The lean cleaning shift

ACROSS OUR network of cleaning professionals a clear shift is underway. From sole traders to larger agencies, more and more cleaners are stripping back their toolkits. Heavy caddies full of half-used products are giving way to a few high-performing essentials. 

This isn’t just about saving money. It’s part of a broader movement towards efficiency, precision, and sustainability – driven by both cleaners and clients. With tighter budgets and higher expectations, value, speed, and measurable results are now the name of the game.

Even larger commercial firms are embracing this mindset, cutting down stock keeping units (SKUs) and experimenting with closed-loop packaging to reduce waste and streamline operations. A 2023 ISSA survey found that supply chain and inventory management are among cleaners’ top concerns — reinforcing the need for simplicity and smarter systems.  

At Bark, where tens of thousands of cleaning professionals connect with clients across the UK and US, we’re seeing this shift play out every day.

The shrinking cleaning toolkit

Customers will always expect the best standards of cleanliness, hygiene, and safety when they hire a cleaning service. Now, they also expect the highest levels of sustainability, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. It’s no surprise that customers want more-for-less, but to achieve this, cleaners need to find ways to be efficient without cutting corners. 

Shedding products from their arsenal is a clear starting point. The cleaning economy has grown around hyper-specialised products that can be sold for individual challenge: different descalers for liquid appliances and showerheads; specialised cloths for different surfaces; different degreasers for grills and surfaces. 

Sometimes, specialised solutions are needed. But suppliers and brands have reinforced a culture of over-abundance, which can lead to financial and environmental waste. For most clients in today’s cost of living crisis, suggesting lots of specialised products could be seen as a red flag.

Busy cleaning kits also have downstream effects on efficiency and outcome. More products equals more complexity, which means that cleaning jobs take longer and time-poor cleaners can’t take a consistent, process-driven approach. Complex kits waste time as well as money, which nine times out of ten will outweigh any benefits they offer to the cleaning process.

What else is driving rationalisation?

At the commercial level, major pressures around regulations and compliance mean that leaner, standardised kits are preferred. The more SKUs you have, the more complex your documentation burden becomes - especially when it comes to chemical handling and COSSH requirements. Fewer chemicals, though, mean that there are fewer safety data sheets to manage and that training overheads come down. Clients can be reassured by streamlined equipment lists. 

Sustainability can’t be ignored either, with clients of all sizes expecting environmentally sound cleaning processes that minimise waste and support re-use. Leaner product kits mean fewer consumable, fewer deliveries, smaller transport requirements, and less packaging. Efficiency and responsibility don’t have to be competing priorities, and often go hand-in-hand in unexpected ways. 

The lean kit principles are being taken a step further by the increasing popularity of concentrates and refillable products for home cleaning jobs, which extend product life and prevent financial and environmental costs. Sustainability ultimately ladders up to operational efficiency. 

For bigger commercial cleaning companies, sustainability is not a ”nice-to-have” but is a real requirement for tendering processes. Clients expect their cleaning agencies to work within their own sustainability frameworks, and the fewer wasteful products you use, the easier this will be.

Towards a disciplined process

The outcome of simplification is clear - as the cleaning industry is moving away from an overreliance on brand names and flashy products, it is becoming leaner, more efficient, and more engineered. Clients have less time and less money, so they are looking for cleaning services with demonstrable, disciplined processes. 

Take a household deep clean. A busy client appreciates a clear brief - instead of being told that they need to have 10 specific cleaning products, a request to just invest in the basics is more valuable. It doesn’t just save them time and money, it also creates a sense of expertise and adds value in the long term through practical advice. 

This represents a shift in industry mindset - products are now fit to the system, rather than the other way around. Rather than buying up multiple surface cleaners and devising a system to justify them, a professional can create the smartest process and buy the products that best fit it.

We see this happening at the independent level across our network of cleaning professionals, but it is a change that will reward the biggest players - one step towards internal standardisation, which creates resiliency and efficiency.

A cleaner using standardised kits is more likely to deliver consistent results across different sites and jobs than a cleaner over-encumbered with products. This is a change that contributes to predictable, replicable outcomes. Consistency, in turn, builds client confidence and supports retention, which is crucial for cleaners looking to book more jobs and scale their business. 

On a corporate level, this means that product streamlining should be thought of as part of basic quality assurance processes. Agencies and operators working on multiple sites especially, will see benefits when managing jobs across multiple sites, as stronger quality control will increase customer satisfaction and reduce complaints. 

Measuring ROI

For the independent cleaners using the Bark platform, we see one clear way to measure the return on a leaner kit. If you are spending less on products and still able to carry out jobs at the same rate or higher, then it’s worth doing. Incidentally, this means streamlining kits is always a worthwhile experiment.

For bigger businesses, there are more calculations on the same theme. Fewer SKUs doesn’t just reduce expenditure, it also condenses procurement pipelines, cuts the cost and space needed for storage, and helps when onboarding new cleaners. 

For a supervisor at an agency or cleaning company, standardisation allows you to train techniques and observe processes, instead of getting bogged down in product specifics. Fewer SKUs mean that there are fewer conversations to be had about which product is needed, and audit processes are faster and smoother as a result. Once again, this demonstrates the mindset shift that a leaner kit represents: small changes to procurement can have benefits for operational processes across the board.

Efficiency as brand identity

The cleaners that we showcase at Bark are overwhelmingly independent cleaners or small businesses looking to stand out in (sometimes crowded) local economies. Branding is vital - so how does a lean cleaning kit play into this?

Professional cleaners advertise themselves in terms of efficiency, speed, and reliability. These are cornerstones of brand identity, and need to be seen in process and outcome as well as in website copy. This is where thoughtful product choices are key, as they become a proof point for your brand. Instead of boasting that you use a wide range of products, you can demonstrate that you are taking the clients top concerns into account and are laser-focused on delivering a reliable outcome. 

In an industry that relies heavily on word of mouth, online reviews, and peer recommendation, this is a vital differentiation. It’s not enough to just say that you are fast and efficient, you need to deliver this service as well. Getting the basics right and showing that you care about the fundamentals is important. 

Efficiency = professionalism

Leaner cleaning kits aren’t a fad - they are a result of real operational pressures, for both independent cleaners and the industry as a whole. Budgets are tightening for cleaners, business leaders, and clients - which means that the new way to be professional is to be efficient. 

Simplifying your product kit demonstrates a commitment to operational efficiency and a desire to build client trust. It also breeds accountability, which is crucial for self-employed traders and big businesses alike. Fewer product lines mean that you can trace your supply chain, audit your usage, and keep track of compliance hazards such as regulated chemical cleaning agents. 

Essentially, the leaner your product kit is, the easier it is to prove that you’re only using certain products and protect yourself from unfair complaints. 

What are professionals actually using?

What we are seeing from the professionals on Bark.com is that a core set of a few products covers around 75% of typical cleaning tasks that house cleaners are commissioned for:

The 12 Essentials in every pro’s caddy

1. Neutral pH multi-surface cleaner – daily wipe-downs, safe for sealed surfaces.

2. Alkaline degreaser – kitchens, ovens, hobs.

3. Limescale remover/descaler – taps, shower screens, kettles.

4. Disinfectant – bathrooms, touchpoints, bins.

5. Enzyme cleaner – organic stains and odours.

6. Glass & stainless-steel cleaner – streak-free finishes.

7. Wood/floor-specific cleaner – pH-appropriate for hardwood, vinyl, stone.

8. Bathroom cleaner (surfactant + descaler) – tackles soap scum and scale.

9. Microfibre cloths (colour-coded) – reduce cross-contamination.

10. Non-scratch pads & brushes – grout, bottles, scuffs.

11. HEPA vacuum – traps fine particles and allergens.

12. Mop system (flat/spray) – fast, effective soil removal.

These are one-stop, high-performance products that customers can understand and professionals can source affordably, sustainably, and easily. Each product in the kit is chosen because it is compatible with multiple jobs, and this, in turn, improves workflow and supports standardisation. 

Operational maturity

This is part of an evolution for the industry to a new level of operational maturity, part-proactive and part-reactive. The most trusted cleaners and firms now present themselves as process-led, and a focus on variety and excess is being replaced by minimalism and efficiency.

This is something that the industry can pick up and run with. There’s opportunity here at every scale for more transparency, more efficiency, less waste, and cleaner supply chains. It’s sensible, it reduces costs, and it doesn’t involve cutting corners or providing shoddy service. 

It’s a small but powerful change, and the next phase of this evolution will be gradual.

Dan Moross is director of customer experience at Bark.com

For more information, visit www.bark.com/en/gb/cleaners/