Scope statement
The scope statement is a single paragraph at the head of the document that names the premises, the areas included, and the date from which the specification applies. It draws a clear boundary before any tasks are listed.
When the scope statement is missing, the contract has no boundary. New areas get added informally over time, without any discussion of price or frequency. By the time anyone notices, the contractor is covering floor space they were never priced to cover, and the buyer cannot understand why standards are slipping in the areas that were originally contracted.
A scope statement does not need to be long. It needs to name what is in and what is out, and it needs to be dated so that any later boundary change is visible against it.
Area schedule
The area schedule lists every space in scope by name, with its measured extent in square metres and its primary use. It is the document that ties the task groups and their frequencies to specific physical areas of the building.
Without an area schedule, "clean the office" is the working instruction. When two more meeting rooms are added, or a mezzanine is fitted out, those additions sit in a grey area. The contractor may assume they are included; the buyer may assume they are extra. Neither assumption is checked against anything written.
The area schedule is measured on the walk-through, before the specification is drafted. It is updated — in writing, and dated — whenever the physical layout of the building changes materially.
Task groups
A task group is a named category of cleaning work. The standard task groups for a commercial premises are: floors, sanitary areas, kitchens and tea stations, touchpoints, glass and internal partitions, waste handling, and periodic works. Not every building will include every group; the scope statement determines which apply.
Within each task group, the specification lists the individual tasks, the method (where the finish requires it), and the area or areas where it applies. A task group without an area reference is not usable as a check — it says what gets done but not where, which makes verification impossible.
When task groups are missing entirely, the operative works from habit or from what they were told verbally on their first shift. Both produce inconsistent results, and neither produces a record that the buyer can check.
See the full task group breakdown on the Scope of Work page →
Frequency table
The frequency table maps each task group to each area, with the agreed frequency for that combination. Frequencies are expressed as a band: daily, twice weekly, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. Periodic works sit on a separate calendar, referenced from the main table.
Frequencies are set against the use pattern of each area, not against a general rule. A high-traffic reception receives a different daily task set than a low-traffic archive room. A kitchen serving 80 people has a different frequency requirement than a two-person tea station. That depends on the finish, the occupancy, and the standard the buyer wants to maintain.
When frequencies are not written down, they default to "as required" or "as needed" — phrases that mean nothing in practice and resolve nothing in a dispute. The frequency table is the part of the specification that makes the contract checkable on a day-to-day basis.
| Area | Task Group | Frequency Band | Determined By |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reception / lobby | Hard floors | Daily | Footfall; visitor-facing finish standard |
| Open-plan office | Hard floors | Daily | Occupancy density |
| Meeting rooms (carpeted) | Vacuuming | Daily | Use pattern; visitor-facing |
| Meeting rooms (carpeted) | Carpet extraction | Quarterly (periodic) | Finish condition; use pattern |
| Sanitary areas | Full clean | Daily | Occupancy; regulatory standard |
| Internal glass partitions | Smear removal | Twice weekly | Finish type; visibility to occupants |
| Archive / storage rooms | Hard floors | Weekly | Low occupancy; low footfall |
This table is illustrative only. Frequencies in any actual contract depend on the specific building.
Materials and finishes register
The finishes register lists every significant surface in the building: floor types (vinyl, carpet, sealed concrete, natural stone, timber), worktop materials, partition glazing type, sanitary ware, and any surface that requires a specific method or product category. The register is compiled on the walk-through.
Product selection follows the finishes in the building, not a house preference. That is not a preference — it is the only way to avoid damage. An unsealed stone floor and a vinyl tile floor cannot be treated with the same method. A toughened glass partition and an uncoated glass partition may require different approaches. That depends on the finish, and the finish has to be recorded before the contract starts.
When the finishes register is missing, the operative selects products from what is available on the cleaning trolley. Some combinations cause irreversible surface damage. The cost of that damage is rarely recoverable through the contract, because the specification contained no instruction as to what should have been used.
Access and security
The access section names who holds keys or access codes, how they are issued and returned, what the procedure is for after-hours entry, how that entry is logged, and what happens if an alarm is triggered during a cleaning visit. It also names the areas within the building that require separate or supervised access — server rooms, medical storage, document stores.
Access and security arrangements are the most common source of after-hours operational failure. An operative who cannot enter a building cannot complete a task — and if the procedure for gaining access is not written down, neither party knows who to call or what the correct sequence is. That situation causes missed services, which then cause a dispute about whether the contract was fulfilled.
The access section should also state what restricted areas are: what cannot be entered without the buyer's representative present, and what happens if the contractor inadvertently enters one. These boundaries, written at the outset, are far easier to enforce than they are to reconstruct after the fact.
Consumables responsibility
The consumables section states, unambiguously, which party is responsible for supplying each category of consumable: hand soap, paper towels, toilet tissue, bin liners, sanitiser dispensers and refills, and any other item used up in the course of service delivery. It also states what happens when consumables run out mid-contract — who is responsible for restocking, and within what timeframe.
Consumables responsibility is the most frequently disputed clause in a running contract, and the most frequently omitted from the original document. The buyer assumes the contractor supplies; the contractor assumes the buyer supplies. Neither assumption is stated anywhere. The result is empty dispensers and a disagreement about whose fault that is.
The answer to "who supplies consumables" is not obvious and does not have a single correct answer — it depends on the pricing structure of the contract. What is required is that the answer is written into the specification before the contract starts, so that the question does not need to be answered mid-service.
Variation procedure
The variation procedure describes how the specification is changed after it is signed. It names who can request a variation, how it is submitted, how it is priced, and what triggers an updated document rather than a verbal instruction. It also distinguishes between a variation (a permanent change to scope) and a one-off request (a task outside scope that is carried out on an agreed basis without altering the specification).
Without a variation procedure, scope creep is the default outcome. One-off requests become recurring tasks. Recurring tasks that were never priced become the reason the contract is financially unviable. By the time anyone notices, the contractor is working well outside the original specification, and the buyer has no record of having asked for anything extra.
The variation procedure is also what governs what happens when the building changes: a new office is fitted out, a kitchen is extended, a floor is taken back into the landlord's possession. Each of those changes should trigger a scope review, not a renegotiation from scratch.
Review and date
Every specification carries a version date and a review date. The review date is agreed and written into the document before it is signed — typically three or six months after commencement. At the review, both parties compare the specification against what has actually been delivered, identify any tasks that have drifted from the written standard, and issue an updated document if any changes are agreed.
The review date is not an optional courtesy. It is the mechanism that keeps a written specification live rather than a historical document. A specification that is written at commencement and never reviewed is one that gradually loses its connection to what is actually happening in the building.
When the review date is missing from the document, the implicit position is that the specification is permanent. That is never true. Buildings change, occupancy patterns change, and use patterns change. A specification that is not reviewed becomes a document that nobody believes in, which is functionally equivalent to having no specification at all.
Clauses buyers most often leave out
The following issues consistently appear at review meetings or in disputes. Each one has a standard clause that resolves it. Each one is most effective when it is in the document from the start.
The most common operational dispute in a running contract is an empty dispenser and a disagreement about who was supposed to fill it. The clause is simple: list every consumable category, name the supplying party for each, and state a restocking lead time. If the contractor supplies consumables, that cost is in the contract price. If the buyer supplies, the contractor's obligation is to report low stock, not to absorb the cost of supply.
Every contract will face absent operatives. The question is not whether that will happen, but what the procedure is when it does. The clause should state: how the buyer is notified, whether cover is provided and within what timeframe, what happens to tasks that are missed, and what the buyer's recourse is if cover is not arranged. A contract that is silent on this leaves the buyer with no enforceable position when a service is missed.
For any cleaning that takes place outside occupied hours, the specification should require a written access log: date, time in, time out, operative name, areas attended. This is a security requirement as much as a service requirement. Without it, the buyer has no record of when the building was accessed and by whom, which creates a gap in any post-incident investigation.
Server rooms, medical storage, document archives, R&D areas: these need to be listed explicitly as restricted. The clause states that cleaning within a restricted area requires the presence of a named representative of the buyer, and that the contractor is not to enter without that presence. This protects both parties — the buyer's assets and data, and the contractor's operatives from being in a position they were not equipped to be in.
Periodic tasks — carpet extraction, hard floor treatment, high-level dusting — are referenced in the frequency table but need their own calendar entry. The calendar should be agreed and signed at commencement, with dates specific enough to allow the buyer to plan around them. "Quarterly" is a frequency band; a Q1 date in January is a commitment. The distinction matters when operatives need access to areas that are normally occupied.
An operative who arrives to find a broken window, a leaking pipe, or a damaged fixture needs a clear procedure: report it to a named contact within a stated timeframe, and do not attempt to repair it. Without this clause, damage found on a cleaning visit sits in an ambiguous position — the contractor may have found it, or they may have caused it. A reporting requirement at least establishes a timeline. The buyer names the contact; the contractor names the reporting method.