How often should an office be cleaned? A practical guide for small businesses
A simple daily, weekly and periodic cleaning plan for small offices, and how to work out the right frequency for your team.
There is no single right answer to how often an office should be cleaned. It depends on how many people use it, what they do there and who visits. What there is, though, is a sensible way to work it out. This guide gives you a simple daily, weekly and periodic plan, and the questions that decide your frequency.
If you would rather hand it to someone else, our commercial cleaning covers offices and workplaces across Norfolk and Suffolk, with regular contracts and cover when your usual cleaner is away.
Four questions that decide how often
- How many people are in each day? More people means more bins, more kitchen use and more toilet visits.
- Do customers or clients visit? Reception areas and meeting rooms need to look right every day.
- Is there a kitchen? Shared kitchens and fridges need attention at every clean.
- How many toilets, and how busy are they? Washrooms are the area staff and visitors judge a building on.
Daily or every visit
- Empty bins and recycling
- Clean and restock toilets and washrooms
- Wipe kitchen worktops, sinks and the microwave, and load or empty the dishwasher
- Wipe high-touch points: door handles, light switches, handrails and kettle handles
- Tidy and wipe reception and meeting room tables
- Vacuum busy walkways and entrance matting
Weekly
- Vacuum all carpeted areas and mop hard floors throughout
- Dust desks (where clear), shelves, sills and partitions
- Clean internal glass and glass doors
- Clean the fridge of out-of-date food (agree the rule with staff first)
- Wipe chair arms and phones
Monthly, quarterly and yearly
- High dusting: vents, light fittings and tops of cupboards
- Skirting boards and door frames
- Inside kitchen cupboards and the microwave and fridge in full
- Carpet cleaning and upholstery cleaning for chairs and sofas, through our specialist cleaning
- A periodic deep clean, for example over a quiet week or holiday shutdown
Typical frequencies
As a starting point, most small offices with staff in every day suit a clean two to five times a week, with kitchens, toilets and bins done at every visit and the weekly tasks spread across the week. A very small or lightly used office may manage with once or twice a week. A busy office with visitors and a shared kitchen often benefits from a daily clean. Start with your best guess, then adjust after a month.
Not just offices
The same thinking applies to other workplaces, with a few differences. Salons, surgeries and vets have their own hygiene expectations, and care settings need cleaning done with respect for the people living there. We clean salons, surgeries, vets, shops and pubs, care homes and supported living and schools and education settings, each with a plan built around how the site is used.
Getting a cleaning plan and price
Every commercial site is different, so we price after understanding the work: the type of premises, roughly how big it is, and how often you would like cleaning. Approved commercial customers can be invoiced monthly. Ask for a commercial cleaning quote and we will talk it through with you.
