews, read in October 2026, and 4.4 on ServiceMarket from 1,135 reviews, read in September 2026. We do not average the two, because the platforms count different customers.

Apply the rules above to those figures. The Google score rests on a small number of reviews, so read the reviews themselves and not only the number. The ServiceMarket score rests on far more reviews, which makes it the steadier guide. Our reviews page links to both profiles so you can read the full mix at the source. Ratings move, so the live profiles are the ones to trust if they differ from what is written here.

What a usable complaints policy contains

Read the policy before you book, not after the visit. A usable one states a time window for reporting, a named channel, what you need to send and what the company may offer in return. A promise of satisfaction with no window and no process is not a policy.

Ours, as the example: tell us within 24 hours of the visit and a team returns to re-clean the missed areas free of charge. Photos help us brief the cleaners but are not a condition. The re-clean covers the scope agreed for the original booking; anything that was never part of it is quoted as new work. The refund policy lists what can follow a complaint, from a partial re-clean to a refund, and what is not covered, such as permanent stains and surfaces that were already damaged.

For an office

Cleaning usually happens when the office is empty, so access and trust matter more than in a home where you are present. Ask how keys and access cards are held and by whom, whether the same cleaners come each visit, who they report to on your side, and which rooms can be marked as off-limits. Ask for the checklist in writing, so a replacement cleaner works to the same list. What our own visits cover is on the office cleaning page.

For a villa

A large home needs a team, and a team needs someone in charge of it. Ask how many cleaners will come, for how long, and who leads them. A quote for a villa that names one cleaner for a short visit is either a quote for part of the house or an underestimate that will be corrected at your door. For scale, we send up to 4 cleaners on one visit, each for up to 8 hours.

For repairs and specialist work

For plumbing, electrical, AC and similar jobs, ask which licensed activity the work falls under and who will carry it out. Ask for the price in writing before work starts, with parts and labour shown separately where parts are needed, and ask what happens if the fault turns out to be different from what the photos suggested.

Is a licensed company always a good one?

No. A licence shows the business is legal and can be identified. Quality comes from training, supervision and how complaints are handled, which is what the other five checks are for. An unlicensed operator, though, fails before quality is even discussed, because you have no named business to hold to anything.

Can I check a licence without contacting the company?

You need the licence number or the details the official enquiry asks for, and a company that publishes its number usually shows it in the footer of its website or on its About page. With that, the Verify Economic Licence service on TAMM described above lets you look it up yourself after signing in with UAE PASS.

The invoice shows a different name from the website. Is that a problem?

Not by itself. Many companies trade under a short name and are licensed under a longer legal one; ours is an example, as the table above shows. It becomes a problem when the legal name on the invoice does not match the licence you were given, or when the payment goes to a person and not to the business.

Is a trial visit worth booking?

Yes, once the paperwork checks out. A short regular clean shows you more than any number of questions. With us a two-hour visit by one cleaner is AED 65 with your own products. Watch for five things: arrival inside the stated window, a walk-through before work starts, a sensible order of work from high surfaces down to floors, care in matching products to surfaces, and a check with you before leaving.

What should I have in writing before the first visit?

The date and arrival window, the number of cleaners and hours, the total price with VAT, who supplies materials, the rooms or tasks included, and the cancellation terms. A confirmation message or email that carries those six items is enough. If any of them is missing, ask before the day and not at the door.

Do I need to be at home?

For the first visit it is better to be. The walk-through at the start and the check at the end are where you set the standard and see whether it was met. After that, many customers arrange access through the concierge or building security and are not present. If you will be out, say when you book how the cleaner gets in.

What if a company will not answer these questions?

Then you have your answer. A company that expects to be asked has these details ready, and one that avoids them before the booking will not become more forthcoming after a problem.