Cleaning specification template: a worked example you can copy and adapt

What is a cleaning specification, and why write one?

A cleaning specification is a document that describes the cleaning you're buying: areas, standards, tasks, frequencies, times, access, materials and checks. It gives every contractor the same job to price, and gives you something to measure the work against once the contract starts.

Without one, each contractor prices their own idea of the job. One includes carpet cleaning, another doesn't; one assumes you buy the toilet rolls. The prices differ because the jobs differ. A specification fixes three problems:

1. Comparable quotes. Everyone prices the same scope, so the differences you see are in price, hours and approach.
2. A shared standard. When a toilet isn't stocked or a periodic job is missed, you point to the line that says it should have been.
3. Fewer gaps. Writing it down shows up the jobs nobody owns: the fridge, the sanitary bins, the entrance mat, the high ledge above reception.

It isn't the contract. The contract covers term, notice, price reviews and service credits; the specification is the schedule of work it refers to. Keeping them apart lets you change a frequency without reopening the legal terms.

The law doesn't give you a task list. In Great Britain, regulation 9 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 requires the workplace and its furniture, furnishings and fittings to be kept sufficiently clean, and HSE's code says frequency and standard depend on the nature of the business. Your specification turns that into something a contractor can price.

Output or input specification: which should you use?

An input specification lists tasks and how often to do them. An output specification describes the standard the area must meet and leaves the method to the contractor. Most buyers do best with a hybrid: output standards for every area, plus minimum frequencies for the tasks that carry hygiene risk.

The hybrid covers both weak spots: you audit the output standard, and minimum frequencies stop a bidder pricing low by assuming toilets need cleaning twice a week.

Write output standards you can check by looking. "Clean" isn't checkable; "no visible dust, smears or debris on surfaces up to 2 metres" is.

What goes in a cleaning specification template?

Nine parts: site details; service times and access; the area schedule with standards and frequencies; periodic tasks; consumables and supplies; exclusions and who else cleans; quality checks and KPIs; staffing and compliance information you want from bidders; and a price return form.

The worked example below follows these nine parts in order. Copy the headings into a document and replace the example details with yours.

The example building used throughout. These are assumptions for illustration, not a typical site: a two-storey single-occupier building; up to 40 people on site, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm; two washroom blocks with 6 WCs and 4 basins in total; one staff kitchen and one tea point; a reception; 3 meeting rooms; open-plan desks; carpet on the upper floor and vinyl on the ground floor; no catering, no clinical areas and no children on site.

For a room-by-room task list, use the office cleaning checklist. This template works one level up: area types with a standard for each, so it adapts to other premises.

Parts 1 and 2: how do you describe the site, times and access?

Give bidders the facts they need to estimate hours: floor area and plan, floor types, headcount and busy days, numbers of washrooms, kitchens and entrances. Then fix when cleaning can happen, how cleaners get in, and what security rules apply.

Say how many weeks a year you need cleaning. DfE's buying guidance for schools makes the same point: list the weeks, so every bidder prices the same number of visits. A year has 52.14 weeks (365 ÷ 7), so a five-day pattern with no closures is 5 × 52.14 = 260.7 visits; tell bidders which closure days to take off.

HSE lists cleaners as an example of lone workers and says risks must be managed before anyone works alone, including people contracted to work for you. You know the building, so put its hazards and rules in Part 2.

Part 3: how do you set out areas, standards and frequencies?

Group the building into area types, give each a written output standard, then list minimum frequencies only for the tasks that matter most. Use a simple frequency code (each visit, weekly, monthly) so every line reads the same way.

Frequency code: V = every routine visit; V2 = every visit plus a daytime check; W = weekly; F = fortnightly; M = monthly; Q = quarterly; 6M = every six months; A = once a year. Say which day weekly tasks fall on if it matters to you.

Three points make this part work:

• Agree what users do first. If staff are expected to clear desks or load the dishwasher, say so. Otherwise cleaners are paid to tidy, or nobody does it.
• Leave floors safe. HSE's guidance on slips says smooth floors should be left dry after cleaning, or people kept off until they are. Put that in the standard for any wet-cleaned floor.
• Washrooms first. Toilets and the rooms containing them must be kept clean and orderly, and washing facilities must have soap and a means of drying hands (regulations 20 and 21). That's why washrooms carry the tightest frequency.

Parts 4 and 5: how do you specify periodic tasks and consumables?

List every periodic task with a frequency, an area and whether it's in the main price or priced separately. Then set out a simple responsibility table for consumables, chemicals, equipment, storage and utilities, so nothing is assumed.

A price per occasion for separately priced items lets you compare them and add or drop them later. External windows are often a separate trade: regulation 16 of the Workplace Regulations requires windows and skylights to be capable of being cleaned safely, and HSE's guidance calls for suitable provision where they can't be cleaned from the ground.

COSHH requires employers to plan, manage and monitor the use of hazardous substances, which include products classed as corrosive or irritant. Asking for the contractor's COSHH assessments and safety data sheets in Part 5 means they're on site from day one.

Parts 6 and 7: how do you set exclusions, KPIs and response times?

List what the contractor does not clean and who does, so boundaries are clear. Then choose a few measurable KPIs, such as audit scores against your output standards, response times, periodic tasks completed on schedule and hours delivered, and say how and how often you'll measure them.

Keep KPIs few and measurable. Hours delivered is the one buyers forget, and the most direct check that you get the labour you pay for.

Don't copy numeric targets from another sector without thinking. NHS England's National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025 set target audit scores by risk category, from 98% for the highest-risk areas down to 75% for the lowest. Those were built for healthcare. Elsewhere, set targets you can defend and agree what pass and fail mean before the first audit. What happens when targets are missed (service credits, rectification) belongs in the contract, not the specification.

Parts 8 and 9: what should bidders tell you, and how should they price?

Ask every bidder for the same information in the same format: hours per visit and per week, the wage basis, supervision, training, insurance and absence cover, then a price split into routine cleaning, consumables and each periodic task. A fixed price return form is what makes quotes line up.

Why ask for hours and wage? Because they let you check the price makes sense. The National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026. If a bidder quotes 3 hours a visit for the example building, that's 3 × 260.7 = 782.1 hours a year. Wages alone at £12.71 are 782.1 × £12.71 = £9,940.49 a year, before holiday pay, employer NI, pension, supervision, materials or profit. A routine-cleaning price at or below that figure can't be delivering the hours quoted. (The 3 hours is an assumption for the arithmetic, not a recommendation; your site's hours depend on your specification.)

For how quotes are built and checked against the wage floor, see the office cleaning cost guide and the cost calculator.

How does a cleaning specification differ for healthcare, schools and food premises?

The nine-part structure stays the same, but each sector adds its own rules. Healthcare specifications follow the NHS cleanliness standards' risk categories and responsibility schedule. School specifications add term and holiday patterns and safeguarding. Food premises build on a written cleaning schedule of methods, chemicals, equipment and frequency.

Healthcare (GP surgeries, clinics)

• NHS England's 2025 standards require a local schedule of cleaning responsibilities listing every item and who cleans it, because patient equipment can fall between clinical staff and cleaners. Add this to Part 6.
• Areas are given a functional risk category, which sets frequency, audit frequency and target score. Replace the area types in Part 3 with risk categories.
• The standards name five types of clean (full, spot, check, periodic and touch point clean), which can replace the frequency code.

The standards don't name GP practices, so read GP surgery cleaning before deciding how far to adopt them.

Schools (England)

• DfE's buying guidance suggests specifying the number of weeks of cleaning and whether periodic or non-routine cleaning is needed. Part 2 lists term-time weeks, inset days and holiday weeks separately.
• Periodic work moves into holidays, often a summer deep clean (Part 4).
• Keeping children safe in education 2026 says schools should set out safeguarding requirements in the contract, and contractors' staff need the appropriate level of DBS check. Add this to Part 8.

More in school cleaning.

Food premises (kitchens, cafes, food production)

• The Food Standards Agency's Safer Food, Better Business pack asks caterers to write down a cleaning schedule: for each item, how it's cleaned, which chemicals and how to use them, which equipment, and how often. That's an input specification by design, and it suits food areas.
• Some specialist equipment has manufacturer dismantling and cleaning instructions that should be followed; reference them in Part 3.
• Kitchen extract ductwork is specialist work with its own standard; keep it out of the general specification. See kitchen extract cleaning.

What are the most common mistakes in a cleaning specification?

Vague standards nobody can audit, periodic work with no frequency, consumables nobody owns, no visit count, and asking for a price without asking for hours. Each one leaves room for quotes to differ for reasons that have nothing to do with value.

• Copying a generic list. Walk your own site first; a borrowed list prices tasks you don't need and misses ones you do.
• Standards you can't check. "To a high standard" can't be audited. Describe what you'll look for.
• No visit count. Bank holidays and closure weeks change the number of visits a year. State them.
• Unpriced periodic work. Without frequencies, one bidder includes carpet cleaning and another leaves it out.
• Grey areas. Fridges, sanitary bins, IT equipment, shared areas: name an owner for each.
• Price without hours. You can't check a quote against the wage floor, or check delivery, without hours.
• Never updating it. Headcount, hybrid working and room use change. Review the specification at least once a year and when the building changes.

Changing contractor? The specification doubles as the handover document for the new one, and existing cleaners may transfer under TUPE.

Related guides

Cleaning specification template: frequently asked questions

Sources

We checked the facts on this page against these sources on 13 November 2026:

• Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, regulation 9
• HSE: Workplace health, safety and welfare (L24) Approved Code of Practice
• UKHSA: Health protection in children and young people's settings: preventing and controlling infections
• DfE: Buying for schools: cleaning services
• NHS England: National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025
• FSA: Safer food, better business for caterers
• Procurement Act 2023, section 56

This guide is general information for UK organisations, not legal, health and safety, infection control or employment advice. Business Cleaning Hub is an independent guide. We don't provide cleaning services ourselves. If you ask us to, we'll put you in touch with one commercial cleaning company from our partners that covers your area.

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