Office Move-Out Cleaning: Getting Your Lease Deposit Back
Office move out cleaning at lease end: what broom clean means, the carpet question, timing around movers and IT, 2026 prices. Text for a written price.
By Yuri and Tatiana, owners of Shining Cleanse LLC, a family cleaning company based in Everett, WA and licensed in 10 cities across Snohomish and King County.
Office move out cleaning is a one-time clean of an emptied office so it matches the condition your lease asks for at surrender. It covers restrooms, the kitchen, floors, walls at touch height and inside cabinets, often plus carpet extraction. With us it starts at $300 for offices under 1,000 sq ft, with carpet from $0.25 per sq ft.
Most of the money at stake is not the cleaning bill. It is the security deposit and whatever the landlord deducts after the final walk-through. We clean offices after hours in ten licensed cities, and lease-end jobs are the ones where reading the paperwork first saves the most.
What does broom clean mean in a commercial lease?
There is no single legal definition that applies to every lease. “Broom clean” usually means the space is empty of your furniture, boxes and trash, and the floors are swept. That is a low bar, and plenty of leases ask for more.
Read the surrender clause, often near the end of the lease under a heading like “surrender of premises” or “condition at end of term”. Look for phrases such as:
- “in good order and condition, reasonable wear and tear excepted”
- “professionally cleaned carpets” or a named cleaning method
- removal of cabling, signage or tenant improvements
- a requirement to provide receipts for cleaning
If the lease says only broom clean, a professional clean is optional, but it still helps at the walk-through. If it names carpet cleaning or asks for receipts, the clean is part of getting the deposit back and you will want an invoice that says what was done and when. When the wording is unclear, ask your property manager in writing what they inspect. A two-line email now costs less than an argument later. For anything that turns on the meaning of a clause, check with your attorney.
What is included in an office move-out clean?
An empty office is easier to clean than a working one, and harder to hide things in. Without desks and chairs every scuff and dust line shows. Our move-out scope for an emptied office:
| Area | What we do |
|---|---|
| Restrooms | Toilets, urinals, sinks, mirrors, partitions, fixtures steamed, floors scrubbed, dispensers wiped inside and out |
| Kitchen or break room | Counters, sink, cabinets inside and out, fridge and microwave inside, appliance fronts |
| Work areas | Floors vacuumed edge to edge, hard floors mopped, baseboards wiped, window sills and interior glass at reach |
| Walls and doors | Spot-cleaned at touch height, door handles, switch plates, frames |
| Storage | Closets and shelving wiped once emptied |
| Proof | Before and after photos you can forward to the property manager |
What we do not do: move or haul furniture, remove cabling, patch holes, paint, strip and wax hard floors, or wash exterior windows above the ground floor. Those belong to movers, your IT vendor or the landlord’s contractors, and the order matters (see below).
Our job
Our jobShould office carpet be cleaned at lease end?
If the lease names it, yes. If it does not, look at the carpet once the furniture is out. Traffic lanes from the door to the break room and dark rings where chairs sat are what a landlord notices first.
For lease end we recommend hot water extraction, because it is a restorative clean and the receipt says so. It takes 4–8 hours to dry, so it goes at the end of the sequence, on an evening or a Saturday when nobody needs to walk on it. Some damage does not clean out: chair-wheel wear, sun fading, old dye stains and burns. We note those in the photos before we start, so nobody is surprised at the walk-through.
Prices are in our guide to commercial carpet cleaning cost per square foot: $0.25 per sq ft under 5,000 sq ft, $0.20 from 5,000 sq ft, with a $260 minimum.
When should cleaning happen around movers and IT?
Last. Almost every lease-end problem we hear about comes from cleaning too early and then having movers drag furniture across a clean floor. A sequence that works:
- Movers take furniture and boxes out.
- IT removes equipment and, if the lease requires it, cabling and mounts.
- Any repairs or paint touch-ups by the landlord’s or your contractor.
- Our clean, then carpet extraction if it is on the list.
- Final walk-through with the property manager, ideally the next business day.
Leave one buffer day between the movers and us. Moves run late. If the building has rules about elevator use, loading docks or after-hours access, tell us when you book and we work inside them. We already clean after hours, so an evening or a Saturday slot after the movers leave is normal for us.
How much does an office move-out clean cost?
We quote an emptied office from photos and a floor plan or square footage, with any questions settled by text. Our published one-time prices are a starting point:
| Office size | One-time clean from |
|---|---|
| Under 1,000 sq ft | $300 |
| 1,000–2,500 sq ft | $447 |
| 2,500–5,000 sq ft | $697 |
| Over 5,000 sq ft | from $0.25 per sq ft |
Extra restrooms, a full kitchen or heavy buildup move a job up. An example: a 1,800 sq ft office with 1,500 sq ft of carpet comes to $447 for the clean plus $375 for carpet extraction, $822 in total, quoted in writing before the visit. Weekday evenings are included; Saturday visits add 15%. Full rates are on the pricing page, and our breakdown of commercial cleaning cost in the Seattle area compares facility types.
Put that number next to your deposit. If the deposit is a month of rent, the clean is usually a small fraction of it. If the lease says broom clean and the carpet is a year old, you may need very little. We would rather tell you that than sell you a visit you do not need.
How do you show the landlord the space was cleaned?
Two things help at the walk-through. The first is photos from the same spots before and after, which we send the same day. The second is the invoice: business name, address, date, what was cleaned and which carpet method was used. If your lease asks for receipts, forward both with your surrender notice.
Also take your own photos once we leave, with the date visible. Then hand the keys and fobs back against a signed list. If you are moving into a new space, the same habits apply in reverse. Our article on office cleaning in Snohomish and King County covers what to set up for recurring cleaning at the new address.
Our jobFAQ
Can you clean the new office before we move in?
Yes. A move-in clean of an empty suite is quoted the same way as a move-out: from photos and a floor plan or square footage, starting at $300 under 1,000 sq ft. Cleaning before the furniture arrives is faster and reaches the corners that desks will cover for years.
Do you work in Kirkland office buildings with after-hours rules?
Yes. We are licensed in Kirkland and nine other cities, and we follow each building’s access, alarm and elevator rules. Send us the property manager’s requirements and we send our Certificate of Insurance with the building named as additional insured if they ask.
What if the landlord still finds something?
Tell us. If something we cleaned was missed, text within 24 hours with a photo and we come back to fix it at no charge. Wear, damage and items outside our scope stay outside it, and our photos show what the space looked like when we left.
How far ahead should we book?
Two to three weeks before the surrender date is comfortable. That leaves room for the buffer day after the movers and for carpet drying. Short notice is sometimes possible; text us the date and we answer the same business day.
Get a written price for your move-out
Text 2–4 photos of the space to (425) 539-5492 or request a written quote. Include the square footage, number of restrooms, whether the carpet is on the list and your surrender date. We reply with a written price the same business day (Mon–Fri 9am–7pm, Sat 9am–5pm). For larger offices, send more photos and a floor plan; we ask any questions by text and confirm the price in writing.
office move out cleaningcommercial leaseoffice cleaningend of leasecommercial carpet cleaning