Most office cleaning checklists you find online are lists of rooms. That’s not a checklist, it’s a floor plan. A useful one lists every task, in every area, with a frequency.
Here’s one you can actually use, whether you clean the office yourself or hand it to a contractor.
Every visit, bathrooms
- Toilets and urinals sanitised inside and out, including base and hinges
- Basins, tapware and surrounds cleaned and dried
- Mirrors cleaned streak-free, checked at an angle
- Floors mopped, including behind pans and into corners
- Consumables restocked to full (soap, paper, hand towels)
- Bins emptied and re-lined
- Partitions, door handles and locks sanitised
- Drains checked and cleared
Every visit, kitchen and breakout
- Benches and splashbacks cleaned
- Sink and tapware cleaned, dried, no water spots
- Microwave interior cleaned
- Appliance exteriors and handles wiped (fridge, dishwasher, urn)
- Tables and chairs wiped
- Floor swept and mopped
- Bins emptied and re-lined
- Dishwasher emptied if run
Every visit, office areas
- Bins emptied and re-lined at every desk
- Desks wiped where clear of papers
- Hard floors swept and mopped
- High-traffic carpet vacuumed
- Meeting rooms reset, tables wiped, whiteboards cleaned if marked
Every visit, reception and entry
- Entry glass and doors cleaned both sides
- Reception counter sanitised
- Entry matting vacuumed
- Seating wiped or vacuumed
- Visitor area tidied
Every visit, high-touch points
- Door handles and push plates
- Light switches
- Lift buttons and handrails
- Shared printers and photocopiers
- Kitchen appliance handles
Weekly
- All carpet vacuumed including edges and under desks
- Skirting boards dusted
- Window sills and ledges wiped
- Internal glass and partitions cleaned
- Door frames and tops of doors dusted
- Kitchen bins washed out
- Bathroom tiles and grout scrubbed
- Chair bases and castors wiped
- Waste and recycling areas cleaned
Monthly
- High dusting, tops of cabinets, shelving, picture frames
- Air vents and extractor grilles dusted
- Light fittings dusted
- Fridge interior cleaned out
- Under and behind furniture vacuumed
- Upholstered chairs vacuumed
- Kitchen cupboard interiors wiped
- Stairwells and fire escapes cleaned
Quarterly
- Internal windows cleaned including tracks and frames
- Carpet spot-treated
- Blinds dusted or cleaned
- Storage and archive areas cleaned
- Exterior entry area pressure-washed if needed
Annually or as scheduled
- Carpet steam cleaned (6–12 monthly)
- Hard floors stripped and sealed (12–24 monthly)
- External windows cleaned (quarterly to 6-monthly)
- Upholstery cleaned
How to turn this into a specification
This list is generic. To make it a document you can hold a contractor to:
- Replace "bathrooms" with your actual bathrooms, "Ground floor bathrooms (×2)", "Level 1 accessible bathroom"
- Delete what doesn’t apply. A shorter accurate list beats a longer aspirational one.
- Add anything specific to your building, a server room that must not be vacuumed, a reception water feature, a staff shower.
- Add the standard where it matters, "mirrors streak-free, checked at an angle" resolves more disputes than any other line.
Our guide on writing a cleaning specification walks through this properly.
The line most checklists are missing
The Provider will record, per visit, which tasks on this checklist were completed, and make that record available to the Client.
Without it, this document is a wish list. With it, it’s a contract.