Most cleaning disputes come down to an unwritten scope. The contractor believes one thing is included, you believe another, and neither of you wrote it down. This checklist is a starting point — take it, cut what does not apply and add what does, and attach it to the contract.
Daily
- Empty all bins, including meeting rooms and under-desk bins, and replace liners.
- Clean and sanitise kitchen benches, sinks and appliance fronts.
- Wipe tables and high-touch points — door handles, light switches, lift buttons.
- Clean and restock washrooms: pans, basins, mirrors, soap, paper, liners.
- Vacuum main traffic areas and entrance matting.
- Mop hard floors in entries, kitchens and washrooms.
- Spot-clean entry door glass and reception glass.
Weekly
- Vacuum the full floor area, including under desks and along edges.
- Clean internal glass and partitions.
- Dust workstations, shelving, sills and skirting.
- Clean inside the microwave and wipe fridge exterior.
- Detail washroom fittings, tiles and behind pans.
- Clean kitchen cupboard fronts and splashbacks.
Monthly
- High dusting — vents, light fittings, tops of cabinets and partitions.
- Spot-clean carpet traffic lanes and treat visible marks.
- Clean and sanitise bins themselves rather than just changing liners.
- Detail entry doors, thresholds and frames.
- Machine-clean hard floors.
Quarterly to annually
- Hot-water extraction of carpets, more often for reception and corridors.
- Hard floor strip, seal and polish where applicable.
- External and internal window cleaning at accessible levels.
- Upholstery and office chair cleaning.
- Deep clean of kitchens and washrooms, including grout.
Industrial and warehouse additions
If your site includes a warehouse or production area, these sit alongside the above rather than replacing it:
- Machine scrub of warehouse floors, at a frequency set by traffic.
- Dock apron and threshold cleaning — more often than the main floor.
- High-level dust removal from beams, sprinkler lines and high-bay fittings, at least annually.
- Degreasing around plant, charging bays and workshop areas.
- External hardstand high-pressure cleaning.
- Line marking inspection, and re-marking while floors are stripped.
How to use this as an audit
Print it, walk the site at the start of a working day, and mark anything from the daily list that clearly was not done. Do that three days running and you will have a factual record rather than an impression, which is a far better basis for a conversation with your contractor than a general complaint.
If the same items keep appearing, the problem is usually hours or scope rather than the individual cleaner — and that is a fixable conversation.