House Cleaning Checklist for Employees (Free Template)
Clients notice when this week's cleaner does things differently from last week's. This checklist is for cleaning company owners who send staff into private homes and want the same result in every house. It works top to bottom and dry to wet, room by room, the way experienced cleaners do it, and ends with a walk-through so nothing is left for the client to point out.
Free, no sign-up. Edit it, print it, share it with your team.
What you'll need
- Client notes and access details
- Microfiber cloths in separate colors
- Vacuum and mop
- All-purpose, bathroom and glass cleaners
The checklist
Read the client's notes before you go in.
Pets, the alarm code, rooms to skip, products they don't want used and anything fragile.
Walk through the home and look for damage before you start.
Take a photo and tell the office if something is already broken.
Watch out: Report existing damage before you clean, or it looks like you caused it.
Start in the room farthest from the exit.
So you never walk over floors you've already cleaned. Open windows if the client allows it.
Work top to bottom in each room.
Ceiling corners and light fixtures, then shelves and surfaces, then baseboards. Floors last.
Use a different color cloth for bathrooms, kitchens and other rooms.
Never use a bathroom cloth anywhere else.
Bathroom: Spray the toilet, shower and sink, and let the product work.
Follow the label for how long to leave it. Clean the mirror and counters in the meantime.
Bathroom: Scrub and rinse the shower and sink.
Dry the faucets and chrome so they don't spot.
Bathroom: Clean the toilet last, from the top down to the base.
Handle, lid, both sides of the seat, bowl, then the base and the floor around it.
Kitchen: Clean the counters, the sink and the outside of appliances.
Clean inside the oven or fridge only if the client booked it.
Bedrooms: Make the bed or change the sheets if the client asked.
Dust surfaces without moving personal items more than you need to.
Vacuum every room, including under any furniture you can reach.
Use the nozzle along edges and in corners.
Mop the hard floors, working back toward the exit.
Change the water when it gets cloudy.
Empty every trash can and put in a new liner.
Take the trash out where the client has asked you to.
Do a final walk-through of every room.
Look from the doorway the way the client will. Check mirrors, faucets and floors in good light.
Lock up and set the alarm.
Use the client's code and check that the door has locked behind you.
Report anything you couldn't do, and why, to the office.
Then the office can tell the client before they find out themselves.
How to adapt it
- Keep one checklist and add a client-specific step for each home's extras.
- Print the cloth color code and keep it in every vehicle.
- Have new cleaners shadow two homes before they clean alone.
- Ask clients to rate each clean so you can spot which steps get missed.
Turn this template into training your team will actually open
In ShowHow, your staff read each step on their phone, with photos, in their own language, and you see who has confirmed it. Start from this template or film yourself doing the job.
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