"We were in full-blown panic mode with my in-laws arriving the next morning. They tackled the grime we'd neglected and made our entire brownstone sparkle."
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Preparing for Your Cleaning
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Founded 2021 · Lily Chen, RN
About Us: The Lily Maids House Cleaning Service NYC Story
We started in a hospital, not a boardroom. Our founder Lily Chen spent the pandemic as a Pediatric Intensive Care nurse at Mount Sinai, and she built this company on the sanitation habits she learned there. Today we're 32 full-time W-2 employees cleaning homes across all five boroughs of New York City, using the same color-coded, cross-contamination-free system you'd find in an operating room.
32 full-time W-2 employees
$1M insured & bonded
40 hours paid training
1 in 12 applicants hired
New York Magazine
Time Out
New York
amNewYork
Gothamist
WNYC Radio
1010
WINS
Brownstoner
Brick Underground
6sqft
Park Slope, Brooklyn In-laws landed the next morning
Where this all started
Jessica M. called us in full panic mode.
Her in-laws were flying in the next morning for thier first visit to the Park Slope brownstone, and the place had gotten away from her. Work, kids, a winter of tracked-in salt on the floors. She didn't need a lecture about keeping up with chores. She needed two people with the right products and a plan for the next four hours.
We took the kitchen and both bathrooms first, then the floors, then the surfaces guests actually touch. By the time she went to bed, the brownstone sparkled. Her words: "leaving us stress-free to enjoy a lovely weekend with the family." That call is the whole reason this company exists, and it's the reason our founder left nursing to start it.
From PICU to apartments Same sanitation standards
Our founder
Lily Chen hung up her stethoscope.
In 2021, Lily was working Pediatric Intensive Care at Mount Sinai. Eighteen-hour shifts, then the subway home to a cramped Hell's Kitchen studio. The only thing that reset her head was scrubbing that tiny kitchen until it shined. It was the one part of the day she could actually control.
Then a fellow nurse broke down crying in the break room. Her apartment had become a biohazard of takeout containers and pure exhaustion. Lily went over on her day off and deep-cleaned the whole thing for free. That nurse posted a before-and-after in the hospital group chat, and within a week Lily had 40 requests from other frontline workers.
She realized somthing that a lot of New Yorkers already know in their gut: a clean home isn't a luxury here, it's a survival mechanism. So she left the hospital, kept everything she knew about surgical-grade sanitation, and started Lily Maids. She's a first-generation Taiwanese-American and a self-described neat freak with a purpose, and she still personally inspects the first three jobs of every new hire.
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Five-Star Reviews
How we got here
From one favor to 32 people.
No investors, no franchise buy-in. Just a nurse, a mop, and a group chat that got out of hand.
2021 · The favor
One free deep clean on a day off.
Lily cleans a fellow Mount Sinai nurse's apartment top to bottom. The before-and-after photo hits the hospital group chat and 40 requests come in within a week.
2021 · The decision
Leaving the hospital floor.
Lily leaves the PICU and launches Lily Maids, bringing operating-room sanitation logic into New York City apartments instead of hospital rooms.
The hiring model
W-2 employees, never gig workers.
Every cleaner is a real employee with Workers' Compensation, not a contractor pulled off an app. That's uncommon in NYC cleaning, and it's the single biggest reason our teams stay consistent.
Today
32 full-time cleaners, five boroughs.
Plus four part-time floaters who cover last-minute bookings. Lily still runs a white glove along the baseboards before any new hire graduates. See what a visit covers on our cleaning checklist.
Hiring, vetting, training
Only 1 in 12 applicants makes it.
You are handing a stranger your keys. We treat that seriously, and here's exactly what happens before anyone gets near your door.
01
The vetting gauntlet
A 7-year criminal background check at county, state, and federal level. Social Security trace and identity verification, so everyone on our team is legally authorized to work in the US. Three verifiable professional references from previous employers in hospitality, healthcare, or senior care, not friends. Plus a substance abuse screening panel.
02
40 hours of paid training
Spread over two weeks, hands-on. New hires learn our color-coded microfiber system, blue for glass, green for kitchens, yellow for bathrooms, which prevents cross-contamination. Lily lifted that protocol straight from OR sterilization standards. Nobody gets handed a mop and a list.
03
NYC material training
How to safely clean pre-war parquet, stainless steel that scratches if you look at it wrong, and marble countertops that etch with the wrong pH cleaner. Trainees learn which commercial-grade product goes on which surface, from high-gloss lacquer to unlacquered brass.
04
The White Glove Finale
Every trainee cleans a mock studio apartment in under two hours. Then Lily herself runs a white glove along the baseboards, light switches, and window sills. Miss three spots and you don't graduate. It's the last gate before anyone works in a real client's home.
05
Re-certified every 6 months
Skills drift. We re-certify every cleaner twice a year so the standard on visit one hundred matches visit one. If a client flags something, that feedback goes straight into the next re-certification cycle.
06
Annual privacy training
HIPAA-style, and Lily is firm on this one. Walking into someone's home means you see their medications, thier mail, and pieces of their personal life. All of that stays in that apartment. Nobody discusses a client's home outside of it.
Insured, bonded, verified
Covered before we touch your doorknob.
We carry $1 million in general liability insurance through Hiscox, plus full Workers' Compensation as required by New York State. We're also bonded through Surety First, which protects you against accidental damage or theft. Every Lily Maid is fully insured, bonded, and background-verified before they ever set foot in your building.
The Workers' Comp piece matters more than most people realize. Because our cleaners are W-2 employees rather than gig contractors, an injury in your home is covered by our policy, not something that lands on your homeowners or renters insurance. If you want the details on how a booking is handled start to finish, see how it works or our flat-rate pricing.
$1M
General liability, Hiscox
W-2
Employees, not contractors
7yr
Background check depth
100%
Bonded through Surety First
Client reviews · Part 2 of 3
Nine homes, nine real situations.
Surgery recovery, a baby on the way, Thanksgiving dinner, a security deposit on the line. This is the work. Read all reviews >
★★★★★
"I'm preparing to move out and was worried about losing my security deposit. This thorough house cleaning service got rid of the years of built-up dust and stove grime, and the apartment looked better than the day I moved in, securing my full deposit back."
★★★★★
"With my due date approaching, I desperately needed a 'nesting' clean to feel prepared. The house cleaning service was so gentle and thorough, lifting all the hidden dust and pet hair, so our little one would be coming home to a completely safe and sanitized nursery."
★★★★★
"My new girlfriend is moving in, and I wanted my bachelor pad to look like a proper home for her. This excellent house cleaning service washed the windows and baseboards, transforming the space into a spotless, inviting apartment that we can now enjoy together."
★★★★★
"I was recovering from surgery and couldn't lift a finger, let alone clean the bathroom. The compassionate house cleaning service came in and scrubbed everything from top to bottom, allowing me to heal in a safe, hygienic environment without worrying about the mess."
★★★★★
"We were hosting Thanksgiving and the oven was a crusty mess while the rest of the loft felt dusty. The house cleaning service not only scoured the oven clean but also polished every inch of the wood floors, leaving my family stunned by how beautiful the home looked for dinner."
★★★★★
"My elderly mother has mobility issues and couldn't keep up with the chores, so I was worried about allergens in her home. This reliable house cleaning service washed her bedding and wiped down the high shelves, giving her a fresh, tidy space that has significantly improved her breathing and mood."
★★★★★
"I just set up a home office, but the construction dust was making it impossible to focus. The house cleaning service did a phenomenal job dusting every corner and vacuuming the carpets, resulting in a pristine workspace where I can now take video calls with confidence."
★★★★★
"My son just left the hospital, and I wanted his apartment to be sterile before he returned. The deep house cleaning service sanitized all the surfaces and removed the stale air, making it a comfortable retreat for him to come back to and recover peacefully."
★★★★★
"We were hosting a pre-wedding dinner for our families and the apartment needed urgent care. The house cleaning service exceeded expectations by eliminating kitchen odors and scrubbing the grout, giving us the perfect, welcoming atmosphere for the intimate celebration."
What we actually do
Every clean your home could need.
Ask any New Yorker what they run out of first and the answer is usually the same: time. Pick the service that fits, book online, and we handle the rest. See pricing or how it works.
Studios to classic sixes Built for tight NYC spaces
Most of NYC lives in apartments
Apartment Cleaning.
Small spaces are harder to clean well. Every surface works overtime and clutter has nowhere to hide. Our teams are trained for tight galley kitchens, compact bathrooms, and buildings with strict hallway rules, from pre-war walk-ups in Harlem to converted lofts in Williamsburg. We coordinate with doormen, follow elevator reservation rules, and handle five-flight walk-ups without a surcharge. Full details on our apartment cleaning service page.
Same team when possible Same checklist, every visit
Ongoing help
Maid Service.
When people ask for a maid service, what they usually mean is: someone reliable, same person if possible, who already knows how my place works. That's what our maid service is. Same trained employee or pair, same standard cleaning checklist, no re-explaining where the vacuum lives every time. This is also our most requested option for clients caring for an aging parent, like Maria F. does in Cobble Hill.
The every-visit baseline Kitchens · baths · floors
The baseline
Standard Basic Cleaning.
Kitchens scrubbed, bathrooms sanitized, surfaces dusted, floors vacuumed and mopped, beds made, trash out. It's the same scope every single visit, which is the point. You should never have to wonder what you paid for. The full room-by-room list is on our cleaning checklist, and if you want to know how to prep, read preparing for your cleaning.
Homes only No offices, no retail
Homes, not offices
Residential Cleaning.
We only clean homes. Apartments, co-ops, condos, brownstones, and townhouses. That focus is deliberate. Residential cleaning in New York City is its own skill set, because you're working around real people's routines, pets, night-shift sleep schedules, and buildings that each have thier own rules about service entrances. An office cleaning crew doesn't learn any of that.
Top to bottom, inside out
Deep Cleaning.
Every NYC home has spots the weekly wipe-down never reaches. Inside the oven and fridge. Behind and under furniture. Baseboards, door frames, light fixtures, cabinet interiors, and the radiator dust that builds all winter. This is also the smart first visit before starting a recurring plan. It helps during allergy season too, since the American Lung Association notes indoor allergens build up fast in closed-up city apartments. See what a deep cleaning includes.
Deposit-ready standard Empty-home turnovers
Before the keys change hands
Move in and Move out Cleaning.
Moving in this city is stressful enough without scrubbing an empty apartment at midnight. Our move-out cleaning follows the same checklist landlords actually use at final walkthroughs: inside cabinets, inside the oven, inside the fridge, every corner. Moving in? Our move-in cleaning happens before the boxes arrive. Tell us about elevator reservations when you book, and code MOVE30 takes $30 off any move-in or move-out clean.
Weekly · bi-weekly · monthly Cancel or move a visit anytime
Ongoing care
Recurring Cleaning.
The best-kept homes in the city aren't cleaned harder, they're cleaned regularly. Weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly recurring plans put home care on the calendar before the to-do list eats the weekend. Recurring clients get the same team whenever scheduling allows, and plan discounts are listed on our pricing page. Need to shift a week? Our rescheduling policy is straightforward.
No commitment Book once, that's it
No subscription required
One Time Cleaning.
Guests coming, party finished, or you just want your Saturday back. A one-time cleaning is a single visit with no plan attached and no pressure to rebook. That's what Sarah K. booked in Astoria after her daughter's birthday party, and what Jessica M. booked the night before her in-laws landed. Same standard as any recurring visit.
More ways we help
Three services people ask for by name.
These come up in almost every phone call, so here's how each one works.
01
Housekeeping Service
Ongoing upkeep rather than a one-off reset. Housekeeping is the right word when you want the same person handling the same rhythm of your home, week after week: laundry started, linens changed, kitchen reset, bathrooms kept sanitary. Lisa G. in Forest Hills used this while recovering from surgery. Pair it with a recurring plan to lock in a time slot.
02
Same Day Cleaning Service
We keep four part-time floaters specifically for last-minute calls, which is how same-day cleaning is even possible in this city. It always depends on that day's schedule and where you are, so call (646) 825-3550 rather than assuming. Booking a day or two out gives you far more time slots to pick from.
03
AirBnB Cleaning Service
Guest checkout at 11, next check-in at 3. That's the window, and we build the visit around it: linens stripped and remade, bathroom reset, kitchen wiped, trash out, staged to look like the listing photos. See short-term rental cleaning and turnover cleaning. Hosts should review current NYC short-term rental registration rules before listing.
Quiet Mode For day sleepers
Two things that come from the hospital
Hospital-grade products. Quiet Mode.
We use professional-grade, heavy-duty commercial disinfectants, the kind standard in New York City hospitals and restaurants. They're formulated to cut through city grime, cooking grease, and hard-water stains that cheap store-bought sprays just smear around. If you'd prefer greener options for kids or pets, ask in your booking notes and we'll bring EPA Safer Choice certified products instead.
Quiet Mode is the other thing we carried over from the hospital. Lily worked nights, so she knows what it's like when someone vacuums outside your door at 2pm. Night-shift nurses, firefighters, and traders can request it at booking: cleaners wear slippers, use silent vacuums, and communicate by text instead of knocking or calling. You keep sleeping. We still clean.
The results
Proof, borough by borough.
From pre-war kitchens in Manhattanville to loft bathrooms in Fiske Terrace, this is what our teams do every day.
Explore our services
Five services, one standard.
Hover an image to see the service, click to explore it. Tap once on mobile to preview, tap again to open.
Step inside
Pre-war, walk-up, or loft - we've cleaned it.
Hover, or tap, to step inside the kinds of jobs our teams handle across the boroughs.
What is included
Every visit covers.
The same standard, every time. We bring our own supplies, including EPA Safer Choice certified products on request. See the full checklist > or compare with what a deep cleaning adds.
Kitchen
- Countertops and backsplash
- Stovetop and appliance exteriors
- Sink scrubbed and polished
- Cabinet fronts wiped
- Floors vacuumed and mopped
Bathroom
- Tub, shower, and tile scrubbed
- Toilet inside and out
- Mirror and fixtures polished
- Vanity and sink sanitized
- Floors disinfected
Living & Bedrooms
- All surfaces dusted
- Furniture and shelves wiped
- Mirrors and glass cleaned
- Beds made, linens changed
- Floors vacuumed and mopped
Where we clean
Manhattan. Brooklyn. Queens.
Same booking flow, same checklist, same standard, wherever you are. Start with your borough or jump straight to your neighborhood.
Popular neighborhoods.
Questions and answers
What people ask about our team.
Every answer is open by default, so nothing is hidden behind a click. Still curious? Our full FAQ page goes deeper, and how it works walks through a booking start to finish.
Who actually owns Lily Maids? 01
Lily Chen, a former Pediatric Intensive Care nurse at Mount Sinai. She founded the company in 2021 after deep-cleaning a fellow nurse's apartment on her day off and getting 40 requests from other frontline workers within a week. It's locally owned, no franchise, no outside investors. She still inspects the first three jobs of every new hire personally.
Are your cleaners employees or contractors? 02
All 32 of our full-time cleaners are W-2 employees, plus four part-time floaters for last-minute bookings. Never gig-economy contractors, which is rare in New York City cleaning. It means we carry Workers' Compensation on them, we control their training, and you get the same trained people rather than whoever an app dispatched that morning.
How do you screen the people coming into my home? 03
Only 1 in 12 applicants gets hired. The process includes a 7-year criminal background check at county, state, and federal level, a Social Security trace and identity verification, three verifiable professional references from previous employers in hospitality, healthcare, or senior care, and a substance abuse screening panel.
Are you insured and bonded? 04
Yes. We carry $1 million in general liability insurance through Hiscox, plus full Workers' Compensation as required by New York State, and we're bonded through Surety First to protect you against accidental damage or theft. Every Lily Maid is fully insured, bonded, and background-verified before they ever touch your doorknob.
What training does a new cleaner get? 05
40 hours of paid, hands-on training over two weeks. That covers our color-coded microfiber system to prevent cross-contamination, NYC-specific material training for pre-war parquet, scratch-prone stainless steel, and pH-sensitive marble, and a final practical exam where Lily runs a white glove along baseboards, light switches, and window sills. Every cleaner is re-certified every six months.
What products do you bring, and can I request greener ones? 06
We bring everything, including professional-grade commercial disinfectants that are standard in NYC hospitals and restaurants. They cut through city grime, grease, and hard-water stains that store-bought sprays can't. If you'd prefer greener options because of kids or pets, ask for EPA Safer Choice certified products in your booking notes and we'll use those instead.
I work nights. Can you clean while I sleep? 07
Yes, ask for Quiet Mode when you book. Cleaners wear slippers, use silent vacuums, and communicate by text instead of knocking or calling. We built it for the night-shift nurses, firefighters, and traders who need to sleep during the day, since our founder worked those hours herself.
Is my privacy protected? 08
Every cleaner completes annual HIPAA-style privacy training. Lily is firm about this: walking into a home means you see medications, mail, and pieces of someone's personal life, and all of it stays in that apartment. Nothing about your home gets discussed outside of it.
What if I'm not happy with the clean? 09
Tell us within 24 hours and we'll come back and re-clean the areas in question at no charge. Read the full satisfaction guarantee for how it works, or check our cancellation and rescheduling policy if you need to move a visit.
Client reviews · Part 3 of 3
Rated 5.0 by New Yorkers.
A selection from the 400+ five-star reviews clients have left us since 2021. Read all reviews >
Recent reviews
Nancy P.
Battery Park City · Manhattan
Verified client
"My parents are downsizing from their big house, and I needed help managing their old apartment. The house cleaning service sorted through the junk and scrubbed the walls, making the space so clean and bright that we were able to get it show-ready in record time."
Deep Cleaning · Battery Park City, Manhattan Kevin S.
Jackson Heights · Queens
Verified client
"We had a leak issue that left a mess, and the thought of cleaning it up was overwhelming. This amazing house cleaning service removed the grime and dried debris, leaving the surfaces and floors immaculate, so we could finally close that stressful chapter."
Deep Cleaning · Jackson Heights, Queens Laura J.
Tribeca · Manhattan
Verified client
"After the flu swept through our household, I was desperate to kill the lingering germs. The house cleaning service disinfected the door handles and thoroughly washed the linens, giving us peace of mind that our home was fully sanitized and healthy again."
Sanitizing Cleaning · Tribeca, ManhattanNo reviews match that search.
Find us in NYC
Downtown roots, citywide reach.
Based at 101 Wall Street in the Financial District, with teams working across all five boroughs. Questions before you book? Contact us any time.
Your next reset
Let's make your place shine.
Pick a service, pick a time, and cross "clean the apartment" off your list for good.
Lily Maids House Cleaning Service
101 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005
support@lilymaidhousecleaningservices.com
Serving Manhattan · Brooklyn · Queens
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