"How often do we actually need cleaners in?" is one of the first questions most facilities managers and office owners ask us — and it's a fair one. Too little cleaning and standards slip in front of clients and staff. Too much and you're paying for visits that don't add much. There's no single right answer, but there is a sensible way to work it out.
Start with footfall, not habit
The single biggest driver of cleaning frequency isn't the size of your office — it's how many people are moving through it each day, and what they're doing while they're there. A 20-desk office with a steady flow of client visitors needs a different schedule to the same size office with a small, settled team who mostly work from home two days a week.
A practical starting guide
| Site type | Typical frequency |
|---|---|
| Small office, low footfall, no client visits | 2-3 times per week |
| Standard office, regular staff on-site | 3-5 times per week |
| Client-facing office, reception or waiting area | Daily |
| Retail, medical or high-traffic public space | Daily, sometimes twice daily for washrooms |
| Warehouse or industrial site | Weekly, plus scheduled deep cleans |
| School or education setting | Daily during term time, deep clean in holidays |
The areas that need more attention than the rest of the office
Even on a lighter overall schedule, some areas genuinely do need daily attention regardless of general footfall:
- Washrooms — daily servicing is close to non-negotiable once you have regular staff or visitors on site
- Kitchens and breakout areas — food waste and spills don't wait for your scheduled clean day
- Reception and entrance areas — this is what clients and visitors judge the whole business on
- High-touch points — door handles, light switches and shared equipment, particularly during winter months
It's common for a site to run a hybrid schedule: daily attention to washrooms and high-touch areas, with the rest of the office on a three-times-weekly rota. This is usually more cost-effective than paying for a full daily clean of everything.
Signs your current frequency isn't right
You're probably under-cleaning if:
- Bins are visibly full before the next scheduled visit
- Staff have started doing their own washroom or kitchen cleaning between visits
- Dust is noticeably building up on surfaces by the day before cleaning
- You've had comments from clients or visitors about the state of communal areas
You're probably over-paying if:
- Cleaners are regularly finishing well within their allotted time with little to do
- The office looks essentially the same the day before a clean as the day after
- Nobody can remember the last time bins or washrooms were genuinely at capacity
Don't forget the deep clean
Regular cleaning keeps a site presentable day to day, but it isn't a substitute for periodic deep cleaning — carpets, hard floors, upholstery and areas that don't get touched on a standard visit. Most commercial sites benefit from a deep clean every 3-6 months, with more frequent deep cleans for washrooms, kitchens and high-footfall floor areas.
How we work this out with clients
We don't recommend a frequency before we've seen the site. A free site survey lets us look at footfall, layout, washroom count and what "clean" needs to look like for your business — then we put together a schedule that matches it, rather than defaulting to a generic daily or weekly visit because that's the easiest thing to quote.
Getting the frequency right is usually the difference between a contract that feels like value for money and one that feels like either an ongoing irritation or an unnecessary cost — and it's normally the first thing worth reviewing if a current contract doesn't feel right.