Green Cleaning Seattle — Otium-Maid Services™ provides eco-safe home and office cleaning services. Keeping with the spirit of loving homes, our office itself is a commercial-zoned 1900’s house – located on Aurora Ave N – between 46th and 47th Ave N.

We are THE ONLY cleaning service in Seattle that is REALLLLLY green…

We own a brick-and-mortar office building & yard here in Seattle that has been “greened” to the fullest extent! **SEE BELOW** for more specifics…our office has honey bees, is solar powered, our washers are connected to a laundry-to-landscape system, and more…

What Does “Otium” Mean
Otium is a Latin abstract term. One of it’s meanings define it as “leisure time in which a person can enjoy eating, playing, resting, contemplation, etc”
In the disembodied culture that we live in, making space and time for someone is a movement that feeds the soul. At GCS, we believe that caring for home is related to quality of life and we understand that our clients need our help creating home space; we consider our Green Cleaners to be “Life Givers” and “Time Givers”. Our Green Cleaners provide to our clients “Otium-Maid Services” which allow our clients to regain some of their own leisure time, and allows our clients to have the space and time for peaceful moments in their life

Our business is built on the simple belief that seemingly small choices can have a huge ripple effect for good in our lives and our world. Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do from the products we choose, to the business practices we employ, to the community we cultivate.

Our Products:

• Readily biodegradable
• Do not contain chlorine bleach, optical brighteners, synthetic colors,
  or artificial fragrances
• We use plant-based products with 100% essential oils

Our Business Practices:

• We recycle our cleaning product containers
• We buy in bulk when possible
• We use Energy Star washers and dryers
• We have a laundry-to-landscape washer system
• We utilize a hybrid water heater
• Our fleet cars are hybrid AND…
• We have a fleet of electric-assist cargo bikes that are totally net-zero
• We have a 1300 gallon roof to cistern rainwater catchment system
• We have a rain-garden (installed by Stone Soup Gardens) in the back of our office
• We have a 900 sqft “p-patch” on our office grounds for our staff to garden
• We have chickens and bees at our office – eggs and honey go to our staff!
• Our parking strip – on Aurora Ave N – is planted with drought tolerate native plants
• We are an experiment in the Green Lab of Innovation (see below!)

Our People:

• All our staff are paid well above a living-wage
• All our staff are offered health insurance
• All of our staff members receive one free weekly yoga class, and one free monthly acupuncture treatment
• We routinely train our team in the best and latest sustainable practices. We train, re-train and constantly support our staff members
• We build community through fun, monthly company-paid staff events – including movie nights w/ dinner, spa nights, Zoo Tunes, Theo’s Chocolate Tours, Mariner games
• We have monthly staff awards – each month we choose 5 staff members (employees that have done exceptional work over the past month) and we award them

• Award-Winning Green Lab of Innovation

  In 2018, we were nominated for BEST Sustainable Business in Seattle by the Chinook Book for their Heart of Seattle award.

  In 2016, we were – again – the runner up for King County’s Green/Sustainable Small Business of the Year Award.

  We are so honored to receive the Torch Award from the Better Business Bureau in 2014. And we were one of three finalists nominated for King County’s Green/Sustainable Small Business of the Year in 2014.

  Our obsession with the question “What does it mean to be green?” drives our success, pushing us to find new and better answers every day. Our office on Aurora is intentionally designed to be a living breathing demonstration site of eco-options for the entire community.

  In 2008, we started with just a cell phone, a DIY website, and one employee (Gea!). A huge thanks to all of our rock-star clients and amazing staff for helping us get this far!