Mission, British Columbia

Non-toxic house cleaning in Mission, BC

The short answer

We clean homes and workplaces across Mission with plant-based, fragrance-free products and no chlorine bleach or ammonia. Recurring cleans start at $149 a visit and deep cleans at $320. We cover the town centre, Cedar Valley, Hatzic, Silverdale, Ferndale, Stave Falls and Steelhead, wells included.

Mission drinks the same hard well water as Abbotsford and sits inside the same air quality district, which between them decide most of what is on this page.

Where we go

Which parts of Mission do you clean?

A town centre on a hillside above the river, a ring of former farming communities around it, and forest behind that. Three quite different jobs.

  • Mission City centre and the hill

    Older houses on steep lots above the Fraser, a lot of them with a suite downstairs. Basement level rooms in a coastal climate are where damp and mildew turn up first, so bathrooms and lower-floor window reveals get the most attention.

  • Cedar Valley and Silverdale

    Where the new building is. Newer stock means more glass and more ensuites, which on this water means more visible scale, and it means post-construction dust in the streets that have just handed over.

  • Hatzic, Ferndale and Dewdney

    Flat farming country east of town, plus river and lake properties. Working mudrooms, seasonal dust off tilled fields, and short-term rentals around the lake in summer.

  • Stave Falls and Steelhead

    Rural, forested and mostly on private wells, so hardness varies house by house and we test rather than assume. Long drives, so we group these visits together and quote by the property.

Hard water

What does Mission's hard water do to a house?

Mission and Abbotsford share a water system, so they share a scale problem that Surrey and Maple Ridge simply do not have.

The Abbotsford-Mission system runs on 19 groundwater wells. The commission's annual report puts hardness at 72 to 218 mg/L as calcium carbonate, calls the supply moderately hard, and confirms that none of it is treated for hardness (2025 annual water quality report). Metro Vancouver's supply, which is what Surrey and Maple Ridge drink, is roughly 3 to 4 mg/L. Under 60 mg/L is soft. So a Mission bathroom and a Surrey bathroom are not variations on a theme, they are different pieces of work.

Where it shows upWhat is happeningWhat we do
Shower glass and screens Calcium left behind every time water evaporates on the surface Citric acid with dwell time, every visit rather than once a season
Kettles, dishwashers and coffee machines Scale building inside the appliance where you cannot see it Descaling the kettle is a five minute add-on, and we will show you the method
Taps, aerators and shower heads Crust at the outlet, restricting flow Acid soak, then a plastic blade. Nothing metal on chrome
Soap that never quite works Minerals binding the surfactant before it reaches the soil More product, more agitation and more rinsing than a soft-water house needs
Glass that stays cloudy after everything The surface itself is etched Nothing. It is permanent, and we say so instead of billing for it

Citric acid earns its place on our list of what we actually use in exactly these two cities. Out at Stave Falls and Steelhead, where houses are on private wells rather than the commission's supply, hardness varies property to property and we work from what the glass and the kettle tell us.

Local conditions

Why does the air quality plan name Mission?

Because Mission is an FVRD municipality, and the district's Air Quality Management Plan reports asthma and COPD rates across FVRD municipalities, Mission included, above the BC average. Mission also holds one of the six air monitoring stations the district runs. The plan attributes 27 per cent of regional PM2.5 to intentional wood burning and 49 per cent of PM2.5 plus 99 per cent of ammonia emissions to commercial, industrial and agricultural operations, with ammonia rising since 2010 on the back of livestock and manure management.

None of that is a cleaning problem and we are not going to pretend cleaning solves it. What it means is that a house here starts with a particulate load from outside, so the indoor half is the part anyone can control. That is an argument for HEPA filtration, damp microfibre and no aerosols, and against adding fragrance to a room where somebody is already short of breath.

The other half is damp. This is a wet, forested hillside, and mildew starts in bathrooms, window reveals and lower-floor rooms. The reflex answer is bleach. CCOHS and Health Canada both say to use soap or detergent and water instead, and to hold indoor humidity between 30 and 50 per cent. Anything inside drywall, insulation or caulking is a remediation job, and we will tell you that rather than take the money.

Straight answer

Who else cleans naturally in Mission?

A few companies here position on natural products, and they are real businesses doing real work. What we could not find was one with third-party certification. The only BC cleaner we know of holding EWG Verified, Ecocert and Leaping Bunny certification publishes a Metro Vancouver service area, and Mission is not on it. Neither is Abbotsford or Chilliwack. That is a fact about where the vans go, not a criticism of anyone.

Where we do differ in method is essential oils. Natural cleaning in this part of the valley is often aromatherapy-led, and we take the opposite view: several of the oils marketed as natural cleaners, tea tree, pine and citrus among them, are toxic to cats. So our default is nothing added at all. No fragrance, no oils, no aerosols. If you want a scent, ask, and we will tell you exactly what is in it and keep it out of the rooms your animals use.

The rest of the argument is on two pages rather than in a slogan: every product we use, with its safety data sheet, and the jobs we turn down.

In Mission

Which services do you run here?

All seven, routed alongside Abbotsford. Recurring and move-out are the two that fill first.

Money

What does cleaning cost in Mission?

The same as the rest of the valley, with two honest exceptions. Full pricing.

ServiceFromBased on
Recurring cleaning $149 per visit, most 3 bedroom homes
Deep clean $320 most 3 bedroom homes
Move out clean $380 most 3 bedroom homes, empty
Airbnb turnover $119 per turnover, one and two bedroom units
Office cleaning Walkthrough quoted after a walkthrough
Janitorial Walkthrough quoted after a walkthrough
Post-construction Walkthrough quoted by square footage
Hourly, where hourly makes more sense $55 to $70 Per cleaner, per hour, plus GST

The exceptions. Hard-water bathrooms carry more minutes than the same bathroom in Surrey, and we would rather build that into the quote than rush it on the day. Rural properties out toward Stave Falls, Steelhead and Dewdney are quoted by the property, because a private well and a twenty minute drive off the highway are both real.

We do not have Mission-specific market rates to compare ourselves against. Published price data in this region is concentrated on Surrey, Langley and Vancouver, so anything we quoted as a "Mission average" would be invented.

Every figure above is a starting price, not a quote. The quote comes in writing, with the product list attached, before anyone books anything.

Questions

Mission questions we actually get

Which parts of Mission do you cover?

The town centre, Cedar Valley, Hatzic, Silverdale, Ferndale, Stave Falls, Steelhead and out toward Dewdney. Rural and forested properties, and anything on a private well, are quoted by the property rather than by bedroom count, because the drive and the water both change the job.

Why is Mission water so hard?

Because it comes out of the ground rather than off a mountain. Mission shares a water system with Abbotsford, fed by 19 groundwater wells, and the commission's own annual report puts hardness between 72 and 218 mg/L as calcium carbonate and states the supply is not treated for hardness. Metro Vancouver water, 40 minutes west, runs at about 3 to 4 mg/L. That is why a shower screen here films over in a week and one in Surrey does not.

Can natural products deal with that scale?

Light and moderate scale, yes. Citric acid dissolves calcium properly, it just wants dwell time rather than force, so we leave it working while we do the rest of the room. Two honest limits. Acid does not go on natural stone or unsealed grout. And glass that has been scaled for years is often etched, which is damage to the surface of the glass itself, and no cleaner of any chemistry reverses it. If yours is etched we will tell you rather than charge you to scrub it.

Do you use essential oils? A lot of natural cleaners here do.

Very sparingly, and never in a home with a cat. Several of the oils sold as natural cleaners, including tea tree, pine and citrus oils, are genuinely toxic to cats, which is the detail most "pet safe" marketing gets backwards. Our default is no added fragrance at all, essential oils included. If you want a scent we will discuss it, but you have to ask, and we will tell you what is in it.

Is Mission actually named in the Fraser Valley air quality work?

Yes. The FVRD Air Quality Management Plan reports asthma and COPD rates in FVRD municipalities above the BC average, and Mission is one of the municipalities charted. Mission also holds one of the district's six air monitoring stations. The plan attributes 27 per cent of regional PM2.5 to intentional wood burning and 49 per cent to commercial, industrial and agricultural sources. Cleaning does not fix outdoor air. It does decide whether you add to the indoor load.

Do you actually come out to Mission, or is it an afterthought?

We come, and we will be straight about how. Mission is a smaller market than Abbotsford or Surrey, so we run it alongside our Abbotsford routing rather than as its own day. In practice that means fewer available slots and a preference for grouping visits geographically, especially out toward Stave Falls and Steelhead. If you need a specific weekday, ask early and we will tell you honestly whether we can hold it.

Get started

Tell us about the house.

Same working day reply, with the product list attached. Tell us if you are on a well. Or just call.

(819) 743-5953

Also nearby: Abbotsford, Maple Ridge and Chilliwack.

Get a quote in Mission

We reply the same working day. Or call (819) 743-5953.

Home or workplace?

No contracts, no sales call. We use your details only to quote this job.

Call (819) 743-5953 Get a quote