Originally published in October 2021. Last updated on December 5, 2024.
House cleaning checklists help you and your team of cleaners provide consistently excellent service. They also prove to your clients that you’ve completed every task and left their homes sparkling clean.
Want to work more efficiently and amaze clients with the quality of your work? Use our house cleaning checklist templates and bonus tips to complete your cleaning jobs faster and more efficiently.
Or, keep reading to learn how to create and use your own professional house cleaning checklist.
Follow our guide to using a house cleaning checklist:
Why use a house cleaning checklist?
When you use a basic house cleaning checklist, you can:
- Look professional. Using a cleaning checklist and sharing it with customers makes your business seem more established and experienced.
- Stay organized. Your cleaning team can follow checklists to be more efficient and only spend time on relevant cleaning tasks.
- Improve accountability. If a cleaning job isn’t done right, you can look over your employees’ house cleaning list to see what they missed.
- Provide consistent cleaning service. When your employees use standardized to-do lists, they can maintain high-quality service on every job and reduce the chance of errors.
- Keep clients satisfied. A consistently high level of service keeps your clients happy, earns positive reviews, and helps you get repeat customers.
How to clean a house professionally
The tasks on your standard cleaning checklist start before you walk into the client’s home. Follow these tasks to keep your cleaning team and business organized:
1. Use basic cleaning checklists to plan for cleaning jobs
Having clients do their own decluttering will cut down on prep work and let you spend more time cleaning. Before a visit, send clients a decluttering to-do list with tasks like these:
- Put away fragile items
- Remove all clutter like paper, clothes, and anything that isn’t decor
- Empty all dishes out of the sink and dishwasher
Your team can also do an extra-thorough job when they have enough time to clean. Save your employees even more time by using this pre-cleaning checklist to prepare for each visit:
- Review your client’s profile for any special notes to remember while cleaning
- Send an appointment reminder to the client to confirm the date and time of the visit
- Make sure all cleaners are trained to complete every task on your cleaning checklist
Teach your employees how to clean.
If you’re doing all the cleaning in your business, physical burnout is going to set in, and then it’s hard to grow your business.
2. Organize your cleaning supplies
Before creating your detailed house cleaning checklist, make sure you have a shareable list of cleaning supplies that covers every room and every type of job.
Checking this list before you dispatch your team will ensure your cleaners never miss a sponge or spray bottle. Here’s a cleaning supplies list you can start with:
- Vacuum cleaner
- Broom and dustpan
- Bucket
- Extendable duster
- Rubber gloves
- Spray bottle
- All-purpose cleaner
- Glass cleaner
- Wood cleaner
- Furniture polish
- Disinfectant for germ-prone areas
- Microfiber cloths
- Microfiber mop for wood floors
- Toilet brush
- Sponges
- Paper towels
- Garbage bags
3. Create regular and deep cleaning checklists
Your clients’ house cleaning schedule will depend on what they need and can afford, but it’s best to offer at least two types of cleaning services: regular cleaning and deep cleaning.
Most of your clients are too busy to deep clean their homes. Deep cleaning gives you the chance to go the extra mile and complete all the tasks you normally don’t have time for.
It also makes your regular visits easier, so try to schedule additional deep cleaning every six months. You may need to educate your clients about why this cleaning service is important.
Create cleaning checklists using the job forms feature in Jobber. Attach your checklists to all recurring visits so your employees can access these checklists on their mobile devices during the job.
These checklists help your crew stay efficient, build a routine, and provide consistent service by giving them an order of rooms to follow.
They’ll also ensure your cleaners always start from the top down (e.g., furniture and countertops before floors) so that dust and dirt don’t fall onto surfaces they’ve already cleaned.
You can even share completed checklists with your clients to show off a job well done.
Pro Tip: Bring a checklist to your first walkthrough with a new client to make sure you capture all essential details. You can store the checklist in the client’s profile in your cleaning CRM.
My favorite Jobber feature is the checklist you can attach to the job.
It’s making us more consistent out in the field. It takes 10 minutes to create. Attach it to the job and it’s there forever.
Professional house cleaning checklists
Many cleaning services are unique, and no job is the same as another. But what is included in a basic house cleaning, and where should you begin?
We’ve compiled a “how to clean a house professionally” checklist for many different types of cleaning jobs. Use our basic cleaning checklist templates below to build your own checklists, based on what you offer and what your clients need:
Regular house cleaning tasks
- Dust all furniture, shelves, and decor
- Dust window ledges and blinds
- Dust lamps, light fixtures, and ceiling fans
- Dust baseboards
- Wipe down doors and doorframes
- Clean out all corners (top and bottom) for cobwebs
- Tidy shoe closets
- Vacuum all floors, carpets, rugs, and stairs
- Mop hard floors
- Clean glass surfaces
- Vacuum sofa and other upholstered furniture (remove cushions)
- Straighten pillows and linens
- Empty and replace wastebasket
Weekly cleaning checklist
- Vacuum floors and furniture
- Sweep all floors
- Mop kitchen and bathroom floors
- Dust furniture
- Change bedding
- Wipe down kitchen appliances
- Clean inside microwave
- Sanitize sponges
- Disinfect door knobs and light switches
The three key steps to ensuring a good cleaning job are scrub, shine, and look behind.
Deep cleaning checklist
A professional deep cleaning checklist should include all your general cleaning tasks, plus these extras:
- Clean and disinfect the inside of the oven, stove grates, and hood fan
- Wipe down the inside of the refrigerator
- Scrub inside the dishwasher
- Move and clean behind large appliances
- Wipe down ceiling fans
- Polish metal hardware
- Clean grout and soap scum from shower tiles
- Change bedsheets
- Wash windows (inside only)
- Deep clean carpets
- Wash shower curtain
- Wash or shampoo rugs
- Clean gutters
Move-out cleaning checklist
- Clean doors, walls, and shelves
- Dust baseboards, window sills, and shelves
- Dust closets
- Wipe interior and exterior of cabinets and drawers
- Sweep/vacuum and mop floors
- Remove cobwebs from all corners
- Replace burnt-out light bulbs
- Dust light fixtures
- Clean shower, tub, sinks, and toilet
- Clean laundry machines
- Remove nails and hooks from walls (and fill in holes, if possible)
- Spot clean walls
- Wash window sills and baseboards
- Remove carpet stains
- Wipe down and disinfect all countertops
Levels are really important when you’re cleaning a room.
You want to see things from the client’s perspective. What areas are they looking at? What dust and fingerprints can they see?
Monthly cleaning checklist
- Wipe baseboards
- Wash windows
- Clean blinds
- Dust and clean grime from ceiling fan blades
- Dust and vacuum air vents
- Wipe chair rails
- Wash blankets
- Wash mattress pads
- Deep clean kitchen appliances
- Clean out pantry
- Scrub tile grout
- Clean light fixtures
- Spot-treat carpet and upholstery
- Wipe down door frames
- Clean garage
- Clean laundry room and washing machine
- Clean out dryer vent
- Vacuum and wash rugs
- Clean trash cans
Cleaning checklist for Airbnb
- Wash and change bedsheets
- Wash towels and bathrobes
- Wipe down kitchen surfaces (countertops, appliances)
- Throw out leftover food in fridge
- Dust furniture and other surfaces
- Wipe down countertops
- Sweep/vacuum and mop floors
- Vacuum carpets and rugs
- Vacuum all sofas and underneath furniture
- Clean toilets, showers, and bathtubs
- Disinfect door knobs, light switches, and remote controls
- Take out all trash and replace garbage bags
Cleaning checklists by room
You’ll complete different cleaning tasks for each major room in the house. Use the checklists below to create your own cleaning list for a housekeeper and ensure every part of the house is properly cleaned:
Kitchen cleaning checklist
- Dust tops of kitchen cabinets and appliances
- Wipe down stovetop, countertops, and cabinets
- Clean microwave inside and out, including turntable
- Clean dishwasher
- Soak stove drip pans and knobs in sink
- Clean inside and around sink
- Clean and dry all appliance surfaces (dishwasher, oven, fridge, freezer, range hood)
- Shine stainless steel appliances (toaster, coffee maker)
- Clean stove drip pans, burner grates, and control knobs
- Clean and disinfect kitchen sink
- Wipe cupboard fronts, tables, and chairs
- Sweep/vacuum and mop floor
- Shake out and vacuum rugs
- Empty trash bins and replace garbage bags
Bathroom cleaning checklist
- Remove all dirty towels and washcloths
- Dust all surfaces, including light fixtures and decor
- Clean and disinfect shower, bathtub, and sinks (inside and out)
- Clean and disinfect toilet bowl, seat, lid, tank, flush handle, and base
- Clean and shine all mirrors, chrome, and tile
- Remove hair from bathtub drain and sink drain
- Wipe cabinet fronts, fixtures, and countertops
- Sweep/vacuum and mop floor
- Shake out and vacuum bath mat and other rugs
- Empty wastebasket and replace garbage bags
Close the toilet lid and sit on the toilet. See what the client sees from this spot.
Check inside the shower and also the countertops to see anything you may have missed.
Bedroom cleaning checklist
- Reposition furniture as necessary to vacuum (and move back when you’re done)
- Dust all furniture
- Vacuum floor, including closet
- Wipe down window sills
- Clean window coverings
- Clean mirrors and picture frames
- Return furniture to original position
- Make bed
Living areas cleaning checklist
- Dust from top to bottom with microfiber cloth
- Remove lint from all furniture
- Vacuum upholstered furniture and floor
- Clean picture frames
- Clean window coverings
- Wipe down light fixtures, switches, and outlets
- Dust and clean TV
- Clean coffee tables and end tables
- Clean fireplace and mantel
Window cleaning checklist
- Remove drapes or wipe down blinds
- Vacuum dust and debris from window frames
- Scrub window frames with sponge, soap, and water
- Dry window frames with microfiber cloth
- Remove and clean window screens
- Clean window tracks
- Clean exterior window glass
- Wipe exterior window frames clean
These house cleaning checklists are just a start. You can customize your lists by cleaning task instead of by room or create custom checklists for customers with pets, children, or allergies.
Think about the client perspective.
What would they want if they were having someone come into their home?
Learn from the pros
Want more tips on cleaning homes, using the right cleaning supplies, and growing your cleaning business? Kimberly Towers (The Red Rose) has you covered:
With these handy tips and cleaning checklists under your belt, you’ll be running a successful cleaning business in no time.