The list said common areas. Four words at the bottom of a one-page spec. I printed it. Then I found a gym on 3 with a spin bike still wet and a water cooler that wasn’t on the sheet.
This commercial cleaning checklist is for that walk. “Offices” means desks, kitchens and washrooms. “Common areas” means the rooms the building actually has, written by name. Leave them as one line and someone skips the gym, or spends an hour in a lobby that needed a vacuum and a wipe of the glass.
Everest books the work from our commercial cleaning services page. This is the room list I use when a manager wants a nightly spec that matches what’s really there. For the bigger question of what belongs in a nightly and what counts as an extra, see what commercial cleaning includes.
The short version
| Area | What to write on the spec | Easy to miss |
|---|---|---|
| Desks | Which desks stay occupied after lockup | Chair wells |
| Kitchen | Dishwasher, fridge and leftover rules | Microwave plate, sticky floor |
| Washrooms | Where product is kept, who handles sanitary bins | Door latch, base of the toilet |
| Lobby, elevators, stairs | Glass height, which stair people use | Grit in the mats, call plates |
| Boardrooms | Whiteboard rule, catering leftovers | Chairs pushed in, credenza |
| Gym or amenity rooms | Who cleans what, by room name | Sweat in rubber-floor seams |
Desks, and the pile I won’t sort
A desk is a wipe of the open surface, the chair well and the bin. Screens that are on stay on. Drawers stay shut. Paper stays in the pile you left. People have asked us to “neaten” a stack, and I won’t. The last time I moved one, a signed cheque was in it, and I spent twenty minutes on a voicemail I didn’t want to leave.
Keyboards and mice get a wipe if they’re clear of notes. If a desk looks like someone is still in a file, we skip that bay and come back. Being occupied after lockup is normal: headphones on, one lamp, and we work the aisle and leave that chair.
Chair wells collect crumbs and hair, so we vacuum them. Wipe the desktop and leave the well, and a clean-looking floor still feels dirty when someone rolls in at 8:10.
Kitchen
The kitchen is where most nights go wrong. Coffee grounds around the machine, last week’s sauce on the microwave plate, the fridge handle, the sink rim. We wipe those. We empty the compost if there’s a bin we’re allowed to dump. We don’t run a dishwasher unless it’s on the ticket. I once started a cycle and came back to a note saying the machine was “staff only” because someone stored soap in it.
Counters get a wipe after the sink. Floors get swept and mopped last, so we aren’t walking crumbs back in. If the tile is still sticky after one pass, put that on the night note. Sticky usually means a spill that sat, not a crew that skipped the room.
The boardroom fridge
I still don’t have a rule for this one. Some floors want leftovers pulled every Friday. Others want them left because catering is coming back Monday and the trays are labelled. So I ask, and I write the answer on the booking. I won’t guess a default and then take a complaint that we threw out a client’s lunch.
Washrooms
Toilets, seats, bowls and around the base. Counters, taps and the door latch everyone hits. Mirrors and floors. If you leave product in a marked cupboard, we restock. If the cupboard is empty, we write it down. We don’t raid another floor’s stash unless you said we could.
The stall that always smells is usually a trap, not the bowl. I can wipe a bowl twice, but I can’t snake a drain on a nightly. Call a plumber, and we’ll keep the surfaces clean in the meantime.
Sanitary bins are often a separate pickup. If your building contract covers that, tell us, so we don’t double-bag something that’s already on a route.
Lobby, elevators and stairs
In the lobby: glass at entry height, the reception ledge, chair arms and the floor mat. Mats hold grit, and in winter they hold salt. Shake or vacuum them, or you mop a dirty outline the next morning. Directory boards and fire-panel glass get a wipe if they’re within reach and not alarmed. I don’t open a fire cabinet to “be thorough.”
Elevators mean fingerprints on the call plate, the cab rail and the floor. If the cab has carpet, vacuum it. If it has a hard floor, mop it after the lobby so we aren’t walking lobby grit into the box.
For stairs, we do the ones people actually use, like the ones by the smoking door, not the pretty marble ones no one takes. Vacuum the treads and wipe the rail. The unused stair can wait for a weekly if you say so.
The lobby plant
A ficus in the lobby leaked into its planter, and the water stained the stone. The manager wanted the leaves dusted. The building operator said to leave the planter alone because the plant service comes Tuesdays. I dusted the leaves and left the soil. The stain was still there in the photo they sent me the next week. Plants belong on your spec with a name next to them: ours, or the plant service’s.
Boardrooms after the late meeting
Table, chairs pushed in, glass, the credenza and the bin. I erase a whiteboard if you say erase. A board with a date still on it stays unless the spec says “wipe boards nightly.” Someone’s Tuesday agenda isn’t my call.
Empty catering boxes in the bin area go. A sealed tray with a name on it stays, same as the fridge. Half a pizza left out at 9:40 p.m. is a call I won’t make on my own. Cables stay where they are. Wipe around the brick and leave the brick.
The gym on 3
If the building has a gym, name it. Don’t bury it under common areas. The list is bikes, benches, the fountain, the floor around the rubber mats, the change-room benches, and the shower if staff use it. Rubber floors hold sweat in the seams. A dry mop won’t get that. A damp mop with the product you’ve already approved will.
I still don’t know who “owns” that gym on 3. Fitness staff said they wipe the equipment. The property manager said janitorial does the floor and the change room. The tenant on 2 said they pay for the amenity, so it should look like a club. That’s three answers. I wrote all three on the quote and asked them to pick one before we started. I’d rather hold a night than mop a bike someone just sprayed with their own bottle, then take a complaint that we used the wrong product.
No gym? Skip this section. If there’s a yoga room, a mother’s room or a locker hall, list those the same way. Named rooms get done, and unnamed rooms get a question on the night note.
What I leave off unless you write it
Inside desks and cabinets, plants a vendor services, server closets, alarm panels and high dusting above standard reach aren’t part of a nightly. The full list is in what commercial cleaning includes. Periodic work like high dust, interior glass and a deeper kitchen pull is a separate ticket. Say which nights get the extra.
What to write for every room
For each room on your list, put five things next to it:
- Its name, as people use it
- Its floor type: carpet, VCT, rubber, tile
- Who might still be in it after lockup
- What’s included on the nightly
- Who to ask if something’s missing
Then send photos of the worst washroom, the kitchen at 6 p.m., the lobby mat, and one boardroom after a catering day.
Frequently asked questions
What should a commercial cleaning checklist include?
The rooms the building actually has, written by name: desks, kitchens, washrooms, the lobby, elevators, stairs, boardrooms and any amenity rooms like a gym.
How do I write a nightly cleaning scope?
List every room, note who might still be in it after lockup, and say what’s included and who to ask about gaps. A floor plan or a phone walk that names the rooms works well.
Does commercial cleaning include the gym or other amenity rooms?
Only if they’re named. Say who cleans equipment and who handles the floor and change rooms.
Who empties the boardroom fridge or throws out leftovers?
Whoever your booking says. Write “Friday pull” or “leave it” and the crew will follow it.
Get the rooms written down
We’ll tell you whether this is one nightly or a nightly plus a weekly for the amenity floor. Book a free consultation and we’ll walk the rooms or the photos before we lock a spec.
