What goes on a professional cleaning checklist?
Every task the client is paying for, grouped by room, in the order your crew works through the home. Then a way to show it was done. A checklist that works on the job has:
- One section per room, and one for each bedroom and bathroom. “Bathroom 2” is much harder to skip than a single “Bathrooms” heading.
- Tasks you can see are done, like “Wipe counters and backsplash” or “Clean the floor, including behind the toilet”, not just “Kitchen”.
- Only what the price includes. If the inside of the oven is an add-on on a standard clean, leave it off the standard list and add it as your own task when a client books it. The house cleaning price calculator helps you price those extras.
- A tick box for each task, plus a second column for whoever checks the work.
- The client, date and address, so a sheet in a folder still makes sense next month.
- A sign-off: who cleaned, who checked, the time in and out, and a few lines for damage or anything not done.
Standard vs deep vs move-out cleaning: what changes?
A standard clean keeps a home that is already in good shape clean. A deep clean adds the detail work that builds up over months. A move-out clean is a deep clean of an empty home, plus the inside of every cabinet, drawer and closet. An Airbnb turnover is a standard clean plus fresh linens, restocking, a damage check and photos for the host. Here is what each list in the maker includes:
| Task | Standard | Deep | Move-out | Airbnb |
|---|
| Counters, sinks, toilets and mirrors | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dust, vacuum and mop | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Make beds | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Inside the oven and fridge | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Baseboards and door frames by hand | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Blinds, vents, sills and window tracks | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Behind appliances, where accessible | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Inside cabinets, drawers and closets | No | No | Yes | No |
| Fresh linens, restock and damage check | No | No | No | Yes |
| Photo of each finished room | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Because deep and move-out cleans take longer, price them on their own rather than as a standard clean. Then put what each one includes in writing before the first visit, in a cleaning estimate or your cleaning service agreement.
What does a deep cleaning checklist add?
On top of everything in a standard clean, a deep clean in the maker adds:
- Kitchen: degrease the stovetop and range hood, the inside of the oven, fridge and freezer, cabinet fronts, dishwasher seals and filter, and behind the stove and fridge where you can reach.
- Bathrooms: descale shower glass and fixtures, scrub grout, clear drains and wipe the exhaust fan cover.
- Bedrooms and living areas: baseboards and door frames by hand, blinds and vents, window sills and tracks, ceiling fans and light fixtures, and spot-cleaning walls and doors.
- Whole home: every door, frame and handle, and the inside of windows within reach.
Many cleaning businesses start each new recurring client with a deep clean, so the regular visits after it only have to keep up.
What does a move out cleaning checklist need?
The home is empty and the next person will open every door and drawer, so a move-out list goes inside everything: all cabinets and drawers, closets and shelves, the oven, fridge, dishwasher and washer, and behind appliances where you can reach. Making beds and tidying come off the list, since there is nothing to tidy.
- Ask for the landlord’s or property manager’s list before you quote, and add anything extra on it with “Add your own task” in the room it belongs to.
- Photograph what you could not fix, like stains, scuffs or damage, so your client has proof it was there before the clean, not caused by it.
- Finish with an empty-check: every cabinet, closet and drawer opened one last time.
How to use a cleaning checklist with your crew
- Use the same list for the same type of clean, every time. Add a client’s own requests (“Water the plants in the living room”) as custom tasks so they are on the sheet, not in someone’s memory.
- Tick as you go, not at the end. A list ticked in one go at the door is a list nobody read.
- Take photos as proof. A photo of each finished room, and of anything left undone or damaged, answers most complaints in a minute.
- Sign it off. The cleaner signs “Cleaned by”. Whoever walks through the home last, a team lead or you, ticks the Checked column and signs. Two names on a sheet make a difference.
- Keep the sheets by client and date for a few months, so you can look back when a client asks about a visit.
If you are just starting out, our guide on how to start a cleaning business covers the rest of the setup. For short-term rentals, the Airbnb cleaning business guide walks through a full turnover in order.
When is a paper checklist enough?
Stick with paper if you clean alone or with a small crew you see every day. A printed list, a pen and your phone camera do the job, and they cost nothing.
Paper gets harder once cleaners work at different homes at the same time: sheets get lost, photos sit on personal phones, and you don't know what was done until the end of the day. That is the problem the crew app in BroomBook solves. We make BroomBook, so take this part with that in mind. Each cleaner gets a private link, with no app to download, showing their visits and a room-by-room checklist for each type of clean, built on the same lists as this maker. They tick tasks off and add photos from their phone, and AI checks each photo against its checklist item and flags the ones that need a look. Plans are $29 a month for up to 2 cleaners or $59 a month for any number, with a 14-day free trial and no credit card. See the cleaning business app page or try the live demo.
Pick something else if you run a commercial janitorial company that mainly needs site inspections and bids, or a multi-trade field service business. BroomBook is built for residential cleaning.