Condo and strata common area cleaning checklist
A resident forms an opinion of the building four times before they reach their own door: the entry glass, the lobby floor, the elevator cab, and the corridor outside their unit. This checklist follows that path in order, with the specific pass and fail criteria at each stop. Strata buildings with a parkade and exterior common property get a second list further down.
Condo common areas fail differently from commercial space. An office tenant sees the same twenty square metres every day and notices decline slowly. A resident walks the entire public route of the building twice a day, often carrying something, often in poor light, and notices everything at close range. Hand marks on glass, a smear on a stainless elevator panel, a lint line along the corridor baseboard: none of these would register in a warehouse and all of them generate emails here.
The checklist is grouped by that route rather than by cleaning discipline. It ends with the trash rooms and chute areas, which are the areas most often cleaned last, least often inspected, and responsible for a disproportionate share of complaints.
Front Entry and Vestibule
- Exterior door glass clean on both faces with no smears at hand height
- Door hardware, push plates and kick plates polished, no dulling film
- Vestibule mat lifted and the floor beneath cleaned, not just vacuumed on top
- Grit removed from door tracks and the threshold channel
- Buzzer panel, camera lens and keypad wiped, digits readable
- Ceiling corners and light fixtures free of cobwebs and insect debris
- No salt residue or tracked-in staining on the entry floor in winter months
Lobby and Seating Areas
- Hard floor damp-mopped to the wall line with no haze under overhead lighting
- Baseboards free of mop splash and vacuum scuffing
- Feature wall, art frames and mirrors clean with no streaking off axis
- Seating wiped including arms, backs, undersides and legs
- Side tables, ledges and window sills dusted, glass tops fingerprint-free
- Planters clean, no dead leaves or debris in the soil surface
- Waste receptacle emptied, liner fitted neatly, exterior wiped
- Air quality neutral, no lingering chemical or musty odour
Mail, Parcel and Package Room
- Mailbox faces wiped, no dust ledge along the top of the bank
- Floor vacuumed or mopped including under the mail bank and the sorting counter
- Discarded flyers and packaging cleared, recycling bin emptied
- Parcel shelving wiped and free of loose tape and label backing
- Parcel locker screens and touch panels cleaned and functional
- Counter surface clear, no accumulated abandoned items
Elevators and Elevator Lobbies
- Cab floor cleaned to the door line, corners free of grit
- Door tracks vacuumed out, no debris blocking the channel
- Stainless panels and doors polished with the grain, no cloudy patches
- Buttons, braille plates and handrails cleaned as touchpoints, not just dusted
- Cab ceiling, vent grille and light diffuser free of dust
- Cab mirror streak-free when viewed from the entry angle
- Elevator lobby on every floor vacuumed, call panel and surround clean
Residential Corridors and Stairwells
- Carpet vacuumed edge to edge including tight against unit doors
- Carpet edges and corners free of the lint line a vacuum head cannot reach
- Unit doors, frames, numbers and peepholes free of dust and marks
- Corridor walls spot-cleaned at cart, stroller and handrail height
- Corridor lighting lenses and sprinkler escutcheons free of dust
- Stairwell treads and landings swept, corners clear of debris
- Stairwell handrails wiped along the top and the underside
- No resident items, mats or shoes left in the corridor without being reported
Amenity Rooms
- Gym equipment touchpoints, handles and screens wiped, sanitising wipes stocked
- Gym floor cleaned including under and behind equipment where accessible
- Gym mirrors checked at a 45 degree angle for hand marks and haze
- Party or lounge room reset to the standard layout, surfaces cleared and wiped
- Amenity kitchen counters, sink and appliance fronts clean, fridge free of abandoned food
- Amenity washrooms stocked and cleaned to full restroom standard
- Guest suite turned over as contracted, no previous occupant traces
- Roof deck or terrace furniture wiped and set upright, deck swept and drains clear
Trash Rooms and Chute Areas
- Chute intake door, handle and surrounding wall cleaned on every floor
- Trash room floor washed, no residue or leachate under the bins
- Bins wiped, lids closed, returned to marked positions
- Recycling and organics signage clean, current and visible
- Floor drain flushed with clean water, no odour at the door line
- Overflow reported to management rather than redistributed
General checks (site-wide)
- Every floor of the building visited, not only the floors near the elevator core
- Burned-out lighting, damage and graffiti reported with the floor and location noted
- Previous deficiencies verified as fixed before the new inspection is scored
- Service log initialled with date and time on completion
- Janitor closet left tidy, chemicals labelled, mop heads hung to dry
- No wet floor left without signage
How often to inspect
| Daily | Entry glass, lobby floor, elevator cabs, mail room, trash room floor, waste removal |
| Weekly | Full corridor vacuum on every floor, stairwells, amenity rooms, chute intake doors |
| Monthly | High dusting, corridor spot-cleaning pass, elevator track detail, roof deck and terrace |
| Quarterly | Corridor and lobby carpet extraction, light diffuser cleaning, hard floor restoration where scheduled |
What inspectors actually check
Stainless, with the grain and under the light
Pass: elevator panels and doors show an even finish with no cloudy patches when you stand off to one side. Fail: circular buffing marks, or a greasy film that only shows up at an angle. Stainless wants to be wiped along the grain, not in circles, and a general-purpose spray left sitting on it is usually what causes the film in the first place.
Door tracks in the elevator cab
Pass: the track channel is clear enough that you can run a finger along it and pick up nothing. Fail: compacted grit and hair packed into the channel. Clearing it takes a crevice tool and about thirty seconds, and almost nobody does it, since it hides below eye level where a quick walk-through never looks.
The mat, lifted
Pass: the floor under the entry mat is as clean as the floor beside it, and the mat lies flat with no curled edge. Fail: a clean mat sitting on a ring of grit that built up underneath it. Lift the mat during the walk-through rather than trusting what's visible around its edges, especially in winter, when a curled corner in a wet vestibule turns into a trip hazard fast.
Amenity rooms and the turnover problem
Amenity spaces break the daily rhythm. A party room booked on Saturday night has to be reset before Sunday morning, and a gym is busiest exactly when the crew is not there. The workable answer is to score amenity rooms against a defined reset state rather than against a cleaning frequency: photograph the standard layout once, attach it to the site record, and inspect against the photograph. That removes the argument about whether the room was left correctly.
If your building has a large parkade, storage and bike rooms, and exterior common property, add the strata common property list below. For restrooms in amenity areas, the commercial restroom cleaning checklist has the fixture-level detail. And if the same corridor complaints keep returning after every inspection, the problem is probably the loop, not the list. Building a quality control system covers how to close it.
Strata cleaning checklist for common property
A strata building is judged in two places nobody writes a scope around: the parkade a resident drives through every morning, and the garbage room they visit at 9pm. An office has one tenant judging the work and one manager who owns the contract. A strata answers to several hundred residents, the person who signs changes with each council election, and the crew almost never hears any of it directly.
This list covers the whole of common property, with the vehicle and service areas that carry most of the complaints after front of house, then amenities and exterior. Score them separately. A building that passes on the lobby and fails on the garbage room usually has a routing problem, and the fix for that is different from retraining the crew.
Entrance, Lobby and Concierge
- Entry glass and door frames free of hand marks on both faces, including the push plate
- Entry mats lifted, underside and floor beneath cleaned, mats laid flat with no curled edge
- Lobby floor clean to the wall line and under seating, no mop splash on baseboards
- Directory board, buzzer panel and keypad wiped and legible
- Concierge or reception counter cleared, dusted, no product residue
- Lobby furniture, planters and ledges dusted, including undersides and legs
- Light fixtures and ceiling vents free of visible dust and cobwebs
- Posted notices current, bylaw and fire signage clean and unobstructed
Corridors, Stairwells and Elevators
- Corridor carpet vacuumed edge to edge, including against unit doors and along baseboards
- Unit door frames, numbers and hardware free of dust and marks
- Corridor walls spot-cleaned at handrail and cart height
- Elevator cab floor, tracks and door channels free of grit and debris
- Elevator interior panels, buttons and mirrors polished with no streaking at eye level
- Elevator lobby call buttons and surrounding wall clean
- Stairwell treads, nosings and landings swept, no debris in corners
- Stairwell handrails wiped full length, no dust on the underside
- Exit doors, panic hardware and thresholds clean and clear
Parkade and Vehicle Areas
- Parkade floor swept in drive lanes and stalls, no accumulated grit at the perimeter
- Oil and fluid spots addressed or logged with location for degreasing
- Parkade stairwell and elevator lobby cleaned to the same standard as the residential floors
- Drains clear of debris, trench grates seated and free of build-up
- Bike room floor swept, no cobwebs in racks or corners
- Storage locker corridors swept, no dumped items left unreported
- Loading bay and visitor stalls free of litter and cardboard
- Parkade signage, mirrors and lighting lenses wiped and readable
- Cobwebs cleared from pipes, sprinkler lines and overhead structure
Garbage, Recycling and Service Rooms
- Garbage room floor washed, no leachate pooling under bins
- Bin exteriors and lids wiped, bins returned to their marked positions
- Chute intake doors and surrounding wall cleaned on every floor served
- Recycling stream signage clean, correct and visible above each bin
- Overflow and improperly sorted material reported, not simply relocated
- No odour at the door line, floor drain flushed with clean water
- Cardboard flattened or staged as the contract requires
- Service room and janitor closet organised, chemicals labelled and lidded
- Mop sink clean, mop heads hung to dry, no standing dirty water
Amenity and Shared Rooms
- Gym floor cleaned, equipment touchpoints and screens wiped, wipe dispenser stocked
- Gym mirrors streak-free when checked at an angle, no chalk or hand marks
- Party or meeting room reset to its standard layout after use
- Guest suite and washroom cleaned to turnover standard, linens as contracted
- Mail and parcel room floor clear, no discarded packaging left overnight
- Amenity washrooms fully stocked, fixtures and floors to restroom standard
- Pool or spa deck surrounds swept and free of standing water where in scope
- Shared laundry lint traps cleared, machine tops and folding surfaces wiped
Exterior Common Property
- Entry approach, walkway and stair swept, no litter in landscape beds at the entry
- Exterior glass and entry canopy free of cobwebs and bird soiling
- Ash and butt receptacles emptied, surrounding pavement clear
- Patio, courtyard and amenity deck furniture wiped and set upright
- Exterior lighting lenses and address numbers clean and readable
- Garbage enclosure and gate area free of loose material
- Drains and catch basins at the entry clear of leaves and debris
General checks (site-wide)
- Service recorded with date, time and the name of the person on site
- Building damage, leaks, burned-out lighting and vandalism reported to the property manager the same visit
- Previous inspection deficiencies verified as fixed before new items are logged
- Access keys, fobs and codes accounted for at the end of the visit
- Equipment stored correctly and closets left secure
- No cleaning chemical left unattended in any common area
How often to inspect
| Daily | Lobby, entry glass, elevator cabs, garbage room floor, litter pick on the entry approach |
| Weekly | Full corridor vacuum, stairwells, amenity rooms, parkade stairwell and elevator lobbies, bin wash-down |
| Monthly | Parkade sweep, storage and bike room, high dusting, exterior furniture and enclosure detail |
| Quarterly | Corridor carpet extraction, light fixture and vent cleaning, drain flushing, full exterior common property detail |
The parkade perimeter
Pass: the grit line at the base of the walls and behind the wheel stops is gone, and the stall corners are as clean as the lane itself. Fail: a clean centre lane with a two-inch band of grit against every wall. Most ride-on sweepers cut the lanes and never touch the perimeter, because the walk-behind pass along the wall takes an extra ten minutes the schedule usually does not have.
The garbage room at the door line
Pass: no odour standing in the doorway, no liquid under the bins, and the floor drain flushed clean. Fail: a room that looks fine but smells, which almost always means leachate dried under a bin or a floor drain trap that ran dry. Move at least one bin before you score the room. A dry trap refills in under a minute with a jug of water.
Writing a scope that survives a council change
Most strata cleaning disputes start in the scope. The contract says the parkade is swept but not how often. It says amenity rooms are cleaned but not whether that includes resetting the party room after a booking. Two years later a new council reads the same document and reaches a different conclusion about what is owed.
Write a frequency next to every line, and keep the document the contractor is measured against identical to the document the inspector scores. If you are auditing an existing contractor, the janitorial vendor audit scorecard covers the contract, staffing and compliance side a cleaning checklist does not reach. If the decision has already been made, the switching cleaning companies checklist handles notice, access recovery and the first 90 days.
Common questions
What should a condo cleaner do daily versus weekly?
Daily: entry glass, lobby floor, elevator cabs, mail and parcel room, trash room floor, and all waste removal. Weekly: a full corridor vacuum on every floor, stairwells, amenity rooms, and the chute intake doors floor by floor. Monthly: high dusting, a corridor spot-cleaning pass, elevator track detail, and roof deck or terrace. Quarterly: carpet extraction in corridors and lobby, and light diffusers.
Why do residents complain about corridors that were just vacuumed?
Because the vacuum ran down the centre and the eye reads the edges. Carpet corners, the strip against unit doors, and the line along the baseboard hold lint that a standard vacuum head cannot reach without a deliberate edge pass. A resident standing at their own door is looking directly at the worst two feet of the corridor. Fix the edges and complaints drop even if nothing else changes.
How many floors should an inspection cover?
All of them, on a rotation you can defend. Inspecting the second floor and the penthouse every time trains the crew to clean those two floors. A workable pattern is a full pass on every floor weekly and a scored inspection that rotates through a different set of floors each visit, so no floor goes more than a month without being formally scored.
Who is responsible when a resident leaves items in the corridor?
The building, not the cleaner. A cleaner who moves personal property creates a liability problem, and one who cleans around it forever lets the corridor degrade. The right handling is to record it as a deficiency with a photograph and the unit location, and let management issue the notice. That is why the checklist has a line for it rather than leaving it to judgement.
What counts as common property for cleaning purposes?
Everything outside the unit doors that the strata corporation is responsible for: lobby, corridors, stairwells, elevator cabs, parkade, bike and storage rooms, garbage and recycling rooms, amenity rooms, and the exterior approach and entry. For borderline cases, ask whether a resident would complain to council about it rather than fix it themselves. If so, it belongs on the checklist.
How often should strata common areas be cleaned?
For most mid-rise buildings, the lobby, entry glass, elevator cabs and garbage room are daily. Corridors, stairwells and amenity rooms are weekly. The parkade sweep, storage and bike rooms, and high dusting are monthly. Carpet extraction, light fixtures and full exterior detail are quarterly. Go more often for high turnover, ground-floor retail or a busy amenity floor.
Who should inspect the cleaning: the council or the property manager?
The property manager, on a written cadence, with results going to council. Councils that inspect themselves end up with one volunteer walking the building at random times and scoring by mood. A dated record with a photograph on every failure gives council something firmer to decide on at renewal than whoever complained loudest at the last meeting.
The parkade is filthy but the contractor says it is not in scope. What now?
Read the scope of work rather than the proposal. Parkade sweeping is often priced as a monthly or quarterly line while residents judge it daily. If the scope does not name it, the contractor is technically right and the scope is the problem. Get a stated frequency written in and price it properly.
Is the PDF free to use in our building?
Yes. No email, no form. Download it, put your building name on it, and hand it to whoever walks the site.