How often should a commercial facility be cleaned

Frequency is driven by occupancy and use rather than square footage. Medical and clinical space is generally cleaned daily, with disinfection of high-touch surfaces and exam areas after each business day. Standard office space is typically serviced three to five times per week, with restrooms cleaned daily regardless of the overall schedule. Retail is usually daily, timed before opening or after close. Schools are cleaned daily while in session. Warehouse and industrial space varies most: office areas inside the building follow an office schedule, while large floor areas are scrubbed anywhere from daily to weekly depending on traffic and dust load. Common areas in managed properties are typically serviced daily to three times weekly, often with day porter coverage layered on during business hours.

Janitorial service is scheduled cleaning performed to a task list, usually after hours, on a set frequency. A day porter is staffed coverage during business hours who handles restrooms, spills, lobby presentation, trash, and event turnovers as they happen. The distinction is timing and purpose: janitorial resets the building on a cycle, while a day porter keeps it presentable continuously while it is occupied. They are priced differently as well. Janitorial is typically priced per visit or per square foot, and a day porter is priced as staffed hours. Buildings with heavy daytime traffic, such as class A offices, medical waiting rooms, and shopping centers, frequently use both.

Across the US commercial cleaning market, recurring janitorial is typically quoted between $0.05 and $0.25 per square foot per visit, and roughly $0.10 to $0.30 per square foot per month for a standard office cleaned three to five times per week. Hourly rates commonly run $25 to $50 per cleaner per hour. The range is wide because price is driven by frequency, square footage, restroom count, floor type, and how much of the work is detail cleaning versus basic trash and vacuum. Larger buildings almost always cost less per square foot than small ones because fixed travel and setup time is spread across more area. These are industry reference ranges, not a Wexley quote. Accurate pricing requires a walkthrough and a written scope.

Medical facilities are cleaned under bloodborne pathogen protocols governed by the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030. In practice that means crews trained in exposure control, EPA-registered hospital-grade disinfectants used at the labeled contact time, color-coded microfiber to prevent cross-contamination between exam rooms and restrooms, and regulated medical waste handled separately from general waste. Contact time matters more than product choice: a disinfectant that is wiped dry before its labeled dwell time has not disinfected the surface. Documentation is the other half of the requirement. Cleaning logs should record what was cleaned, when, and by whom, because that record is what an inspection or accreditation review asks for.