The Ultimate Cleaning Checklist: 24 Downloadable Templates

The Ultimate Cleaning Checklist: 24 Downloadable Templates

What kind of cleaning checklist do you need? You should find it here!

We took the time to find a list of more than 250 cleaning checklist terms, then narrowed those down to 24 groups. We’re giving you free access to more cleaning checklists than anyone has ever tackled. For ease of use, I’d suggest starting by choosing the type of cleaning checklist you need out of the following categories.

You can download any or all of the free cleaning checklist templates as either:

  1. A free printable cleaning checklist pdf
  2. A free printable cleaning checklist spreadsheet

Download the zip file with all the spreadsheets and pdf versions below.

Starting a Cleaning Business Checklist

For those looking for a startup checklist, we wrote a blog that goes into detail about the following steps. It has a checklist for cleaning company activities:

  1. Planning steps
  2. Naming steps
  3. Business formation steps
  4. Financial tools
  5. Insurance needs
  6. Equipment required
  7. Selecting software
  8. Marketing setup
  9. Supply lists for 15 types of cleaning companies

Download the cleaning business startup checklist pdf to get the whole list of steps to start a cleaning company.

Cleaning Supply Checklist

This cleaning supply checklist is from our first interview with Christopher Mondragon, the CEO of Bumble Bee Cleaning Services (formerly Queen Bee). Check out the interview below.

You’ll need the following cleaning products to be able to effectively clean homes and businesses

You should also take the time to read our cleaning supplies checklist blog. It will help you find high-quality products used by the various cleaning supply companies we have interviewed. Read about cleaning supplies .

Get our cleaning supply checklist with links to our all-time favorite products. Just input your email below and we’ll send the downloadable pdf to you.

How Thoroughly Are You Cleaning?

You’ll need different cleaning checklists depending on how well you are trying to clean. We’ve separated the cleaning checklist options into five categories:

  1. Basic cleaning
  2. House cleaning
  3. Deep cleaning
  4. Professional cleaning
  5. Hoarder cleaning checklist

Each cleaning list will include all of the tasks in the previous categories plus new tasks.

Levels of cleanliness infographic

Basic Cleaning Checklist

If you’re cleaning homes where people handle their own basic straightening like doing the laundry and washing the dishes, you’ll probably want to offer the following services. These are also some cleaning tasks that family members will want to do when they clean the house.

Download our editable printable basic house cleaning pdf below.

House Cleaning Checklist

Most housekeepers will perform the following tasks when cleaning a house.

Download our free printable house cleaning checklist pdf below. It’s the perfect residential cleaning checklist for housekeeper services.

Deep Cleaning Checklist

In addition to the housekeeping cleaning checklist, you will probably want to deep clean a home several times a year. That’s why we made a professional deep cleaning house checklist. We’ve organized the deep cleaning checklist by room type to make it easier to make sure your whole house is clean. The checklist for deep cleaning an entire home includes:

This is the perfect deep cleaning checklist for housekeeper cleaning services or families that want to deep clean their homes. You can download the printable pdf for cleaning the whole house below or just download the room(s) you need to clean.

Deep cleaning kitchen checklist

Deep cleaning kitchen checklist

The professional kitchen deep cleaning checklist pdf includes:

Download your printable deep cleaning kitchen checklist pdf below.

Deep cleaning bedroom checklist

Deep cleaning bedroom checklist

The bedroom deep cleaning checklist includes tasks that professional cleaners and families do when they are performing a deep clean on a bedroom. In addition to the items that should be done throughout the house, you’ll want to take special care to perform the following tasks.

Download your printable bedroom deep cleaning checklist pdf below.

Deep cleaning bathroom checklist

The bathroom deep cleaning checklist includes:

Download your printable deep cleaning checklist pdf for bathrooms below.

Deep cleaning living room checklist

Living room deep cleaning checklist

If you need a free deep cleaning checklist for a living room, check out the one below. In addition to the basic and housekeeping cleaning checklist, you’ll also need to:

Download your printable living room deep cleaning checklist pdf below.

Deep cleaning checklist for outside the home

Outside the home deep cleaning checklist

If you offer cleaning services for the exterior of buildings, you might want the deep cleaning service checklist for outdoors. It includes:

Check out the printable deep cleaning checklist for outside homes.

Full House Professional House Cleaning Checklist Printable

The professional house cleaning checklist is perfect for making sure your housekeepers don’t miss anything while cleaning your customer’s property. This includes all the services you offer customers. We have created both an editable, printable checklist and a spreadsheet to make it easy for you to create a custom checklist for your teams to use at each customer’s house.

Residential Cleaning Professional House Cleaning Checklist Printable

Download the professional house cleaning checklist spreadsheet template

Hoarder Cleanup Checklist

To clean out a hoarder’s house requires extensive manpower even before you start cleaning. You’ll need to perform the following checklist:

  1. Expect the full process to take at least a week or two, but it may be much longer with a smaller team or if someone is living in the space.
  2. Get trained on hazardous waste removal if you aren’t already.
  3. Buy Hazmat suits and Clorox Pro Electrostatic Cleaners .
  4. Develop a plan to help people process the changes taking place as a result of cleaning activities.
  5. Get specialists involved for tasks you don’t have experience with, including mold remediation, pest control, and junk removal.
  6. You may also want a psychologist to help with the emotional aspects of the project.
  7. Order a temporary dumpster or have a vehicle that can haul large amounts of waste to the dump.
  8. Bring a full box of heavy-duty trash bags to remove all trash.
  9. Create a staging area to determine what to keep and what to toss.
  10. Start with the bathroom (if accessible).
  11. Remove all trash.
  12. Check everything for valuables. People will be upset if they lose meaningful items.
  13. Place trash in a dumpster or trailer to be hauled.
  14. Remove all furniture.
  15. Have a refurbishing specialist inspect and repair any furniture that can be repaired.
  16. Perform pest control.
  17. Have a professional home inspector evaluate what needs to be repaired and replaced.
  18. Remove and replace carpeting and any property that is beyond repair.
  19. Perform the deep house cleaning checklist.
  20. Spray the whole house with electrostatic cleaners.

Cleaning Checklists By Room

In addition to the deep cleaning checklist by room, you’ll also want a basic cleaning checklist for each room. We’ve included a:

Restroom Cleaning Checklist

Woman cleaning the bathroom

A cleaning company should include the following tasks in their cleaning restroom checklist:

You’ll also want to include a space for notes, pictures, and who cleaned the room for documentation purposes.

Notes: _____________________________________________ _______ _____________________________________________ _____________ __________________________________________________________

Attach pictures here if using an electronic format:

Download the printable restroom cleaning checklist pdf below.

Bedroom Cleaning Checklist

Woman fixing the bedsheet

A bedroom cleaning checklist for a cleaning company will commonly include:

Don’t forget a space for notes, pictures, and who cleaned the space.

Download the printable bedroom cleaning checklist pdf below.

Teenage Bedroom Cleaning Tips Checklist

You may want to charge extra to clean a teenager or messy adult’s room(s). The room(s) may be harder to clean because of clothes and other stuff on the floor. While the cleaning checklist will be the same, the room may require work that is somewhere between a first-time clean and a hoarder cleanup. Take some extra precautions before bidding on cleaning messy people’s rooms including:

  1. Request pictures of each room in the house before estimating the cleaning fee.
  2. Have an excessive mess fee for rooms that are not organized.
  3. Make sure to bring gloves. There might be things you don’t want to touch with your skin.

Next, let’s look at the living room cleaning list.

Living Room Cleaning Checklist

Young woman cleaning the living room table

You’ll want to perform the following tasks when cleaning a living room.

Don’t forget a space for notes, pictures, and who cleaned the space.

Download the printable living room cleaning checklist pdf below.

Residential Kitchen Cleaning Checklist

Woman cleaning the kitchen

When you are cleaning a kitchen, you’ll want to make sure to include the following tasks in your cleaning checklist for residential kitchens.

Don’t forget a space for notes, pictures, and who cleaned the space.

Download the printable kitchen cleaning checklist pdf below.

Cleaning Tips Based on Frequency of Cleaning

A professional cleaning checklist will vary depending on how frequently your cleaning business cleans the location. You’ll probably need a separate printable cleaning checklist template for:

  1. First Time Cleaning
  2. Daily Cleaning
  3. Weekly Cleaning
  4. Monthly Cleaning
  5. Quarterly Cleaning

New House Cleaning Checklist

New house cleaning checklist

Your new house cleaning checklist should be virtually identical to the home deep cleaning checklist. You’ll want to include:

This is a much longer residential cleaning checklist than the daily cleaning checklist, which we’ll discuss next.

Printable Daily Cleaning Checklist Template

Printable daily cleaning checklist

A daily cleaning checklist should make it easy to keep a space clean every day. We have created one for homes because most businesses will normally require more intense cleaning on a daily basis. This is primarily for homeowners and renters of apartments, but it can also be used for live-in maids, nannies, and other people that work in a wealthy family’s home on a daily basis. Make sure to do the following on a daily basis:

  1. Make beds.
  2. Collect laundry from bathrooms and bedrooms.
  3. Do laundry.
  4. Wash dishes.
  5. Collect trash and take it outside.
  6. Remove tracked in dirt.
  7. Remove marks from shoes on floors.
  8. Change light bulbs if they have burned out.

If you feel overwhelmed trying to keep your home clean, download our printable daily cleaning checklist pdf below.

House Cleaning Weekly Checklist

Weekly house cleaning checklist

A weekly cleaning checklist should be used to maintain a clean home on a regular basis. I have five brothers and sisters, so my mom needed to get the whole family involved in the weekly house cleaning checklist. Our cleaning routine checklist included:

  1. Start in one room.
  2. Dust furniture.
  3. Make bed(s).
  4. Pick up toys.
  5. Change trash bags.
  6. Put any dirty clothes in the laundry room to clean.
  7. Vacuum wall-to-wall carpeting.
  8. Spot mop.
  9. Move to the next room.
  10. Repeat for each room.

As an adult, you’d probably want to include the bathroom cleaning checklist, too.

Download the printable weekly cleaning checklist pdf below.

Monthly Cleaning Checklist

You’ll also have tasks that you want to do monthly.

The next checklist is for making sure you keep your routine.

Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Cleaning Checklist

Daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning checklist

This combines the daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning checklist into a calendar view checklist so you can mark off what you’ve done each day. You might want to give this to anyone you know who needs an ADHD cleaning checklist because it can help keep them on track with their housework.

Download the cleaning checklist Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Cleaning Checklist Printable below.

Commercial Cleaning Checklist

A commercial cleaning checklist template will be different for each type of business. We’ve created a checklist for cleaning businesses that service:

Let’s start with the restaurant cleaning checklist.

Printable Restaurant Kitchen Cleaning Checklist

A cleaning checklist for restaurants will include two areas, the front-of-house (dining area and restroom) and the back-of-house (the kitchen, break room, and office). Each will require special considerations due to the frequency of traffic and activity in the areas.

Restaurant Dining Room

Restaurant dining room cleaning checklist

Restaurants have some unique cleaning requirements for their dining rooms. This checklist is meant for both cleaning companies and restaurant staff that will need to clean the dining room on a regular basis. You’ll need to:

Download our commercial dining room cleaning checklist for business owners below.

Restroom Cleaning Checklist for Businesses

Restaurant restroom cleaning checklist

For most businesses restrooms, you’ll want to:

Download our printable bathroom cleaning checklist template for businesses below.

Restaurants Cleaning Checklist for Kitchens

A commercial kitchen will need daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning.

Cleaning Business Kitchens Daily Checklist

Cleaning business kitchen cleaning checklist

Commercial kitchens will need to perform the following tasks daily:

Download our daily commercial kitchen cleaning checklist.

Weekly Commercial Kitchen Cleaning Checklist

Weekly cleaning for commercial kitchens includes:

Download the weekly cleaning tasks for a restaurant kitchen below.

Commercial Kitchen Monthly Cleaning Tasks

You’ll want to perform the following tasks monthly:

Dirty ice machine maker

Download the pdf and spreadsheet checklists for monthly commercial kitchen cleaning.

Post-Construction Cleaning Checklist PDF

Construction cleanup is needed after a building is built or remodeled. The processes are normally similar for every kind of building, but some will have special requirements. Make sure to ask the client for their standards and procedures before estimating. Cleaning tasks after construction include:

Download our new construction house cleaning checklist below.

Airbnb Cleaning Checklist

Our vacation rental cleaning checklist includes:

1. Inspecting the house for:

2. Performing the following tasks in each bedroom:

3. Performing the following tasks in each bathroom:

4. You’ll also want to perform the following tasks for the living room, dining room, and kitchen.

Don’t forget to do the following before you leave:

We discuss the Airbnb cleaning checklist pdf in more detail in the blog about Airbnb cleaning , or watch the video about rental move-out cleaning below.

Excited about the prospects! Download our vacation rental cleaning checklist pdf below:

Find the Checklist You Needed?

Now you have a checklist for home and commercial cleaning. We hope to add to this list in the future. What cleaning checklist would you like to see us add to the page?

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Our lead writer, Brandon Boushy, has been a business consultant, business owner, and marketer since 2017. Brandon is committed to the pursuit of knowledge and continuous improvement. He measures his success based on how many business owners he helps succeed. Brandon started Raising Daisy Photography in 2017 with Stephanie MacIver. His role was focused on marketing, estimating, and managing customer interactions. He is also a freelance business researcher and has provided over 3,800 hours of business research for more than 50 clients. His blogs are read by over 2 million people every year. Brandon told us: "My motto is never quit learning. I bring this motto to everything I do, and find writing the best way to help share the data I obtain to assist business professionals pursue their dreams." He empowers companies to improve their communication and brand awareness through creative content strategies and blog writing.

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