Implementing a regular cleaning schedule in your office unlocks a wide range of benefits. This spans everything from ensuring legal compliance with office health and safety standards, to boosting employee morale and productivity.
If you’re looking to develop a cleaning schedule for your site, the first step of the process is determining how long it will take to clean your office.
However, if you’re not experienced in this field, this can definitely feel like a, ‘How long is a piece of string’ type of question.
So, to create a more accurate prediction for your office cleaning requirements – and understand what your schedule should include – check out our handy office cleaning guide below.

How long does it take to clean a commercial office?
The length of time required to clean a commercial office varies considerably, based on the tasks that are being tackled during that clean, and the size of the office.
But generally, cleaning an office of a standard size, and only undertaking the basic cleaning tasks (vacuuming, wiping surfaces, and surface-cleaning the kitchen and toilets) will take between 1-3 hours.
However, if your office is considerably larger than average, or a deeper clean is required, then this could take anywhere from 5 hours to a full day.
Following industry standards, a general office clean should occur once every 3-5 days a week (depending on how often your office is used, and what it is used for).
By adhering to this recommendation, you can minimise the time that each clean takes, as the cleaning requirements won’t be as extensive (as they would be if you only cleaned the office once a fortnight, for example).
Then, you should arrange a deep clean of the office on a routine basis, either monthly or quarterly.
What tasks should be included in your office cleaning schedule?
Multiple times a week:
- Disinfecting common touch points (such as door handles)
- Vacuuming and mopping
- Dusting
- Wiping surfaces
- A light kitchen clean
- Cleaning the toilets
- Removing rubbish
On a monthly or quarterly basis:
- Carpet cleaning
- Cleaning chairs or soft furnishings
- Cleaning walls
- Sweeping cobwebs
- Cleaning fridges, microwaves and kitchen appliances
- Deep cleaning computers, keyboards and other office equipment
- Cleaning the windows
What factors will influence how long it takes to clean your office?
- How often the office is cleaned
- The size of the office (more on this below)
- The number of employees
- The foot traffic of the office
- The scope of the work being conducted
- Whether you are cleaning the office yourself, or enlisting a professional cleaning company
- The cleaning equipment that is used (more on this below)
The size of the office
Generally speaking, professional cleaners estimate the time required to clean a standard office as around 1 hour per 3000 sqft. (However, more time is required for more challenging areas, or for tasks beyond those in a standard routine clean).
So, as you can imagine, the smaller the office, the less time required to clean it.
It’s also important to note that commercial cleaners can clean offices at a significantly faster rate than non-professional cleaners. So, if you have a larger office, then hiring a commercial cleaner will ensure that you are able to maintain this pace of cleaning, without compromising the quality of the end result.
The equipment that you use
One of the most effective ways to decrease the amount of time required to clean an office is to invest in high performance equipment, which is specially designed for office and commercial cleaning.
With more advanced equipment, you can dramatically reduce the time requirements for an office clean, while also improving the quality of the end result.
Maximising efficiency with commercial cleaning services
As you can see, when it comes to office cleaning, there are a lot of factors to manage!
By enlisting a professional commercial cleaning company for your daily office cleaning and routine cleaning schedules, you can ensure your office is cleaned as thoroughly and efficiently as possible.
With the skills and experience of a trained cleaning team, you can maintain high cleanliness and hygiene standards for your organisation. What’s more, you can also gain access to (and ensure the effective use of) the most advanced commercial cleaning equipment.
As a result, if time is an important consideration for you, the single best way to maximise the efficiency of your office cleaning schedule is to arrange commercial cleaning services from an accredited, fully qualified specialist.
At JMS Cleaning Services, our professional team have over 20 years of cleaning experience, and are trusted by offices throughout the country to offer comprehensive and dependable cleaning services.
To find out more about our office cleaning services, don’t hesitate to get in touch.