A cleaning company is calling on the government to clean up one of New Zealand's largest industries.

CrestClean wants a National Standard introduced, to regulate the $1 billion cleaning industry in New Zealand.

Managing director Grant McLauchlan says currently there are people cleaning who don't actually know how to.

He says businesses that are not cleaned properly can negatively effect them, through increased sick leave and decreased work production.

"We believe there should be some minimum standards because there is actually an art and science to good cleaning...it involves understanding the implications of cross contamination."