Deep cleaning checklist: every room, in the order pros work

The deep cleaning checklist, room by room

A deep clean covers every room, top to bottom, including the build-up a regular visit leaves behind. The list below has 67 tasks across seven areas of the home, in the order a crew walks through it, compared with 43 on a standard clean.

It is the same list the free checklist maker prints and that BroomBook’s crew app loads for a deep clean, so it is built for cleaning businesses. It works just as well for a homeowner doing a spring clean, a tenant getting a deposit back, or a host resetting a rental before a busy season. Repeat the bathroom and bedroom sections for each room in the home.

Two things on this list are often sold as add-ons instead: inside the oven and inside the fridge. Our checklist includes both in a deep clean. If your business prices them separately, take them off the list and say so in the quote, so the client knows before the crew arrives. Whatever you decide, write it down once and use the same list on every job.

Need only one room? The kitchen cleaning checklist and the bathroom cleaning checklist go deeper on the two rooms that take the most time.

What does a deep clean include?

A deep clean includes everything in a regular clean, plus the slow build-up of dust, grease, soap scum and grime in places a weekly visit does not reach. In short: if a spot only gets dirty over months, it belongs on the deep clean.

Here is what a deep clean adds, room by room:

• Kitchen: degrease the stovetop and range hood, clean inside the oven and the fridge and freezer, wipe cabinet fronts and handles, clean the dishwasher door, seals and filter, and clean behind the stove and fridge where they can be reached.
• Bathrooms: descale shower glass and fixtures, scrub the grout, clear hair from drains and wipe the exhaust fan cover.
• Bedrooms and living areas: wipe baseboards and door frames by hand, dust blinds and vents, wipe window sills and tracks, dust ceiling fans and light fixtures, vacuum under cushions and furniture, and spot-clean walls and doors.
• Entry, laundry and the rest of the home: baseboards by hand, light fixtures, inside the washer drum and door seal, behind the washer and dryer, every door, frame and handle, and inside windows within reach.

A deep clean does not usually include the inside of empty cabinets, drawers and closets. Those belong to a move-out clean, when the home is empty. It also does not include outside windows, carpet shampooing, wall washing from floor to ceiling, or mold or water damage beyond normal shower mildew. If a client expects any of these, quote them as separate services.

Deep cleaning vs regular cleaning: what’s the difference?

Regular cleaning keeps a home clean; deep cleaning gets it there in the first place. A regular (standard) clean handles the surfaces people touch and see every week. A deep clean adds the detail work that builds up over months.

The table shows which jobs each type of clean includes on our checklists:

A move-out clean is a deep clean of an empty home, plus the inside of every cabinet, drawer and closet. The move-out cleaning checklist covers it. An Airbnb turnover is a different job again: a fast reset between guests, with fresh linens, restocking and a damage check, explained in the Airbnb cleaning checklist.

For a client, the simple way to say it is this: the first visit is a deep clean, and the regular visits after it keep the home at that level. If regular visits stop for a few months, the next one is a deep clean again.

What order should you deep clean a house in?

Work top to bottom and dry to wet, so dust falls onto surfaces you have not cleaned yet and floors come last. Start the products that need time to work first, then clean the rest of the home while they sit.

Start what needs to soak

Oven cleaner, shower descaler and grout cleaner all work better with time on the surface. Apply them first, following the label, then move on. Most disinfectants also need the surface to stay wet for a set contact time, which is printed in the directions. Coming back to these at the end of each room saves scrubbing.

Top to bottom in every room

1. Ceiling fans, light fixtures, vents and the tops of door frames.
2. Blinds, window sills and tracks.
3. Shelves, furniture, mirrors, glass and other reachable surfaces.
4. Light switches, handles, doors and spot-cleaning walls.
5. Baseboards by hand.
6. Vacuum, then mop. Floors are always last.

Dry before wet

Dust and vacuum before anything wet touches a surface. Wet dust turns into mud, and a damp baseboard collects the hair and grit you vacuum up afterward. Dry dusting first also means less rinsing later.

Room order: far end to the door

Start the soaking products in the kitchen and bathrooms, then clean the bedrooms and living areas while they work, come back to finish the wet rooms, and finish at the entry. Work from the far end of the home toward the exit so the crew never walks across a floor that is already mopped. The checklist above follows a fixed walking order for the same reason, and ends with a walk-through of every room for missed spots, a photo of each finished room, and the lights, alarm and lock.

With a crew of two or more, split by room rather than by task. One person owns the kitchen, one owns the bathrooms, and whoever finishes first starts the bedrooms. Two people in the same small room slow each other down.

How long does a deep clean take, and how should you price it?

A deep clean usually takes about 1.6 to 2 times as long as a standard clean of the same home, according to our house cleaning pricing guide. The exact time depends on the size of the home, how long since its last clean, pets, clutter, and how many people are on the crew.

Price a deep clean from the hours it takes, not from a guess. A simple way to start:

1. Time your own standard cleans for each home size, or use the times you already track.
2. Multiply by 1.6 for a home kept in fair shape and by 2 for one that has not been cleaned in a long time, then check the estimate against your first few real jobs.
3. Turn those hours into a price with your labor cost, supplies, overhead and profit. The house cleaning price calculator does the math for you, by home size and type of clean.
4. Send a written estimate that lists what the deep clean includes and what it does not. The cleaning estimate template helps.

Two habits protect you from a deep clean that runs long. First, ask for photos of the kitchen and bathrooms before you quote, or do a short walk-through. Second, say in the quote what happens if the home needs more time than expected: a call before the crew goes over, and an agreed hourly rate for the extra time. Clients rarely mind when they hear it first.

When do you need a deep clean?

Book a deep clean when a home has gone without regular cleaning, before recurring service starts, and when the seasons change. A home that gets a regular clean every week or two needs one much less often than a home that does not.

• A new client’s first visit. A regular visit cannot fix months of build-up in the time it is priced for. Start with a deep clean, then the recurring visits keep the home at that level. Many cleaning businesses make this their standard offer for new recurring clients.
• Before recurring service starts again. If a client paused for a few months, the first visit back is a deep clean.
• Seasonally. Spring and fall are the natural times for clients on regular service to add the detail work: baseboards, blinds, ceiling fans, inside the oven and fridge, and window tracks.
• Before or after a big event. Holidays, visiting family, a new baby, the end of a renovation (once the contractors are done) or selling the home.
• One-time requests. A client who books once and does not plan to come back is best priced as a deep clean, since you do not know the state of the home.

For homeowners: if you can see dust on the blinds and baseboards, grime at the edges of the kitchen floor, or scale on the shower glass, it is time for a deep clean, whether you do it yourself or book one.

What supplies do you need for a deep clean?

A deep clean uses the same kit as a regular clean, plus a few tools for reach and build-up: a degreaser, a descaler, an oven cleaner, grout and detail brushes, an extension duster and a step stool.

• Chemicals: all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner, degreaser for the range hood and stovetop, a bathroom descaler for glass and fixtures, an EPA-registered disinfectant, oven cleaner, and a pH-neutral cleaner for stone counters and floors.
• Cloths and brushes: plenty of microfiber cloths in separate colors for bathrooms and kitchens, non-scratch scrub pads, a grout brush, a small detail brush for tracks and drains, and a vent brush.
• Reach: an extension pole with a duster head for fans, fixtures and the tops of door frames, and a folding step stool.
• Floors: a vacuum with a crevice tool and an upholstery tool for under cushions and along baseboards, and a flat mop with washable pads.
• Protection: gloves for every chemical, safety glasses for oven cleaner and overhead work, and knee pads for a morning of baseboards.

Bring more cloths than you think: on a deep clean each one gets dirty faster. For the full kit, what each product is for and what to keep it away from, see the cleaning supplies list for cleaning businesses.

How to use cleaning chemicals safely on a deep clean

Use one product at a time, follow its label, and never mix bleach with ammonia or with acids. A deep clean uses stronger products than a regular visit, in small closed rooms like bathrooms, so the label matters more.

• Never mix bleach with other cleaners. The Washington State Department of Health warns that bleach mixed with ammonia makes toxic chloramine gases, and bleach mixed with acids, including vinegar and toilet bowl cleaners, releases chlorine gas. Rinse a surface before switching products, and do not put two products in the same toilet bowl or drain.
• Use disinfectants the way the label says. The EPA’s six steps for safe and effective disinfectant use are: check the product has an EPA registration number, read the directions, pre-clean the surface if it is visibly dirty, keep it wet for the full contact time, wear gloves and wash your hands, and keep lids closed and out of reach of children.
• Know where a deep clean stops on mold. The EPA’s guide to mold cleanup at home says to scrub mold off hard surfaces with detergent and water and dry them completely, and that areas under about 10 square feet can usually be cleaned without a professional. Larger areas, or mold after water damage, are a remediation job, not a deep clean.
• If you have employees, train them on every chemical. Under OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard, employers with hazardous chemicals must give exposed workers labels and safety data sheets and train them to understand the hazard information. Keep a safety data sheet for each product in the van or on a shared drive.

Open a window or run the exhaust fan when you use oven cleaner, descaler or disinfectant in a small room, and step out if anyone feels dizzy or starts coughing. Ask clients about pets, babies, allergies and stone or specialty surfaces before the job, and note it on the booking.

How BroomBook runs a deep clean for your crew

We make BroomBook, a scheduling and booking app for residential cleaning businesses. When a client books a deep clean, each cleaner gets the deep clean checklist on their phone, so nobody has to remember which extras this job includes.

• The right list for the job. The checklist matches the type of clean booked: standard, deep, move-out or Airbnb turnover. It is the same set of tasks as the list on this page.
• A private crew link, nothing to download. Each cleaner opens their jobs from a private link, and clocks in and out from the phone.
• Photos you can trust. Checklists are room by room, with photos. Each photo is checked against its checklist item, and the ones that need a look are flagged to you, so you see the inside of the oven without driving over.
• Notes in each cleaner’s language. Job notes, such as “skip the oven, the client does it” or “stone counters, neutral cleaner only”, are translated into Spanish, French or Portuguese for each cleaner.

Pick something else if you run commercial janitorial contracts, need QuickBooks sync, or want an app from the app store: BroomBook is built for residential cleaning and has none of those. Otherwise, see all the features or try the demo.