Quick answer
Clean out the office room by room, including every approved cabinet, drawer, closet, and shared area. Mark each item keep, move or return, sell, donate, recycle, dispose, or hold; keep records, data-bearing devices, batteries, lamps, chemicals, personal property, and unknowns outside the general stream until released. Reconcile each room, destination, controlled item, exception, and completion record before acceptance.
On this page10 sections
Start with six cleanout controls
- Define included rooms, storage, contents, excluded work, required condition, and acceptance party.
- Use a room and stream inventory instead of asking a provider to remove everything.
- Give every item one current decision: keep, move, return, sell, donate, recycle, dispose, or hold.
- Keep records, media, electronics, special materials, personal property, and building assets under their responsible owners.
- Confirm receiver terms and fallbacks before releasing material.
- Finish with a room sweep, inventory reconciliation, destination and custody records, photographs, exceptions, and acceptance.
| Status | Meaning | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Keep | Remains in the room or building | Protect and label against accidental removal |
| Move or return | Goes to another office, owner, lessor, or service provider | Confirm receiver, timing, transport, and custody |
| Sell | A named buyer has accepted the item and terms | Confirm price or net proceeds, condition, quantity, pickup, payment, and rejected items |
| Donate | A named organization has accepted the item | Confirm eligibility, condition, quantity, pickup, documentation, and rejected items |
| Recycle | A specific program accepts the material | Confirm preparation, handler, appointment, fee, and evidence |
| Dispose | An approved route accepts the item | Confirm exclusions, transport, fees, and record |
| Hold | Ownership, data, retention, condition, material, or destination is unresolved | Protect, assign an owner, and set a decision deadline |
Define the boundary and the final condition
Write the scope by floor, room, closet, cabinet, shelf, shared area, and material stream. State whether drawers and cabinets must be emptied, which furniture remains, whether personal property is included, who handles mounted or connected items, which areas are out of bounds, what cleaning follows, and who can authorize a change.
| Workstream | Cleanout decision | Separate owner or release |
|---|---|---|
| Loose furniture and supplies | Include by room, item group, and destination | Facilities or project owner |
| Cubicle systems | Identify and hold as a separate modular-furniture scope | Furniture system and trade owners |
| Powered or attached items | Record location and status; do not assume removal | Electrical, building, product, or qualified trade owner |
| Files and confidential records | Hold until retention and disposal release | Records, legal, privacy, or security owner |
| Electronics and media | Hold and inventory before physical disposition | IT, information security, asset, and privacy owners |
| Special or unknown materials | Isolate from the general stream | Facilities, environmental, approved local specialist, or responsible authority |
| Repairs, cleaning, and handback | List only if expressly included | Facilities, contractor, building, landlord, or decommissioning lead |
Walk every space and record each decision
Begin with a physical walkthrough. Use the same room names on the floor plan, inventory, labels, photographs, vendor scope, and final sweep. Open every approved cabinet, drawer, closet, storage room, file area, copy room, pantry, reception area, conference room, equipment room, and shared space. Do not infer that an unlabeled or apparently abandoned item has no owner.
Record for each item or consistent group
- Floor, room, zone, cabinet, shelf, or other exact location
- Item description, quantity, condition, photograph ID, and asset or serial number when required
- Owner, lease or return status, personal-property flag, records flag, data flag, and special-material flag
- Loose, attached, connected, heavy, leaking, damaged, unlabeled, or otherwise exceptional condition
- Decision, destination, fallback, preparation, transport, timing, and required record
- Responsible owner, approver, due date, status, blocker, and next action
| Room-sheet field | Enter | Close only when |
|---|---|---|
| Room and authority | Floor, room or zone, included cabinets and storage, room owner, approver, access window, and change authority | The physical boundary and decision contacts match the plan and labels |
| Keep, move, or return | Item or group, owner, quantity, location, receiver, timing, transport, and custody record | Retained property is protected and outgoing property is received or documented |
| Ordinary outgoing material | Sell, donate, recycle, or dispose decision; receiver, accepted condition, preparation, pickup, fees, and fallback | Actual quantity and destination reconcile with the room inventory |
| Controlled items | Records, media, electronics, personal property, leased assets, and building property; owner, release, and evidence | Each controlled item is released, transferred, or remains in a documented hold |
| Special or unknown items | Item, location, visible condition, photograph, protected boundary, responsible reviewer, and decision deadline | The responsible party assigns an approved path; the general crew does not decide it |
| Final sweep | Cabinets, drawers, closets, shelves, damage, debris, photographs, exceptions, and acceptance | Every included space is checked and each exception has an owner and due date |
| Area | Primary questions | Common hold |
|---|---|---|
| Workstations and offices | Personal property, files, devices, retained furniture, drawers, and mounted items | Unclaimed contents or active equipment |
| Records and storage rooms | Retention, legal holds, custody, leased assets, and unlabeled boxes | Unknown owner or record category |
| IT, print, and copy areas | Media, toner, batteries, leased devices, network equipment, and data storage | Missing IT or vendor release |
| Pantry and break areas | Food, appliances, chemicals, reusable supplies, grease, and refrigeration | Unknown chemical or refrigerant-bearing equipment |
| Reception and conference areas | Signage, audiovisual equipment, décor, artwork, plants, and building property | Ownership or attachment unclear |
| Mechanical, janitorial, and restricted rooms | Permission, facility materials, chemicals, tools, and service equipment | Outside the approved cleanout boundary |
Confirm destinations for ordinary contents
A proposed destination is not ready until a receiver accepts the item type, condition, quantity, preparation, timing, and transport terms. EPA's commercial-building guidance supports evaluating prevention, reuse, donation, recycling, and available service options, but local programs and markets determine actual acceptance. Keep a documented fallback for every time-sensitive stream. [1]
Ordinary furniture and supplies
- Empty approved drawers, cabinets, shelving, and furniture before furniture crews arrive.
- Separate retained stock, consumables, promotional material, décor, artwork, plants, and personal property.
- Confirm local acceptance for paper, cardboard, plastics, metals, textiles, and mixed-material items rather than relying on a recycling symbol.
- Return leased, rented, consigned, or vendor-owned equipment under the applicable agreement.
- Use the facility's process for food and pantry contents and keep chemicals or unknown products outside ordinary waste.
- Record who can change a destination and what happens when a receiver rejects an item.
A pickup or donation receipt records a transfer, but it does not by itself establish property value or a federal tax deduction. IRS treatment of noncash contributions depends on the property and claimed treatment. Use current federal guidance and an appropriate adviser for tax and valuation decisions. [13]
| Field | Question | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Receiver | Who accepts the exact item or stream? | Written acceptance or current program terms |
| Condition and quantity | What is accepted and how is it grouped? | Inventory, photographs, and exception rules |
| Preparation | Who empties, separates, packs, labels, or stages it? | Scope and release checklist |
| Movement | Who loads, transports, receives, and controls custody? | Schedule, contact, transfer record, and destination |
| Fallback | What happens if timing, capacity, or acceptance changes? | Approved alternate path, owner, cost, and decision trigger |
Keep records outside the general cleanout stream
A cleanout crew should not decide whether a document can be discarded. The records, legal, privacy, security, and business owners must apply the organization's retention schedule, legal holds, contracts, policy, and applicable law. The FTC Disposal Rule applies to certain businesses and consumer-report information, not every office document. HIPAA disposal safeguards apply to covered entities and business associates handling protected health information, not every organization or file. [3] [4]
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Identify and hold
Label the room, cabinet, box, record category, owner, retention or legal-hold status, and condition without opening material outside authorization.
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Apply the authorized decision
The responsible owner approves retention, transfer, archive, return, secure destruction, or another permitted outcome.
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Control custody
Define who may access, pack, transport, receive, store, or destroy each container or batch and how exceptions are handled.
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Reconcile evidence
Match container and transfer identifiers, destination, completion evidence, failures, and missing items to the inventory.
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Release the room
Close the room or cabinet only after held and outgoing records are accounted for under the organization's process.
Records exception triggers
- Unlabeled boxes, files, notebooks, removable media, or locked cabinets
- Material belonging to a former employee, client, patient, consumer, or another organization
- Active litigation, audit, investigation, retention, or legal-hold notice
- Damaged, wet, mixed, or unsecured records
- Missing container, broken custody record, or destination mismatch
Release electronics through IT and asset controls
Identify laptops, desktops, servers, drives, phones, tablets, removable media, printers, multifunction devices, network equipment, and any other asset that may store data. NIST SP 800-88 Revision 2 provides a risk-based media-sanitization framework; the organization must select, authorize, verify, validate, and document its own process rather than asking a cleanout provider to choose implicitly. [2]
Electronics-specific controls
- Track each device by asset or serial identifier, media type, location, owner, lease or return status, destination, and visible condition.
- Have IT, information security, privacy, and asset owners approve reuse, return, transfer, sanitization, destruction, or another disposition.
- Match every custody transfer and required record to the device or controlled container.
- Keep failed, missing, substituted, or mismatched assets on hold until the responsible owner resolves them.
- Release the physical device only after the organization's required decision and records are complete.
EPA recommends removing personal information before electronics donation or recycling and encourages businesses to use R2- or e-Stewards-certified electronics recyclers. Certification can support provider review but does not prove sanitization, custody, waste characterization, contract performance, or compliance, and EPA does not endorse a particular vendor. [5] [6]
Stop and refer special or unknown items
Federal universal-waste categories include batteries, certain pesticides, mercury-containing equipment, lamps, and aerosol cans, while authorized state programs can add or manage categories differently. Keep these items and any leaking, damaged, unlabeled, chemical, or unknown material outside an ordinary cleanout stream until the responsible facilities, environmental, or approved local specialist determines the route. [7] [8]
| Item | Why it is held | Responsible question |
|---|---|---|
| Loose or device batteries | Chemistry, condition, generator status, and destination can matter | Which current program accepts this exact battery and condition? |
| Lamps and mercury-containing equipment | Federal and state universal-waste paths may apply | Who identifies, packages, and releases the stream? |
| Refrigerant-bearing appliances | Disposal requirements differ from ordinary furniture or scrap | Which approved handler and record are required? |
| Paint, cleaners, aerosols, chemicals | Label, contents, condition, and local rules affect disposition | Who characterizes and approves the path? |
| Leaking, swollen, damaged, or unknown item | The condition may change handling and destination | Who secures the area and provides the site-specific response? |
| Building-installed equipment | Ownership, disconnection, repair, and permits may be outside cleanout | Who authorizes work and accepts the resulting condition? |
EPA warns that commercial generators must determine the status of discarded lithium-ion batteries, and it describes separate refrigerant-management obligations for appliance disposal. This checklist does not classify a particular item or provide battery, chemical, appliance, refrigerant, packaging, or emergency-response instructions. [9] [10]
Issue a quote-ready scope and control cleanout day
Quote package
- Address, floors, included and excluded rooms, access windows, route, loading, and building controls
- Room and stream inventory with quantities, photographs, decisions, holds, and special conditions
- Emptying, packing, labeling, moving, loading, transport, destination, and fallback responsibilities
- Records, IT, electrical, modular furniture, appliances, special materials, cleaning, and repair boundaries
- Equipment, storage, security, protection, staging, debris, and rejected-load assumptions
- Required custody, destination, photograph, daily, exception, correction, and acceptance records
- Written exclusions, allowances, unit or change rates, notice procedure, and return-work terms
Temporary cleanout staging cannot consume required circulation. OSHA requires exit routes to remain free and unobstructed and addresses clear passageways and stable material storage where its rules apply. Convert site requirements into marked staging, capacity limits, route checks, housekeeping ownership, pickup timing, and a hold rule when the next destination is delayed. [11] [12]
Before and during the work
- Walk each room with the crew lead and confirm labels, holds, retained property, controlled streams, routes, and change authority.
- Keep employee, visitor, and retained operations outside active work and staging boundaries.
- Record additions, missing items, damage, destination changes, rejected material, and unknown conditions when found.
- Do not let schedule pressure move records, electronics, connected items, special material, or personal property without the required release.
- Track room status and destination capacity so completed work does not create an uncontrolled hallway or loading backlog.
Final sweep and acceptance
- Open and check every included cabinet, drawer, closet, shelf, equipment area, and shared space.
- Reconcile keep, move, return, sell, donate, recycle, dispose, and hold quantities with actual outcomes.
- Confirm personal property, records, media, electronics, special streams, leased assets, and building property are accounted for.
- Photograph completed rooms and affected routes; list damage, residual material, and inaccessible areas.
- Collect the required custody, destination, completion, correction, and exception records.
- Assign open items and obtain the completion acknowledgment required by the project.
Frequently asked questions
What is included in an office cleanout?
Only the approved room and stream schedule decides. A cleanout may include ordinary contents, supplies, loose furniture, electronics, and waste, while records, media, powered systems, cubicles, appliances, fixtures, chemicals, and building property remain held or separately controlled.
Is cleanout the same as office cleaning?
No. Cleanout decides and removes approved contents. Custodial or final cleaning delivers a separate surface and condition standard after contents are cleared.
How much does an office cleanout cost?
The reviewed sources do not establish a credible national rate. Request comparable quotes based on verified rooms, quantities, streams, holds, specialist work, access, labor, equipment, destinations, fees, schedule, rejected items, records, and acceptance.
How long does a cleanout take?
There is no reliable time per room, workstation, square foot, or truck. The schedule depends on decision readiness, destinations, specialist releases, building windows, staging, crew and equipment, transport, corrections, and acceptance.
Can employees discard old files?
Only after the responsible records, legal, privacy, security, and business owners authorize the disposition under applicable retention, legal-hold, contractual, regulatory, and policy requirements. Unidentified records belong in controlled hold. [3] [4]
What happens to old computers and drives?
IT, information security, privacy, and asset owners should decide ownership, return, reuse, custody, sanitization, verification, provider, destination, and evidence. This checklist does not prescribe a sanitization method. [2]
Can furniture and electronics be donated or recycled?
Sometimes. Acceptance varies by item, condition, quantity, provider, state, locality, and timing. Confirm the exact receiver and fallback before release; a receipt alone does not establish tax treatment, value, data release, or compliance. [1] [5] [13]
What records should be retained?
Match records to the project. Common examples include final inventories, asset and transfer updates, custody evidence, destination records when available, photographs, daily logs, exceptions, damage, correction status, held-item disposition, and the required completion acknowledgment.
Sources and limitations
This checklist does not classify material, select handling or sanitization methods, approve destinations, or determine legal duties. Verify the current path for the actual organization, item, site, and jurisdiction.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Managing and Reducing Wastes: A Guide for Commercial Buildings
- National Institute of Standards and Technology: NIST Special Publication 800-88 Revision 2: Guidelines for Media Sanitization
- Federal Trade Commission: Disposing of Consumer Report Information? Rule Tells How
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Disposal of Protected Health Information
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Electronics Donation and Recycling
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Certified Electronics Recyclers
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Universal Waste
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: State Universal Waste Programs in the United States
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Used Lithium-Ion Batteries
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Appliance Disposal
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration: 29 CFR 1910.37: Maintenance, Safeguards, and Operational Features for Exit Routes
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration: 29 CFR 1910.176: Handling Materials—General
- Internal Revenue Service: Tax Information on Donated Property