It's a lease-compliance job, not a housekeeping job
A residential move-out is about tidiness. A commercial one is about a contract: the lease’s make-good clause specifies the condition the space has to be returned in, and a handover inspection checks against it. That reframes the whole job — the goal isn’t ‘looks clean’, it’s ‘passes inspection against what the lease actually says’.
Scope it against the make-good clause, not a generic checklist
A generic move-out checklist doesn’t know what a specific lease requires. The right approach is to scope the clean directly against the make-good clause itself — if the lease says something specific, the cleaning plan should be built to satisfy that exact language, not a one-size-fits-all list.
Loose rubbish and debris removal
Bagging loose rubbish and moving it to the client’s own on-site bin is a standard part of a move-out scope — confirm this is included rather than assumed, since not every vendor treats debris removal as part of the base job.
Timing: what happens between the last day and the inspection
The gap between a tenant’s last day and a landlord’s inspection is often tight — sometimes overnight, between the last desk leaving and a morning walkthrough. Ask whether a vendor can actually resource that turnaround, not just whether they say yes to the date.
Insurance and documentation for the landlord
A landlord or property manager may require a certificate of insurance issued directly to them before a crew attends — this isn’t universal, but when it’s asked for, it should be something a vendor can produce without friction, not a delay that holds up the handover.
Portfolio tenants and property managers
A property manager handling regular turnover across multiple units benefits from a standing scope rather than re-negotiating a one-off job every time a lease ends — the same standard applied consistently across a portfolio, rather than a fresh conversation with every vacancy.