What we check before we match a vendor
Home cleaning in Singapore is less regulated than most people assume. That is not a reason to worry, but it is a reason to know what actually applies, what does not, and which questions are worth asking.
The licence most people ask about does not cover your home
Cleaning businesses in Singapore need an NEA Cleaning Business Licence to work in offices, commercial premises, food establishments and the common property of condominiums.
Cleaning inside a private home is different. Under the Environmental Public Health (Excluded Cleaning Work) Notification 2014, cleaning of domestic premises is "excluded cleaning work". A business that cleans only private homes is not required to hold the licence at all.
So when a home cleaning company leads with a licence badge, it is worth understanding what that badge is actually certifying. It is a signal about their commercial work, not a certification of the work in your flat.
We would rather tell you that than imply a credential we know does not apply. What follows is what we check instead.
The wage-floor arithmetic
In the licensed cleaning sector, the Progressive Wage Model sets a basic wage floor for a resident cleaner of S$2,080 a month from 1 July 2026, raised from S$1,910. That is basic wage only, before employer CPF, insurance, transport, supplies and supervision.
That floor is a condition of the licence, so it does not legally bind an operator doing only domestic work. But it is still the clearest available benchmark for what compliant labour costs in this country.
Use it as a sanity check. If a quote cannot plausibly cover those costs, the difference is being met somewhere, and it is worth knowing where before you book.
Our five checks
Each of these is something you could verify yourself. We have listed how, because a standard you cannot check is a marketing claim, not a standard.
- 01
A real, registered business
The vendor must be a live ACRA-registered entity, with a UEN we can look up on BizFile. This is the floor, not a distinction. It means there is a legal entity that can invoice you properly, be held to what it agreed, and still exist next month.
Check it yourself: Ask for the UEN and search it on BizFile yourself. It takes about a minute.
- 02
Insurance that covers your home and their people
Two separate policies, and both matter. Public liability covers damage to your property while they are working in it. Work Injury Compensation Act cover is legally required for all employees doing manual work, regardless of salary, and without it an injury in your home can become your problem.
Check it yourself: Ask for the certificate of insurance, not a verbal assurance. Check the policy is current and that the sum insured is not trivial.
- 03
Everyone attending is legally allowed to work
This is the check that matters most in home cleaning and the one almost nobody talks about. A migrant domestic worker may only work for the employer and at the address on her Work Permit. Someone on a Social Visit Pass may not work at all. The cheapest quotes in this market frequently come from people who cannot lawfully accept the job.
Check it yourself: Ask the vendor directly whether the person attending is their employee and holds a valid pass permitting this work. A vendor who is vague about this is telling you something.
- 04
A scope you can hold them to
A written scope stating what is included, what is excluded, how many hours or what flat rate applies, and who provides supplies and equipment. Most disputes in this trade are scope disputes that were never written down, not quality disputes.
Check it yourself: Get it in writing before the first session, not on the doorstep.
- 05
The right licence, where it is actually required
An NEA Cleaning Business Licence is not required for cleaning private homes, but it is required for offices, commercial premises and condominium common property. Where a vendor also does that work, we check the licence is valid and in the right class.
Check it yourself: NEA publishes a register of licensed cleaning businesses. If a vendor advertises a licence, it should be findable there.
What our checks do not do
Our checks are made in good faith, on the documents and information available to us when we make them. They are not a guarantee, and it would be dishonest to present them as one.
- A vendor's circumstances can change after we have checked them. A policy can lapse; a good operator can have a bad month.
- We do not supervise work in your home. We are not there, and we do not employ the person who is.
- We do not set prices. Your quote comes from the vendor, and you are free to decline it.
- We publish no ratings or review counts, because we have not genuinely collected any. When we have, we will say where they came from.
Your agreement for the cleaning is with the vendor you choose. That is set out in our Terms of Service, and it is the honest description of what a matching service is.
Questions worth asking
Are home cleaning companies in Singapore licensed?
Generally not, and this surprises most people. Under the Environmental Public Health (Excluded Cleaning Work) Notification 2014, cleaning of domestic premises is "excluded cleaning work", so a business cleaning only private homes does not need an NEA Cleaning Business Licence. The licence is required for non-domestic work: offices, commercial premises, food establishments and condominium common property. That is why we do not lead with a licence badge for home cleaning. It would not mean what you would reasonably assume it means.
So does an "NEA licensed" claim mean nothing?
It means something, just not what it is usually implied to mean. A vendor holding the licence does non-domestic work as well, and to get it they have had to meet requirements on paid-up capital, bizSAFE certification and workforce training. That is a reasonable signal of an established operator. What it does not do is certify the work being done inside your flat, because that work sits outside the licensing regime entirely.
Why does an unusually cheap quote worry you?
Because of arithmetic. In the licensed cleaning sector the Progressive Wage Model sets a basic wage floor for a resident cleaner, currently S$2,080 a month from 1 July 2026, up from S$1,910. On top of that an employer pays CPF, insurance, transport, supplies and supervision. That floor is a licence condition and does not legally bind a home-cleaning-only operator, but it tells you what compliant labour actually costs. A rate well below what those costs imply is being met somewhere, and usually it is met by employing someone who cannot lawfully do the work.
What happens to me if the cleaner is working illegally?
The exposure is not only the worker’s. Employing a foreigner without a valid work pass carries a fine of between S$5,000 and S$30,000, imprisonment of up to a year, or both. A migrant domestic worker who moonlights can be fined up to S$20,000 or jailed for up to two years and repatriated, and the household that engaged her can be fined and barred from hiring a helper. Engaging through a vendor that employs its people properly is what keeps that exposure away from you.
Do you guarantee the quality of the cleaning?
No, and we would not trust anyone who did. We check the things that can be checked before work starts: registration, insurance, work-pass status, and a written scope. Quality on the day depends on the vendor and the person attending. Our terms set out the position: your agreement for the work is with the vendor you choose, not with us.
What if something goes wrong?
Raise it with the vendor first, because they are the party you contracted with and they are the party insured for it. Tell us as well. We cannot adjudicate a dispute, but a pattern of complaints is exactly the signal that gets a vendor removed from our matching.
Regulatory positions described on this page were checked against the National Environment Agency and Ministry of Manpower published guidance current at August 2026. Rules change. HomeToClean is not a law firm and this page is general information, not legal advice.
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