Janitorial cleaning checklist

July 25, 2024

Janitorial Cleaning Checklist in NYC: A Complete Guide

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Keeping your commercial space or office tidy and hygienic is instrumental to the success of your business.

Wondering what's the relation?

A cleaner, disinfected, and germ-free work environment keeps employees healthy, which boosts their productivity and, subsequently, your business outcomes and growth. When employees get to work in a sterile and neat place, it offers comfort and allows them to work without distractions.

When the workspaces are supremely clean instead of messy or shabby, your employees cannot only concentrate better but also easily find the essential resources needed to complete their tasks faster. In addition, they do not fall sick frequently, leading to less absenteeism and enhanced work efficiency.
However, maintaining a cleaner and vibrant commercial space isn't as straightforward as it sounds.

Regardless of the size of your office space, your janitors must clean numerous rooms, sections, and common areas. Since the list of places to be cleaned is quite exhaustive, it often becomes challenging for your janitorial staff to pay equal attention to every location.

Bearing that in mind, we suggest getting a professional cleaning service, which is more convenient than relying on your regular janitors. As dedicated cleaning staff, they would spare no effort in preparing a comprehensive janitorial cleaning checklist based on the areas and structural features of your office and subsequently following that.

If you, too, are considering hiring professionals for janitorial cleaning services to maintain a spotless and healthier work environment, this all-inclusive guide is just for you. Read here about the importance of janitorial cleaning checklists and what they should comprise to ensure your hired team does not miss anything! 

What is a Janitorial Services Checklist?

Simply put, a janitorial services checklist is a list of areas, pieces of furniture, and items in your commercial facility that your professional cleaning team should clean properly.

More specifically, the checklist is a tool that lets you keep track of all cleaning areas, ensuring that no area is skipped out. With the help of the janitorial cleaning checklist, the cleaning crew decides on all cleaning tasks needed for the space and essential cleaning supplies to gather. It also helps to allocate the tasks among their staff and determine the frequency of services required for respective areas, i.e., daily, weekly, or monthly, based on their traffic and utility.

In a broader sense, a checklist helps the service provider monitor its cleaning tasks and meet the necessary standards or protocols regarding commercial cleaning services. 

If you are a business owner hiring a professional cleaning company, a checklist also helps you inspect their janitorial cleaning duties and ensure the quality of their services. It enables you to give feedback to your cleaning staff, appreciating the good work they have done and highlighting the areas that need improvements in cleanliness.

Why Should You Use a Janitorial Cleaning Checklist?

You have probably asked yourself this question by now: Why hire commercial cleaners when you have janitors in your office for regular cleaning?

It is imprudent to compare the services of daily janitors with those of a professional cleaning crew. Even though your janitors promise and do carry out all the vital cleaning duties, areas like ceilings, upper portions of doors and windows, elevators, air ducts, outside surfaces of glass panes, etc., are out of their hands' reach.

A commercial cleaning crew follows the janitorial cleaning checklist, which covers all the above deep cleaning tasks, no matter how complex they seem. They bring necessary tools and equipment, including a safety harness for cleaning higher areas, along with necessary cleaning supplies to ensure all-around cleaning of your space, making it pristine and germ-free.  

Here, look at the key reasons you should use a janitorial office cleaning checklist in NYC.

  • Necessitate thorough cleaning

This goes without saying that a janitorial services checklist ensures top-to-bottom cleaning of your space, making it neater and safer to the maximum extent. From work desks, furniture, floors, and washrooms to entry and exit gates, glass panes, and lobbies, professional cleaners tidy every corner to make your office space pristine and hygienic.

  • Proper allocation of cleaning tasks

A checklist lists all the areas and items to clean and also provides specific instructions to the cleaning crew regarding the delivery of their duties. When cleaning tasks are properly allocated to every staff member according to their expertise, the areas receive more attention and are thoroughly cleaned, which, therefore, enhances the overall cleanliness of your building.

  • Improved efficiency of cleaning

Using a checklist allows you to audit the cleaning works done by your hired professionals, resulting in enhanced communication between you and those professionals. This also ensures consistency in the quality of their cleaning services. Additionally, defining the lists of cleaning activities for daily, weekly, and monthly janitorial cleaning procedures provides the cleaning staff with accountability for their job, which prevents hasty cleaning, reworks, or overlooked areas.

  • Demonstrate your organization's effort.

Keeping your commercial space cleaner demonstrates your business's concern for employees' well-being apart from fostering employee productivity. Maintaining a hygienic and comfortable workspace positively impacts employees and might attract new talents to join your organization.

So, following a checklist for janitorial cleaning will demonstrate your efforts to maintain the hygiene and safety of current employees and become one of the prime factors for them to refer others to your organization.

  • Assess overall cleanliness

With the janitorial deep cleaning checklist in hand, you can even assess the quality of services offered by professional cleaners. It helps you monitor their services, prevent them from skipping any section or area, and ensure whether their cleaning methods comply with regulatory health and safety standards.

Daily Janitorial Cleaning Checklist

Cleanliness and hygiene maintenance are inevitable concerns of offices or any type of commercial building! Adequate attention to office cleaning tasks every single day is a quintessential aspect of the well-being of your valuable employees, keeping them healthy and reducing non-attendance. Moreover, unclean office premises, foul smells, or scuff marks here and there will present an unprofessional image to your clients and may impact your business.

That is why we recommend hiring a dedicated commercial cleaning company in NYC to get daily janitorial cleaning services for your office space. They will follow a checklist to tidy up every nook and corner of your commercial space, making it sanitary and inviting to guests and employees. 
The daily janitorial cleaning checklist comprises all the elementary areas and items to clean every day. It prevents dirt from stockpiling anywhere and, subsequently, the spread of germs. Take a look at the checklist.

  • Reception and lobby areas

Reception and lobby are definitely areas of your office space where customers and employees step in first! Keeping those areas impeccably clean and odor-free is essential to leave the maximum impression on your clients and guests.

Start with the floors and ensure that the areas under the furniture, such as tables, lamps, and reception chairs, are wiped and dusted. Sweep the floors, vacuum the carpets, and then mop the floors with a mild cleaning agent followed by an EPA-approved disinfectant to make the surfaces free of germs and filth.

Since both lobby and reception areas get high traffic, we recommend focusing on sanitizing the joint touch surfaces, too, like door knobs, handles of chairs, tabletop, switches, and furniture surfaces. Lastly, empty the trash bins and put fresh liners on them.

  • Restrooms

Regular and intensive restroom cleaning is a prerequisite for ensuring the health and safety of your employees and other staff. It prevents the spread of germs and unwanted diseases from one employee to another and promotes a hygienic work environment.

Clean and disinfect toilet seats, sinks, faucets, countertops, toilet partitions, and floors. Check if the soap dispensers and toilet paper need refilling. Restroom trash cans might overflow with litter in a day, so make sure to empty them regularly and place new trash liners on them!

  • Cafeteria and kitchen

In the daily janitorial cleaning checklist, remember not to include thorough cleanup of the cafeteria and kitchen areas, as this is imperative for maintaining hygiene and safeguarding the health of your employees. Firstly, make sure to dust and wipe the surfaces, including kitchen tops and table surfaces, to remove any food particles, liquid spillages, and greasy or oily substances.

Clean all the appliances and utensils regularly used and discard any leftover food or packages from the refrigerator that are of no use. Next, sweep, mop, and spread disinfectants on floors and dispose of the trash by emptying the bins.

  • Meeting rooms

Meeting rooms and conference halls are integral parts of any business space. They are where most client meetings and constructive discussions among teams take place. It's elementary to keep the ambiance of the rooms cleaner and more aesthetic, eliminating any distractions or discomfort. 

Thus, count on the cleaning of your meeting rooms in the daily janitorial cleaning checklist to keep them consistently in top-notch condition. Sweeping and mopping the floors are preliminary tasks. But make sure to dust the table surfaces, projector screen and devices, chairs, and glass panes of doors and windows.

  • Office bay

This area in your office gets maximum foot traffic and, hence, needs adequate attention in the everyday cleaning routine. Besides, the office bay is where your employees spend most of their working hours.
It should be dirt-free, germ-free, aesthetically appealing, and smelling fresh—all the factors that foster concentration in employees and augment their productivity. Vacuum everything in the bay, from desks and chairs to drawers and sections under the desks.

Sanitize the keyboards, mice, mouse pads, printers, phones, and desk accessories frequently touched to check the spread of infections. Sweep and mop the floors, preferably using a disinfectant to inhibit filth or dirt incoming through the shoes of employees to create stains or clutter on floors.  Also, empty all the trash bins at different corners and replace them with new trash liners.

  • Hallways, elevators, and staircases

These are common areas of a workspace, mostly occupied during break hours, and are considered high-traffic areas. Therefore, cleaning all these areas is also a prerequisite in your daily janitorial cleaning checklist. It includes sweeping and mopping floors, vacuuming carpets, and wiping the handrails of staircases.

Everyone touches the elevator buttons, posing the maximum risk of spreading germs. So, it's mandatory to dab the elevator buttons with a disinfectant and clean them thoroughly to avert any such risks.

Weekly Janitorial Cleaning Checklist

A consistent daily routine is paramount for maintaining a cleaner, safer, and healthier work environment. However, some tasks are impossible to incorporate into your daily cleaning routine but demand equal attention to prevent your commercial space from being noticed as unkempt or unhygienic. Thus, we decided to include them in the weekly commercial janitorial cleaning checklist in NYC.

  • Reception and lobby areas

Since the reception area creates the first impression on your clients and guests, you must prioritize it again in your weekly janitorial deep cleaning checklist. This should entail washing and dry cleaning the doormats, vacuuming, and steam cleaning the carpets and trash cans. If the doors and windows have glass panes, clean them with a specific glass cleaning agent to remove smears or dirt marks and restore their shine and translucence.

You must also clean all light fixtures, organize desk accessories, dust the wall hangings, and other tasks to ensure the reception area looks unblemished and professional.

  • Restrooms

While the restrooms undergo deep cleaning daily, specific tasks need consideration once a week, especially on weekends. These are typically the tasks that require more time and are not done on weekdays because the restrooms can't be kept unavailable for a longer duration during busy working hours.

The weekly restroom cleaning tasks in the janitorial cleaning checklist must include thoroughly scrubbing and cleansing the toilet seats, sinks, and countertops to make them shine. Check if the faucets and dispensers are working fine, and if not, get them fixed. Lastly, clean all the trash bins or containers in and out with a robust cleaning solution to eliminate the smell and sticky dirt on their walls.

  • Cafeteria and kitchen

Once again, meticulously clean the kitchen appliances, including the microwave, fridge, and coffee machine. Since multiple employees use these daily, they get stains and muck from their hands. Wipe the body of the appliances with a mild cleaning agent and clean their insides with a dry cloth to reinstate their finish and look.

Also, empty and organize the kitchen racks or shelves. Vacuum the areas that are not in your hand's reach, such as under the tables and kitchen sink, which might become breeding areas for pests and bugs if left unclean for a long time. We recommend deep cleaning as a requisite weekly routine, considering the importance of hygiene maintenance in a working environment.

  • Office bay

While you are regularly dusting and cleaning the desks and chairs in the office bay, a few things take time, and you must address them on the weekends. These first include the carpets. Vacuum and wash the carpets, which usually trap dust particles, mud, and sticky filth from the shoes. Since dirt gets deeply seated into the coarse surfaces of the carpets, they are hard to get rid of only through vacuuming.

Besides, they can also start sending off foul odors in the office bay under moisture or dampness.   
Clean the window panes and sills, door surfaces, partitions, light fixtures, monitors or displays on the walls, posters or wall art, and every other physical thing that makes up your office bay. Lastly, deeply rub and wipe the desks to remove stubborn stains, greasy substances, or spill marks, ensuring every workstation looks sparkling clean.

  • Meeting rooms

Meeting rooms, being a small part of your office space, need little attention in the weekly janitorial cleaning checklist. So, there are only a few tasks to do, such as dusting the chairs properly and vacuuming the areas under the chairs and conference table. Clear the tabletops with a damp cloth to make them look sheen and polished. Clean the chairs and table legs, cabinets, and sides of the legs.

Spot clean the glass of doors, sanitize the door handles, and push plates. If the chairs are made of upholstery, vacuum them and sponge them with a mild soap solution to remove blemishes from the surfaces. You also need to clean the window and door surfaces with glass cleaner to remove any fingerprints or smears that might be present.

  • Hallways, elevators, and staircases

Your weekly janitorial deep cleaning checklist must incorporate many demanding tasks involving common areas, such as lobbies, hallways, elevators, and staircases. These areas are busy, high-traffic areas of a commercial building, but it is not possible to thoroughly tidy up every corner regularly.

Therefore, vacuum and dry wash the carpets, scrub the stair handrails for a polished appearance and clean the floors with a hardwood cleaner or a commercial-grade cleaning agent that helps remove the strong dirt or grime absorbed by the floors.

In the lobby areas, certain items may be kept on shelves as office decor, such as wall art, photographs, digital signage, posters, awards and showpieces, etc. Make sure to dust the items once a week to keep them pristine.

Monthly Janitorial Cleaning Checklist

In parallel with the daily and weekly checklists, a monthly janitorial office cleaning checklist in NYC helps you go the extra mile for the cleanliness and upkeep of your office space. The checklist helps you address all deep cleaning requirements, which involve rigorous efforts and sometimes special cleaning methods.

This is why you must hire a professional cleaning company in NYC to handle your monthly cleaning tasks. Here are the tasks to include in your checklist.

  • Reception and lobby areas

Start by dusting the areas at height, such as ceilings and top portions of the walls. After removing the furniture, vacuum the corners and clean the air vents. The reception area usually has furniture like a sofa and upholstered chairs. Make sure to vacuum and deep clean the upholstered surfaces with water-based cleaning solvents by rubbing and wiping them to remove stains.

It is also necessary to declutter the showcases or shelves in the reception area that hold magazines, files, mementos, awards, office stationary items, etc. Clean and dust the items and organize them.

  • Restrooms

As we said earlier, restrooms usually need maximum attention in the daily janitorial cleaning checklist for optimal hygiene maintenance and to prevent foul odors and germs from spreading. However, a few tedious restroom cleaning tasks come under the monthly cleaning janitorial checklist that should be taken care of to maintain the health and safety of your employees.

These include cleaning the vents of the washrooms, scrubbing the floors and lower portions of the walls to remove stains and tile grouts, and disinfecting the surfaces of doors and windows.

  • Cafeteria and kitchen

In the cafeteria and kitchen section, focus on scouring the floors to remove tough stains and make the area impeccably neat. Wipe the surfaces of tables and kitchen tops and polish them to give them a gleaming finish. 

Now, this one is a must-have! Clean the chimney and its ducts to ensure the air in the kitchen and adjacent cafeteria section is refreshing and hygienic enough for the employees to enjoy their meals.

  • Office bay

The monthly janitorial cleaning checklist should also comprise some of the intensive tasks in the office bay, which are elementary for maintaining a spotless and healthy atmosphere for your team. First is the deep cleaning of AC vents and ducts with the help of a professional cleaning crew. This results in cleaner airflow and incessant circulation in the room, ensuring proper temperature regulation and quality of the environment.

Many employees hoard snack items in their drawers. While they may act responsibly and keep their drawers organized and clean, your monthly routine is to empty and tidy their drawers, remove bits of paper or food remnants, and spray disinfectants to keep away mites. Also, dust and wipe the plant pots and decorative accessories that many employees keep at their desks to personalize their workstations and spur a positive work environment.

  • Hallways, elevators, and staircases

When it comes to the common high-traffic areas such as hallways and stairs, the monthly cleaning routine involves dusting the top regions of walls and ceilings, lights, and other electrical fixtures in the ceiling. The halls and staircases also have large windows. Clean their glasses thoroughly using a commercial glass cleaning agent until they are sparkly clean.

Why Hire A Professional Cleaning Company for Your Janitorial Cleaning?

It goes without saying that commercial spaces' daily, weekly, or monthly cleaning routines are exhaustive and demanding. It is impossible and unmanageable for the general janitors of your office to take care of and administer each task.

Also, if you hand over entire office cleaning responsibilities to the janitors, they might do it hastily and miss out on any room or section of the workspace. And your office space will still miss that professional touch despite thorough cleaning.  Hiring a professional janitorial cleaning services in NYC specializing in office cleaning is a sensible decision. Here we will tell you why.

1. Equipped with essential cleaning tools and supplies

A specialized cleaning team has the necessary tools and supplies to ensure swift and meticulous cleaning of every area, surface, and thing in your office. As industry experts, they prepare a janitorial cleaning supplies checklist after carefully evaluating your commercial space's cleaning requirements.

Also, professionals keep track of the innovative methodologies, new tools, or cleaning agents emerging in the cleaning industry and invest in them to improve the quality of their services.

2. Adequately skilled staff

A professional cleaning agency in NYC has a pool of skilled cleaning staff who have been trained for hours on the requisite commercial cleaning methods and equipment. They also know the industry standards and office cleaning guidelines required for maintaining a sterling clean environment throughout your business space. Hence, hiring their services ensures your office gets top-quality cleaning results. 

In addition, a cleaning agency recruits its staff after thorough background verification, which assures your office premises are in absolute safe hands during the cleaning venture.

3. Janitorial cleaning checklist specific to your needs

The expert cleaners hired for your business will prepare a fully tailored commercial janitorial cleaning checklist covering all areas and aspects of office cleaning. They will consult with you to understand your cleaning needs, space, and office size and devise a checklist that perfectly caters to your needs.

They follow a comprehensive cleaning schedule for daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning of your office and ensure that it is maintained in a spotlessly clean and professional environment.

4. Superior results

The most prominent benefit of engaging experienced staff for routine cleaning is the excellent transformation of your office's appearance. In addition to addressing all the fundamental cleaning tasks, they take full charge of wearisome tasks like cleaning higher areas, vents, elevators, and glass surfaces outside the buildings. 

As a result, you can easily spot the difference in the look of your office after the cleaning procedures are completed. The workspace will appear bright and impeccably clean, showcasing a professional and welcoming environment to your business's employees, clients, and visitors.

5. Reduce environmental footprint

With a commercial cleaning company by your side and undertaking all major cleaning activities, you can subsequently reduce the environmental impact of your cleaning activities. After making considerable strides in the cleaning industry, they guarantee eco-friendly cleaning solutions and non-toxic agents that leave no ecological impact and keep your people safe in the office space.

Why You Should Hire Sterling Cleaning Services for Janitorial Cleaning?

Cleanliness is an inevitable part of any commercial space in New York City, necessary for ensuring the hygiene and welfare of employees, management staff, customers, and employers. While there is a long list of tasks that encompass the cleaning routine of an office or commercial space, it becomes burdensome for your janitors to look after every task.

A janitorial cleaning checklist is a handy tool that sets forth all the cleaning duties necessary to undertake daily, weekly, and once a month. The checklist is also a kind of guiding list for the professional cleaning crew that helps them clean every bit of your place intensively and efficiently without skipping anything. It lets them offer best-in-class cleaning services, optimizing your office space's professional appearance and hygienic level.

The use of a commercial janitorial cleaning checklist in NYC is also advocated because it enhances cleaning staff accountability, helps them gather data from office owners regarding scopes of improvement, and subsequently optimizes their cleaning schedule and procedures.

If you are looking for a trusted professional cleaning company in NYC that will deliver exceptional cleaning services following a comprehensive checklist, Sterling Cleaning Services is the one! It stands out as a distinguished agency with a highly trained cleaning squad that has gained a reputation in cleaning services. Contact their team today and discuss your janitorial requirements for scheduling a cleaning session at your office or commercial space!

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