What Does A Professional Deep Clean Include?

David Whan • 13 April 2021

The level of cleanliness and hygiene required in a commercial business can vary depending on the nature of the operations, particularly if it is an industrial business or working in healthcare or the food industry, where specialist cleaning will be required. But in many commercial organisations such as offices, schools, retail and hospitality, a ‘deep clean’ is a service that fundamentally goes above and beyond the daily cleaning of visual areas and welfare facilities, and those areas that are most used or occupied.

Whilst all cleaning has important hygiene considerations, daily office cleaning, for example, can be about keeping an area tidy and workable from a practical standpoint. In commercial premises, ‘cleaning’ can be more about keeping a business looking and feeling professional. However, a deep clean is much more than that.

What is deep cleaning?

Deep cleaning is not a daily task or a general tidy-up, it is a cleaning process which removes dirt, dust and other types of grime and bacteria that can build up in different areas over a period of time.

Most businesses have areas which can be unseen or unused on a frequent basis, but these areas are still susceptible to dirt build-up, so this can be under, behind or on top of fixed or mobile items, and a deep clean requires these items to be moved so that full access can be gained, and a proper clean undertaken, which wouldn’t necessarily happen on a daily basis.

When should deep cleaning take place?

Usually a deep clean will take place after-hours, so that the cleaner can gain full access to areas without disrupting the normal flow of work. This is because they will need to move equipment, desks, cupboards etc to clean behind them in areas that are not ordinarily accessible.

It is up to each individual business how often they undertake a deep clean, but this should be done following a full risk assessment to help identify where controls and needs are sufficient. Ordinarily, a deep clean will be done over a weekend, during shutdown periods (Summer, Christmas or Easter holidays) or on a strict quarterly basis.

What is the aim of a deep clean?

Comprehensive cleaning: You are not just removing the top level of dust and dirt; you are getting to the core and the structure of your premises.
Non-visual cleaning: Cleaning the entire building, including elements that are not usually seen by the naked eye.
Health: Improving the health and welfare of your employees by reducing the build-up and spread of bacteria, mould and germs.
Productivity: Improving productivity by removing dust mites and allergens which can cause employees to feel drowsy and unproductive, which affects their working efficiency.
Identification: Sometimes by undertaking deep cleaning you can identify emerging health, safety and hygiene issues that otherwise would go undetected.

What is a typical deep cleaning checklist?

Usually this can be split up into two sections.

Dusting, cleaning and disinfecting hard-to-reach areas:

Under and behind desks
Behind radiators
Behind equipment such as photocopiers
On top of shelving or racking
On top of aircon units or vents
On top of window ledges
On top of TVs, monitors and CCTV cameras
On top of cupboards and cabinets

Extra cleaning and disinfecting of items and structure with specialist materials, above and beyond a ‘daily dust’:

Internal walls
Internal and external doors
Disinfect and scrub hard floors rather than just sweep
Shampoo carpets rather than just vac
Blinds
Cupboard doors
Communal microwaves, cookers and fridges

Professional deep cleaning of commercial premises

You should employ the services of a professional cleaning company to carry out your deep clean, and agree a frequency and checklist with them. Essentially, a deep clean is an opportunity to press pause on the busy workplace life where many things can get forgotten, and re-establish important standards, which are then easier to maintain.

Get in touch with It’s Clean commercial cleaning in Harrogate, Leeds and York today, and we can work with you to carry out a deep clean of your premises and achieve high standards of cleanliness, hygiene, professionalism and efficiency.

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David looks back on his 60th birthday volunteering week in Ghana

by david • 1 March 2026

When I hit 60, I didn't want a party. I wanted to do something that would actually matter. So instead of celebrating at home, I flew to Ghana and spent a week volunteering with a charity called Village by Village getting my hands dirty, sitting in open-air classrooms, and meeting some of the warmest, most resilient people I have ever encountered anywhere in the world. This is what I found there, and why I think you should know about it. The Charity Village by Village was founded by an old school friend of mine and has, over the years, evolved into something beautifully self-sustaining: it is now predominantly run by Ghanaians in Ghana. That is not an accident, it is central to the charity's entire philosophy. The approach is simple and powerful. Before a single brick is laid, the charity asks the village what they need, and what they can contribute. There is no imposition, no outside organisation deciding what is best for communities they don't understand. The result is genuine local ownership, stronger outcomes, and projects that endure long after the volunteers have gone home. The work focuses on two areas: education and healthcare. In the remote villages of Ghana that the government's budget cannot reach, Village by Village builds schools and medical centres from the ground up and then keeps them supported. What a Volunteer Week Actually Looks Like I'll be honest: I wasn't sure what to expect. What I got was a genuinely physical, genuinely meaningful week that I will never forget. Most mornings began on a building site, mixing cement alongside professional local builders, plastering walls, shifting materials. I wore a bright pink polo shirt bearing the logo of my company, It's Clean, which helped fund the trip, and I got absolutely filthy in it. There is something grounding about hard physical labour in service of something real. There were also two young men — just finished their A-levels — who were wrapping up three months of volunteering. In that time they had helped build playgrounds and medical facilities with their own hands. Their energy, their commitment, and what they had achieved at their age was genuinely extraordinary.

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