Most cleaning schedules you find online were written for suburban houses with mudrooms, central air, and driveways. A New York apartment has street soot coming through the windows, shoes coming straight in from the sidewalk, radiators pushing dust around all winter, and half the square footage to absorb it.
For one or two adults with no pets, biweekly maintenance holds a clean apartment comfortably, with a deep clean once or twice a year. Kitchens and bathrooms are the parts that will not wait longer than two weeks without showing it.
Add a pet and weekly becomes the honest answer, mostly because of floors and upholstery. Hair works into carpet and sofa fabric within days, and vacuuming alone stops being enough after a few months, which is when extraction earns its cost.
Add a child and the frequency stays weekly but the focus shifts: high-touch surfaces, floors, and the inside of the fridge and microwave matter more than dusting shelves. Families usually want the same crew each visit so nobody has to explain the routine twice.
A home office or a work-from-home household falls in between. Biweekly is usually enough, but window sills, screens, and vents need attention more often because you are breathing that air eight hours longer than everyone else.
Whatever the frequency, consistency beats intensity. A home cleaned on a schedule never needs a rescue, and it costs less over a year than two emergency deep cleans.