Services to buildings and landscape activities (SIC division 81)
Division 81 of the UK SIC 2007 list. It holds 8 codes, listed in full below with the number of active UK companies filed under each.
What sits in division 81
This division is home to the cleaning and grounds trades. General building cleaning sits under 81210. Code 81299 collects other cleaning services. Code 81222 marks specialised work such as trauma, industrial or high-level cleaning. Window cleaners use 81221. Wider building and industrial cleaning uses 81229. Landscapers, one of the biggest groups here, register under 81300. Code 81100 marks combined facilities support providers. They bundle cleaning, maintenance and reception into one contract, and they are usually the largest companies in the division.
These are classic local service businesses, so the sellers are familiar ones. Insurance brokers offer public liability. Accountants chase new incorporations. Job scheduling and quoting apps, equipment and chemical suppliers, and franchisors recruiting operators all work the same lists. Commercial cleaning and facilities firms also appear on procurement radars, when offices, schools and managing agents look for contractors. A weak website usually marks a word-of-mouth operator, and the poor-website filter finds the audience that website builders and local SEO services convert best. Growth marks firms moving from domestic work into contracts.
How to read a division 81 code
A UK SIC code is five digits and division 81 is the first two of them. Everything filed under 81 shares those digits: all 8 codes below begin 81, then the third digit narrows to a group, the fourth to a class and the fifth to the subclass a company actually picks. Division 81 sits inside section N, administrative and support service activities, which is the broadest tier of the classification. So a code is read left to right, from an industry down to a specific activity.
More on how division 81 codes are built
Companies choose their own codes at incorporation and can change them on any confirmation statement, and Companies House does not check the answer. A company may list up to four. That is worth knowing before you treat any division total as a headcount: the numbers here are what companies said about themselves, on the August 2026 register, and the largest single code in this division is 81210, general cleaning of buildings.
Working division 81 as a list
Division 81 holds 8 codes and 102,604 active companies between them. No single code dominates: the largest, 81210, is only 24 per cent and the top three take 65 per cent, with the rest spread across the remaining 5 codes. Companies here describe themselves in many different ways, so the division is the sensible filter and picking one code will lose you most of the market.
More on working division 81
A caveat that matters more in some divisions than others: a company may register up to four SIC codes, and the figures below count every position, not just the first. A business filed under two codes in this division appears under both. Treat the totals as reach rather than a headcount, and if you need a clean list, filter to companies whose FIRST code sits in the division. Every company you pull carries the Companies House record, the director's name, a verified website and a verified email, and the ones we cannot complete are not charged.
Every SIC code in division 81
81100, Combined facilities support activities81210, General cleaning of buildings81221, Window cleaning services81222, Specialised cleaning services81229, Other building and industrial cleaning activities81291, Disinfecting and exterminating services81299, Other cleaning services81300, Landscape service activitiesProspecting this division
Division 81 companies, as leads
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Division 81 questions
Which SIC code should a domestic cleaning company use?
Most domestic and general cleaners register 81210, general cleaning of buildings. Code 81299 covers services that fit no standard category. Code 81221 is specifically for window cleaning. There is no penalty for a wrong answer. Companies House runs no approval process, and you can refine your codes on any confirmation statement (CS01). Firms covering several trades often list two or three codes, up to the maximum of 4.
Is landscaping under this division or under construction?
Ongoing landscape services sit under 81300 in this division. That means planting, grounds maintenance and gardening for clients. Hard landscaping is really construction work. Building patios, driveways or retaining walls fits division 43 codes better. Landscape design belongs with the architects under 71112. A firm that designs, builds and maintains can hold codes from more than one division.
Find companies across division 81
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