Common areas are the HOA's storefront: the lobby, gym, and pool are what residents judge — and what they complain to the board about first. Most cleaning problems aren't vendor laziness; they're schedule problems. Areas cleaned by habit instead of traffic, no written frequency per area, and no way to prove a visit happened. Here are the templates that fix all three.
The frequency template, by area
Frequency follows traffic, not tradition. Use this as the baseline and tune to your building:
| Area | Baseline frequency | Key tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Lobby & entrances | Daily–3x/week | Floors, glass doors, touchpoints, mats |
| Elevators | Daily–3x/week | Panels, rails, floors, tracks |
| Restrooms (shared) | Daily | Full sanitation, consumable restock |
| Gym / fitness room | Daily | Equipment wipe-down, mirrors, floors, air vents |
| Pool deck & furniture | Daily in season | Deck wash, furniture, glass fencing |
| Mailroom / package room | 2–3x/week | Surfaces, floors, discarded packaging |
| Corridors & stairwells | Weekly | Vacuum/mop, spot walls, handrails |
| Trash rooms / chutes | Weekly (sanitize) | Wash-down, deodorize, pest check |
| Parking structure | Monthly | Sweep, oil-spot treatment, signage wipe |
| High dusting, glass, floor machine-work | Monthly | Vents, fixtures, interior glass, buff/burnish |
| Deep clean (all areas) | Quarterly | Carpet extraction, upholstery, wall wash |
Seasonal add-ons boards forget
- Spring: exterior glass, pressure-wash entries, pool pre-season deep clean
- Summer: pool frequency to daily, extra gym service (peak usage), pest-prevention wipe-downs
- Fall: leaf-track mitigation at entrances, gutter-adjacent walkways, carpet extraction before holidays
- Winter/holidays: salt-residue floor care, mat rotation, amenity-room resets after events
What it should cost
2026 recurring commercial rates run $0.07–$0.20 per square foot per service. Worked example: a 100-unit community with 30,000 sq ft of common areas, cleaned 3x/week at $0.10/sq ft ≈ $3,600/month — about $36 per door. Two board-level rules keep that honest:
- Traffic-weight the schedule — cutting low-traffic areas from weekly to bi-weekly routinely saves 10–20% with no visible change. Frequency is your #1 negotiation lever.
- Benchmark yearly — untracked vendor contracts decay 18–24% per year through scope creep and unreviewed escalators.
The board-ready checklist format
A schedule only works written down and verifiable. Your checklist needs, per area:
- Area listed by name — "common areas" is how scope decay starts
- Tasks per area, frequency per task (from the template above)
- Time windows and access notes (fobs, codes, seasonal hours)
- Consumables responsibility (paper, liners, soap — a classic hidden-margin line)
- Proof per visit: check-in/check-out plus area photos
- Monthly review: completion rate + resident complaints, in the board packet
The verification step most boards skip
Every dispute a board hears — "the gym wasn't cleaned this week" — has the same root cause: nobody can prove what happened. Sign-in sheets don't settle it; photos do. Require per-visit check-in/check-out with room-by-room photos, and the monthly review becomes a ten-minute agenda item instead of a resident-complaint session.
This is what Abreo automates for communities: crews check in and out of each area, photograph the work, and the manager (and board) see every visit live. The same platform lets residents book verified in-unit cleanings through a portal branded to the building — turning the cleaning line from a cost into revenue share. Cleaning companies can offer it under their own brand via Abreo's white-label platform.
Frequently asked questions
Should the HOA hire in-house or contract out?
Under ~150 doors, contracting usually wins: no payroll burden, equipment, or coverage gaps for vacations and turnover. In-house starts to pencil for large communities with full-day workloads — but then you own quality management entirely.
How do we handle resident complaints about cleaning?
Route them to a named contact with a 24–48h response commitment in the contract, and reconcile complaints against visit photos at the monthly review. Complaints with evidence get fixed; complaints without evidence get argued.
Can we change frequencies mid-contract?
Yes, if your contract prices by frequency per area (another reason to write scope that way). Seasonal adjustments — pool daily in summer, lobby extra in winter — should be pre-agreed in the schedule, not renegotiated each time.